God Calls Us to Holiness, Not "Heterosexuality"

There exists a page on Facebook known as "Heterosexual Awareness Month Singapore" (HAM SG), which appears to have been created on 26 June 2018. As of the time of this post, there are only 2 'likes' and 2 'followers' of the page. 

In a post published at 3.06pm on 28 June 2018, the page purported to describe "some benefits of being hetero", including being "STD Free", "Healthy" and "Make Babies". The post added that "Heterosexuality is the Way, the Truth and it creates Life."

It is not clear who the creator of the page is, or whether there is any organisation behind this, religious or otherwise. Further, it is unclear what the motivations behind the creation of the page are, whether this is a "troll" page meant to mock and ridicule Christianity or conservative sexual perspectives, or a genuine page seeking to advocate for "heterosexuality".

In any event, the direction and message of the page is quite misguided, and completely misses the mark in its discourse on sexuality or faith.

The idea that "Heterosexuality is the Way, the Truth and it creates Life" is clear and utter heresy. The language of the post draws from, or at least parallels, John 14:6 where Jesus Christ said, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No-one comes to the Father except through me." Jesus Christ is the Way, the Truth and the Life, not "heterosexuality".

Further evidence of the page's error in idolising "heterosexuality" can be seen from the caption of its post at 3.25pm on 27 June 2018 'sharing' the video of Tamae Iwasaki where she spoke about her sexual abuse as a child, and her subsequent struggles with sexual attraction to both sexes, even during her marriage, and how God saved her. Rather than acknowledging God, HAM SG's caption was instead, "Heterosexuality heals."

The concept of "sexual orientation", including "homosexuality" and "heterosexuality", are recent inventions originating from the 1800s. In a thoughtful article aptly titled "Against Heterosexuality" (March 2014), Michael W. Hannon argues against adopting such categories:

They are recent inventions that are utterly foreign to our faith, inadequate for justifying sexual norms, and antithetical to true philosophical anthropology. The time has come for us to eradicate sexual orientation from our worldview as systemically as we can manage—with all due prudence as to complicated particular cases, of course.

Neither is it true that simply being "heterosexual" would make a person "STD Free" or "Healthy" or would "Make Babies". Sexual immorality, whether with the same or opposite sex, is a problem. For instance, according to the Ministry of Health statistics, out of 434 new cases of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infections in 2017, 417 cases acquired the infection through sexual intercourse, where heterosexual transmission accounted for 36% of all cases. Furthermore, many Singapore couples are not having children, or having fewer children. Singapore's fertility rate was also at a 7-year low at 1.16 in 2017.

Ultimately, God does not call us to "heterosexuality". Instead, the call of God to every single believer in Jesus Christ, and to all of humanity, is a call to holiness through faith in Jesus Christ, who clothes us with a new identity as children of God. As Christopher Yuan said:

God says, “Be holy, for I am holy”. I had always thought that the opposite of homosexuality was heterosexuality. But actually, the opposite of homosexuality is holiness. God never told me, “Be heterosexual, for I am heterosexual”. He said, “Be holy, for I am holy”.  

And God told me, “Don't focus upon your sexuality, don't focus upon your feelings but focus upon living a life of holiness and living a life of purity.”

Addressing Biblical Teaching on Sexuality the Master's Way

During a dialogue on race and religion earlier this year, there was a question the Christian stance on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) issues. The Straits Times reports in "Tough questions posed at dialogue" (28 January 2018):

Why do Taoists have a practice of burning joss paper? What is the Christian stance on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) issues? Is Buddhism a religion or a philosophy? 

Such questions were posed during a one-hour dialogue at the first National Inter-Racial and Religious Confidence Circle Convention at the Suntec Convention Centre yesterday, titled "Inconvenient Questions on Race and Religion". 

Asked about the Christian stance on LGBT issues, Reverend Malcolm Tan of Covenant Community Methodist Church explained that traditional biblical sexual morality teaches faithfulness in marriage and celibacy outside of marriage, and defines marriage as something that should always be between a man and a woman. 

"However, this does not mean that we become adversarial with people who are different or disagree with us," he said...

I do not know whether Reverend Malcolm Tan said more than had been reported in the article or if the article merely summarised his comments. Thus, I would refrain from addressing his specific comments at the dialogue, but focus on the more general issue of the Christian response on Biblical teaching regarding LGBT issues or any other issue of sexual brokenness.

While it is not wrong to address LGBT or other sexual brokenness issues by talking about the proper context of sex within marriage of a man and a woman (and this certainly reaffirms Biblical teaching), I would like to suggest that there is a better way to address Biblical teaching in sexuality. And who better to learn from than the Master Himself?

In the Gospel of Matthew, we see Jesus's response to the Pharisee's question on divorce:

Some Pharisees came to him to test him. They asked, "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any and every reason?"

"Haven't you read," he replied, "that at the beginning the Creator 'made them male and female,'  and said, 'For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh'? So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate."

(Matthew 19:3-6)

To be sure, there were many passages in the Old Testament on divorce, and Jesus could have given a straightforward answer on the question by pointing to passages such as Malachi 2:16 where God declares "I hate divorce." However, He did not do so.

Instead, He began by referring to God ("the Creator"), human nature ("made them male and female"), the beauty of marriage ("a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh"), followed by how marriage has gone wrong in the context of divorce ("what God has joined together, let man not separate").

This order seems to reflect Jesus's priorities in how Biblical teaching on sexuality ought to be addressed.

Rather than sexual conduct per se, the core issue is that of God and human nature, of Dei and Imago Dei.

And some of the leading advocates on LGBT issues have likewise pointed out the centrality of one's understanding of human nature in debates over such issues.

Ryan T. Anderson wrote in "Same-sex Marriage and Heresy: The Importance of Anthropology" (16 July 2015), that the most pressing heresies today "center on the nature of man". He explains that "the sexual ideology that has battered the family and redefined marriage" springs from "a faulty humanism", "faulty anthropology [and] a misunderstanding of the nature of man".

Ever since the Fall, all of humanity has been attempting to define human nature apart from God, removing the Dei from Imago Dei.

The very notion of "LGBT" assumes that a person is and can be defined by one's "sexual orientation" or "gender identity", such that a person is defined by one's sexual desires or feelings about oneself. A person can be a "man trapped in a woman's body" or a "woman trapped in a man's body", presenting the idea that one's body is like a prison, rather than part of oneself, and can be altered and changed at will.

Modern society, shaped by the Sexual Revolution, has made sex into an idol. It has defined sex as such an integral part of human identity and fulfilment that - to quote Sam Allberry's paraphrase of the modern idea - "life without sex is no life at all".

Professor Robert P. George identifies in this the resurgence (or persistence) of the old Gnostic heresy, which sees the body as inferior and sees the human person or "self" as a spiritual or mental substance. As a result, according to post-Sexual Revolution sexual ethics, all forms of sexual conduct (with anyone or anything) are permissible as long as they are consensual, since what ultimately matters is connection on the emotional, mental or "spiritual" level.

It goes without saying that all of this is contrary to the vision of human nature (and thus human sexuality) presented in Scripture.

Human beings are made in the image of God, male and female, and are thus not "accidentally" placed in the wrong bodies. (However, in a sinful world, we must be aware that there are disabilities and abnormalities which may affect the development of one's sexual organs.) Our identities are accordingly defined by God's design, rather than according to our sexual desires or feelings.

As Sam Allberry said in his address to the Church of England General Synod in 2017, "I am same-sex attracted and have been my entire life. By that, I mean that I have sexual, romantic and deep emotional attractions to people of the same sex. I choose to describe myself this way because sexuality is not a matter of identity for me. And that has become Good News."

Since our bodies are important and part of who we are, what we do with our bodies in sexual behaviour affects us on a personal level, and are not merely emotional, intellectual or "spiritual" connections. Marriage is thus a comprehensive union, uniting a man and a woman in heart (emotional), soul (spiritual), mind (intellectual) and strength (physical).

Yet, in a world marred by sin, we should recognise that we are not only sinners, but also victims of sin (whether sins of others or our own sins), whom Jesus Christ came to seek and to save. And even as sexual brokenness affects us all in different ways, Jesus came as a Bridegroom for His beloved Bride, the Church, giving Himself up for her "to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to Himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless" (Ephesians 5:27).

Through His sacrifice on the cross, He frees us from the shackles of our pasts, such that we are no longer defined by our sexual desires, sexual history, or any sin that once held us. Christopher Yuan, who is same-sex attracted and left his former lifestyle, said it well:

My identity should never be defined by my feelings; my feelings should not dictate who I am. My identity is not gay or homosexual or even heterosexual for that matter, but my identity as a child of the Living God must be in Jesus Christ alone. 

You see, God says, “Be holy, for I am holy”. I had always thought that the opposite of homosexuality was heterosexuality. But actually, the opposite of homosexuality is holiness. God never told me, “Be heterosexual, for I am heterosexual”. He said, “Be holy, for I am holy”.  

And God told me, “Don't focus upon your sexuality, don't focus upon your feelings but focus upon living a life of holiness and living a life of purity.”

Jesus clothes us with a new identity as children of the Most High, and we look forward to the great wedding between Jesus and His Bride at the end of days (Revelation 21).

So, how do we address Biblical teaching on sexuality the Master's way?

A better way of engaging on Biblical teaching on LGBT issues or any other issue of sexual brokenness should, in order of priority, address the following:

1. Begin with God, the Creator of heaven and earth and all that is in them, including humanity ("the Creator"), 
2. Explore the wonders of human nature, as male and female made in the image of God ("made them male and female"), 
3. Present the beauty of marriage according to God's original design as a "one flesh" union between a man and a woman ("a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh"), 
4. Recognise how marriage and sexuality have gone wrong in a sinful world, and that there are forms of sexual conduct which are contrary to God's laws ("what God has joined together, let man not separate"),
5. Finally, present the Gospel of how Jesus Christ redeems and makes us holy and blameless through His sacrifice on the cross, and He will return one day for His beloved Bride.

"So the Gospel will be preached"

The annual Pink Dot event, advocating Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender  (LGBT) rights in the name of the "freedom to love", took place at Hong Lim Park a few days ago on Saturday, 13 June 2015.
 

On that night, I asked God why Pink Dot and all this activism was happening. This was not the first time I asked Him such a question, and will probably not be the last.
 

He replied, "So the Gospel will be preached."
 

On Sunday, I read the report on Pink Dot in the papers, where it was published that they had a record turn out of 28,000.
 

It weighed heavily upon my heart. In the evening, I was gripped with such a strong burden that I broke down and wept, praying, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do."
 

These were Jesus' words on the cross. It was His prayer of forgiveness for them even though they had turned on Him and His Word.
 

I knew that God was letting me have a sense of His love for all of us, including those who identify as LGBT and those who have voiced their disagreement by wearing white over the weekend.
 

Even in the midst of all these, God has opened doors for many amazing testimonies to be heard about those who have been set free from the bondage of sin. Many have delivered powerful messages about God's freedom and love. And the beauty of God's design for marriage and family have been declared in various places.
 

So, far from being alarmed or afraid, or shying away from addressing the issue, we ought to preach the Gospel faithfully in this time as in every other time, even if it is not politically-correct in this season.
 

God has allowed all this to happen, and will allow more in the days to come, "so the Gospel will be preached."

http://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/2013/09/10779/?utm_source=LifeSiteNews.com+Daily+Newsletter&utm_campaign=b0143da7de-LifeSiteNews_com_Intl_Full_Text_06_19_2013&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_0caba610ac-b0143da7de-397586561

EXTRACT

Indeed, we might say marriage is centrifugal: the center axis of marriage results in the products of the marriage moving away from the center. The concept of kinship reinforces this communal and social understanding of marriage.
...

If we grant kinship’s centrality to marriage, same-sex relationships not only fail as to what constitutes a marriage, but same-sex relationships also fail the kinship test. Redefining marriage to include same-sex relationships enacts a legal fiction that the organic contours of society neither intuitively recognize nor posit. Same-sex marriage does not contribute to the kinship model. If natural marriage bestows life in way that is socially-oriented and centrifugal, then we might say that same-sex marriage is centripetal. In same-sex marriage, the emotional, non-generative unions of adults become the center.

Such relationships are not the type on which society depends. Same-sex marriage not only elevates the desires of adults over the needs of children; it also elevates the desires of adults over the needs of civilization. Same-sex couples have any number of technological advances available that mimic the features of parenting, save one: the capability to create children. Whether through artificial reproductive technology or adoption, same-sex couples who wish to have children must look extra nos, outside themselves and apart from the “one-flesh union” that organically and comprehensively unites man and woman in the marital act.

None of this is to suggest that our neighbors with same-sex attractions are incapable of experiencing the bonds of kinship. All individuals—regardless of sexual desires—are sons or daughters, sisters or brothers, and aunts or uncles, with full rights and responsibilities to pursue the common good. Kinship is simply an extension of the biological good that ennobles marriage’s uniqueness.

Family is the foundation of society; marriage is the foundation of family. Embedded in this simple truth is the overwhelming chorus of families that form nations, a reality that no human ideology like same-sex marriage can overcome.

Chesterton once noted, “The greatest political storm flutters only a fringe of humanity. But an ordinary man and an ordinary woman and their ordinary children literally alter the destiny of nations.”