**Additional resources for this class are found HERE.
1.
Key themes that connect the past few weeks
a.
Christian sexual ethics is dependent on the
whole Christian worldview with all of its theological resources
b.
Crucial importance of the body for Christian
thinking/theology
c.
1 Corinthians 6.12-20: Paul’s example of
engaging the topic of sexual ethics in the body of the Christ with the full
resources of the gospel
2.
Christianity as pro-body (again, see Nancy
Pearcey’s book Love Thy Body)
a.
Honors the design and teleology of the body
b.
Applied this insight to issues of: hookup
culture, homosexuality, and Transgenderism
3.
Today: finish up with some final thoughts and
Questions & Answers
4.
March 16, 2018 à
heard Sam Allberry speak on “Is God Anti-Gay?”
a.
He tells the story of meeting a self-identified
gay man who in the course of talking to Allberry asked, “Why should I give up
my relationship to follow Jesus?
What do I get?”
·
Q: What would you say to such a person?
b.
Mark 10.28-30
28Peter began to say to him, “Behold, we have left everything
and followed you.” 29Jesus
said, “Truly I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or
sisters or mother or father or children or farms, for my sake and for the
gospel’s sake, 30but that he will receive a hundred times a much now
in the present age, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children
and farms, along with persecutions; and in the age to come, eternal life.”
i. Costly
things left behind
1.
Possessions: house, farms
2.
Relationships
ii. Age
to come: “eternal life”
iii. Now:
“a hundred times as much now in the present age”
iv. Jesus
is promising that we will receive more in this life than we ever give up
1.
“Those who have left the things described in
10:29 are promised all these a hundredfold in the fellowship of the church
(10:30). The gaining of a new
family (brothers, sisters, mothers [cf. Rom. 16:13], children [cf. Philem.
10]), and hospitality (houses and lands) already now in the present age/time is
a foretaste of the greater family in the age to come.”[1]
2.
We get persecutions too!
v. Jesus
is promising family
vi. It
is never a bad deal to follow Jesus!
c.
Allberry’s insight: This is an interesting
promise
i. It
requires the church’s obedience to fulfill it!
ii. We
as the people of God, the church are the brothers, sisters, mothers, and
children!
1.
Romans 16.13 “Greet Rufus, a choice man in the
Lord, also his mother and mine.”
2.
Philemon 10 “I appeal to you for my
child Onesimus, whom I have begotten in my imprisonment.”
d.
Allberry’s challenge: Do our churches provide more
relationship and love than those communities outside the church (i.e., the LGBT
community)?
·
What about our Redemption Communities?
5.
Question: Are
some sins worse than others? Are
all sins the same?
a.
Important essay to answer this question: "Is
Homosexual Practice No Worse Than Any Other Sin?" by Robert Gagnon[2]
b.
Two views
i. Egalitarian
view of sin: all sins are equal
ii. Hierarchical
view of sins: not all sins are equal; some are worse than others
c.
Apostle Paul believed both (1) that some sins
are worse than others and (2) that all have sinned and fall short of the glory
of God (Romans 3.23)
“The fact that all sin is equal in one respect—any sin can disqualify one
from the kingdom of God if one doesn’t receive Christ—does not infer that all sin
is equal in all respects—some sins provoke God to bring judgment upon his
people more than others.”[3]
d.
Logic, experience, and the Great Christian
Tradition
i. Husband
sins against his wife
1.
Lies about spending $50.00 rather than $25.00 on
a new watch
2.
Commits adultery against her with five different
women
ii. Parent
sins against child
1.
Scolds a child a little more than is necessary
for the offense
2.
Rapes the child
iii. Westminster Larger Catechism (1647)
1.
Answer 150: “All transgressions of the law of
God are not equally heinous; but some sins in themselves, and by reason of
several aggravations, are more heinous in the sight of God than others.”
2.
Question 151: “What are those aggravations that
make some sins more heinous than others?”
“Answer: Sins receive their aggravations,
(1)From the persons offending: if they
be of riper age, greater experience or grace, eminent for profession, gifts,
place, office, guides to others, and whose example is likely to be followed by
others.
(2) From the parties offended: if immediately
against God, his attributes, and worship; against Christ, and his grace; the
Holy Spirit, his witness, and workings; against superiors, men of eminency, and
such as we stand especially related and engaged unto; against any of the
saints, particularly weak brethren, the souls of them, or any other, and the
common good of all or many.
(3) From the nature and quality of the
offense: if it be against the express letter of the law, break many
commandments, contain in it many sins: if not only conceived in the heart, but
breaks forth in words and actions, scandalize others, and admit of no
reparation: if against means, mercies, judgments, light of nature, conviction
of conscience, public or private admonition, censures of the church, civil
punishments; and our prayers, purposes, promises, vows, covenants, and
engagements to God or men: if done deliberately, wilfully, presumptuously,
impudently, boastingly, maliciously, frequently, obstinately, with delight,
continuance, or relapsing after repentance.
(4)From circumstances of time and place:
if on the Lord's day, or other times of divine worship; or immediately before
or after these, or other helps to prevent or remedy such miscarriages: if in
public, or in the presence of others, who are thereby likely to be provoked or
defiled.”
e.
A sampling of the Scripture to show the
hierarchical view of sin:
i. Golden
Calf episode: Exodus 32.30 “You have sinned a great sin”
ii. Numbers
15.30: sins down with a “high hand” (cf. 15.22, 24, 27, 29)
iii. Ezekiel
8—“You will see greater abominations” (8.6, 13, 15 cf. 8.17)
iv. Matthew
11.20-24—greater condemnation on some cities for their refusal to acknowledge
Jesus. Verse 24 “Nevertheless I
say to you that it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of
judgment, than for you [Chorazin and Bethsaida].”
v. Matthew
23.23: Jesus referred to “the weightier matters of the law”
vi. Two
greatest commandments presuppose a hierarchy (Mark 12.28-31)
vii. Blasphemy
against the Holy Spirit (Mark 3.28-30)
viii.
John 19.11 to Pilate—“the one who handed me over
to you has greater sin”
ix. Paul
and different grades of sin in 1 Corinthians 3.10-17
x. 1
John 5.16-17—sin that does not lead straight to death vs. a sin that does lead
straight to death
f.
“The Bible is clear and consistent on these four
points:
i. Some
commands of God are weightier and greater and more foundational than other
commands.
ii. Some
violations are therefore greater than other violations.
iii. Violations
of greater commands are strong indications of a sick soul and of a life that
either has never been led by the Spirit or is now turning away from being led
by the Spirit.
iv. Only
those who are led by the Spirit and walk in the light participate in the
atoning work of the cross. As 1
John 1:7 says: ‘If we are walking in the light as he himself is in the light we
have partnership with one another and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us
from all sin.’ The text doesn’t
say: If you believed in Jesus at one point in your life, the blood of Christ
will cleanse you from all sin no matter how you behave. It says: ‘if we are walking in the
light… the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.’ There is no sin-transfer to Christ
apart from self-transfer; no living without dying; so saving of one’s life without
losing it.”[4]
6.
Question: What
about intersex conditions?
a.
Disorders of Sexual Development (DSD) à chromosomal and
hormonal defects
b.
Normal development
i. XX
= female; XY =male
ii. Presence
of Y determines maleness; absence =femaleness
iii. Y
chromosome has the SRY gene: Sex-determining Region on Y
iv. SRY
has TDF à
Testis-determining factor
v. TDF
directs the formation of male gonads
vi. Week
1-6: the indifferent state of sexual development
·
indifferent gonads can develop male or female
vii. Week
7: presence of Y chromosome with SRY and TDF initiates formation of testicular
differentiation; if there is no SRY then the indifferent gonads develop into
ovaries
viii.
XY à
Testes à
Testosterone à
masculinizes the body and contributes to development of male characteristics
c.
Disorders of Sexual Development
i. Klinefelter
Syndrome: extra X’s (XXY, XXXY, XXXXY, XXYY)
1.
Develop as males but with potentially very small
external reproductive organs and, maybe, some feminine characteristics (i.e.,
enlarged breasts)
2.
“It should be noted that the Klinefelter’s
Syndrome Association states that Klinefelter’s Syndrome is not an intersex
condition. They believe that
people with this condition are unequivocally male.”[5]
ii. Turner
Syndrome: missing an X (X or XO) à
develop as female
iii. XY
DSD à
develop female characteristics
1.
No SRY or mutation in SRY à testes never form and
the body does not masculinize; develop as female but infertile
2.
SRY but CAIS: Complete Androgen Insensitivity
Syndrome
·
Mutation in androgen receptor protein so it
cannot be influenced by testosterone
·
Even though XY, develops ad female but with
internal testes and no uterus
iv. XX
DSD à
develop male characteristics
1.
Paternal X has SRY due to being translocated
from Y in “meiotic crossover”
2.
Develop as males but infertile
v. Some
XX DSD develop as female but also with male genitalia
vi. Some
XX DSD have CAH: Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia
1.
Not normal cortisol which leads to an
overproduction of Androgen
2.
External = male genitalia; Interior = female
d.
Disorders due to a fallen world but do not
overturn God’s creational intent
e.
Matthew 19.11-12: Eunuchs
i. “John
Nolland says that ‘eunuchs who were born that way’ refers to ‘children [who]
were occasionally born with defective genitals and subsequently would fail to
develop male secondary characteristics as they grew up.’ In other words, Jesus describes a group
of people that seem to have similar characteristics to what we would identify
today as intersex.”[6]
ii. “A
eunuch in Jesus’ day was not someone who was sexless but someone who lacked the
ability to procreate. Indeed,
those who are made eunuchs by men are not sexless. They are castrated males. Those who make themselves eunuchs for the sake of the
kingdom are not sexless. They are
males who have voluntarily set aside the possibility of marriage and thus of
procreation. Likewise, those who
are born eunuchs are not sexless.
They are biological males who for whatever reason are born without the
capacity to procreate. They don’t
stop being males because of a disorder of sex development. The point is that all three categories
of eunuchs are viewed as males, not as ambiguously sexed. The result is that the text still
relies on a binary conception of sex even when talking about eunuchs.”[7]
7.
Questions about “gay gene” or “being born gay.”
a.
See New Atlantis Report Sexuality
and Gender: Findings from the Biological, Psychological, and Social Sciences
(Fall 2016)
b.
Even if there is a genetic component this only
provides part of the explanation of
the behavior but does provide moral
justification
“We could easily apply the ‘just
that way’ defense to a number of social problems that may involve deeply
ingrained (even biological) causes—violence, substance abuse, racism,
schizophrenia, pedophilia—but we do not, because we recognize that an explanation for the behavior is not a justification for the behavior.”[8]
[2]
Robert Gagnon, “Is Homosexual Practice No Worse Than Any Other Sin?” (January
7, 2015)—online: http://www.robgagnon.net/articles/homosexAreAllSinsEqual.pdf.
