When Reading the Bible Keeps Us from God...and Leads Us Back

 

Read:  Mark 3:1-6

 

The Bible is an important book to me.  I read the Bible every day, both morning, and evening.  I pray through the Psalms each month.  I have translated and read the scriptures in original languages.  The Bible has been, and is, a central part of my faith journey.

 

That said, as a United Methodist pastor who advocates for the full inclusion of LGBTQ+ persons in the life of the Church, including marriage and ordination, I have been asked how I reconcile such views with passages from the Bible.  Some have accused me of not believing the Bible, minimizing the redemptive work of Jesus, rejecting standards of Christian orthodoxy (although neither human sexuality nor a particular method of biblical interpretation is in any of the historical creeds of the Church), or surrendering the Church to political correctness and cultural trends.  Other clergy and lay persons, who have faithfully sought to follow the Holy Spirit by standing for full inclusion of LGBTQ+ persons, have had similar charges cast at them by fellow Christians and in some cases it has cost dearly. 

 

Let me start by affirming what I believe.  I believe the Bible contains all that is necessary for salvation and redemption.  I believe the grace of God, as revealed in Jesus, is the most powerful force at work in the world.  I believe that Jesus is the image of the invisible God and thereby the lens by which our understandings of God are to be measured.  I entrust myself, and others, to the healing, redemptive, and saving life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.  I believe people are made by God, in the image of God, and we are called to recognize such in every person.  In line with this, I also believe that human sexuality is not a choice, but the way people are made.  People will certainly disagree, but there has been too much in the way of science and the personal experiences of LGBTQ+ persons I have known to deny this reality. 

 

What I do not believe in is a reading of scripture that keeps people from the heart of God.  This may sound strange to some.  Can one really read the Bible and still miss God?  The answer is clearly, “yes”.  At one time, people opposed the scientific fact that the earth was round because of passages from the Bible that suggested the earth was flat.  Holding to a literal reading of those passages of scripture would keep us from understanding God and creation. 

 

Further, there are harsh examples of violence and degradation through history justified by appealing to scripture.  For too long, slavery and white supremacy have been upheld by certain, isolated Bible passages.  Women were for too long treated as second-class citizens and denied ordination in the church based on reading passages from the Bible.  Today, very few Christians would defend slavery as something consistent with God nor deny the work of the Holy Spirit in so many of our women clergy.  No, we must be careful that reading scripture does not keep us from the heart of God. 

 

This is no way diminishes the nature of the power of the Bible.  It simply makes us faithful, just, compassionate, and responsible readers.  The purpose of scripture is not to create a strict adherence to a set of rules or codes, or literal interpreters of every passage.  It is to usher us into the presence and love of God, to lead us into a deeper and ongoing dialogue with the Sacred. 

 

The Bible itself contains numerous stories of reinterpreting and applying passages of scripture to conform to the heart of God.  Look at Isaiah 56, where God insists that eunuchs and foreigners are to be welcomed into the worshiping people of God, even though they are forbidden in Deuteronomy 23.  The apostle Paul declared that physical circumcision is no longer the requirement for admission into God’s covenant, only faith working through love (Galatians 5:6), a reinterpretation of the clear instruction regarding circumcision in Genesis 17:9-11.  When Jesus is confronted about doing work on the Sabbath through healing (Mark 3:1-6), something strictly forbidden in the scriptures (see Exodus 20:8-11), he is reconsidering the understanding of what it means to work on the Sabbath to bring people more in line with the heart of God. In each of these cases, following the strict reading of Scripture would have missed the heart of God, something the Bible itself seems to correct so that we, as readers, don’t miss God.

 

As it pertains to human sexuality and LGBTQ+ persons, there are a few passages readily applied to deny full inclusion.  Although some of these hold a pejorative view of same-sex practice, the passages of inclusion and welcome for all who have faith in Jesus and seek to worship him, just as they are, are far more prevalent and better reflect the heart of God.  In addition, there are other stories in scripture, like Peter and Cornelius in Acts 10, that demonstrate the wideness of the Holy Spirit and that people previously considered excluded are now welcomed into the people of God, as they are.  Thus, those few pejorative passages must give way to the larger purposes of Scripture; following the Holy Spirit and living into the inclusive love of Jesus for all who have faith.  Otherwise, we risk missing God by a strict adherence to scripture. 

 

For those who fear that this approach to scripture could be too subjective, a person could just “pick and choose”.  I agree.   This is always a legitimate concern, but the truth is any interpretation of scripture runs the risk of being subjective.  That may be inevitable since we are only humans with unique life experiences.  That said, the standard that I propose is as follows:  Our reading of the Bible must be consistent with the grace of God as revealed in Jesus, recognize the beloved image of God in others, and make a way for people to live that identity to the fullest by simply having faith in the grace of God offered through Jesus. 

 

This seems, to me, in keeping with what I know of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the tenor of all scripture.  For Jesus once said, “Whoever seeks finds.  And to everyone who knocks the door is opened” (Matthew 7:8).  That scripture alone is enough for me to make way for the inclusive love of God.