It’s not a potion to cure colds. It’s a choice of the way to catch flies. According to the old saying, you can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar.
I’ve encountered a church here in my hometown that studied last summer the question of homosexuality, a topic I only touched on lightly in a recent blog post. Since I was off work all day yesterday with a migraine that wouldn’t let me think, work, or focus my eyes easily, I listened to the entire series of messages.
After my vision improved, I posted the links to them last night on Brandon Scott Thomas‘s blog, where a discussion with several folks – including a couple of gay Christians – took place in the Comments recently.
How can I say “gay Christians”? The same way I can say “divorced Christians” or “stumbling Christians” or “greedy Christians” or “exclusionary Christians.” I don’t mean it as a label, just a descriptor. We have in common a belief in Christ. We have different temptations.
The series followed by Little Rock Church – which has a “Church of Christ” heritage – was called “Full of Grace and Truth: A Christ-Like Response to Homosexuality.” Most are MP3s you can listen to; the last one is a page listing/linked to resources:
- Part 1: Attitude Adjustment
- Interlude: Parable of the Good Samaritan Revisited
- Part 2: What the Bible Says and Doesn’t Say About Homosexuality
- Part 3: Building Bridges to Homosexual Friends and Relatives
- Interlude: Story Changing Grace
- Part 4: A Christ-Like Response (Panel Discussion)
- List of Resources
I’d encourage you to listen to the messages in the order presented, and be blessed. I really appreciate the candor and spirit with which this church looked into the matter, with plenty of grace but without playing fast and loose with the truth.
They’ve chosen honey, because they want to catch more (souls, not flies). But the whole of the message is not sweet. As the saying implies, there are some that can be caught with vinegar. So there is a taste of it in these messages, because homosexuality is sin.
Just a taste for a person crucified by the perpendicular beams of his/her passion for Christ and attraction to the same sex.
Just enough.
Blog In My Own Eye 
Maybe honey and vinegar are a cure for the common church?
Thanks for those links, Keith. I plan to download those and listen to them in the car.
Keith,
Thanks for stopping by The Baron.
Considering how “conservative” I am politically, most people are surprised to learn I don’t really have a position on homosexuality.
As for politics, I don’t think the discussion belongs at the federal level, and I don’t know whether it belongs at the state level or not.
If there are going to be any Constitutional Amendments, a simple one restricting the “full faith and credit” clause on topics of gay marriage likely would pass with little fanfare and little opposition.
As for Christianity… I am so out of step with “mainstream” Christianity, I don’t know if I am able to comment on this one.
I left the CofC, and I don’t know if I would ever go back. However, I don’t think most other denominations (yes, I called CofC “denomination”) have their problems as well (as do I, since I am human).
That said, I still have a good deal of friends and family in the CofC (don’t want to come off bitter).
I don’t know how this comment went from gays to my problem with the CofC, but it was very therapeutic – Thanks, Keith. You have been a big help!
Baron