Comments

The Bible doesn't have "biblical teachings on homosexual behavior." It has an antipathy to same-sex sexual activity, but an antipathy is not a teaching, but an historical artifact, like having an antipathy towards my no-iron, cotton-poly blend shirt.

The Bible did not have an antipathy towards slavery, after all, though it did have one towards slave traders...of the present day used car salesmen stereotype sort. Nothing wrong with selling a used car, but...and that's the way it was in the Bible, Slavery was condoned, but sleazy dealings in slaves was not. When slavery was abolished...the Bible became something it hadn't been before...something greedy conservatives have yet to notice.

The Bible does have teachings against predatory sexual behavior, but that's for everyone, not just gay people. Verses on same sex sexual predatory behavior are being over broadened to include non-predatory sexual behavior.

In any case, "homosexuality" is mostly an obsolete Victorian science theory, and pretty much confined to the rantings of condescending bigots. Science has left the word behind, and so should you.

What is the college’s biblical teachings on homosexual behavior? Intrinsically, Christians want to avoid sin that offends God. We do not unilaterally harm God but we wreck our love relationship with Him by sinning. Created in His loving image, we fail to live up to expectations. All sinners need to take Jesus as Savior and Lord. He will keep us in His Father's loving will. As Lord, He bases and defines ALL sin as lack of love (Matthew 22:36-40). Such obvious sins as theft, murder and adultery are unloving because each has a victim, someone not receiving love. Please tell me, who is the unloved victim in a homosexual relationship? Neither is a victim, neither is unloved. Where is the hurt? Who could bring suit against the "sinner"? What Gospel writer or Bible prophet claimed homosexuality is sinful? (Jesus didn't!) These are not rhetorical questions; they are unanswered by those who refuse God's grace and live by working the law. How would you like to be the first to answer any one of them? If God didn't want men to have sex with other men, He would have said "Man shall not lie with man PERIOD (Leviticus 18:22, 21:13). God wanted Moses to eradicate rampant idolatry in the Jewish nation. That whole " . . . as with a woman" thing condemns straight men pretending to make it with a woman, such as during idol worship. Paul explains it further when putting down the straight Romans (1:26-28 ) and Corinthians (1 Co 6:9-11) for "leaving their natural relations" (i.e.... as with a woman) and having idolatrous sex with men. Gay men can only imagine what sex " . . . as with a woman" would be. We are attracted to other men by definition and by God. "Homosexual" was coined about 1865, so any subsequent Bible translation using that word is a lie that needs to be emended. It premiered in a1946 English Bible and has been condemning loving Gays ever since. What is the most love one can show another sinner? Offer them an eternity with God through the redemptive cross of Jesus. When was the last time you told a disgusting, abominable, disgraceful unnatural, revolting and sinful homosexual that Jesus died for their sins? A problem is that Gays do not want to affiliate with unloving and judgmental Christians. Know Jesus, know love. No Jesus, no love.

This is a "top Evangelical" school and the Dean supports such an idea? The student association votes 7-6? Something is rotten, and has rotted from the head down.

Loy should be fired; the student association disolved and some leadership established. Either that and go completely secular and "may posterity forget they were our (countrymen)".

I applaud the Gordon College student government for wanting to maintain their neutrality concerning such a group. While GLBT students should indeed have some forum in which to express themselves on a campus, it is not up to the student government to sponsor such a group, as that would show favoritism and, I believe, send the wrong message to other groups seeking a forum for hot-button issues. But what's in a name? Apparently, an awful lot. The proposed name change for such an on-campus group (from Gay Straight Alliance to Spectrum) is a nice idea, but they will need to be sure that the group remains committed to expressing its needs and views in the Biblical context of Gordon's statement of Life Conduct. That does not mean we should avoid discussing such issues, rather that we MUST discuss them and learn how we can face such issues in a Christian context. Kudos to Gordon for not refusing the formation of the GLBT group outright but for allowing the group consideration.

I commend the students and faculty at Gordon College for continuing to have what appears to be a calm discussion of a difficult issue. We need to see more public displays of moderation from the church (instead of simply condemning homosexuality as out of hand), and more diverse views like that advocated by Brian McLaren in January 06 on Christianity Today.

The fact the faculty asked for a name change to something less obvious, the fact that Dean Loy doesn't want the gays on campus to "feel ostracized," the fact Soulforce was even allowed on campus, and the fact a straight student was so easily influenced by an immoral argument from a secular group means Gordon has lost its way in the area of biblical teachings on morality.

Just how did gays become students at Gordon? Why on earth did the administration allow Soulforce on campus? Is the campus going to take the Roman Catholic Church's position that homosexuality is okay as long as it is not practiced?

What Gordon should be doing for the gay students is not offering them affirmation of their homosexuality, but free Christian mental health counseling and a deeper encounter with the Holy Spirit. When Gordon found out it had gays in its student body it should have contacted Exodus International for help and advice on how to handle the student request. It is highly doubtful EI would have recommended the route being taken.

Homosexuality is fast becoming the issue causing the church to slide into apostacy in these Last Days. This is quite troubling.

Reading the first five posts, all but the first one are seeing this issue more or less from the biblical perspective. I am more "expert" on this issue than most of your posters as my wife and I raised our son in a Christian home, but have been struggling with this issue since January 2007 when, at age 14, he "came out" to us.

Being gay isn't a mental illness, and there is no need to automatically suppose that a gay person should have "free Christian mental health counseling." Being under constant anomic bombing, and even sometimes actual bombing, by the self-righteous, however, might suggest support groups to best deal with what other people are doing to them, in ways small and large.

Loving your neighbor isn't usually seen as apostasy by Christians. And the same claims of dragging the church into apostasy were made by slavery and race segregation apologists against the radical abolitionists and integrationists, in the lifetimes of my grandfather and even my childhood. So, why should I trust conservative Christians today on matters of theology, civil rights, equality, marriage and the Golden Rule, when they were wrong, in general, on all these things in the all too recent past?

While my great grandfather and most other Union soldiers probably fought for the Union more than for for emancipation, they still generally had an antipathy towards slavery, a desire for free soil, a grudging tolerance of the abolitionists, a nod to the opening of the Declaration of Independence that all men are created equal, and slavery ended...no thanks to conservative evangelicals, who, even if they had an antipathy to slavery themselves, nevertheless defended it as God's will, literally interpreted, and not for men to end.

Moral people don't care is someone is gay, anymore than they care if someone is of another "race," married to someone of another "race," or married to the same gender, or straight, or is female, or left handed, or right handed, or has red hair, or has male pattern baldness. These things are only mildly interesting. Moral people don't care, because a radical understanding of the Golden Rule suggests that they don't care.

Conservative evangelicals of my grand father's childhood interpreted the Golden Rule patriarchally. They asked: "If I were a slave, what would I want?" They answered: "A patriarchal master, wise, authoritative, kind, fair but firm, who is uncannily like one's self wishes to be."

The radical abolitionists asked the same question, but answered; "I would want to be free, to be my own man, to be a full citizen of my country."

And, conservative evangelicals ask today: "If I were gay, what would I want?"

They answer, "To be a heterosexual, a wise patriarch etc, uncannily like one wishes oneself to be."

But others answer: "To be free from bigotry ...to be my own man, to be a full citizen of my country."

This group has infiltrated a known Christian College for one reason, to change the college. Gordon College needs to establish a position on this issue and stick to it one way or the other. If change is needed in this area then do so, if not, then don't. But there can be no ambiguous negotiations regarding this matter. Make a firm decision and stick to it or you will forfeit the college to another special interest group, whatever that special interest may be.

Wouldn't it would be more intellectually honest to just write off the Bible completely as an antiquated collection of man-made ideas than to subvert its clear meaning. Does the Bible disallow only "predatory" same-sex unions? Come now. Consensual sex between same-sex couples AND unmarried heterosexuals is strictly forbidden. God is hardly picking on gays.

Van Til pointed out our real problem: He observed that we human beings are forever molding lumps of clay into little gods in our own image, throwing them up on the ceiling where they stick, then worshiping them.
Tim Keller echoes Van Til. He says we have a much deeper problem than sexual misconduct (of either variety). Like the husbands in the film "The Stepford Wives" (1974, 2004), who re-engineered their wives into virtual robots, we want a "Stepford god" - a god we can control. All we will tolerate from this "god" is a mindless "Yes dear; yes dear". The problem, of course, is that he is no god at all, but an impotent product of our own imagination.

It's true: God created man in His own image, and we've been returning the favor ever since.

Johnny Long, DMin GCTS '98
World Harvest Mission
London

Gordon has Transgender students? You have got to be kidding me.

Gordon College affirms the historic, orthodox Christian position that homosexual practice is incompatible with the teaching of Scripture and the Gordon community is expected to refrain from any sexual intercourse- heterosexual or homosexual-outside of marriage (a divinely sanctioned institution intended to occur between a man and a woman). There is currently much debate among believing Christians about the nature and causes of homosexuality, and about a faithful Christian response to same-sex attractions, but we acknowledge that we are all sinners in need of grace, all called to redeemed humanity in Christ. We recognize that students at Gordon with same-sex
attraction have sometimes felt marginalized and alone, and recognize the pressing need for a safe campus environment for all students. Gordon College does not accept homosexual practice as a way of life. On the other hand, we are not unrealistic, and we know that people with same-sex attraction deal with these matters on a daily basis in our churches, on our campuses, and in every other Christian community. Rejection and hostility are not what Christ calls us to practice when encountering those with same-sex attraction.

Gordon College is a place of compassion and we try to care for all people while upholding Scripture. The Biblical teachings about marriage and sexuality are not an arbitrary list of prohibitions but are connected to important aspects of our Christian faith. The teachings of Christ provide a good foundation from which we strive to be faithful to Biblical teachings on sexuality while caring for those in our community who have same-sex attraction. The question for us at Gordon College is, given our Biblical view of sexuality and given that we do have students who have same-sex attraction and are willing to live within our behavioral guidelines, how should we live together in a caring and compassionate way that honors God. While this is not easy, it is what we are called to do.

Sincerely,

Barry Loy
Dean of Students
Gordon College