Why Christians may eat shellfish but may not have sex outside marriage

An argument frequently advanced by those attempting to defend homosexual practice is that Christians ‘cherry pick’ the commands in the Bible – that is, they chose to emphasise some commands while ignoring others.

The Old Testament may forbid homosexual acts (Leviticus 18:2; 20:13) but it also forbids eating seafood without fins and scales (Leviticus 11:9-12; Deuteronomy 14:9, 10).

So how can Christians then justify upholding laws on sexual morality whilst at the same time ignoring the food laws from the very same books of the Bible? Why may they eat shellfish but not be allowed to have sex outside marriage? Isn’t this inconsistent and hypocritical?

Didn’t Jesus himself say that ‘anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly will be called least in the kingdom of heaven’? (Matthew 5:19)

The answer to this question lies in an understanding of biblical covenants.

A covenant is a binding solemn agreement made between two parties. It generally leaves each with obligations. But it holds only between the parties involved.

There are a number of biblical covenants: Noahic, Abrahamic, Sinaitic (Old), Davidic and New.

Under the Noahic covenant, which God made with all living human beings (Genesis 9:8-17), people were able to eat anything:

‘Everything that lives and moves about will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything’ (Genesis 9:3).

But under the Sinaitic (Old) Covenant, which God made with the nation of Israel, people were able to eat certain foods, but not others. These are listed in detail in Leviticus 11:1-47 and Deuteronomy 14:1-21).

However these laws were applicable only to the nation of Israel and were intended to set them apart from other races.

The Old (Sinaitic) Covenant was made after Israel’s deliverance from Egypt and involved laws, priests (all of whom were members of the tribe of Levi) and a sacrificial system based on animal sacrifice. It was aimed at protecting Israel from God’s wrath and judgement.

The nation of Israel, however, was unable to keep the requirements of the Old Covenant, meaning that a New Covenant was necessary, as foretold by the prophet Jeremiah:

‘“The days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and with the people of Judah. It will not be like the covenant I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they broke my covenant, though I was a husband to them,” declares the Lord.“This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel after that time,” declares the Lord.“I will put my law in their mind and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. No longer will they teach their neighbour, or say to one another, ‘Know the Lord,’because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. “For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.”’ (Jeremiah 31:31-34)

Jesus said that he had come to fulfil the ‘Law and the Prophets’ (Matthew 5:17; Luke 24:44). He would establish this new covenant with new laws, with himself as high priest based on his own sacrificial death on the cross. 

This new covenant would completely deal with sin (Hebrews 10:1-18) and protect all those who put their faith in him from God’s wrath and judgement (See more on this here).

‘In the same way, after the supper (Jesus) took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you”’ (Luke 22:20). ‘…we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all’ (Hebrews 10:10)

People would come under the protection of this new covenant, not by virtue of belonging to the nation of Israel, but through faith in Christ. In fact the function of the Old Testament Law (Sinaitic covenant) was to point to Christ as its fulfilment.

‘So the law was our guardian until Christ came that we might be justified by faith. Now that this faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian. So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Gentile…’ (Galatians 3:24-28)

The Apostle Paul makes this very clear in saying:

‘I myself am not under the law… though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law’ (1 Corinthians 9:20, 21)

So what then did Christ say about foods? He pronounced all foods clean for his followers to eat:

‘ “Don’t you see that nothing that enters a person from the outside can defile them?  For it doesn’t go into their heart but into their stomach, and then out of the body.” (In saying this, Jesus declared all foods clean.) He went on: “What comes out of a person is what defiles them.  For it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come—sexual immorality, theft, murder,  adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly.  All these evils come from inside and defile a person.” (Mark 7:18-23)

Jesus was making that point that under the new covenant God required purity of the heart. Internal thoughts and attitudes were as important as external actions.  Consistent with this God commanded the apostle Peter to eat food that was forbidden under the Old Covenant:

‘Then a voice told him, “Get up, Peter. Kill and eat.” “Surely not, Lord!” Peter replied. “I have never eaten anything impure or unclean.” The voice spoke to him a second time, “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.” (Acts 10:13-15)

Similarly the apostle Paul taught that all foods were admissible under the New Covenant:

‘(hypocritical liars)… order them to abstain from certain foods, which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and who know the truth.  For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving,  because it is consecrated by the word of God and prayer.’ (1 Timothy 4:2-5)

So Christians can eat anything, including shellfish.

But what about sex?

The Bible, consistently throughout, teaches that sex is only permissible within a marriage between a man and a woman. This principle is first laid down during the creation narrative:

‘a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh’ (Genesis 2:24)

It is upheld in the Old Covenant and in great detail every sexual act outside this pattern is listed as off limits in Leviticus 18 and 20.

Jesus upholds the same principle in his teaching on marriage (Matthew 19:1-12) and its importance is emphasised to Gentile Christians (Acts 15:19,20) and repeatedly emphasised in the teaching of the apostles.

‘It is God’s will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality; that each of you should learn to control your own body in a way that is holy and honourable,  not in passionate lust like the pagans, who do not know God;  and that in this matter no one should wrong or take advantage of a brother or sister. The Lord will punish all those who commit such sins, as we told you and warned you before.  For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life. (1 Thessalonians 4:3-7)

In fact in the very last book of the Bible we are told that the unrepentant ‘sexually immoral’ will not enter heaven (Revelation 21:8, 22:15)

I have unpacked this teaching on sexual morality in much more detail here and here.

So Christians can eat shellfish, in fact they can eat all foods, but they cannot have sex outside marriage. And that includes homosexual sex.

Answering Christians who are unclear about biblical sexual ethics

Anyone who presents a biblical perspective on sexual ethics on the internet will come in for a lot of criticism and be called all manner of things, especially if writing about homosexuality.

This is entirely what we should expect. 

We live in a world that is hostile to Christian faith and values and to many people biblical sexual ethics are antiquated, bizarre, naïve, unrealistic or even unchristian.

But when that criticism comes from fellow Christians it is can be more challenging to handle.

The Evangelical Alliance’s recent survey on the views of evangelical Christians in Britain reveals that there is a wide range of views on sexual morality even amongst those who accept biblical authority.

Only 59% of 17,000 British evangelicals surveyed in 2010, for example, ‘agreed a lot’ that ‘homosexual actions are always wrong’. 14% ‘agreed a little’, 11% were unsure, 8% disagreed a little and 8% disagreed a lot.

And yet the Bible is very clear on this issue and the stance of the Evangelical Alliance has been very strong in recent statements. The Accepting Evangelicals group, who wish to bless gay partnerships, are a very small minority indeed.

So why are so many evangelicals so unclear? There are certainly strong pressures from the prevailing culture to adopt an unbiblical view, but I suspect it really boils down to what they are being taught (or not being taught!) in their churches.

Are evangelical pastors and teachers equally confused, or have they just been intimidated into silence by the fear of what reaction biblical teaching on this issue might generate?

I suspect it is largely the latter. So in this blog I have given some of the usual reactions Christians give when the issue of sexual morality is raised along with some suggested responses.

As always our best guide is the Bible itself, and so I have illustrated (and linked) each point with Scripture:

1.  It’s unloving

It’s increasingly common to be told by Christians that telling people they can’t be true to their feelings is ‘unloving’. Above all we should love one another and that means affirming and building up and not implying that other people’s behaviour is unacceptable.

But Jesus himself said that the commands to love God and love one another are summed up the Old Testament Law (Matthew 22:37-40). The command to ‘love your neighbour as yourself’ comes from Leviticus 19:18.

But Leviticus 19 is sandwiched immediately between Leviticus 18 & 20 where most of the explicit OT teaching on sexual morality is found. And these verses are very clear that the only context for sex is within a lifelong marriage between a man and a woman (marriage).

Furthermore all this teaching is upheld in the New Testament.

Leviticus 19:18 is preceded by the command, ‘Be holy because I, the Lord your God, am holy’ (19:2) and its immediate context is 19:17: ‘Do not hate a fellow Israelite in your heart. Rebuke your neighbour frankly so you will not share in their guilt’.

Loving God and our neighbour involves being holy, being sexually pure and being concerned enough about our fellow believers to challenge them over sin.  Real love is willing even to risk being rejected for challenging a brother or sister because you care more about their walk with God than you do about what they think of you.

2. We shouldn’t judge

Jesus says in the Sermon on the Mount, ‘Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you’ (Matthew 7:1,2).

But it is clear from the wider context of Matthew that this is challenging hypocritical and judgmental attitudes and does not excuse Christians from challenging one another about sin. In fact looking out for each other in this way is a Christian duty.

Jesus commands in Matthew 18:15-17:

‘If your brother or sister sins, go and point out their fault, just between the two of you. If they listen to you, you have won them over. But if they will not listen, take one or two others along, so that “every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.” If they still refuse to listen, tell it to the church; and if they refuse to listen even to the church, treat them as you would a pagan or a tax collector.’

The Apostle Paul is even more explicit about the need for church discipline for sexual sin:

‘ I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people— not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters. In that case you would have to leave this world. But now I am writing to you that you must not associate with anyone who claims to be a brother or sister but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or slanderer, a drunkard or swindler. Do not even eat with such people. What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? God will judge those outside. “Expel the wicked person from among you”.’ (1 Corinthians 5:9-13)

3. It is between them and God

The Bible is very clear that sin is not simply between us and God. Sin damages the Christian community because all of us are inseparably linked as members of the body of Christ. In the body of Christ we are responsible for each other and when one falls all suffer. What damages the body is the body’s business. Furthermore sexual sin damages the body of Christ in a way that other sin does not:

‘Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ himself? Shall I then take the members of Christ and unite them with a prostitute? Never!  Do you not know that he who unites himself with a prostitute is one with her in body? For it is said, “The two will become one flesh.” But whoever is united with the Lord is one with him in spirit. Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a person commits are outside the body, but whoever sins sexually, sins against their own body. Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honour God with your bodies.’ (1 Corinthians 6:15-20).

4. The Gospel is about grace not law

It is of course true that we are saved by grace through faith through Jesus’ death for our sins (Ephesians 2:8, 9). It is also true that we rely on his grace and power to live holy lives. But once saved we are to imitate Christ (1 Corinthians 11:1), to walk in his footsteps (1 John 2:6), indeed to imitate God himself (Ephesians 5:1).

We are called to ‘the obedience that comes from faith’ (Romans 1:5) and to be sanctified: avoiding sexual immorality; and learning to control our bodies in a way that is holy and honourable (1 Thessalonians 4:3,4). Furthermore God’s grace and patience is intended to lead us to repentance, not to be used as an excuse for continuing in sin (Romans 2:4). Loving God and obeying him are inextricably linked:

‘If you love me, keep my commands… Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me… Now remain in my love. If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love… You are my friends if you do what I command. ‘ (John 14:15, 21; 15:9,10,14)

5. We shouldn’t be modern day Pharisees

Absolutely not. The Pharisees ignored God’s real commands and substituted their own human traditions and made up laws for them.  They were also obsessed with outward appearances rather than any change of heart . (Matthew 15:1-20) They were hypocrites.

We should certainly not be like them, but seeking outward and inward sexual purity so that our thoughts and actions are aligned with God’s will is not being pharisaical. It is rather taking holiness seriously.

6. None of us is pure

This is of course true. Each of us misses the mark and falls short and who can say they have never looked at a man or woman who is not their wife with lust, or had an impure sexual thought? (Matthew 5:27-28)

But nonetheless we are called to a life of holiness and warned about the very real dangers of deliberately keeping on sinning after coming to a knowledge of the truth (Hebrews 10:26-31). We need to be very mindful of our own vulnerabilities but this does not absolve us of the responsibility to correct and restore one another. It is rather part of bearing one another’s burdens and fulfilling the ‘law of Christ’.

‘Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the Spirit should restore that person gently. But watch yourselves, or you also may be tempted. Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfil the law of Christ.’ (Galatians 6:1,2)

7. Why don’t you preach about other sins?

Sexual immorality is of course only one sin, and we should remember that true discipleship involves teaching disciples ‘to obey everything I have commanded you’ (Matthew 28:19-20). But as we can see from the above sexual purity is very important which is why so much of Scripture is devoted to it, not just in pure didactic teaching, but through the many narratives of sexual sin put there for our warning:

‘We should not commit sexual immorality, as some of them did—and in one day twenty-three thousand of them died...These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the culmination of the ages has come. So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall!’ (1 Corinthians 10:10-12) 

Pastors and teachers must teach the whole counsel of God, but neglecting areas where one is likely to encounter criticism – and this is a prime example – is not being a faithful teacher. And teachers will be judged, we are told, more strictly (James 3:1):

‘For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. Therefore anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.’ (Matthew 5:18,19) 

‘A curse on anyone who is lax in doing the Lord’s work! A curse on anyone who keeps their sword from bloodshed!’ (Jeremiah 48:10)

It is essential that the sword of the Spirit, God’s word, is enabled to do its work (Hebrews 4:12).

There is of course more to holiness than sexual purity, but sexual purity is nonetheless an integral and essential part of the whole. 

Why doesn’t the British government help compensate this poor paralysed man in Saudi Arabia?

Western commentators have been quick to condemn a Saudi Arabian court this week for allegedly sentencing a man to be ‘paralysed’ for inflicting a similar injury on a friend.

According to the Daily Telegraph Ali al-Khawahir, 24, has been sentenced to ‘Qisas’, or retribution, for allegedly stabbing a childhood friend ten years ago. The attack, which is said to have happened during a dispute, left the victim paralysed from the waist down.

Saudi Arabia uses Islamic Sharia law, which involves ‘eye-for-an-eye’ punishment for crimes, but also allows victims to pardon offenders in exchange for compensation.

Al-Khawahir was sentenced to be surgically paralysed unless he can pay his victim one million riyals (£180,000) and has spent the last ten years in jail awaiting his punishment. His mother claims that the victim initially demanded two million riyals, but that although this has since reduced to one million riyals, the family ‘don’t have even a tenth of this sum’.

It is said that an unnamed philanthropist is trying to raise funds to pay the money, but it is unclear how much time remains before the punishment is inflicted.

Predictably the sentence has been called ‘grotesque’ by the British Foreign Office (FCO) and ‘akin to torture’ by Amnesty International.

But what is tellingly absent from all the media commentary is any expressed concern for the victim except, ironically, from the mother of the man convicted of the crime.

Al-Khawahir's mother says she feels sorry for the victim, and that he deserves ‘millions in compensation’. The problem is, she says, the Al-Khawahir family is poor and does not have the amount necessary to avoid the ‘eye for an eye’ ruling.

Under British law ‘common assault’ carries a custodial sentence of up to six months imprisonment under the Criminal Justice Act 1988 (section 39) (or up to life imprisonment for grievous bodily harm under the Offences against the Person Act 1861) but the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme 2012 also grants payments to victims of violent crime of up to £500,000 per victim to cover injury,  loss of earnings,  special expenses,  bereavement, dependency and funerals.

Given that the average monthly salary in Saudi Arabia is 15,200 SAR (about £2,600) per month, £180,000 doesn’t seem to me to be unreasonable compensation for a serious spinal cord injury by our own British standards in order to cover a lifetime of lost earnings and healthcare costs.

Any just solution in this tragic case needs to include compensation for the victim – and if the perpetrator is unable to foot the bill, and the Saudi government is unwilling to, then why shouldn’t foreign governments and charities step in to help?

I for one would strongly support the British government spending some of its foreign aid money on cases like this. In fact I’d far rather see the Department for International Development (DfID) giving £180,000 to help support a paralysed man in Saudi Arabia than spending  £150 million supporting international abortion providers (!).

Wouldn’t it be amazing if, instead of condemning the Saudis, the British government forked out both to compensate the victim and to save the accused.

Personally I’d be quite content to see some of my tax money used in this way or to respond myself to an appeal to raise the funds if some individual – or some charity - would like to set one up.

An ‘eye for an eye’ (sometimes called the lex talionis) is the principle that a person who has injured another person is penalised to a similar degree or, according to other interpretations, the victim receives the value of the injury in compensation.

It has a long history.  In the famous legal code written by Hammurabi, the principle of exact reciprocity is very clearly used and according to Jewish interpretations the victim in criminal law gets financial compensation based on the law of human equality.

The principle of an ‘eye for an eye’ has its origin in Old Testament Law (Exodus 21:23; Leviticus 24:19; Deuteronomy 24:7) and was aimed primarily at limiting retaliation for injuries (no more than the same injury could be inflicted). However it also established the principle that any punishment should fit the crime.

It was ‘humanised’ by the Rabbis who interpreted ‘an eye for an eye’ to mean reasonable pecuniary compensation but this very principle of financial recompense was itself explicit in the Old Testament.

A person guilty of assault was required to ‘pay the injured man for the loss of his time and see that he is completely healed’ (Exodus 21:19). In other words he paid both for lost income and also healthcare.

For true justice to be done violent injuries should be compensated, and if it’s not possible for the perpetrator to do so, then it makes sense that others should help.

Jesus, of course went one step further in calling on Christians not to demand compensation but to forgive their violent attackers (Matthew 5:38-42). But in saying this he was not saying that wrongs should not be redressed.

Rather he was pointing to the way that God himself was to forgive our sins against himself through taking the punishment we deserved through his death on the cross. Jesus, in other words, stepped in to pay the compensation that we should have paid, but could not afford.  

Maybe instead of condemning the Saudis we should be following Jesus’ example. Wouldn’t that be a great post-Easter gesture?

Stunning 5,000% increase in Belgian euthanasia cases in eleven years since legalisation

I have previously highlighted the rapid escalation of euthanasia and assisted suicide cases in the Netherlands, Oregon and Switzerland in recent years but Belgium is eclipsing all of these countries in the race to become the ‘world leader’.

In 2012, the number of euthanasia cases in Belgium increased by 25%, from 2011 reaching a record level of 1,432 since the practice was legalized in the country in 2002 (original source here).

The Federal Control and Evaluation euthanasia (FCEE), in publishing the data, is now considering to extend the right to citizens who suffer from degenerative mental illnesses like Alzheimer’s and also children.

A recent FCEE report on euthanasia in Belgium on 2010 and 2011, unfortunately available only in French, details the longer term trends since legalisation.

The upper line in the graph above is the total of euthanasia cases reported to the commission and shows an increase from 24 cases in 2002 to 1,133 in 2011 – a stunning overall increase of 4,620% in just ten years! If we include the 1,432 figure for 2012 the increase is well over 5,000% in eleven years. Even if we count it from the first full year (2003), the increase is still over 500%.

The middle line in the graph above is the number of cases reported in Dutch (so by Dutch speaking medical doctors) and the bottom line is the number of cases reported in French (Walloon part and Brussels). So it seems that euthanasia is performed mostly in the Dutch speaking part of Belgium (Flanders).

It is important to note that only acts which intentionally end life using barbiturates (Article 2 of the law on euthanasia) meet the legal definition of legal euthanasia so these figures do not include people killed by deliberate overdosage with morphine, withdrawal of treatment with explicit aim of ending life or ‘terminal sedation’ with the aim of hastening death.

We know from the Netherlands that these other ways of ending life have also increased dramatically in recent years.

Over the last two years 75% of euthanasia cases in Belgium were for cancer (including all malignancies), 7% were for progressive neuromuscular disorders (multiple sclerosis, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Parkinson's disease, etc) and 18% were for ‘other conditions’.  

69% of euthanasia were performed in patients aged 40-79 years and 27% in patients older than 79 years.

194 cases over the two years (9%) involved patients whose deaths were ‘not foreseeable in the short term’ and 2% of cases involved unconscious patients who had earlier signed advance directives.

In the vast majority of cases (99%), death was produced by inducing deep unconsciousness first with barbiturates (usually thiopental ) followed by an IV injection of a paralyzing muscle relaxant (usually norcuron or tracium).

The Committee in its report emphasized the importance of ‘easy availability of products needed for euthanasia’ and considered that the medical school curriculum and postgraduate education sessions should include training on ‘the proper implementation of euthanasia’ .

It seems that euthanasia has now been accepted as part of normal medical care in Belgium.

The lessons are clear. Once euthanasia is legalised steady escalation follows along with a change in the social conscience so that it rapidly becomes accepted as normal.

With new bills about to be debated in the Westminster and Scottish parliaments Britain should take warning. 

Gay partnerships – how far should we go in tolerating ‘evangelicals’ who endorse them?

The Bishop of Liverpool, James Jones (£), and Baptist minister Steve Chalke have both recently come out in support of the church affirming monogamous gay (sexual) partnerships.

James Jones says that gay partnerships are among a number of major moral issues where ‘the church allows a large space for a variety of nuances, interpretations, applications and disagreements’.

Steve Chalke has written a special liturgy for gay partnerships that he has published on his Oasis charity website along with a full ‘evangelical exegesis’ of his pro-gay stance (More here and here).

The House of Bishops’ pastoral statement on civil partnerships of July 2005 specifically precludes the clergy of the Church of England from conducting services of blessing for those who have entered into a civil partnership.

It states: ‘Clergy of the Church of England should not provide services of blessing for those who register a civil partnership.’

Steve Clifford, general director of the Evangelical Alliance (EA), has said that he believes the conclusions Chalke has come to on same-sex relationships are wrong. He has also expressed ‘sadness and disappointment’ at the way Chalke, an EA member, ‘has not only distanced himself from the vast majority of the evangelical community here in the UK, but indeed from the Church across the world and 2,000 years of biblical interpretation’. 

And yet both Justin Welby, the new archbishop of Canterbury, and Steve Clifford seem committed to an ongoing dialogue with those with whom they disagree. Welby has called for the church to disagree ‘gracefully’ over gay marriage and Clifford has stressed that ‘as we have this discussion let's remember that Jesus requires us to disagree without being disagreeable’.

Am I alone in finding this all rather disturbing?

To Jones and Chalke, the issue of whether or not one should bless gay partnerships is a secondary issue on which evangelicals can legitimately take different positions – in other words both views (acceptance and rejection of gay partnerships) fall within the boundaries of evangelicalism. 

Neither is offering his resignation. This is particularly interesting given that the Courage Trust resigned from EA in 2002 when it decided to take the same position on gay partnerships that Chalke is now espousing and affirming.  

But it seems to me also that, in spite of Clifford’s and Welby’s clear personal stance on the issue (both take the orthodox position that the only context for sex is within monogamous, heterosexual marriage), in practice they appear to regard gay partnerships as being in the category of what Paul called ‘disputable matters’,  issues (of the Romans 14 and 1 Corinthians 8 & 10 variety) on which evangelical Christians can legitimately disagree and yet remain 'in fellowship'.

I say ‘in practice’ because they appear to be taking the view that those who hold to and teach Jones’ and Chalke’s view on gay partnerships should be debated with ‘gracefully’ and ‘agreeably’ rather than being disciplined.

This approach seems to be at odds with EA's own official position which reads as follows (emphasis mine):

'We believe both habitual homoerotic sexual activity without repentance and public promotion of such activity are inconsistent with faithful church membership. While processes of membership and discipline differ from one church to another, we believe that either of these behaviours warrants consideration for church discipline' 

EA appears not to be abiding by its own policy but a far more important question is, 'Does ongoing 'gracious debate' square with what the Bible teaches?' I’m not at all sure that it does.

The ‘one man, one woman, for life’ (marriage) context for sexual relations of Genesis 2:24 is a creation ordinance for all mankind. Furthermore the complementarity and permanence of the marriage relationship mirrors the complementarity and permanence of Christ’s relationship with his body (and bride) the church (Ephesians 5:22-33).

Old Testament teaching on sexuality (detailed in Leviticus 18 & 20) makes it very clear that the only proper context for sexual relations is within (heterosexual) marriage. These two chapters straddle Leviticus 19 with its injunctions to ‘Be Holy because I the Lord am holy’ (19:2) and to ‘love your neighbour as yourself’ (19:18).

Jesus upholds the creation ordinance of marriage (Matthew 19:4-6) and indicates that sexual purity goes beyond mere actions to thoughts and motivations (Matthew 5:27-32).

Paul points out the unique nature of sexual sin (porneia) in that it involves sin ‘against one’s own body’ (1 Corinthians 6:18-20) and argues that sexual purity is part of sanctification, living a holy life (1 Thessalonians 4:3-8).

Furthermore we receive the grave warning in Revelation (21:8 and 22:15) that the unrepentant sexually immoral are destined for the lake of fire and will not partake of the tree of life.

The book of Hebrews (10:26) tells us that ‘If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God’.

The Bible is also very clear that homosexual practice in particular, as well as being included within the boundaries of sexual immorality (porneia), is also a specific marker of a society that has turned its back on God – Genesis 19, Judges 19 and Romans 1 are familiar examples.

Jesus himself calls the church of Thyatira to repentance over ‘(tolerating) that woman Jezebel’ who ‘by her teaching’ ‘misleads my servants into sexual immorality’ (Revelation 2:20-25).

Sex outside marriage is viewed very seriously indeed in Scripture but false teaching which leads people into sexual sin is viewed even more seriously (Luke 17:1-2) and warnings about the affirmation and endorsement of sexual immorality (2 Peter 2 and Jude are poignant examples) are particularly strong.

Those who lead ‘little ones’ astray (Matthew 18:6), like those they mislead, are in great danger. This is why it is so important for us to exercise godly discipline with them (Matthew 18:15-20; Luke 17:3-4; Galatians 6:1; James 5:19, 20) for their own sakes, as well as for those who they might mislead or have already misled.

Those who raise these uncomfortable issues in the church are often are told ‘not to judge’, but the Bible is very clear that in the case of sexual immorality or false teaching it is actually our responsibility as Christians to ‘judge’ and to exercise discipline (1 Corinthians 5:1-13).

When there was a serious issue that threatened the integrity of the early church (with whole groups being led astray) the apostles called a council. We read about it in Acts 15. The matter (in that case circumcision) was seen as serious and meriting prompt action. It is interesting that one of the conclusions of that first council was that all Christians were to avoid sexual immorality (Acts 15:29). When the church has encountered other serious issues throughout the centuries councils have similarly been called to bring resolution.

I am no expert on church history and cannot ever recall a church council specifically on sexual morality but I can also not recall a time in history when senior church leaders sought to affirm or bless sexual behaviour that the Bible clearly teaches is immoral.

Can we imagine the apostle Paul leaving a situation like this to smoulder and fester? Would he not rather have urged his co-workers to ‘command certain men not to teach false doctrines’ (1 Timothy 1:3) and to ‘gently instruct in the hope that God will grant repentance’ (2 Timothy 2:25). Would he have not insisted that false teachers ‘must be silenced’ (Titus 1:11)? 

Do we really think that Jesus himself, given his clear warnings about the dangers of false teaching, would have allowed a situation like this to persist unchallenged? Should we be acting any differently? Is it really enough to ‘disagree without being disagreeable’ and to debate ‘gracefully’?   

When false teaching is allowed to fester in the church, and when godly discipline is not exercised with those who are propagating it, whole households, churches and communities can be ruined (Titus 1:11).

I am becoming increasingly uneasy about how we evangelicals have allowed this particular situation to drift. I believe that the time for tolerance and discussion is over and that we need now to act.  

The real meaning of Easter: Why did Jesus have to die?

‘Agnus Dei’ (literally Lamb of God) is an oil painting of a bound lamb upon an altar by Francisco de Zurbarán which was started in 1636 and completed in 1640. 

The version opposite is one of six painted by the artist and hangs in the San Diego Museum of Art, USA.

It represents the teaching right at the very heart of the Christian faith whereby God makes peace with estranged and condemned human beings through the death of his Son Jesus Christ on a Roman cross.

Jesus is called the ‘Lamb of God’ because his death was an act of ‘substitutionary atonement’.

In other words Jesus died in our place receiving the judgement and wrath that our sins deserved.

We remember it on Good Friday, the day after the Jewish Passover.

This concept of ‘dying in our place’ has its roots in the very first book of the Bible -  in Genesis 3 -   where God protected Adam and Eve from his deserved judgement by turning them out of the garden of Eden and clothing them in the skin of slaughtered animals.

The theme is similarly central to Abraham’s offering of his son Isaac when God produced a sheep as a substitute.  

Also in the Passover, preceding the Exodus, the blood of a firstborn lamb smeared on the doorposts and lintels of Israelite homes protected them from the wrath of God that fell on the Egyptians. God ‘passed them over’ and did not give them what they deserved.

Substitutionary atonement is also the basis of the Jewish sacrificial system whereby bulls, goats, sheep and pigeons were killed instead of the people to forestay God’s wrath, and also the Day of Atonement, six months after Passover, where one goat carrying the nation’s sin was slaughtered in the place of the people and a second was sent out into the wilderness never to return.

All of these were imperfect means by which a temporary reprieve was achieved for sinful human beings. They all foreshadow the death of Jesus, the Lamb of God on the cross. As Revelation, the last book in the Bible declares, Jesus was ‘the Lamb who was slain from the creation of the world’ (13:8).

As the writer of Hebrews informs us, ‘the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year’ can never ‘make perfect those who draw near to worship’ because it is ‘impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins’.

We can only be ‘made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all… For by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy’ (Hebrews 10:1-10).

It is said that God’s wrath and mercy meet at the cross. If God was purely a God of justice our judgement as a human race would have been immediate and final. But because God is also a God of mercy, He has provided a means by which our sin could be completely paid for.

Jesus through dying on the cross took the wrath and judgement that our sins deserved; and because he has taken that wrath and judgement in our place we receive mercy and are thereby forgiven. 

The idea of substitutionary atonement, that Christ died in our place for our sins, is central to both Old Testament and New Testament.

Nowhere is it spelt out more explicitly in the Old Testament than in Isaiah 53, the last of the four servant songs, written 700 years before Christ was crucified but written in anticipation of it:

‘Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering,
yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted.
But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.
We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way;
and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.’ (Isaiah 53:4-6)

The central theme in Isaiah 53 (v7) is that of the ‘agnus dei’, the Lamb of God, who ‘did not open his mouth’, was ‘led like a lamb to the slaughter’ and ‘as a sheep before its shearers is silent’.

The idea of substitutionary atonement is frequently returned to in the following verses of the chapter: ‘for the transgression of my people he was punished’, ‘the Lord makes his life an offering for sin’, ‘my righteous servant will justify many’, ‘he will bear their iniquities’, ‘For he bore the sin of many’.

In the same way substitutionary atonement is the central teaching of the New Testament.

Paul says that Jesus died ‘for us’ (Romans 5:6-8; 2 Corinthians 5:14; 1 Thessalonians 5:10) and also that he died ‘for our sins’ (1 Corinthians 15:3; Gal. 1:4).

Jesus describes his own ministry as giving his life ‘as a ransom for many’ (Matthew 20:28; Mark 10:45) and Peter says ‘He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree’ (1 Peter 2:24).

Christ, Paul tells Timothy, ‘gave himself as a ransom for all people’ (1 Timothy 2:6). The writer of Hebrews adds that Christ ‘died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant’ (Hebrews 9:15).

Peter sums it up in saying that ‘Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God’ (1 Peter 3:18).

To further unpack this theme the New Testament explains substitutionary atonement with four main metaphors.

First is the metaphor of the altar of sacrifice. Christ is the sacrificial lamb whose blood is shed in our place. It is we who deserved to die but Christ substituted himself instead.

Second is the slave market. Christ paid the redemption price that we could not pay in order to free us from bondage. He bore the cost for us.

Third is the law court. Christ is our justification, that is, he took the punishment that we deserved in order than we might not be condemned.

Fourth is the metaphor of relationship. Christ’s death on our behalf brings reconciliation after our unilateral abandonment of God. 

Like any metaphor, each of these illustrations provides merely a picture of what actually happened when Jesus died on the cross in our place. But in each case he did what we, in our weakness and sin, were unable to do (Romans 5:6-8).

He saves us from sin, judgement and Hell, to which we would inevitably be going had he not intervened at great personal cost.

The question for us is how we respond to this act of Jesus Christ.

Knowing that Christ, the creator and sustainer of the universe, whom we abandoned through passive indifference or active rebellion, sought us out and paid the ultimate price because it was the only thing that was sufficient to achieve our forgiveness and reconciliation, how can we possibly respond?

The only right response is surely to fall as his feet, to acknowledge him as master and deliverer and to give our lives to love and serve him – to come to him in repentance (turning from sin) and faith (trusting obedience).

And to those who do this he offers not only the forgiveness of sins – a clean slate – but also a renewed life and new nature (2 Corinthians 5:17), the power to change through the gift of the Holy Spirit (Romans 8:9), the gift of service (Ephesians 3:7), the certainty of eternal life (Jude 24) and the promise that nothing will ever separate us from his love for all eternity.

‘Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?...  No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord’ (Romans 8:35-39).

(See also 'Jesus’ resurrection: what evidence is there that it really happened?')

The creed which still encapsulates the spirit of the age

British journalist Steve Turner's poem 'the Creed' is now over 30 years old but still beautifully encapsulates the spirit of the age as expressed by atheists, liberals, New Agers and secular humanists. I first heard it as a medical student. Enjoy!

The Creed 

We believe in Marxfreudanddarwin.
We believe everything is OK
as long as you don't hurt anyone,
to the best of your definition of hurt,
and to the best of your knowledge.

We believe in sex before during
and after marriage.
We believe in the therapy of sin.
We believe that adultery is fun.
We believe that sodomy's OK
We believe that taboos are taboo.

We believe that everything's getting better
despite evidence to the contrary.
The evidence must be investigated.
You can prove anything with evidence.

We believe there's something in horoscopes,
UFO's and bent spoons;
Jesus was a good man just like Buddha
Mohammed and ourselves.
He was a good moral teacher although we think
his good morals were bad.

We believe that all religions are basically the same,
at least the one that we read was.
They all believe in love and goodness.
They only differ on matters of
creation sin heaven hell God and salvation.

We believe that after death comes The Nothing
because when you ask the dead what happens
they say Nothing.
If death is not the end, if the dead have lied,
then it's compulsory heaven for all
excepting perhaps Hitler, Stalin and Genghis Khan.

We believe in Masters and Johnson.
What's selected is average.
What's average is normal.
What's normal is good.

We believe in total disarmament.
We believe there are direct links between
warfare and bloodshed.
Americans should beat their guns into tractors
and the Russians would be sure to follow.

We believe that man is essentially good.
It's only his behaviour that lets him down.
This is the fault of society.
Society is the fault of conditions.
Conditions are the fault of society.

We believe that each man must find the truth
that is right for him.
Reality will adapt accordingly.
The universe will readjust. History will alter.
We believe that there is no absolute truth
excepting the truth that there is no absolute truth.

We believe in the rejection of creeds.

Steve Turner