Bible :: essays research papers

If the Bible is indeed the Word of God, perfect and without error, then the issue is settled. Homosexuality is a sin and we must condemn it's practice. However, if the Bible is the writings of men who were only capable of seeing dimly, as if in a mirror, the way Paul described it, then we have a long way to go before we settle the question. John's teaching concerning the third person of the trinity, God's Holy Spirit, has that person leading us into truth, and not a book...even if that book is called "the Holy Bible." I maintain that the conservative doctrine that the Bible is the express Word of God, perfect and without error, is a heresy. This doctrine is a heresy as the ancient Greeks used the word, a teaching or attitude which us used to cause divisiveness in the community. It is used by the conservatives to separate out those who do not accept a divinely inspired Bible, in the same manner as Jesus describes the shepherd separating out the sheep from the goats. It is also a heresy in the manner that the church uses the word, a false doctrine which might lead to the worship of a false God. It elevates the book into the status of God. If, as I believe, God is leading us to openly accept and affirm those with differing sexual orientations and gender identities that the "norm," the doctrine of an inerrant Bible must be destroyed. Not only must we object to this doctrine when we find it among the conservatives, the Fundamentalists, the Orthodox, the Pentecostal and the Charismatic, but we must also object to this doctrine when we find it in those Churches and believers which do support the claim of the gay, bisexual, transsexual, transgendered and transvestite, that God accepts them on equal status with the straight.