Paul's Letter to the Romans Chapter 1, verses 18-32 (ESV)
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.
Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.
For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.
And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Though they know God's decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.
The words above were written by the apostle Paul to the church in Rome in the first century sometime between the years 50 and 55. During this time, homosexual relations were an accepted part of this pagan society. Yet Paul plainly condemns homosexuality as "dishonorable passions". In writing these things, Paul was instructing the Roman Christians to be out of step with the majority of Roman Society. Christianity was never a call to be like the world that they saw around them. It was a call to step out of the world and be different, be holy.
But now, two leaders of large Christian institutions are bowing to pressure and calling on their flock to moderate their views on homosexuality. First The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, then Pope Francis with his well reported "Who am I to judge?" quote have altered the perception of the sinfulness of homosexual activity. It is difficult to tell if that was their intent when they said the things that they did, but they are wise enough to know how these things will be reported. Archbishop Welby, in particular, should understand that his speech will only further divide his church which has argued for several years over the issue of homosexuality. You can read his full speech here.
Welby Calls for Church to Join the Sexual ‘Revolution’
In his most widely anticipated address
since taking over the leadership of the Church, the Most Rev Justin
Welby insisted that it was now “absurd and impossible” to ignore
an “overwhelming” change in social attitudes.
In a deliberate echo of Harold
MacMillan’s 1950 speech which attacked apartheid in South Africa,
the Archbishop warned church leaders that they needed to reassess
their own attitudes to gay people – even if they do not “like
it”. While insisting he had no immediate plans to change policy on
issues such as gay marriage, he announced a major campaign to curb
anti-gay bullying in the Church of England’s more than 5,000
schools. He is understood to have approached Stonewall, which led
the campaign in favour of gay marriage, to invite it into church
schools to teach up to a million children about homosexuality. We
may or may not like it but we must accept that there is a revolution
in the area of sexuality,” the Archbishop said.
His comments, signalling a dramatic
change in tone from the established church, came in his first address
as Archbishop to the Church’s General Synod which is meeting in
York as it attempts to come up with a new solution to the fiasco over
women bishops. In a wide-ranging address he said that Britain, like
other countries, is living through a “time of revolutions”
affecting the economic and political sphere but also in social
attitudes. He acknowledged a “radical” decline in religious
affiliation, as borne out by the recent census and other polling, as
well as an “overwhelming” shift in public attitudes on issues
such as sexuality where “predictable attitudes” were
disappearing. But he insisted that the Church could benefit and even
begin to grow again if it was willing to “respond radically and
imaginatively” to a changing world.
