{"id":1859,"date":"2018-10-29T16:11:15","date_gmt":"2018-10-29T16:11:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thomascreedy.com\/?p=1859"},"modified":"2018-10-30T09:32:43","modified_gmt":"2018-10-30T09:32:43","slug":"dtlc-sexuality-part-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thomascreedy.co.uk\/dtlc-sexuality-part-2\/","title":{"rendered":"DTLC: Sexuality Part 2"},"content":{"rendered":"
You might have seen my post earlier this year about \u2018Doing\u00a0Theology in the Local Church<\/a>\u2018, and the three rough scripts of talky-bits that I delivered as a result. One of the big questions that came out from our first term was the broader question of how our Christianity and our sexuality are related. We decided to devote a term (three evening services) to start thinking about this, because it is a vital missional and pastoral set of conversations, questions, and issues. To start off, though, we felt that the best way to start a discussion about Christianity and sexuality was to start with Jesus<\/a>. The post below represents a tweaked version of the \u2018script\u2019 of the talk from the second week. Whoever you are, and however you’ve found yourself on this blog, I’d encourage you to approach it with an open mind. I don’t believe the Bible talks about heterosexuals or homosexuals or any other identity marker – it talks about people, with certain characteristics and activities being in focus. I’d welcome your comments.<\/i><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Week 2 – The Bible and Sex<\/b><\/p>\n What would it mean to consider the whole teaching of the Bible – the grand narrative of creation, fall, redemption and consummation in the Kingdom of God – in our conversations about sex, sexuality and following Jesus?<\/p>\n Sex is not<\/b> the focus of this narrative.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n But it is a part of the story.<\/p>\n We hope that by thinking about what the Bible has to say about sex – whether you are wondering how to translate complex technical words like arsenokoites<\/i> or if the Bible has *anything* to say – we will be able to point you towards Jesus.<\/p>\n So what does<\/em> the Bible say about sex?<\/p>\n Well, without providing chapter and verse, we believe that the Bible says three things<\/p>\n The Bible is a record of God\u2019s action with and to his people – and, as you might expect from a library spanning hundreds of years of human history, multiple literary genres, and at least two major world religions, there are not many topics on which it is entirely silent. Sometimes the Bible gives us explicit teaching on a topic – other times it gives us some timeless principles, to help us navigate the ever changing, constantly creative world that we live in.<\/p>\n When it comes to sex, though, the Bible offers some essential principles, which run through the whole library, and some really specific teaching – some of which is quite explicit!<\/p>\n [i] Sex\/Sexuality is a positive part of being human – created good, fallen, redeemed, and pointing towards\u00a0someone\u00a0else.<\/b><\/p>\n Hopefully the idea that the Bible is a library, and contains a wide range of types of writing, is not new to you. If it is – or you are wondering how we can read<\/i> the Bible let alone take it seriously, I\u2019d encourage you to check out the script of one of our sessions at this evening service<\/a> from last term (and particularly check out the recommended reading!).<\/p>\n Genesis 1-3 is the opening sequence of Scripture, and it covers quite a lot of ground. God\u2019s creativity is centre stage, with a radical focus on human beings. In Genesis 1:26-28, the Bible talks about humankind, all humans, being made in the Image of God:<\/p>\n “<\/span>Then God said, \u201cLet us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.\u201d So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0male and female he created them. God blessed them and said to them, \u201cBe fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.<\/em>”<\/p>\n This mysterious theme resonates throughout the whole Bible – and is a principle that means that to be human is to be made in the image of God, to have dignity and value, and that to damage or kill a human is a serious act. If you don\u2019t hear anything else this evening, hear this: Genesis affirms and celebrates the human person as being uniquely reflective of God, of unique dignity and worth.\u00a0I’ve written about this before, particularly with reference to some of the worst abuse of humans for issues around sex and sexuality<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n That human kind was made male and female in the image of God is a radical idea that teaches us something about God, and something about us. About God, it challenges us that God is beyond and above sex and Gender. About us, it reveals that our maleness and femaleness are a vital, literally life-giving, part of what it means to be human. This command, fruitfulness and multiplication, is the first instance of what we might today call sexuality in the Biblical narrative.<\/p>\n As if to emphasise this – and also, I think to shock us (particularly in a patriarchal, male-dominated culture like much of that of the Ancient Near East), Genesis 2 tells us the same story from a different angle. Man is created – but on his own he is incomplete. Theologians call what is described here the \u2018one flesh union\u2019, echoing the complementary nature of male and female – both fully human, both fully made in the Image of God, together. The note in verse 24; \u201cThat is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh<\/i>\u201d is the basis for Christian (and Jewish) sexual ethics. This is why Jesus explicitly<\/em> quotes Genesis 2:24 in Matthew 19:5, affirming and underlining this ethic as being common to all cultures in creation.<\/p>\n The story of sex in the Bible continues – but everything<\/i> yet to come is to be read in the light of Genesis 3. The ideal, God\u2019s good design and intention for sex (one man and one woman, for the purposes of procreation and joy, in this thing that we have come to call marriage), was shattered. The event that theologians call ‘The Fall’ changed the way the world is. We know this world has darkness and pain in – even as it has glimpses of light. Genesis 3 describes how this came about.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n [Generic image of desert – I use slides when speaking, partly to break up what I’m saying, and partly for emphasis]\n\n