Dog in the manger

As I said in an earlier post, a denomination is not a denomination when members do not feel that they can freely worship in all churches belonging to that denomination. That is certainly the case now with the Church of Scotland, given that some members still hold to the Bible as being not only the Word of God but our rule for living, while others have decided that they know better than the Bible and can dispense with some (all?) of its teachings. The CofS is now too broad a church to continue in its present form, which is why some congregations and ministers have already left and others are considering doing so. It would be good if the split could happen amicably however it would seem that 121 (George Street - HQ of the CofS) is determined to make it as difficult as possible. They are desperate to hold on to church buildings and manses, with the result that they are going to end up with a lot of empty buildings with no congregations or ministers and no money for the upkeep of said buildings. We have already seen the transformation of empty churches in Edinburgh into pubs and clubs and carpet warehouses over the years. Sadly, it seems that we are going to see a lot more of the same if the CofS continues with its present dog-in-the-manger attitude. It will be a pretty poor witness if Gilcomston South in Aberdeen ends up turning into a pub through the intransigence and pettiness of 121. And does 121 really think that they are going to be able to keep High Hilton going now that the minister, associate minister and a large part of the congregation have left?

The church is the people, not the building, and God will build His church in Scotland regardless of what the leadership of the CofS does, however they will still have to answer for their actions.

'Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows' Galations 6:7 (NIV)

Did God really say?

A friend recently attended the ladies Bible study of a conservative, evangelical church for the first time and probably the last. Not that she had any problem with the study, which was looking at the life of one of the disciples. It was the conversation on homosexuality which took place after someone mentioned the case of the christian couple who are no longer allowed to foster because of their christian beliefs. She was horrified to hear how far Satan's deception had penetrated into even this once-conservative denomination. Statements such as 'God made people to be gay' and 'gay people are born that way' were made as if they were fact.

Let me just digress a moment to remind you what the actual facts are viz

1. there is no scientific evidence that anyone is born gay
2. there is no biblical evidence to support the view that God creates some people homosexuals
3. there is no evidence that sexual orientation is fixed from birth
4. there is evidence that people can and do change their sexual orientation – eg the book Setting Love in Order by Mario Bergner

Back to the Bible study, although, by this stage, calling it that sounds like it could be a breach of the Trade Descriptions Act since very little reference to the Bible was being made in the conversation. Instead, a lot of man-made wisdom was being touted as if it were gospel. The bottom line seemed to be that God couldn't be very loving if he made people homosexual and then denied them the chance to marry someone of their own sex. Put like that, the argument that gay is OK sounds very reasonable and those who took a biblical stand, my friend included, were left feeling that they were being unreasonable and unkind.

However the real bottom line is this – did God really say? (Gen 3:1) Just as Satan deceived Eve by getting her to question what God had said, and the motivation behind it, so he has deceived the poor women in that Bible study. Instead of believing God's word they have believed the lies of man and have elevated their own feelings and opinions above the Word of God. They have quite literally exchanged the truth for a lie (Rom 1:25). Either you believe the Bible or you don't. There is no middle ground. That is the battle in these last days and it is being carried into even formerly conservative evangelical churches by those who call themselves christians but who are not. There is only one way to answer such attacks – 'it is written' (Matt 4:4).