As I mentioned in my last two posts, acceptance in a church, meeting others who are gay, and counseling were essential in my healing journey. But even more important was a careful and prayerful study of the Bible.
I had heard that the reason that the church declared gay people sick and sinful was that the Bible said so. I never questioned this assumption until my senior year at Calvin College. Once I heard that some biblical scholars were questioning this assumption, I needed to do an in-depth Bible study to see if they might be right.
In seminary I learned the tools for biblical study and theological reflection, and I applied these tools to my exploration of how to make biblical and theological sense out of being gay. Fortunately, sincere Christian scholars were publishing a number of new books and articles on this subject during my time in seminary, and this literature greatly helped me in my biblical exploration. I summarized what I learned in my seminary senior research paper on the pastoral care of gay people in the Christian community.
I noted, for example, that when we read and study the Bible we are always interpreting it. And since we human beings are limited and flawed, we sometimes interpret the Bible poorly. I noted that Calvinists hold the doctrine of total depravity, which means that all parts of our lives are tainted by sin. That includes our ability to understand Scripture. So we should be suspicious when people insist that their interpretation of a particular passage is “the clear teaching of Scripture.” And we should always be humble and open to the Holy Spirit showing us a better way to interpret the Bible. The Spirit has done so in the past (on Christians owning slaves, for example), and we can be sure that the Spirit will do so again.
I also pointed out that biblical scholars provide us with basic principles of biblical interpretation. For example, we always need to understand particular passages of the Bible in their context within the Bible. We need to look at a verse in its immediate context as well as its context in Scripture as a whole. We need to look at minor themes in the context of major themes. Similarly, we need to consider passages in their historical context. We need to ask what particular words, stories, or moral teachings meant to their original writers and hearers. These basic “tools” of studying the Bible can keep us from proof texting, a common practice in which we go to the Bible to look for verses that support a preconceived idea.
In my next post I will begin to look at particular Bible passages that the church has traditionally used to condemn gay people and/or gay relationships.
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