Check out the So We Speak podcast on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.
1:20 – 25:16: What would you say to someone who uses Scripture to argue that homosexuality is not condemned by God? How do we know what the original writings originally meant?
Common arguments for homosexuality:
1) The word “homosexuality” was not used in the Bible until modern translations.
2) The sins of Sodom and Gomorrah were not sexual in nature. It was because they refused to welcome the sojourners.
3) Jesus never said anything specifically about homosexuality.
Here are some of the answers discussed in the episode:
Historical Christianity, Church history, and the original texts of Scripture are not favorable towards the interpretation of Scripture that allows for homosexuality.
Reconstructing the text of Scripture to accommodate for homosexuality is only the first step in the process. You have yet to prove your opinion.
The argument that says, “This person is a nice individual…how he/she lives cannot be sinful,” does not prove anything about what the text says and it does not match.
Asking “What does the text actually say?” is key. When personal experience and the text of Scripture do not line up, experience becomes the issue - not the text. Scripture has to be the avenue through which Christians set their moral standards of right and wrong.
Recommended reading:
The Moral Vision of the New Testament by Richard Hays.
Homosexuality and the Christian by Robert Yarhouse.
What Does the Bible Say About Homosexuality by Kevin DeYoung
Is God Anti-Gay? by Sam Allberry
Secrets of an Unlikely Convert by Rosaria Butterfield
25:16 – 30:03: What is the best resource on the Christian vision of the American founding?
American History, volumes 1 & 2 by Thomas Kidd
1776 by David McCullough
First Principles by Thomas Ricks
30:04 - 33:37: The Friendship of David and Jonathan
A cross-generational friendship.
David’s age probably around twenty-five; Jonathan at approximately forty-five.
33:38 – 48:50: Salvation, Predestination, and Election
Election is always addressed to believers in the New Testament.
Predestination means that God determines events beforehand.
Calvin understood the Scriptures to say that God chooses His children from before the foundation of the world – unconditional election.
John Wesley understood election to be conditional based on a certain amount of grace granted to each individual so that they are able to respond to God.
Almost all references to predestination and election in Scripture are useful in the context of the author arguing about another topic. Even Romans 9 (a huge chapter when it comes to the doctrine of election) is being used as an argument for the Jews as the people of God and Gentiles being grafted in.
The fact of the matter remains: God chose you before you would have ever chosen God. God is going to complete the process He started (Romans 8:28-30).
In Paul’s writings, when he addresses the question, “Why do bad things happen to good people”, he always goes back to, “Remember that God called you and that God reached out to you.”
“Why preach the gospel if God has already decided who is going to heaven?” Both John Wesley and John Calvin would say, “Because God has decided that the preaching of the gospel is how His chosen will be identified.”
Referred to as “The Divine preference for Human Agency.”
Brittany Proffitt lives in southern Ohio and holds a BA in Religion. She is passionate about Scripture and how God’s Word impacts individuals’ hearts and lives.