LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 2001, Page 434

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434 ADDITIONAL THEOLOGICAL DOCUMENTS AND REPORTS—OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT

be the work of the Law that drives the homosexual person to seek
help from his or her pastor to begin with. In such an instance, the
case should be handled in the same spirit in which Christ dealt with
the woman caught in adultery (John 8:3-11). Here Christ did not
pronounce the condemnation of the Law; that ‘alien work” had been
done by the scribes and Pharisees who brought her to Him. Instead,
Jesus performs His “proper office,” that is, He announces grace and
comforts her: “Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more.”

A caveat against preaching the Law in an ex opera operato
fashion can be seen in this experience related by a homosexual who
has felt its sting:

“The law that pastors can preach will never compare with the
preaching of the law that a homosexual child gets at school and on the
playground. From second grade on | was called fag, fairy, and queer. |
dreaded recess because for fifteen minutes twice a day | would be left to
the ridicule of the other kids without the structure and teacher’s pres-
ence which protected me somewhat in class. My ninth-grade English
teacher spoke in a falsetto lisp when [ walked by. I went to school with
a stomachache every day of my tenth-grade year because one of the kids
in acting class had decided it was his special duty to make fun of me
for being a sissy whenever the teacher’s back was turned. Compared 10
this ‘preaching of the law’ no pastor’s fire-and-brimstone sermon about
the dangers of hell could ever move me. Every homosexual knows very
well what the Bible says about homosexuality. They have endured far
more devastating applications of the law than any church can bring to
bear. If they have turned to the gay lifestyle, it ts not because they have
hardened their hearts against God but because they have despaired of
finding God’s love. Frankly, I don't think most hornosexuals worry
about hell a whole lot. To many, as to myself, hell seems like some-
what of a relief. We would be willing to put up with eternal pain if only
it meant we didn’t have to pretend anymore and that we could find just
one person here on earth that we could get close to and love. In fact, for
many years my concept of heaven was a small, dark room where I could
be alone forever and ever and not have to worry about keeping up a re-
spectable front. Hell, to many of us, would seem like heaven if it meant
that we didn’t have to worry about what others thought. And to be hon-
est, if hell is the price to pay for just a little bit of love, even perverted
love, here on earth, many homosexuals are prepared to pay that price.”
In seeking to apply Law and Gospel, care must be taken to keep

the lines of communication open. Simply declaring to a homosex-
ual person that “God condemns homosexuality” will (probably) not
have a positive outcome. When St. Paul began preaching in Athens
(Acts 17:22-31), he did not first condemn the Athenians’ violation
of the First Commandment (though he did Jater), but he began with
concems that both he and they shared. Likewise, in dealing with a
homosexual, sensitivity must be shown in when and where to pro-
claim the Law. The homosexual person must know that the pastor
is speaking to him or her out of love and acceptance (but not ap-
proval). The key is to keep communication open so that the oppor-
tunity for Law/Gospel ministry remains open.

The Sixth Commandment

The key Christian lifestyle issue for homosexual persons is their
relationship to the Sixth Commandment. Human sexuality, in its
wider sense, is a beautiful gift of the Creator. Social interaction
helps to establish and fine-tune sexual identity and makes friend-
ship possible within and across gender lines. On the other hand,
sexual intimacy is the means God gave His creation for the procre-
ation of the race and for a powerful source of bonding between
wife and husband.

To realize the blessings that God intends for human sexuality
and sexual intimacy, God has set boundaries in the Sixth Com-
mandment which forbid adultery, fornication, lusting, sexual fan-
tasy, and homosexual behavior:

You shall not commit adultery.
What does this mean? We should fear and love God so that we lead

a sexually pure and decent life in what we say and do, and husband and

wife love and honor each other.’

Luther’s explanation shows that the intention of the Sixth Com-
mandment goes beyond the action of committing adultery. Al-

2001 Convention Workbook

ready in His Sermon on the Mount, Jesus indicates how the spirit of
the Law goes beyond its letter (Matt. 5:27-32). St. Paul also ex-
plains how the intent of the commandment is more comprehensive
by including other sexual sins in lists that resemble the ordering of
the Second Table of the Law (e.g., Col. 3:5; | Tim. ]:9-10; Titus
3:3). In the Large Catechism, Luther points to how extensive the
Sixth Commandment really is:

[T]his commandment applies to every torm of unchastity, however
it is called. Not only is the external act forbidden, but also every kind of
cause, motive, and means. Your heart, your lips, and your whole body
are to be chaste and to aftord no occasion, aid, or encouragement to un-
chastity.*

Congregational Reaction

Many Christian people will probably react strongly against ho-
mosexuals and/or their “acceptance” in a congregation. The ques-
tion is, “Why?” The answer is that any “sin” produces a negative
moral judgment. But then the question becomes, “Why this sin, and
not others?” That question is a good one.

The negative reaction toward homosexuals is usually called (by
the homosexual community) “homophobia.” The literal definition
of this term is “fear of homosexuals.” The questions that we must
ask are these: (1) What do people really fear? (2) Is this fear theo-
logically admissible?

To answer the first question: People usually fear what the
stereotypes or myths have told them. Society has depicted homo-
sexuals as a deviant group (although many, if not most, act so “nor-
mally” that their homosexuality is publicly undetectable). This be-
lief often means that the “deviancy” may in some way affect them
or their children. Although this scenarto cannot be substantiated,
the anxiety over its happening exists nevertheless. Therefore, it is
called a “phobia,” that is, a fear that is grounded in causes that are
not reasonable.

The second question, Is this fear theologically admissible? The
only allowance (see Romans |) is that some people can convince
others that rebellion against the Creator is justified. Thus, homo-
sexuality can be “transmitted” in the sense that those who are weak
in faith can be influenced to believe that homosexuality can be ac-
cepted as an alternative to the Creator’s order. Only in this sense, is
there Biblical evidence that fear of homosexuality is justified, but
the same could be said about fear of heterosexuals who involve
other heterosexuals in sins against the Sixth Commandment.

A third question, however, is this: Is this fear theologically al-
lowable? It is not, if the church has chosen to ignore other sins of
sexual behavior. More often than not, the church seems to condemn
sins of homosexual behavior while ignoring those of heterosexual
behavior. Like it or not, homosexual behavior often receives a con-
demnation much more severe than premarital sex or adultery. Fur-
thermore, this unevenness in dealing with sexual sins often fosters
hatred of homosexuals, some of whom may eamestly desire to live
a God-pleasing life, when people in the church indulge in “verbal
violence” and “gay bashing” against them. The point is, how do
you deal with a person who is struggling with homosexual feel-
ings? How do you address the individual! who is questioning his or
her very existence? “The rea] challenge in Christian ethics,” as one
article put it, “is not reaching the correct judgment but rather acting
on those judgments in love and facing the moral ambiguities that
applying those judgments will always have.” ’ The fact is that “ho-
mophobia” is present in the church. The concern is that we not be
like the Pharisee who said, “God, I thank You that I am not like
other men” (Luke 18:11).

Pastoral Care
The pastor

The pastor must have objectivity in dealing with the homosex-
ual. In a certain sense, administering pastoral care in this situation