well-known political and theological liberalism of the UCC, I can only assume that the words “God Is Still Speaking” are intended to convey the idea that God is still speaking to us with regard to the issue of homosexuality. That message, I assume, would be that homosexuality is no longer to be regarded as morally repugnant, but rather as something that is to be accepted and even
celebrated.
Assuming that my interpretation of this banner is correct, I must say that the claim underlying its message is quite audacious. What is being claimed, in effect, is that God has changed His mind about the morality of homosexuality. This is the only logical conclusion given the fact that the Bible, in both the Old and New Testaments condemn homosexual behavior (see Leviticus and Romans, for example).
Theological liberals have tried to blunt the force of biblical passages
condemning homosexuality by arguing that they don’t really mean what theyappear to say. Now it would seem that some have decided that such arguments are not totally convincing, so we are being told, in effect, that God is telling us to ignore such passages. In a way, we have a sort of “Christian” version of the Muslim doctrine of abrogation, under which the most recent pronouncements of Allah supersede any earlier pronouncements that seem to conflict with them.
Given that the theologically “progressive”churches have long had a problem with the notion of the authority of the Scriptures, I suppose this development shouldn’t be surprising. However, I wonder if they realize the
danger of such an approach. If someone can claim that a particular teaching of Scripture can be rejected on the basis of alleged divine revelation, then why—logically—cannot the whole of Scripture be rejected on the grounds of a supposed divine revelation? Who is a legitimate channel for such a revelation? Religious history is filled with examples of self-proclaimed prophets and spokesmen for God. For that matter, what is to keep someone from claiming that, for example, greed is no longer a sin in light of some alleged divine message? I
don’t think theological liberals would be too accepting of such a claim.
The fact is that God is still speaking to us about homosexuality—He continues to speak to us through His
written word, the Bible. It clearly defines homosexual behavior as sin, in the same way it defines greed or pride as sin, but offers the assurance of divine pardon for those who repent of such sins. We would do well to listen to His voice, not the voices of those who have clearly rejected His words because they don’t fit in
with their own agenda.
Image of the cover of the King James Bible from kingjamesbibleonline.org