"Love the Sinner - Hate Your OWN Sin"

Chapter 6: Elephant 1 - Homosexuality

“Consider this: Could someone stand in your community of believers – whether a local church or small group – and confess to homosexual inclinations without the risk of what can only be described excommunication? Does such an inclination automatically mean, ‘You can be in the church, just not part of the family?’” – Brent Crowe

This is the first chapter in which Crowe addresses one specific issue, the first elephant in the room. He begins with a narrative illustrating the exclusion that homosexuals face in many churches today, where the grace and love of God is not extended to them. Crowe maintains that he is not writing this “out of some righteous indignation I have toward people in the church, but out of a deep sense of conviction I have upon reflection of my own journey. You see, I’ve been guilty . . . of replacing an honest look at the Scriptures with quick and easy slogans I’ve heard some preacher say” (89). Crowe writes that responding “with a Christlike love to those struggling with a homosexual lifestyle” is one of the greatest tasks facing the church today, but “as we choose who we will demonstrate Christ’s love to, we display the worst kind of arrogance” (89). Crowe clearly sees a failure in the church’s approach to this issue and the people involved. However, it is also clear that Crowe accepts the premise that homosexuality is a form of sin. This is the premise on which the rest of his discussion is founded.

·      What is Homosexuality? Can One Be Born Gay?

Here, Crowe brings up central questions, like the difference between orientation and behavior; i.e., “Is homosexuality something you are, something you do, or both”?  (90). Crowe writes that the “source of homosexuality is yet to be scientifically or clinically discovered and may never be understood, and therefore he avoids examining the “various studies that at the end of the day raise more questions than answers” (90). Instead, he takes this time to define the terms he is working with. First, Crowe clarifies that “The Bible does not condemn homosexual inclination or orientation; rather, the Scriptures clearly condemn homosexual activity or behavior,” and that “orientations don’t necessarily determine identity” (90).  Crowe maintains that homosexuality is a sinful lifestyle, and he interprets the Scriptures to be clearly against homosexual practice. However, Crowe reminds his audience that we are all oriented towards sin because of our fallen nature; we do not, though, have to act on those sinful desires. Crowe defines homosexuality as ‘both the desire to and engagement in homosexual behavior’” (91).

“The follower of God doesn’t find his or her identity in sexual orientation, but rather in Christ” (91).

·      How to Believe: Homosexuality

o   What does the explicit moral will of God say concerning homosexuality?

Based on the six biblical texts covering homosexuality, Crowe defines homosexuality as a sin. He takes care, however, to note that “no one sin is more respectable than others; all sin breaks the heart of God and should therefore break the hearts of his followers” (92).

o   Genesis 19:1-13

Crowe summarizes this text (and likewise, in the sections that follow), giving context and a description of the events. Since we’ve discussed these passages in class, I won’t summarize them again here. However, what I find particularly insightful about Crowe’s writing here is that he reminds us of the “events leading up to [the destruction of the city],” and that “Abraham’s intercessory prayer demonstrates the role of godly people within a culture, who should be all about compassion” (94).

o   Leviticus 18:22; 20:13

Crowe writes that although some may discount these verses as being part of an outdated or irrelevant legal code, they are still relevant today because they demonstrate “the acceptable way to live before a holy God” (95). Additionally, while some “advocates for homosexuality say that these prohibitions are no longer relevant today because they are found in the Old Testament,” the “problem with this argument is that the New Testament reaffirms the authority and relevance of Old Testament prohibitions against homosexual behavior” (95). These prohibitions are therefore, according to Crowe, not only part of the “ceremonial law but part of God’s everlasting moral law” as well (95).

Crowe addresses the issue of the church’s association with being anti-homosexual, and  includes a warning to those who “would say a strong ‘Amen!’ Destestable!’ to the above truths concerning homosexuality”: “Truth need not always be communicated through a megaphone on the mountaintop, but sometimes through tears in the valley. If pride, not compassion, characterizes your attitude over this sin, even though you may b a child of God, you certainly have an unchristian attitude” (96). Crowe clearly believes that the church has (in general) approached this topic of sin from a place of pride and with a lack of compassion.

o   1^st Corinthians 6:9-10

Crowe first explains that the term “unrighteous” used here speaks of unrighteous people in general, “not believers who are in danger of losing their salvation if they committed any of the sins in the catalogue that follows. Unrighteousness refers to those who continually do wrong or who live as if God’s moral standards don’t exist . . . [so] the list describes those who are not followers of God” (98). Crowe’s analysis is basically that those who practice homosexuality (or any of the other lifestyles mentioned in this passage) and are unrepentant of that lifestyle will not be in heaven (98). Paul was not referring to “those who struggle, repent, and continue to struggle” (98). However, choosing to follow Christ means surrendering your life to him, and the cost of following him means turning from sin and giving up the lifestyles that are sinful, though we may consider them to be part of our identity.

o   1^st Timothy 1:8-11

Here Crowe compares the New Testament text to the 10 Commandments of Exodus, and lines up the sin of “men who practice homosexuality” with the seventh commandment, “you shall not commit adultery,” which “speaks to anything outside of God’s intended purpose for sex,” including “lust, unclean thoughts, fooling around, rape, incest, and, yes, homosexuality” (100-101).

o   Romans 1:18-32

Crowe writes that “the strength of this passage is that it demonstrates the downward spiral a society takes toward the acceptance and celebration of homosexuality,” beginning with the state where the “unrighteous become oblivious to the obvious truth (verses 18-21)” (102).

·      Extending Grace and Forgiveness

Crowe’s focus for the last part of this chapter is to “focus on how our freedom in Christ enables us to extend grace and forgiveness” and “motivate us to serve others – even those living in direct contradiction to God’s moral laws – so that they too might become followers of Christ” (103).

o   Understand your role: to be Abraham, not God

Reminding readers of the first biblical text discussed in this chapter, Crowe writes that “because we have escaped judgment only by the grace of God, we should therefore desire that no one experience the fate we all deserved,” and should respond to this issue (as with any other sin) with an attitude of service and compassion (103-104).

o   Communicate the truth about sin with a broken heart

Crowe states that “we must communicate the truth about sin, but only after our hearts first break for sinners. Sin fractures every human soul. In our conversations, we must never be guilty of positioning one sin as more ‘sinful’ than another” (104). He then reminds us that our sins do not define our identity, as Christians, but rather our identity is only found in Christ. This means that we are to treat those who struggle with the sin of homosexuality as fellow sinners, even if we don’t struggle with the same sin: “Remember, we’re not given a right standing before God because we are heterosexual versus homosexual” (104).

o   Avoid bumper-sticker theology

Slogans like “God didn’t create Adam and Steve!” are incomplete, because they fail to offer a thorough analysis of biblical texts, and they are incorrect because they fail to “represent the attitude of Christ” (104-105). One of the most insightful ideas in this section is that “It’s important to remember that an incomplete argument is more likely to represent Satan; we only need to remember the fall of man to find evidence of this” (105).

o   Love the sinner, hate your own sin

Crowe’s subtitle here stems from the common statement that Christians should “Love the sinner and hate the sin,” but explains that this oversimplifies “very complex sexual issues and baggage,” because “those living a homosexual lifestyle find much of their identity rooted in their sexuality” (105). Crowe addresses the issue of the church’s hostility to homosexuals and the perception that Christians are “antihomosexual,” though the church should be a place of grace and forgiveness (106). Instead of focusing on the sins of others, Crowe writes that we need to change our attitudes and remind ourselves that we, too, are in need of redemption for sin: “maybe the best place to start is by loving the sinner and hating my own sin” (106).

Overall, I thought Crowe’s discussion of this “elephant” was insightful, compassionate, logical, and well-supported. I agree with Crowe on the premise that homosexuality is a sin, and the evidence for this belief, as well as the way we should approach those who practice homosexuality are the main points of his chapter. However, this premise was not really a gray area for me to begin with. My main critique is that he doesn’t address what I see as the more complicated gray areas of this issue, which include whether or not churches should ordain homosexual ministers. Crowe seems to keep his discussion of homosexuality on a very reasonable, but basic level. However, while he does not explicitly mention issues like ordination, etc., I do think that it would be easy to predict where he would stand, based on the rest of the chapter.

Faith and Works

Chapter 4: Christ Has Set Us Free

“Possibly the most tragic state of existence is to be free yet live in bondage. If you deny yourself the opportunity to live free once you have been made free in Christ, you are actually denying the power of the cross of Christ.” – Brent Crowe

This chapter centers on Galatians 5, in which Paul discusses the concept of Christian freedom and the ways we can hinder our own freedom when we become too concerned with abiding by rules rather than seeking to serve and glorify Christ. Crowe writes, “As with Paul’s original audience, many of us trust in our own morality as a means of justification,” but “we can never be good enough” (65). Rather, “Our freedom has nothing to do with human achievement and everything to do with Christ’s sufficiency” (65). Crowe bases much of his writing on the writings of Luther and the emphasis on salvation by grace alone, through faith. Because our salvation is dependent on Christ’s righteousness and not on our own, it is folly to allow our striving to live by laws undermine our calling to live by love.

·      The Big Idea: Controlled by the Spirit, or the Flesh?

Crowe reminds his readers of the definition of freedom he has been building throughout this book: “The big idea of liberty is not that you operate by what feels natural or that you are without a strong regulation. Nothing could be further from the truth, because we are always to be controlled by the strongest of regulators – ‘by love’” (67).

·      The Vice List: Works of the Flesh

This section described the characteristics of behaviors that are opposed or contrary to the Spirit of God, as described in Galatians 5:19-21. According to Crowe, the majority of these vices actually portray external behaviors that “can contribute to the breakdown of community” (69). As Christians, we must seek to act in ways that build each other up, rather than harm each other.

·      The Virtue List: Fruit of the Spirit

Crowe explains that there is significance in the idea that Paul distinguishes “works of the flesh” from “fruit of the Spirit.” This is because “works puts an emphasis on human ventures, fruit speaks to God’s divine empowerment” (70). These traits are more internal, less tangible – because it is through the power of the Spirit of Christ working in us that our lives can display any righteous external behaviors

Chapter 5: Asking the Right Questions

“Possibly the most tragic state of existence is to be free yet live in bondage. If you deny yourself the opportunity to live free once you have been made free in Christ, you are actually denying the power of the cross of Christ.” – Brent Crowe

In this chapter, Crowe outlines the “how to believe” grid he alluded to in earlier sections of the book. Rather than attempting to provide cut and dry answers to all of our ethical dilemmas, which would of course be impossible, Crowe calls upon “an age-old method that Jesus utilized to help his followers navigate the issues of life: the art of asking the right questions” (75). Crowe writes, “There is nothing quick about defining your beliefs,” encouraging his readers to fully engage with moral decisions by filtering them through the concepts we know to be foundations of the Christian faith. I think the best way to summarize this “grid” is to include the main questions Crowe writes about in the rest of the chapter.

11.  Is the decision within the moral will of God [as revealed in biblical commands]?

22.  Is the decision being made in the attitude of Christ (Romans 15:1-13)?

33. Is the decision being made under the control of the flesh or the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:13-26)?

44. Will the decision have a positive spiritual impact on self (1^st Corinthians 6:12; 10:23-24)?

55. Will this decision addict or enslave (1^st Corinthians 6:12)?

66. Is the decision consistent with the rule for Christian living [that we filter all of our decisions through the idea of serving others]?

77. Will the decision hurt a fellow believer spiritually (Romans 14:13)?

88. Will the decision have a positive spiritual impact on fellow believers?

99. Does the decision go against conscience?

110.  Will the decision disrupt fellowship and damage relationships within the community?

111.  Will the decision damage reputation?

112.  Will the decision remove focus from the big picture of God’s Kingdom (Romans 14:17-19)?

113.  Is the decision being made out of a selfish heart? Will the decision offend?

114.  Can the decision be imitated by others who understand their freedom?

115.  Is the decision being made in light of the advancement of the Gospel of Jesus Christ?

116.  Will the decision glorify God (1^st Corinthians 10:31)?

I found these questions to be insightful and helpful – and very practical, for the most part. Especially when it comes to issues like gender roles in church leadership, marriage, etc., I think having this kind of “grid” through which to view each particular situation is a stronger, more careful approach than trying to decide on an absolute moral stance on the entire topic in general. I also appreciated these questions because they seem to provide a holistic manner of determining ethical perspectives on issues – incorporating the different sources of authority we’ve discussed in this class: experience, reason, tradition, and Scripture (of course). Here, Crowe is not saying that our ethical dilemmas all have a direct Biblical answer, but that doesn’t mean that we can’t make decisions that are God-honoring and beneficial to our communities.

In previous chapters I had been a little bit disappointed by the lack of detail I saw in Crowe’s writing, but I think now that I’ve gotten to his more original analysis rather than his more expository section, I am starting to see more of what I appreciated in the messages he presented at the conferences I went to. I think that this has been the most successful chapter of the book, so far, because it accomplishes what Crowe set out to do in the first place: to offer guidelines for how to believe (rather than imperatives about what to believe) within the overarching concept of the freedom we have in Christ. I agreed with his statement that the central rule of Christian living is that all of our actions must be filtered through the principle of serving others first – essentially, to abide by “the greatest commandment,” to love God and our neighbors.

Having given this premise, Crowe has prepped his readers for the chapters to follow, in which he discusses the particular “elephants in the room.”

Use Your Freedom Wisely.

Chapter 3: Liberty Meets Responsibility

“Responsibility doesn’t come naturally to most of us. This quality needs to be engrained into our thinking and convictions. . . . Responsibility is rarely convenient and almost always difficult.” – Brent Crowe

In this chapter, Crowe discusses what it means to live a life of responsible freedom. This is building on his previous discussions about what it means to be free: Christian freedom is not selfish, but selfless. Crowe asserts that “freedom may be the most misunderstood idea that believers celebrate” because many do not recognize the “marriage between responsibility and freedom” (46). Though it would appear that these two elements are in contradiction to each other, they complement each other (46).

·      A Recurring Theme

In this section, Crowe starts by mentioning 1^st Corinthians 10:23-24 – where Paul writes that “all things are lawful, but not all things are helpful; all things are lawful, but not all things build up” – and asserts that this is not at all evidence of an “anything goes as long as it is permissible” attitude (47). Rather, Paul’s theme is about doing what is the best and most edifying for other people. Paul “[filters] any freedom discussion through a singular focus of serving” (47). Crowe writes that this emphasis on serving others is seen elsewhere in Paul’s writing, especially Philippians 2:3-4, which encourages believers to “Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.”

·      Real-Life Scenarios and the Application of Freedom

This section describes three different examples taken from the 1^st Corinthians text mentioned previously, and frames each in light of the freedom we have in Christ. These examples all have to do with the challenges and concerns of living in a culture of idolatry, specifically in relation to the issue of whether or not it is right for Christians to eat meat sacrificed to idols. Crowe first offers some historical context for this problem, explaining how Corinth was a multicultural center and a place of numerous religions. Many of these religions practiced animal sacrifice, and the meat would then be sold at the marketplace (49). Crowe writes, “[the believers’ struggle brings up a pertinent question that applies to our culture today. How should our freedom motivate and guide us through a culture littered with idolatry? . . . the world we navigate daily is caught up in widespread worship of things other than God” (49).

The main conclusions from these three explanations are as follows:

·      “we aren’t responsible for knowledge we don’t have”: Crow writes that “just because someone might unknowingly purchase meat that had been sacrificed to an idol didn’t mean he or she was paying homage to a graven image” (50). Crowe asserts that this doesn’t mean Paul gave us “license to be oblivious; rather, he was simply saying that we do not have to chain down our freedom because of the unknown” (50).

·      “relationship is more important than knowledge”: This is in context of the issue of whether or not Christians should eat what is set before them when eating with unbelievers (51). In this case, showing gratitude and care is more important than making sure the food you are eating has not been sacrificed to a pagan god.

·      “When we know what’s wise but don’t do it, we sin, because we’re unconcerned about the spiritual well-being of others”: In this case, Paul seemingly contradicts his last example, because he suggests that if someone tells you that the meat has been sacrificed, then out of consideration for less mature believers who might be led astray, you should not eat the meat. However, this is not because it would be sinful for you to eat the meat in itself, but rather because it would be sinful for you to do anything which might become a stumbling block for others.

·      The Goal of Responsible Freedom: To Glorify God Exhaustively

“Responsible freedom – even when motivated by others who might be observing our actions – is ultimately responsible only to God . . . . ‘So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God’” (53).

Crowe explains that the Greek word for glory essentially means “a public manifestation of an inner reality” (53). If our ultimate goal should be to glorify God in everything we do, we must be sure that our actions are in line with our status as new creations in Christ. Crowe says that “we need more than just good intentions . . . . [we need] right motives that lead to righteous actions” (53). Crowe goes on to explain three key manifestations of a heart seeking to glorify God through action. According to Crowe, to glorify God motivates us to lead others to salvation, to be an example to be followed, and to practice proactive selflessness toward humanity.

 So far, Crowe has yet to make significant connections to the ethical “gray areas” we encounter in today’s society, because his goal has been to set a foundation based on Scripture. It is apparent, however, that Crowe assumes a very conservative political stance, and I am curious to see how this influences his discussion of controversial topics in the upcoming chapters. Based on what I have read so far, I would think that Crowe’s approach to interpreting Scripture relies primarily on the “sola scriptura” idea. Still, as he often brings in the work and biographies of historical figures and theologians like Wesley and Calvin, it’s clear that he does see authority in the categories of tradition and experience, as well. Another thing I’ve noticed is that he clearly emphasizes the New Testament over everything else. This is to be expected, as his point is that our freedom in Christ is what should motivate our ethical decisions. However, I would appreciate a more holistic discussion of this truth, perhaps providing more Biblical context from the Old Testament. Thinking about the “mountain peaks” we’ve discussed in class, Crowe does briefly point back to Creation, however. His primary focus, of course, is on Christ.

In general, Crowe’s analysis seems a bit bare; I would appreciate more detail and more discussion of his points. Having attended his student leadership conferences and heard his sermons, I know that he is a powerful, motivating speaker, and I also know that he does not shy away from giving his opinion about controversial topics. I trust his guidance and his scholarship. However, while I know his audience for this book is not strictly students, his writing style gives this impression. I definitely think his voice does seem better adapted to speeches than to writing, too. He often includes anecdotal evidence and stories, which are highly effective in presentations, but perhaps less so in a book, when the humor of his expression, the inflection of his voice, and perhaps background images is not as easily conveyed. He also has a tendency to summarize too much without providing specific details; he conveys truth, but perhaps without the details that would add to his credibility. For example, when he mentions the meaning of the Greek word for glory, he does not actually give us the Greek word. Unintentionally, of course, I think this kind of gives the impression that Crowe doesn’t think his readers care enough to know background details.