Tuesday, July 19, 2005

Mockery of God or Difference in Paradigm?

Okay so I spent some time with some "straight" friends that are clearly hostile towards homosexuals. They didn't know that I was exploring and sorting these things out. One friend does know about my background and "struggles".

They were talking about a church called "Gateway" in Hollywood that had clear signs of being a healthy and even "anointed" church. There were awesome things of God happening there but the pastor had sinned homosexually. He had also seduced about 7-8 guys in the congregation. Major controversy when it all came to light and it pretty much blew up. In their discussion, I heard a few things that made me ponder some of my previous thoughts about The Tab:

*Homosexuals claiming to be Christians but actively in a homosexual relationship (whether monogamous or promiscuous) is simply a mockery of God. It's the enemy mocking what God ordained to be orderly.

*It's a paralleling of two kingdoms - God's holy men in healthy relationships vs. The enemy deceiving men in unhealthy relationships.

*The church "Gateway" was a very close representation of what's genuine. It looked like a healthy church but really it was only a counterfeit. There were several people at this church that didn't realize what was going on - even mature and discerning believers were deceived by this pastor's hidden sin.

*One of the signs of "Gateway" was a lack of humility in the pastor. There was a celebrity type attraction of people to himself.

*The anointing was so close to a genuine anointing.

Okay, so with all of these statements in context to my last two posts about The Tab, it sounds scary. Is the Tab just a very close counterfeit? Are they counterfeit believers? That's hard for me to believe, because after spending time with them, they seem like they genuinely love God. However, I can't judge what's in a man or woman's heart. But i can say the same about a heterosexual church too.

It makes me afraid because I don't want to be deceived. I want to pursue truth and light and then own it for myself. These thoughts mentioned above - could they be tainted with a disdain for homosexuals? In the early part of last century, did "white" churches speak the same way about "black" christians? Could they be tainted with a previously set paradigm that homosexuality is a sin - period and without exception?

I am also involved with a house church network - which views what "church" looks like differently than traditional institutional churches do. The traditional perspective of what the church is says that it brings people into the church building. The organic perspective for our house church network is that church can happen anywhere the people of God gather - whether in homes, parks, bars, coffee shops or buildings. That's a different paradigm based on what people interpret as the word "church" and how it is expressed.

Could people be having a centuries old paradigm that when "homosexuality" or "effiminate" is used in the Bible - then its talking about all forms of male-male sexual contact? Could a new paradigm being suggested by these "gay" christians be that those words "homosexuality" or "effiminate" when referred to in the Bible actually have a historical and cultural context that is referring to male prostitutes or pederastry (adult men with young boy) or rape or some sort of deviant behavior?

I know that the opposition to the organic paradigm of church by those with the traditional perspective speak negatively about these Christians that meet in places other than a church building and don't even meet on Sundays. Is there a parallel to the way the "straight" churches oppose "gay" christians because of a difference in paradigm or a difference in interpretation?

For me, i still need to resolve the issue of whether or not homosexuality is a sin. But after meeting people at the Tab, its hard for me to think that they aren't Christian because they are in a committed gay relationship. What makes them not a christian? Is it because they are in sin? There are straight people in sin but call themselves born again christians. God forbid that i would be deceived though simply because they "look" like any other Christian. I don't want a counterfeit - I want what's real. But I do admit, that I feel way more free at the Tab than I do in my house church.

1 comment:

Brad Fieldhouse said...

This is good stuff! God is going to use this time to shape and form you into the man that He has created you to be. I am excited for you. I am praying for you. Bringing these thoughts, concerns, interpretations, etc into the light to deal with can only serve you in a positive way. James 1:2-8