(The following article was written by Rev. Tom Brock of pastorsstudy.org. You can follow Pastor Brock on Facebook - here and twitter - here.)
Pastor Jerry O'Neal of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America has written a blog expressing his joy over homosexual marriage. Here are some excerpts:
I believe the Supreme Court got it right on same-sex marriage...I am rejoicing with my LGBT friends today.
First, about a so-called “Biblical definition of marriage” (or similarly, saying that marriage is “ordained by God to be one man and one woman”): the Bible doesn’t have one definition of marriage. If you look at the entire Biblical narrative, you will see that the standards of marriage change over time....
To those who say, “But you don’t believe in the Bible?” No, I don’t. As our former presiding bishop, Mark Hanson, once said, “I don’t believe in the Bible – I believe in the God revealed in the Bible.” The Bible is NOT inerrant. It contains clear contradictions in places (e.g. 2 creation stories in Gen. 1—3 that do not agree), and it has been open to interpretation from the beginning...
Similarly, I do not believe the few Scripture texts that speak about same-sex relationships apply today. Marriage is a different institution than it was then (see above)...Divorce is now permissible for reasons besides infidelity, and remarriage is common, despite Jesus’ comments in Matthew 19:3-9 that such divorce and remarriage constitutes adultery....
Does this mean I will be performing same-sex marriages right now? No it doesn’t. Our congregation had conversations about this a month ago, and we were not all in the same place on this issue.
My response: Whew! Rarely is a pastor so blatant in his heresy. "Despite Jesus' comments", he says, divorce and remarriage are now okay. How easily he puts aside the teaching of the Savior. And what is keeping him from performing homosexual "weddings"? His love for Christ? His trust in the Bible? No, his laypeople. This is another example of laypeople who are much more Biblical than a pastor who has lost his way. Please say a prayer for him and his church.
If you would like to see how to respond to pro-homosexual arguments, go to pastorsstudy.org and view my article "What does the Bible say about homosexuality?"
In Christ,
Pastor Tom Brock
pastorsstudy.org
(See Pastor O'Neil's post here or here)
Pastor Jerry O'Neal of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America has written a blog expressing his joy over homosexual marriage. Here are some excerpts:
I believe the Supreme Court got it right on same-sex marriage...I am rejoicing with my LGBT friends today.
First, about a so-called “Biblical definition of marriage” (or similarly, saying that marriage is “ordained by God to be one man and one woman”): the Bible doesn’t have one definition of marriage. If you look at the entire Biblical narrative, you will see that the standards of marriage change over time....
To those who say, “But you don’t believe in the Bible?” No, I don’t. As our former presiding bishop, Mark Hanson, once said, “I don’t believe in the Bible – I believe in the God revealed in the Bible.” The Bible is NOT inerrant. It contains clear contradictions in places (e.g. 2 creation stories in Gen. 1—3 that do not agree), and it has been open to interpretation from the beginning...
Similarly, I do not believe the few Scripture texts that speak about same-sex relationships apply today. Marriage is a different institution than it was then (see above)...Divorce is now permissible for reasons besides infidelity, and remarriage is common, despite Jesus’ comments in Matthew 19:3-9 that such divorce and remarriage constitutes adultery....
Does this mean I will be performing same-sex marriages right now? No it doesn’t. Our congregation had conversations about this a month ago, and we were not all in the same place on this issue.
My response: Whew! Rarely is a pastor so blatant in his heresy. "Despite Jesus' comments", he says, divorce and remarriage are now okay. How easily he puts aside the teaching of the Savior. And what is keeping him from performing homosexual "weddings"? His love for Christ? His trust in the Bible? No, his laypeople. This is another example of laypeople who are much more Biblical than a pastor who has lost his way. Please say a prayer for him and his church.
If you would like to see how to respond to pro-homosexual arguments, go to pastorsstudy.org and view my article "What does the Bible say about homosexuality?"
In Christ,
Pastor Tom Brock
pastorsstudy.org
(See Pastor O'Neil's post here or here)
RSS Feed
