Yesterday I attended a lecture by Dr. David Myers sponsored by the College of Arts and Sciences. Based on the introductory material, I was expecting to hear at least something that relied on commonly accepted Christian beliefs.
Instead, I was treated to a report of biological and sociological studies that showed (1) sexual orientation is likely determined before birth, (2) homosexuality “recovery programs” do not work, (3) marriage is generally good for society, and (4) many young Americans do not value marriage – even in the traditional sense.
I have no substantive disagreement with these findings. Dr. Myers eventually argued that since marriage was in such decline, allowing the gay and lesbian population (3% of the US) to be legally married might improve marriage. But, he gave few specifics on how this would work.
Perhaps he ran out of time because he spent too much time making attacks on what conservative Christians and the Bible have to say about homosexuality.
He showed pictures of men that went back to homosexuality after a recovery and poked fun at the organizations that had touted their recoveries. Perhaps they deserved that, but if his ideas are valid, he should not need to emphasize the failures of others.
He questioned the Bible when he said that the word “homosexuality” does not appear anywhere in the Bible and that there are only seven verses out of 31,103 that relate to it.
If God only said it seven times, it must be insignificant. He added that since Christ never addressed the topic in the New Testament, churches should not be making such a big deal about it today. He showed a blank screen in his PowerPoint presentation to depict what Christ said about homosexuality.
If that does not constitute a direct attack on the Bible, please tell me what does.
He did admit that seven Scripture passages appear to condemn homosexuality, but he said that we really do not know what those passages mean since they also include other sexual sins.
Well, Christians for centuries have known what those passages mean. Sexual activity of any type outside God’s design of marriage is sinful. Pre-marital sex, adultery, homosexuality, etc. are all equally sinful.
That’s not too hard to understand. He mentioned that Christianity consists of two basic beliefs. (1) There is a God, and (2) its not me or you.
If you think about it, everyone makes a decision as to who to trust. Dr. Myers clearly chose to trust the ideas of society instead of God’s Word in the area of sexuality. Many folks do that, but he went too far.
While attacking both the Bible and conservative Christians, he attempted to portray himself as a warm caring Christian.
– Gary Nonnemacher, Department of Math and Statistics, [email protected].
