A response to David Gillett ‘Does the Bible Really Say that… Same-Sex Love is Wrong?’

Jun 11, 2019 by Jill

by Martin Davie:

In the latest article in the Via Media.News series ‘Does the Bible Really Say that…’ the former Bishop of Bolton, David Gillett, addresses the issue of whether the Bible really views same-sex love as wrong.[1]

Bishop Gillett’s argument

The starting point for his article is his conviction that ‘unlike in the ancient Near East, we understand that God creates us with different sexual orientations.’ As a consequence, he says, ‘we now approach the Bible with a broader and different set of questions than believers and scholars of former ages.’

Bishop Gillett then suggests that we should not begin looking at what the Bible says about same-sex love by looking at those ‘6 or so verses in the Bible where certain same-sex activities are forbidden in differing cultures, contexts and religious situations,’ in the same way that we would not begin a study of heterosexual love by looking at those forms of sexual activity prohibited by the Bible.

In line with this approach he begins instead by looking at the biblical accounts of Ruth and Naomi and David and Jonathan. What these accounts show, he writes, ‘is a quality of commitment and relationship which is part of our God-given humanity.’

He next goes on to argue that in spite of the fact that the Church has frequently surrounded sexual activity with ‘prohibitions, cautions and caveats’ it is nonetheless the case that ‘sexual relationship is part of the very essence of God’s good gifts to the whole of humanity.’

Read here