Straight talk on the gay debate

The airwaves have been buzzing with phone-ins and emails over the current "homosexual" crisis engulfing the Anglican Church. Personally I think a split wouldn't be such a bad thing. Jesus said a kingdom divided against itself will fall. Harbouring such diametrically opposed and utterly incompatible factions means the Anglican community is in fact a kingdom divided against itself. I suspect that a split would be best for both factions, and in particular for the more traditional camp. It was interesting to hear a Radio 5 Live debate this week on which it was pointed out that wherever the Anglican community is more evangelical, forthright and traditional in its adherence to the Bible, it tends to flourish. It is the more liberalising, compromising sections that have experienced dearth and decline. This observation was made in response to the old clichéd claim that the church was out of touch and in need of modernising.
The same person who gave that response also pointed out that when it comes to attitude towards homosexuals, of all the major world religions, Christianity was already the most tolerant by far.
Premier Radio, London's Christian station, also aired a phone-in debate on the issue. Several callers thought that it was okay to entertain homosexual thoughts, but not to act upon them. I found that a rather strange comment in the light of Scripture. Jesus said if a man looked at a woman to lust after her he had already committed adultery in his heart. To live in such a way is torture - forever suppressing and repressing wrong desires, racked by guilt when the inevitable happens.
Surely the whole point of the New Testament is that we have been set free from the law of sin and death. This is the difference between law and grace - under law we continually struggle with the suppression of sin in our lives, but the grace of God in Christ Jesus is that we can be transformed by the renewing of our mind. If we are in Christ, we are new creations, the old has passed away, the new has come. Paul said "I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me."
The quest for the Christian is that the veil be totally removed, that we behold His face in daily intimacy, being changed from glory to glory, being so washed in the word and soaked in His Spirit that our minds are renewed, our lives transformed. To continually entertain thoughts and desires that are blatantly contrary to Scripture yet not act upon them is to live in bondage to law. God has something far better for us - the chance to be set free, transformed, renewed.
One other comment I've heard several times on the radio and TV this week is that surely the church should be more inclusive. That's just it - God is completely inclusive - He so loved the world that He gave His only Son that whoever believes in Him would not perish but have everlasting life. You can't get more inclusive than that!
But the one thing God has to draw the line at is sin. If He were inclusive of sin, it would make a mockery of His holiness and justice, and He cannot deny Himself. You cannot expect a holy and just God, a God of absolute truth and morality, to simply turn a blind eye to whatever you want to do, to demand that He accept you on your terms. God is totally inclusive of all sinners, but totally exclusive of all sin. Would a thief demand that God accept Him even though he continued in his thieving? Likewise the murderer, the adulterer, the abuser, the proud? No, it would be a travesty if we expected God to condone our sinfulness when He has provided the means of renewal and transformation through the grace that is in Christ Jesus.

Brendan Munro