I am thankful that Pastor Bob Bixby of Morningstar church has responded to a Rockford (IL) pastor who wrote a guest column for the Rockford Register Star explaining why he is a “proud ally of Pridefest. Solberg (of 2nd Congregational in Rockford) wrote:
I am part of the GLBTQA community. Specifically, I am included in the “A” of the acronym, which stands for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, Questioning and Allies.
Saturday, there will be a Rockford PrideFest for the first time. The event is meant to affirm all people as they are, including those who do not understand themselves to fit in “traditional” norms of human sexuality. I am glad such an event is being held in Rockford, and I hope the general trend in our society toward acceptance of gay and lesbian people will continue, including in Rockford.
My words may surprise some, given that I am a Christian pastor. I believe, however, that love and commitment are central to human sexual expression, not simply gender. Surely the Bible contains several references that reject same sex sexual activity. But I believe Biblical authors were influenced by their cultural surroundings, not exclusively by revelation from God.
Bixby effectively shows the many flaws in Solberg’s logic.
Pastor Solberg appeals to us who disagree to listen to the life stories of gays and lesbians, but I ask which life stories, which gays and lesbians? He creates a false dichotomy and complies to the popular narrative: If we disagree, we are probably not loving and listening.
We are listening, and some of us do, in fact, love gays and lesbians. We love adulterers, too. And liars. But we cannot affirm people. We affirm God. We do not think of ourselves as any better. Their sins do not disgust us. Our sins disgust us. But we know that something is wrong, not because culture says it is, but because God said it is. Conversely, just because culture says it’s good doesn’t mean that it is.
Read the whole thing here.
