Steve Flashman writes: (Please see helpful videos at the end of this page)
The issue of whether the Church Of England should change its Doctrine Of Marriage is now on the agenda. I have produced my own response to the LILAF document and will publish this to the PCC in due course. We all have a responsibility to make our own response.
So how are we to approach this debate?
First approach: Scripture, Tradition and Reason are secondary in the light of the changing values and attitudes in the culture in which we live where Experience is top of the list.
Second approach: Scripture, Tradition and Reason should be the starting point where a robust theological faithfulness to Scripture is the foundation and a courageous love and acceptance of all people is our pastoral response.
For what it’s worth, here is a list of book and resources I have studied which give both sides of the debate:
(I have found the series of videos below most helpful. Preston Sprinkle has many LGBTQ/SAS friends and these wonderful people feature in most of the videos below. He comes from a place of love and compassion, but as a theologian maintains his view that traditional marriage, which has been upheld by the church for 2000 years, is right before God.)
Bibliography includes:
- “The Moral Vision of the New Testament: Community, Cross, New Creation. A Contemporary Introduction to New Testament Ethics” by Richard Hays
- “The Bible and Homosexual Practice: Texts and Hermeneutics” by Robert Gagnon (Classic, 500 page, meticulously researched, in depth study of Biblical texts, their cultural background and current context.)
- “Undivided” by Vicky Beeching (A heart rending personal story of how Vicky “came out” as a gay Christian and how this affected her life)
- “God And The Gay Christian” by Matthew Vine (Matthew presents his view of how the Bible supports same sex marriage.)
- “A Response To God And The Gay Christian” by a number of theologians including R. Albert Mohler Jr. (A number of theologians have written this as a response to Matthew Vines interpretation of Scripture)
- “People To Be Loved” by Preston Sprinkle (Through listening to the stories of LGBT friends and humbly considering their viewpoints, Preston challenges those on all sides of the discussion to be theologically robust and courageously loving and accepting of all – coming from a traditional view of marriage.)
- “Gay Girl God God” by Jackie Hill Perry: (Lesbian who tells her story about how she came to a traditional view of marriage)
- “A War Of Loves” by David Bennett. (The unexpected story of a gay activist discovering Jesus.)
- Digital Leaders Forum: The Centre For Faith, Sexuality and Gender. (Video Sessions with a lot of input from the LGBT community)