Archive for the ‘Homosexuality’ Category

Posted on March 11, 2009 - by Stephen Murray

Being the ‘Few’ for the Homosexuals in our Midst

This is one of the most moving articles I’ve read in a long time. It is highly emotive yet completely sane and sobering providing people like me with a reality check on how I’m loving for and caring for those struggling around me. We’ve been wrestling with the concepts of ‘locving each other’ as we’ve gone through the upper room discourse in our Gospel Community and it’s been both a blessed yet difficult exercise at the same time as we wrestle with the implications. Well here’s and article that speaks right into the implications. Read it, absorb it and pray that God would break our callous hearts to love as his Son has loved us.

Posted on August 28, 2008 - by Stephen Murray

Right to Equality vs. Religious Freedom

Well it was going happen at some stage…It appears that the South African law court has decided that the constitutional right to equality trumps the constitutional right to religious freedom. What do you think about this issue?

Posted on June 11, 2008 - by Stephen Murray

Heroes and the Wiki Entry

When I was small and you asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up I would have told you: Indiana Jones. I wanted to be an archaeologist with a whip, hat and the adventure to go along. Indy was my hero. I suppose most boys growing up have heroes that they envision themselves one day becoming. At a later stage I read a biography of South American liberator Simon Bolivar and became fascinated with the idea of being a hero on a national or even global scale. As a Christian as I read biographies of missionaries who really made a difference in this world it strikes a chord deep down – maybe its a masculinity thing, Wild at Heart if you like. To this day there’s something that grips me when I hear stories about great men achieving great things on a great scale – the kind of people who get their own wiki entry. In many ways I guess I’ve pursued that ideal – I’ve wanted to be that hero with the wiki entry. Most times my motivation is completely self-absorbed and full of pride. Yet something else has helped me recently to re-orientate myself regarding my understanding of the concept of a hero. Over the last few years I’ve had the chance to see and meet heroes face to face. I’ve been able to talk with them and hear their stories:

I once met a black man who, under the previous regime, was horribly beaten by white policemen when during a peaceful march he was chased into a barbed wire fence where he got stuck and was cruelly struck. Today he’s a pastor who works not only in a black community but also in gospel partnership with other white pastors and Christians – he welcomed me into his home and treated me as his closest brother. He’ll never have a wiki entry, but he is undoubtedly a hero.

I’ve met young people slavishly giving their lives over to rescuing homeless folk from a downward spiral into drunkenness despair and death. I see them daily put up with so much crap from so many of these homeless people, some of them even face threats on their very lives from the people they’re trying to help and yet day after day they come back and they love them. These people live on the front line of this broken world – they’ll never get a wiki-entry like Mother Teresa, but they are undoubtedly heroes.

I’ve also met a young man who confessed his struggle with homosexual desires to me. He is convinced above all things that gospel of Jesus Christ is the only hope for this world and so where others would council him to embrace his homosexuality he has instead shunned it and lived in opposition to it so that he might please Christ rather than man. Internally it must be a mammoth struggle – a war – but its a war that will never be covered in a wiki entry even though it produces a hero of heroes.

All along I’ve wanted to be a hero of the wiki variety and I’ve foolishly missed the stunning examples of heroism that are all around me. In one sense I shouldn’t be surprised because all of these people do follow a man, a suffering servant who was sinless and perfect yet the world chose to mock him, spit on him and crucify him in a horrible death. This death he died so that this broken world might be set free. In the process he has spawned an army of suffering servants, most of whom will never have wiki entries but all of whom will one day be crowned heroes because of him and his heroic work.

Posted on January 10, 2008 - by Stephen Murray

Birthday Nostalgia: Posts that Stirred the Pot

Being the birthday and all its time for another trip down memory lane. We’ve already had one trip back into the archives to find posts that I wished had received a bit of a wider readership but today’s nostalgic trip picks up the posts that drew a bit of heat and fire for various reasons. I suppose you can’t really write a blog with conviction and not stir up the pot from time to time. Well here are the posts that either stirred up others or posts where I got a opinionated:

Charismatics and Conservatives Together (15/09/07) – funny that the controversy this post stirred up had little to do with Charismatics or Conservatives coming together. Go figure.

Witherington and Progressive Revelation (21/09/07) – on this one, as much as I respect and admire him, as much as I and read his blog daily, I just couldn’t stomach Dr. Witherington’s understanding of the unfolding of doctrinal accuracy through the course of redemptive history. In fact I still can’t stomach it or justify it from scripture.

Reading Romans 7 and the Evangelical Conviction (11/10/07) – proof that even your own teammates shoot you sometimes (just kidding Kim – all’s forgiven).

“God is Dead” – But was he ever alive? (26/10/07) – a catchy title goes wrong…

Why I don’t Stone People (14/11/07) – I seem to have a fan base of atheists who visit this blog quite regularly. This post resulted in a bit of frivolous banter between us.

Tutu Gay Rant (19/11/07) – This little rant didn’t really stir too much but it did cause someone to write the longest comment I’ve ever seen on a blog.

What is the Gospel – An Open Forum (28/11/07) – ok so this post didn’t really draw all that much heat, except for that one guy disagreeing with me, Tim Keller, I mean who does he think he is? It’s not like he’s got a Facebook appreciation group that’s bigger than all my friends combined!

Proudly South African (17/12/07) – who knew that being a patriot would rattle the cages a bit?

Golden Compass Christian Hernia (17/12/07) – I managed to unsettle some folks twice in one day! There’s a simple math formula for topics like the Golden Compass if you haven’t figured it out yet. It goes like this: Golden Compass + Christian Blog = Controversy + Lot’s of hits! I couldn’t resist throwing my two cents in.

So far 2008 has been controversy free. Although I’m probably not going to shy away from the posts that stir a bit let’s just pray that I stir in godly way – there is such a thing.

Posted on November 19, 2007 - by Stephen Murray

Tutu Gay Rant

Today Desmond Tutu has had a go at the broader Anglican church for the amount of time and energy it is giving to the ‘gay’ issue – most notably in the States where this particular issue is tearing the Episcopal church apart. He was rather critical of Archbishop Rowan Williams for not displaying the attributes of a ‘welcoming God’. Tutu was adamant that he does not worship a homophobic God.

So what do I think? First off I should point out that I have often admired the stands that Tutu has taken on certain social issues even if I wouldn’t see eye to eye with him theologically. But this post is about theology. Now I’m glad he doesn’t worship a homophobic God, because neither do I. I do however worship a God who designed sexual intercourse for the confines of the marriage covenant between man and woman. Hence when men exchange sexual relationships with women for relationships with men (and vice versa) this God calls that ‘unnatural’. I worship a God who thinks that the practice of homosexuality is wrong and in rebellion to his created order. I worship a God who calls on his followers to turn from all rebellion and to be able to clearly identify what is and isn’t rebellion. I worship a God who calls on Christian leaders to call sin as it really is. I worship a God who is concerned about the purity of his church.

Am I a bigotted fundamentalist? Well before you make that judgment let me share some further beliefs of mine:

I believe that God calls me to love all people – that includes homosexuals. I believe God calls me to not judge those outside of the church. I believe that God detests homophobia which is as much a sin as homosexual practice. I believe that where I sin in my life in other ways those sins should be considered just as vile in the Lord’s sight as homosexual practice. I believe I have to be ever vigilant in my own life to guard myself against sin, and to repent when I stumble (which I do often). I believe that God offers freedom from the penalty of sin through his Son, Jesus Christ. I believe that the only way to truly reflect the attributes of a ‘welcoming God’ is by declaring the glorious Gospel of his son Jesus.

Archbishop Tutu makes this statement:  ”God must be weeping looking at some of the atrocities that we commit against one another” – I have no doubt that God weeps over many of the atrocities we commit against each other. I also have no doubt that the God of the Bible weeps over Tutu’s idea of a pure church.