Scripture is Complex vs. You're Hitler

Earlier this month, I mentioned Scottish minister Scott Rennie, who came out of the closet five years ago and now faces opposition as he moves to a new church.

Well, the battle within the Church of Scotland continues, including a sermon from Rennie’s chief Pharisee Ian Watson comparing the thought of The Homosexuals in church to Hitler taking France (Seriously, he makes a direct comparison.), we do seem to be on the winning end of this one. A vast majority of the Church’s ministers haven’t signed Watson’s petition, and the issue should be officially broached this week.

Meanwhile, I’d like to pull out a bit more from Rev. Rennie’s interview with OneKirk Journal. (pdf) He shows a remarkable understanding of scriptural complexity that his opponent can’t seem to grasp.

Rev. Scott Rennie, Church of Scotland

I take my lead from Jesus. If we want to see how Jesus treats Scripture we only need to see how he deals with the Sabbath laws. He makes clear that the law is there to serve God’s purpose of love, not to cause people harm. So in Luke 6 he heals someone on the Sabbath, showing the primacy of the command to love above Sabbath rules. When I compare the Levitical command to stone those who work on the Sabbath with what Jesus did you see the radical prioritising of love over the law. For Jesus ‘Love your God’ and ‘Love one another as yourself’ summarise the law.
 
You often hear the cry ‘hate the sin but love the sinner’. For me it is a false dichotomy. I can testify to the fact that it was impossible for me to experience this blanket condemnation of homosexuality as loving. Instead, it caused me to hate and fear a large part of myself—an experience gay and lesbian Christians around the world will relate to.
 
For me, when I encountered the Jesus who, first and foremost, loves and accepts us—the Jesus who prioritised love and healing people over the blunt imposition of law—it was a revelation. I realised that I had been caught up with—like the Pharisees—a restrictive legalism not grace. In denying my sexuality, I was rejecting Jesus’ unconditional love for and acceptance of me, and saying there was something wrong with the way God had created me.
 
One of the great themes of the Old Testament is the importance of covenant in relationships. I cannot believe that the destruction of committed relationships between people is what God wants, or what the Biblical authors had in their minds when writing.

The more I read, the more impressed I become with Rev. Rennie. Living out this understanding of complexity is surely more difficult than Rev. Watson’s approach. It certainly encourages more contemplation and compassion.