At the ‘In God’s Image’: Scripture, Sexuality and
Society
Summit”
held March
17-20, 2014 in Cape Town, South
Africa, General Conference general vice-president Dr. Ella Smith Simmons was
scheduled to share a summary “Last Word” at the closing plenary session. Due to
a scheduling miscue, she was not able to deliver more than a small portion of
her prepared remarks. We publish them in full here, believing that Seventh-day
Adventists and readers everywhere will find great value in them.—Editors.
The
principal purposes of the
In God's Image:
Scripture, Sexuality, and Society Summit
were to initiate a conversation
with key people in the global leadership of the Seventh-day Adventist Church;
to gain a greater understanding of the issues surrounding alternative
sexualities; and to counsel together regarding the challenges the church is
facing in this area, with the goal of finding a consistent way to be redemptive
as well as obedient to the teachings of Scripture throughout the global
Adventist Church.
1
During these past few days, we
have recognized, at least to some degree, the vastness of the range of the
issues associated with the current topic. We’ve acknowledged our great needs
for information, knowledge, and wisdom.
We understand the issues
surrounding varied forms of sexuality more than we did, though we need to
understand more.
We’ve counseled together
regarding the challenges the church is facing in these issues, though we need
to engage more.
Now we must find a way to be
redemptive as well as obedient to the teachings of Scripture in a more
accurate, honest, and consistent manner around the world.
Two
principal commitments have shaped our conversation and will shape it going
forward. We have committed to: (1) Upholding the Church’s understanding and
teaching on this current topic as biblical truth; and (2) Upholding and keeping
Christ’s commandment to love our sisters and brothers—all human beings.
In a recent presentation to one of
our church’s institutional boards, one of the featured speakers organized her
presentation into three parts, each introduced by an essential question. As
I’ve listened to our discussions and deliberations during the last three days, I
was struck with the applicable similarities of those three concentrations to
our purposes here:
1. What world do we live in [as
it pertains to our current topic]?
What are the needs?
2. How do we want to make an impact on this world [as it pertains
to our current topic]?
What must we do? How shall we live? What does God expect of us?
3. What is our place in this world [as it pertains to our current
topic]?
So,
what difference do we make? What is God’s purpose for our existence?
In these “final words” I submit
to you that the world we live in as it pertains to our current topic, and in
general, is not the world into which most of us were born. George Barna’s 2011
study on religious beliefs and practices of United States populations,
stratified by generation, showed that “there has been a lot of realignment taking place” within
the segment of the population born from 1965 through 1983. Surprisingly, though, Barna has
found through numerous such studies in the last 20 years that it is the generation born from 1946 through 1964, largely
the generation of current Church leaders, that has redefined America’s ways of
life—including its faith and spirituality. There are indications of similar
patterns of transformation for many parts of the world.
In fact, the studies have found
that with this 1946 to 1964 generation, there are two religious beliefs that have undergone substantial change in this era:
(1) “Declines in those who hold an orthodox view of God;” and
(2) “A reduction in those who are strongly convinced that the Bible is
totally accurate in all of the principles it teaches.”
2
Again, it is likely that there
are similarities in the dynamics of change for many other regions of the world.
This world will never again be the world that was reality for most of us in
times past. In many ways—and for many of us—that is a good prospect. In many
other ways, this is tragic. It seems that we have thrown out the baby with the
dirty bath water. Now perhaps we want the baby back, but have not figured out
how to avoid retrieving the dirty water along with it.
Recently, there was an intriguing
promotion for a television program—a program that I’ve never seen, by the way. The
program is entitled “The New Normal.” The promotional photograph depicted both
husband and wife—or male and female partners—with significantly protruding,
obviously pregnant abdominal midsections.
Is this supposed to be the new “normal,”
and who is teaching this lesson? For many of the societies of this world, “normal”—if
there ever was such a state—has changed and is ever changing. One observer
portrays one area of change this way:
“Secularism is much more
aggressive and anti-Christian; the society in general is coarsening; and the
moral intuitions of younger people radically vary from their more traditional
parents.
Many have called this new state
of affairs the “postmodern turn,” though others call our situation “late”
modernity, or even “liquid” modernity. Modernity overturned the authority of
tradition, revelation, or any authority outside of the internal reason and
experience of the self . . .
The “acid” of the modern
principle—the autonomous, individual self—seems to have eaten away all stable
identities.”
3
Here at these proceedings in Cape
Town, Dr. Miroslav Kis addressed this view in his observation that “every issue
is subject to change as a result of the pressures of the day, to the point
where yesterday’s
‘is’ may become
today’s ‘
ought.’ What we do becomes
legitimate; the lowest common denominator can become normative.”
Perhaps this is the basis for the
new normal. It is into this ever-evolving context of values, according to Sprigg,
that “activists pushing for a ‘gay rights’ political agenda, . . . have become
increasingly virulent in their attacks upon social conservatives who oppose
that agenda, to the degree that one organization in 2010 announced its
classification of several pro-family organizations as ‘anti-gay hate groups.’”
4
At times, it appears that while
we want to bring people into the Church, we give insufficient attention to making
an impact on the world in other ways. This is our Father’s world, and it is the
world in which we live. We can’t avoid its challenges, even as they pertain to
our current topic. Indeed, these challenges are not just found in the outside
world, this world in which we live, but of which, as believers, we are not a
part. These same challenges are also found in the Church. They are our
challenges.
In some cases they are with us
through inserted confrontations by way of legal challenges or social and
political pressures. But equally or even more often, they are integral to our identity
as Adventists by way of the life circumstances of our members, or members of their
families. They exist as part and parcel of Adventism.
However we may differ
theologically or philosophically from others in our faith community, we can’t
fail to hear them, particularly as respects the way we treat each other. In a
recent letter, the president of Seventh-day Adventist
Kinship International, an organization that claims 40 years of work with and
for LGBTI (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex) individuals who
are former and current Seventh-day Adventists, made a plea to the Church:
At the very least, we would like to see our
church take a firm stand against demonization of our members and the resulting
violation of basic human rights that inevitably follows. . . . It is our
deepest wish that regardless of differing theologies regarding sexual
minorities, the Seventh-day Adventist Church can truly become a safe place
where ALL people responding to the love of Christ can grow in their
relationship with God (Letter, Elliott, President,
Seventh-day Adventist Kinship International, February 20, 2014).
We can’t escape the impression
that we who are alive and in positions of responsibility at this time in
earth’s history are here for such a time as this.
So, what will be our response? How
shall we live with the dilemmas posed by those who identify themselves as Seventh-day
Adventists but who live in ways not consistent with our understandings of biblical
teachings? How will we move forward from here?
Given the thoughtful
presentations and discussions of this week, perhaps the operative question for
us to consider is this: How will we affirm the rights of those with whom we
disagree while maintaining our religious, theological, and spiritual identity?
Some among us believe that it is
impossible to do this as respects our differing understandings of homosexuality
and alternative sexualities. But the Scripture that shaped this community of
faith teaches us to corporately and individually seek God when we meet these
challenges. When faced with a leadership responsibility that seemed to him an
impossibility, Solomon asked God for discernment and wisdom, and it was
granted. James reminds us that if we ask for wisdom, God will surely give it to
us (James 1:5).
Although it is not—and will not
be—easy, we need not falter.
Some may argue that it is not the
role or function of the Church to become involved in responding to homosexuals or
those practicing alternative sexualities at a personal spiritual level, or to
be concerned about the manner in which they are treated in both the church and
the wider society. But our history as a people, and our recent declarations
bear out a different perspective. It is true that the Church has sometimes chosen
to avoid certain pressing social issues in the past—sometimes even to our shame.
The fact is, though, that we have significant experience with the core dilemma
the present topic presents.
The Seventh-day Adventist Church
embarked on a path of conscientious and principled protection of maligned and
mistreated individuals even before it organized officially. Our church has
historically defended the right of expression for those with whom it disagrees
theologically, morally, socially, and politically, even while maintaining its own
identity and distinct beliefs.
The
introduction of the 1888 Blair Sunday Bill which sought to enforce Sunday as a
legal holiday led to the founding of the General Conference “Press Committee”
on religious liberty. From that reactive beginning, our National Religious
Liberty Association was founded in Battle Creek, Michigan, in 1889 upon the
success of that forerunner. It continues to this day to stand boldly throughout the
world and is recognized as a leader in defense of religious liberty for all,
regardless of belief and related lifestyle.
The
Church’s views on religious liberty were published in 1889 as the “Declaration
of Principles” of the National Religious Liberty Association. Its four
resolutions directly related to religious liberty were:
We
may fairly conclude that though the organizers of the National Religious
Liberty Association 125 years ago certainly did not have today’s issue in mind,
the principles they articulated have at least some application to our
circumstances today. By its own description, NARLA’s founding principles urge
that freedom of religion is best protected when included in the legal
safeguards of the state. They recognize that the religious community must always
be vigilant to guard and monitor the application of such laws, and should
promote religious liberty through judicial and legislative processes.
6
Through its defense of religious
liberty the Church has relied on an understanding that the health of liberty
depends on the principles, standards, and morals common to all religions. By
acknowledging the realm in which reason and faith agree and can cooperate about
morality and politics, religious liberty unites civic morality and the moral
teachings of religion, thereby establishing common standards to guide private
and public life.
The mission of the
International Religious Liberty Association, organized by Adventists and other
defenders of freedom in 1893, is unapologetically clear in its declaration that
it
“will disseminate the principles of religious
liberty throughout the world; defend and safeguard the civil right of all
people to worship or not to worship, to adopt a religion or belief of their
choice, to manifest their religious convictions in observance, promulgation,
and teaching, subject only to the respect for the equivalent rights of others .
. . .”
7
The
spirit of true religious liberty is epitomized in the Golden Rule: Do unto
others as you would have others do unto you.
So it is clear that we do not
lack the intellectual or moral capacities needed for addressing the dilemmas
presented by our topic here in Cape Town. But we do need the conviction, the will,
and the wisdom to move forward.
We
certainly haven’t
answered all the questions here at this gathering, even as we have listened to
an impressive array of professional presenters and experts. But I hope we have
committed to the strength to love. After all, Jesus taught that the greatest
commandments, upon which all the others hang, are commandments to love God and
love other human beings—all human beings:
“Jesus said to him, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with
all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great
commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as
yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets” (Matt. 22:37–40).
As
Boyd puts it, “Never is it appropriate to refrain from loving another person. And
this command, we must note, is placed above all. Peter agrees, when he writes,
above all, maintain constant love for one another.”
8 1 Peter 4:8 NRSV (emphasis supplied) “Our call to love includes everybody. Our
love is to ‘abound…
for one another and
for all
" (1 Thess. 3:12) (emphasis supplied). Jesus teaches us that we
are to love like the sun shines and like the rain falls—indiscriminately. Since
Jesus died for all (1 John 2:2) it's clear God ascribes unsurpassable worth to
all.”
9 According to Boyd,we should “reflect this in
how we think, speak, and behave toward others. We are thus called to love all
people, at all times, in all conditions—no ‘ifs,’ ‘ands,’ or ‘buts.’”
10
Jesus is our pattern and model for
how we are to relate to others.
What did Jesus do? How did He relate
to “sinners,” even those who were considered the lowest of sinners in His
society?
While the Pharisees denounced and
dismissed those whose lives spilled outside their parameters, Jesus loved them.
He loved them in His heart, yes; but even more so He loved them through the
model of living He left for us. Jesus associated with them. He drew them close
to Himself, and thereby, He drew them into His kingdom. In so doing He also
drew them to Gospel truth with a clear view of their sinful nature and behavior
as defined by/through His Word—text and life, the written word and the lived
word of God. Then, over time they saw the light and turned from their sinful
ways. They were redefined by the Gospel through the love in the words and deeds
of Christ. Jesus can and is waiting to do the same through us today.
Certainly
we all agree that the issue we are really considering is much greater than the
single topic of how the Church should react to, relate to, and respond to LGBTI
individuals. It is about how we choose to live out the gospel of Jesus Christ. We
have discussed whether and if LGBTI individuals can change, or should choose to
change, or how they should choose to live. This is actually about how we all
choose to live; and there’s no question that we have a choice. The controversy, where there is one, is over
worldview: epistemology, ontology, metaphysics, and so forth.
In His Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 5:13-14),
Jesus laid out His plan for His followers to be the salt of the earth and the
light of the world—to make a difference in this world. We Adventists take
seriously Jesus’ charge for ministry to all those who live within our sphere. Most
often, many interpret this calling to mean evangelism that takes shape in
public preaching and group or individual Bible studies. It focuses on the
hereafter.
However, Jesus is clear in the
vision He casts. Being light and salt means living a Christ-like life here and
now with each other—yes, with an eye to eternity with God—but nonetheless right
here and now. A closer look at Scripture challenges us to take an all-inclusive
approach to spreading the Gospel.
Bible commentator Charles Ryrie
(2008) points out that “Mark’s use of the term
gospel uniformly emphasizes the person of Christ (1:1, 14-15; 8:35; 10:29;
13:10; 14:9; 16:15). He [Jesus] is the central theme of the good news” (p. 6).
The wider context of Jesus’ ministry
is made clear in commentary onLuke’s reference
to the Christian’s social responsibility. As He announced His personal mission
statement to his home synagogue in Nazareth, Jesus continued His teaching on
how we are to live. He said,
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me,
Because He has anointed Me
To preach the gospel to the poor;
He has sent Me to heal the
brokenhearted,
To proclaim liberty to the captives
And recovery of sight to the blind,
To set at liberty those who are
oppressed;
1To
proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.”
(Luke 4:18-19, NKJV)
If we somehow missed that admonition, Jesus
reemphasized His expectations of us in an even more powerful message in Matthew
26:31-46. Here He shows that our salvation hinges on a demonstration of the life
truths of the gospel. We must take these words seriously as integral to the
Gospel Commission. Indeed, this is part of the expectation for sharing the
Gospel. Surely this is fundamental to what we mean when we declare our
commitment to ministering, in Ellen White’s apt phrase, “in the manner of
Jesus” (
Ministry of Healing, p. 143).
I believe we are sincere about our commitment. Yet,
there are times when we stumble over just how “the manner of Jesus” looks in
everyday life on the ground with real people.
Recently
The
Journal of Applied Christian Leadership
(2013) published an edition focused
on health and medical ministry in which it carried an article in its biblical
reflection section entitled, “Principles of Jesus’ Healing Ministry,” by Kenneth
Tyler.
11 I
found this article to be most helpful as we wrestle with the current topic and how
we should live and minister in the manner of Jesus.
I recommend a
review of Mark’s gospel message coupled with an analytical study of this
article. The lessons learned from Jesus’ 13 miracles in Mark, as reflected in
Tyler’s article, are a significant and substantive beginning for moving forward
from these meetings. These words from the Gospel model are then the last words
of this conference.
I quote here
from just six of Tyler’s 13 illustrations and insights, but apply the lessons
to our specific topic. This is how Jesus ministered to those in need who looked
to Him for help.
Tyler focused in his excellent
article on physical healing in his analysis of Jesus’ miracles in the book of
Mark. But the generalizable principles are applicable to all types of healing:
physical, spiritual, social, mental, and emotional.
It’s clear from the New Testament
record that Jesus’ earliest followers took very seriously these lessons of
inclusion, compassion, and care-giving. The apostle James, presumably the
brother of Jesus and an accepted leader in the early Christian church, asks an
all-important question, and then follows with inspired counsel: “Who
is wise and understanding among you? Let him show by good conduct that his
works are done in the meekness of wisdom. But if you have bitter envy and
self-seeking in your hearts, do not boast and lie against the truth. This
wisdom does not descend from above, . . .But the wisdom that is
from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of
mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy” (James
3:13-18).
Pure
and undefiled religion before God is this, according to James: to visit orphans
and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world
(1:27). This goes beyond traditional religious duties, practices, and
observances. True religion means control of the tongue (v. 19), taking care of
the poor, and rejecting the value system of the world.
James
is especially strong on the practice of partiality. He says in chapter 2, verse
1, “My brethren, do not hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of
glory, with partiality.” This partiality of which he speaks is plural in the
Greek; it indicates various partialities. The word used here can be equated to
modern discrimination and snobbery of all kinds: economic, social, educational,
physical, health, religious, and so forth. James shows in chapter 2 verse 9
that it is more than a flaw: it is a “sin.” It’s as serious as murder,
adultery, or not remembering “the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.”
12
Racism,
tribal prejudice, ethnic bigotry, and classism as well as religious and
nationalistic conflict in any time or place have at their root the sin of
partiality and are obnoxious to God who loves all and considers all people to
be His children. James then strips away any cover behind which one could hide
in the practice of partiality. He gives the Adventist commentary on the matter
when he says, building on the teaching of Jesus, that because the law is an
expression of God’s character, to ignore one part is to be in violation of His
whole law (James 2:10; cf. Matt. 5:18–19; 23:23).
13
Ancient
Jewish texts have almost exactly the same illustrations as mentioned here in
James of discrimination in a legal proceeding with the same condemnation. The
setting here seems to be a court of law between a rich plaintiff and a poor
defendant. James’s condemnation is not limited to a worship setting; prejudiced,
racist, and class-denigrating attitudes in everyday life have no place in the
life of the believer. Moreover, James includes an expectation that believers
will actually do something to relieve social and ethical challenges.
14
James makes it clear that we as
believers are not ignorant on this matter. He demonstrates that, yes, we really
do understand these principles. Perhaps our challenge is application. We
stumble as we try to operationalize these principles on a day-to-day basis on
the ground with other living, breathing human beings who make mistakes, who are
confused, who choose the wrong paths, who are different from us, all who are
searching for Christ’s way. We must accept the
responsibility for action. We are called to respond to the conditions present
in this world that affect the lives of God’s children—meaning all people, no
matter what their identity or condition.
So what does this look like? What
should this look like in the daily walk?
In my research for these
meetings, and this presentation in particular, I read a compilation of sermons
and speeches by Dr. Martin Luther King on the subject of Christian living for
times such as this. Even a cursory analysis of the series made clear the value
of some of his applications of theological principle to practical life,
wonderfully captured in a little book entitled
Strength to Love.15
How do we function in a
strength-to-love mode? What would it
mean if we stop seeing LGBTI persons as the enemy or a blight on the Church,
and begin to relate to them simply as God’s children and our brothers and
sisters who need His saving grace as we all do? God is not partial in His offer
of salvation. He wants to save them, as He wants to save the rest of us.
One of Dr. King’s assertions with
which I agree is that all of us here on earth “are caught in an inescapable
network of mutuality, tied together in a single garment of destiny (not
predestination). Whatever affects one, affects all indirectly.”
16 Dr. King held a theological belief in
and taught the interdependence of all life.
Then on another point—interestingly,
in a sermon on Matthew 10:16 in which Jesus counsels His disciples to be “wise
as serpents and harmless as doves”—he asserts that “life at its best is a
creative synthesis of opposites in fruitful harmony.”
17 Coretta Scott King, the author of the foreword said of King, “It
is pretty difficult to imagine a single person having, simultaneously, the
characteristics of the serpent and the dove, but, he taught, this is what Jesus
expects. We must combine the toughness of the serpent and the softness of the
dove, a tough mind and a tender heart.”
18
While
Seventh-day Adventists might not agree with all of Dr. King’s theology, we
certainly must accept the principles of this view.
The tough mind is sharp and penetrating,
breaking through the crust of legends and myths and sifting the truth from the error.
There is, King says, an almost universal quest for easy answers and half-baked
solutions in life. Few people have the toughness of mind to judge critically
and to discern the truth from the error, the fact from the fiction. Our minds
are constantly being invaded by legions of half-truths, prejudices, and false
facts. For this present topic of homosexuality and alternative sexualities,
that seems to be true on most sides of the issues—and it seems there are many
points of view.
Dr. King asserts that there is little
hope for us until we become tough-minded enough to break loose from the
shackles of prejudice. He makes clear that the shape of the world today does
not permit us the luxury of soft mindedness. He asserts that “a nation or civilization that
continues to produce soft minded people purchases its own spiritual death on an
installment plan.”
19
Even when, as Seventh-day Adventists, we
have THE truth, we cannot allow ourselves to get caught up in soft-minded
thinking.
But, Dr. King continues, we must not
stop with the development of a tough mind: we must also have a tender heart. Tough
mindedness without soft heartedness is cold and detached, leaving one’s life in
“a perpetual winter devoid of the warmth of spring and the gentle heat of
summer.”
20 He
declares that “To have serpent-like qualities devoid of dove-like qualities is
to be passionless, mean, and selfish. To have dove-like without serpent-like
qualities is to be sentimental, anemic, and aimless.”
21 The
challenges of life today demand that we combine these strongly contrasting
elements of character.
Dr.
King’s
Strength to Love echoes the
words of Ellen White. She admonished the Church and individuals:
“Clear-cut
messages are to be borne. But guard against arousing antagonism. There are many
souls to be saved. Restrain all harsh expressions. In word and deed be wise
unto salvation, representing Christ to all with whom you come in contact. Let
all see that your feet are shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace and
good will to men. Wonderful are the results we shall see if we enter into the
work imbued with the Spirit of Christ. Help will come in our necessity if we
carry the work forward in righteousness, mercy, and love. Truth will triumph,
and bear away the victory.”
22
When
all is said and done, whether here at these meetings or future meetings, we
must settle on at least one fact. That is, as long as we individual Christians,
and particularly as we the Seventh-day Adventist Church—the body of Christ in
these last days—are not consistent in our views and handling of Church business,
LGBTI persons and those of other groups will
not hear us, regardless that we teach and preach Biblical truths. As long as we
protect, cover-up, or yes, condone adultery, dishonesty, and other sins that
were forbidden by God in the Church and particularly in high places, we will
not be able to reach LGBTI with our words that
we call truth for the transformation of their lives—in any way.
The greatness of our God, Dr. King
says, lies in the fact that He is both tough-minded and tender-hearted. He has
qualities both of sternness and gentleness. Scripture stresses both His
tough-mindedness in His justice and wrath, and His tenderheartedness in His
love and grace. Dr. King said, “He is
tough-minded enough to transcend the world; he is tender-hearted enough to live
in it.”
23
“Many
voices and forces urge us to choose the path of least resistance, and bid us
never to fight for an unpopular cause and never to be found in the pathetic
minority of two or three.”
24 In
spite of the prevailing tendency to conform to popular opinion, Seventh-day
Adventists have a mandate to be nonconformists. Ours is a counterculture. As [Seventh-day
Adventist] Christians, we must never surrender our supreme loyalty to any
time-bound custom or earth-bound idea, for at the heart of our universe is a higher
reality—God and His kingdom of love—to which we must be conformed.”
25
The prophetic voice uniquely gifted to this movement
told us years ago:
“The world needs today what it needed nineteen hundred years
ago—a revelation of Christ. A great work of reform is demanded, and it is only
through the grace of Christ that the work of restoration, physical, mental, and
spiritual, can be accomplished.
Christ’s
method alone will give true success in reaching the people. The Saviour mingled
with men as one who desired their good. He showed His sympathy for them,
ministered to their needs, and won their confidence. Then He bade them, ‘Follow
Me.’
There is need of coming close to the people by
personal effort. If less time were given to sermonizing, and more time were
spent in personal ministry, greater results would be seen. The poor are to be
relieved, the sick cared for, the sorrowing and the bereaved comforted, the
ignorant instructed, the inexperienced counseled. We are to weep with those
that weep, and rejoice with those that rejoice. Accompanied by the power of
persuasion, the power of prayer, the power of the love of God, this work will
not, cannot, be without fruit.”
26
“The first
and most fundamental evidence that we are abiding in Christ and participating
in the divine nature is that God's self-sacrificial love begins to be
manifested in our life. John puts the matter rather bluntly when he says,
‘Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love” (1 John 4:8 and
NIV). “Those who say, ‘I love God, and hate their brothers or sisters, are
liars’ (1 John 4:20 NIV).”
27
Scripture is unrelenting in its
admonition to love. “Christlike love is our primary witness to the world that
Jesus is real. By this, Jesus says, everyone will know that you are my
disciples,
if you have love for one
another
.” (John 13:35, NRSV, emphasis supplied) After having learned this
lesson himself, Paul urges in his letter to the Galatians that this love that
is extended to all is to be unconditional, “Love your neighbor as yourself’”
(Gal. 5:14, NRSV).
28
