An Open Letter to Adele: A Response to Queermergent

Note:  Back in November of 2008, Tony Jones made the announcement of his support of same sex marriage in the Church.  After a brief history of his thought process, he writes, "In any case, I now believe that GLBTQ can live lives in accord with biblical Christianity (at least as much as any of us can!) and that their monogamy can and should be sanctioned and blessed by church and state." There have been various significant responses in the evangelical Church to Jones' announcement.  Some have been thoughtful and some have been regrettable.  Within the Emergent Church, the movement Jones helps lead, there is now a boldness to the topic.  One obvious example is the group started by Adele Sakler called Queermergent - a blog/forum for "those Christ-followers who identify as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Questioning, and Queer."  This open letter is meant to be a plea rather than an attack on the ideology behind such a forum.

Adele,

I balked many times at writing this letter.  The difficulty was mainly that I am confronting something that is not only your ideals, but your identity.  I didn't want to simply write a post that smashed the ideology behind Queermergent, because there is a person behind what Queermergent is in itself.  So then, there is a tenderness that I want to preserve in this letter.  There are convictions that I have (along with CBMW) that I want to uphold, all the while I know that I am responding to a person who is created in the image of God who deserves all dignity and respect. 

I've read your journey from having a "born-again" experience to the influence of Peter Rollins.  Our backgrounds are similar.  I, too, came from a Pentecostal/fundamentalist sort of background.  Reactions I witnessed against homosexuality were not very thoughtful.  In reality, they were guarding a cultural or religious norm, rather than a biblical or theological worldview.  It seems you had a similar experience.  I have now ended up in a Reformed/Calvinistic community.  I'm aware that being Reformed and Calvinistic come with all kinds of stereotypes, but I wonder if you might consider my plea. 

You make some significant statements with this declaration below:

I could no longer hang onto certainty with regards to interpreting scripture. There were more important things in kingdom living than where we go after we pass from this world to the next, like poverty, AIDS, the environment, etc.

A few things stick out to me.  I recognize your problem with "certainty with regards to interpreting scripture."  I am assuming you are inline with Peter Rollins when he questions what we can know truthfully about God and Scripture because of our finitude.  Yet, because of this, you make your interpretation of life the foundation of your choices and beliefs.  Because you cannot make any clear and truthful statements about God and his Word, it is then left up to you (and those around you) to figure out life.  I would ask you to reconsider this foundation.  We should not base our knowledge on what we can know but what God has made known to us.  Since God is our Creator and we are his creatures made in his image, everything we have is derivative from him.  What God has revealed to us, in his kindness, is true and sufficient.

The same can be said about God's revelation in Scripture.  Scripture is not an attempt of men groping for words to describe God.  But it is God's Word to us.  We, as Christians, can believe its truthfulness.  We can believe its truthfulness for this life and ever after.  You say, "There were more important things in kingdom living than where we go after we pass from this world to the next, like poverty, AIDS, the environment, etc."  I believe you have made an "over-correction" to the Church's neglect of these social concerns.  There are "other" important things in kingdom living like poverty, AIDS, etc, but the ultimate remedy to these things is the hope that we have in the Gospel of Jesus Christ, not our efforts to remedy them in this life.  Just the simple truth of "what does a man gain if he gains the whole world but loses his soul?" should speak loudly to this.  If we look to remedy the poor and sick without remedying their sinful condition, we have only prolonged their suffering.   

Making man's interpretation of life, not God's, the foundation paves the way for the justification and legitimizing of homosexuality.  Here is my plea:  Please repent and stop what you are doing and approving of at Queermergent.  Consider the consequences of your practices and your hearty approval of the practices of others.  You say, "About 2.5 years ago I FINALLY came to terms with my sexuality. I found peace with myself and with God."  Finding peace with God is not coming to terms with yourself and concluding what is or is not acceptable in life.  Finding peace with God is only found in the Gospel - the forgiveness of our sins through the cross of Jesus Christ (Romans 5:1).  Please don't abandon the Gospel.  The peace, reconciliation, love, and community you and others are blogging about at Queermergent can be found at local any YMCA or community center.  The peace, reconciliation, love, and community you speak about is not Christian, because it is not centered around what God has done on our behalf.  The hope for change from homosexuality and any sin in this life is not to (as you put it) "pray the gay away" or even making your best effort to be straight.  But the hope for change is found in trusting in the power of the Gospel because it is the power of God. 

I understand that there will be an impulse to file this open letter away in the "fundamentalist hater" file.  I pray that you don't.  I pray you see and consider the danger of what you are leading yourself and others to believe.

Sincerely,

John