Are We Really Better Together?

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In an effort to answer the question, “Are We Really Better Together” (Abingdon 2018), the Rev. Walter Fenton, formerly of Good News and now with the Wesleyan Covenant Association, says that the Rev. Adam Hamilton’s suggestion that Scripture can be placed in three buckets is a bridge too far.

In a 2014 blog post, "Homosexuality, the Bible and The United Methodist Church," Rev. Hamilton suggests that most Scripture passages such as “Love your neighbor as you love yours” reflect the timeless will of God. Other passages simply reflect the culture and historical circumstances in which they were written and are not valid for all time. A few passages, such as those related to slavery, never reflected God’s will at any time.

Rev. Fenton disagrees with Rev. Hamilton. He quotes 2 Timothy 3:16: “All Scripture is God breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking correcting and training in righteousness.” I’m sure Rev. Fenton does not need to be reminded that there was no New Testament at the time the writer of 2 Timothy, attributed to the Apostle Paul, offered this advice. Paul would probably be surprised to learn he was writing Scripture.

Rev. Fenton acknowledges that people wrote the Bible and it was not dictated by God, but he argues that Hamilton’s questioning of the authority of Scripture results in his question, “Are we better together?”

Begin with Jesus

The concept of “An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth” is found both in Exodus 21:24 and Leviticus 24:20. It was a well-established principle in the first century and President Trump says it is favorite Scripture passage today.

Nevertheless, Jesus contradicted the concept: “You have heard that it was said, "An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth." But I say to you, Do not resist the one who is evil. But, if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also (Matthew 5:38-39).

Jesus tossed the passages from Exodus and Leviticus into one of Hamilton’s last two baskets.

Passages not equally inspired

Jesus did not believe all Scripture is equally inspired by God.

Once we acknowledge that all Scripture passages are not equally inspired, we are asked to determine which passages of Scripture are valid in 2018, which passages were valid at the time of the writing, and which passages made mistaken assumptions about God’s will..

Rev. Fenton is right; it is not easy to discern which passages belong in which basket. We may make mistakes, but we have the tools of reason, tradition and experience to help us with the process.

Some passages are easy. For example, we have two reports on the death of Judas. Matthew said he died by hanging (Matthew 27:5); Luke said he died by falling and bursting open (Acts 1:18). We have to select which report is correct.

Better together

It’s difficult for us to think that there was a time when passages related to slavery were considered to reflect God’s approval of the practice.

Over the years, we also struggled with passages related to women’s rights. Together we decided the advice of Paul to the church at Corinth (“Women should remain silent in churches”) is not applicable in 21st century America.

We are now wrestling with passages related to human sexuality. This skirmish invites us to consider the attitudes and practices of same-gender relations at the time of the writing.

After a lengthy study, some of us feel passages that hover near the prohibition of same gender-relationships are the product of effort to eliminate unhealthy and immoral practices at the time. They are not related to committed same-gender relationships today.

The first rule in the faith is, “Do no harm.” Designating same-gender relationships as being against Christian teaching does cause harm to others.

While we agree on the fundamentals of the faith and the need to create disciples for the transformation of the world, Walter Fenton believes we need to divide because we differ on the few passages of Scripture that focus on same-gender relations.

I think Walter and I need to engage together in the struggle to determine God’s will for our lives.

While we may come to different conclusions related to these Scripture passages, we are better off by searching them together.

We agree on far more than we disagree.

Yes, Walter, we are better together.

Longtime United Methodist communicator, the Rev. Richard Peck of Nashville, Tenn., is a retired clergy member of the New York Annual Conference.