[Clipping: Do Homosexuals Fit in Today's Church?] Part: 4 of 6
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Communion service, Metropolitan Community Church.
passedsince the broadcast and neitherWiksten nor Bailey has
perceived any loss of support from their respective congrega-
tions.
"When dealing with a fundamentalist biblicist's stand,"
says Wiksten, "it is exceedingly important to realize that
people like Robison say they 'speak the word of God.' That's
not so. The Bible is not the word of God. The Bible is a
written testimony of that word, a written expression of what
the word of God is. The word of God is Jesus Christ, and
Jesus did not say one word about homosexuality."
Jesus Christ was troubled by the hypocrisy around him
and man's reticence to love those in need. Many biblical
scholars believe the Old Testament descriptions of Sodom
only contain comdemnations of homosexual rape and the
fertility cults of pagans. It is the Pauline letters that make
some of the more specific references to homosexual acts. Dr.
Victor Furnish, a professor of New Testament at SMU's
Perkins School of Theology, believes Paul's teachings on the
subject should be neither ignored or revered. Furnish's book,
The Moral Teaching of Paul, analyzes the Greco-Roman con-
text substantiating Paul's point of view. Furnish maintains
that the Pauline references (I Corinthians 6:9 and Romans
I:26-27,) cannot serve to support condemnation of modern
homosexual orientations.
"Homosexuality is infrequently discussed in the Bible,"
he says. "If you use a concordance, you can't find much." In
I Corinthians, Paul uses two Greek words, malakoi, meaning
effeminate or weak, and arsenokoitai, refering to those engag-
ing in anal intercourse. The Revised Standard Version's
uestionable translation of malakoi and arsenokoitai as
"omosexuals" has been altered in the recent second edition
"sexual perverts." These words are part of a longer list of
,ins that prevent the sinner from inheriting the kingdom of
God. Furnish sees this passage as a rejection of idolotrous
sexual expressions. Paul's abhorrence of "dishonorable pas-
sions" as detailed in Romans is interpreted by Furnish to
mean that debauched behavior of any kind - homosexual
and heterosexual -is un-Christian.
"The most important issue here is separating the time-
less from the timely,"-Furnish-continues. "The constructivepoint is this: Biblical testaments emphasize the love, for-
giveness and mercy of God. That is timeless. We must be
extremely hesitant to stand in judgment of a community of
people. Until the whip is taken out of the hands of Anita
Bryant and James Robison, there cannot be a context con-
ducive to dialogue and the kind of love the Bible really talks
about."
The "unnatural" characteristics of homosexual love-
making are often used in arguments to the detriment of gay
people. "The 'plumbing' is all there for heterosexual relation-
ships," Furnish says. "But what modern psychology has
introduced is the psychic dimension of sexuality. At
this point, the problem of what is 'natural' becomes vastly
complicated."
The Book of Discipline of the United Methodist Church
rejects all sexual expressions "which damage or destroy the
humanity God has given us as a birthright." A slight condes-
cension is evident, perhaps, in the admission that homosex-
uals "need the ministry and guidance of the Church in their
struggles for human fulfillment, as well as the spiritual and
emotional care of a fellowship which enables reconciling
relationships with God, with others, and with self." And
while United Methodists officially believe homosexuals are
fully entitled to their human and civil rights, the Book of
Discipline concludes, "We do not condone the practice of
homosexuality and consider this practice incompatible with
Christian teaching."
Peggy Harmon entered Perkins School of Theology in
1974 with the standard recommendation from her local
church. Her intention was to join a church staff and work in
counseling. During her second year of graduate work, she
confessed to a minister that she was a lesbian. The minister
broke their confidence and reported her to the conference
board. For the next few semesters, Harmon's status remained
undisclosed. "They seemed to think that the best policy was
no policy," she explains. "Everything was handled very
quietly." Her name was deleted from the list of graduates. A
year after she completed her studies, the degree arrived in the
mail. Today Harmon is a co-coordinator for Affirmation, a
national organization of United Methodists who "happen to.0 October 1979
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Cunninham, Amy. [Clipping: Do Homosexuals Fit in Today's Church?], clipping, October 18, 1979; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1954941/m1/4/?q=%22~1%22~1: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting UNT Libraries Special Collections.