Intellectually Bankrupt

In case you haven't heard, the December 15 issue of Newsweek's is titled The Religious Case for Gay Marriage. Lisa Miller's cover story attempts to take a look at what the Scriptures have to say about marriage and homosexuality, but only becomes a soap box for Ms. Miller's own preconceived conclusions.

The Scriptures? This is what Ms. Miller has to say about them:
"A mature view of scriptural authority requires us, as we have in the past, to move beyond literalism. The Bible was written for a world so unlike our own, it's impossible to apply its rules, at face value, to ours." "At this point the authority of the Bible is reduced to whatever "universal truths" we can distill from its (supposed) horrifyingly backward and oppressive texts."

You can read a good review of the article at CitizenLink and an even better review at Christianity Today.

But what I find most disturbing as a follower of Jesus Christ and someone who considers the Bible to be God inspired, is the editorial by Jon Meacham. Here is Mr. Meacham's view of someone who looks to the Scriptures for truth.

"No matter what one thinks about gay rights—for, against or somewhere in between —this conservative resort to biblical authority is the worst kind of fundamentalism. Given the history of the making of the Scriptures and the millennia of critical attention scholars and others have given to the stories and injunctions that come to us in the Hebrew Bible and the Christian New Testament, to argue that something is so because it is in the Bible is more than intellectually bankrupt—it is unserious, and unworthy of the great Judeo-Christian tradition."

To argue that something is so because it is in the Bible is more than intellectually bankrupt! I think I just got called a "fool" by Mr. Meacham! Horrifyingly backward and oppressive texts! So much for religious tolerance!

How should we respond to all of this? Mr. Meacham says "Let the letters and e-mails come." I don't advocate letter writing or hand wringing. And why not? Because I take my directions not from the editor of Newsweek but from the timeless truth of Scripture. Passages like 1 Peter 2:11-12, 15:

Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul. Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us. For it is God's will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish men.

And 1 Corinthians 1:18-21

For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written: 'I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.' Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since the in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe.

Let's not be surprised when those who live in darkness reject the light. Let's not be surprised when those who reject God's moral law declare those who follow it to be fools. Let's not be surprised when we find that we are rejected by our own culture. We are aliens and strangers passing through a foreign land.

Instead of shock and surprise, let's pray, care and share. Let's be about silencing our critics by doing good. Let's live out our mission, not afraid to be called fools by those who misunderstand. Or to be called intellectually bankrupt by editors of Newsweek!