By Bruce Lowe
Dear Louise ...
To: Louise, dear friend, beloved of God
From: Bruce, by the immeasurable grace of God, a brother in Christ
Anna Marie and I will never forget your heavy-hearted words to us the last
time we saw you: “My brother hates God because God made him gay, and he
knows he is going to hell, and I do, too, for that is what the Bible says.”
I was without words, realizing suddenly that what I knew about gays and what
the Bible says about them was very superficial. Anna Marie’s immediate
response to you was, “No one will go to hell who puts his faith in Jesus
Christ.” How gloriously true! Whatever else the Bible says or doesn’t say,
gay people are not necessarily going to hell.
Since we saw you I have given serious study to homosexuality and what the Bible says about it. Thank God! There was so much to learn about gay men and lesbian women—and the Bible—that I am so glad to have come to know. I found facts about homosexuals that are of immeasurable importance for anyone who wants to understand homosexuality and the Bible’s teaching. I hope my letter will make these things clear to you. And how I wish our pastors and churches, also, could see them clearly!
The letter is long; forgive me. Yet I have done little more than try to summarize the basic points of the subjects I want to cover. There are ten of them. This overview may help you see what I want to talk about:
1.
The
Homosexual's Nature
a. Unchangeable
b. Normal
c. God-created
d. Superior
2. The Homosexual's Suffering
a. A homophobic society
b. A condemning church
3. The Morality of
Homosexuality
a. The silence of the Bible
b. The criteria for morality
4. The Homosexual's Place
a. In society
b. In the church
Appendix A: Some Principles of Bible Interpretation
Appendix B: Bible
Passages on Same-Gender Sex
Appendix C: The Three Sins
God’s Words—the Bible and Jesus Christ—are our authority, and this writing tries to see homosexuality through that authority. Those who are preaching homophobia (literally, “fear of homosexual persons,” now used to mean “hatred of homosexual persons”) are grossly misinterpreting the Bible. So I think my discussion needed Appendices A and B. Nevertheless, I know some people will never believe the way I have come to, and there are some things I wish I could say to them. I think you will agree with that message; it is the final appendix.
Also forgive the somewhat academic structure of the letter; I felt the writing rather required it. I pray that this will give you some of the welcome insights my study has given me.
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