Dimapur, July 26 (MExN): Nagaland Baptist Church Council today issued a statement elaborating its perspective and the turf it stands on, over the issue of homosexuality, Gay marriage or gay sex, as brought to the fore by the recent decriminalization of gay sex in India.
What the NBCC has explained is that Christians cannot afford to – and should never –water down the teachings in the Bible, for the sake of ‘adjusting’ or accommodating contemporary trends and thoughts as a way to recognizing secular ideals. While the stand of Biblical Christianity against same-gender emotional and sexual orientation is clear enough, the church however explained that Christianity with its ministry of love does not make discriminatory distinctions.
“Rather, showing our sympathy for a discriminated minority is in tune with the example of Jesus. In fact the church ought to be able to extend her ministry to all sections of the society without distinction, discrimination or favoritism, totally regardless of sex, position, wealth, sexual orientation,” the NBCC stated. Here, however, the church cautioned that extending the ministry of Jesus does not at all mean the faith endorses the behavior and lifestyle of the gay community, “or that we are open to members of such community holding leadership positions in our churches.”
“The church cannot be open to gay marriage. We firmly believe in upholding the standards God has set for us in the Bible, and commit ourselves to live within the framework provided therein, and to help others to do the same. Living by these standards requires us to speak the truth, but to speak it with love,” the NBCC said.
The NBCC reminded of the Christian belief that there is nothing in the Bible that needs to be “readjusted, deleted, toned down, or tamed.” Rather, the church said, “we believe that our personal lives and our collective faith need to be readjusted, reformed and enlightened by the Holy Spirit so that we fit into the framework of the Biblical teachings.”
The church explained from the book of Genesis where Christians are clearly given God’s purpose for marriage and what it is meant to signify. ‘God created man and found that he was lonely and needed a partner. This is significant because even when Adam (the first man) could commune with God in the Garden of Eden, he was still lonely. There was something missing. And so God created a woman — Eve, and they were to become as “one”, multiply and fill the earth’.
Here, the church said, the word “one” used in Genesis is the same word that was used when God declared one of the most important concepts about God in the Old Testament: “The Lord your God, the Lord is one” (Deuteronomy).
The church explained that marriage is a divine covenant between a man and a woman, and their sexual union in marriage (becoming as one) is a spiritual one. This marriage relationship between a man and a woman is a reflection of the unity of the divine Godhead-the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.” Any other relationship or arrangement is a direct violation of the divinely-ordained institution of marriage, NBCC said.
The council referred to scripture in the Old Testament such as Leviticus 18:22 and Leviticus 20:13 that speak directly and “rather harshly” against homosexual behavior and practices; with regard to homosexuality, passages in the New Testament forbidding homosexual sex even between consenting adults were mentioned by the NBCC, such as 1 Timothy 1:9-10 and 1 Corinthians 6:9, and Romans chapter 1.
‘We cannot afford to make the mistake of reinterpreting the truths of scripture to fit in our “modern” and “progressive” agendas,’ the NBCC reminded. The council quoted Mark Twain: “It is not the parts of the Bible which I don’t understand that bothers me. It is the parts which I do understand all too well and cannot live by.” The Bible speaks very clearly on this issue if only one reads and ‘listen’ to it, the church said.
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