May 5, 2014

The following excerpts are from the blog “Assessing ‘God and the Gay Christian’ – Part One of Five” on Joe Dallas’s website: “Today’s church is being asked – pressured, really – to follow the culture’s lead, and the culture is leading towards wholesale approval of homosexuality. So Matthew Vine’s new book God and the Gay Christian is a fresh, eloquent, and well publicized addition to the pressure.” …

“… sexual sin matters. And it matters hugely. That’s why this book calls for scrutiny. It asks us to revise our understanding of what we’ve traditionally considered a sexual, and thereby serious, sin. If its author is right, then we need to overhaul our thinking. If he’s wrong, then his call for revision is an invitation to gross doctrinal and moral error, having the potential to deceive believers, misinform the public, and further weaken the moral climate in the Body of Christ. And that, I’d say, is a pretty big deal. So this week, we’ll be reviewing Vine’s arguments, offering responses and counterarguments, and (hopefully) some thoughts to equip readers for the conversations they’re likely to have on the subject.” …

“I parted company with Matthew by page 12, where he questions how we can call same sex relations sinful if we can’t prove that they hurt anybody. … But that can’t be right. Does every sin need to be proven harmful to be classified as sin? … No, nor do we have to, because sin needn’t have a verifiable outcome to qualify as sin. It need only fall short of what God intended.” …

“The author’s second assumption seems even more serious. Vines argues that, since God declared it’s not good for man to be alone, then everyone should be in a marital relationship, unless they’re called to celibacy, and the nature of that relationship (homosexual or heterosexual) doesn’t matter. The relationship, not it’s nature, is the main thing.” …

“But having a legitimate need for intimacy cannot justify illegitimate ways of fulfilling that need. It’s not good for man to go hungry; that doesn’t legitimize unhealthy foods. It’s not good for a man to be broke; that doesn’t legitimize robbery. It is better, in fact, to have a legitimate need go unmet, than to fulfill it in the wrong way, and our sexual needs aren’t exempt from this principle.” …

“And thereby God and the Gay Christian promotes a God who accommodates man on man’s terms, rather than the One who sets the terms and expects them to be revered, not revised.” …