Part 2

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(Continued from Part 1)
I once heard it said that some of us make and hold to 'sin lists' in order to be 'sinless'. Often when I followed sin lists, it was because I was afraid of going to hell. In fact I was afraid of God. This means that I did not truly love God, for the Bible says that perfect love casts out fear (1 John 4:18) - fear of God, fear of hell or fear of myself. At other times, having a list handy to check off all the things that I didn't do, filled me with self-righteous pride and feelings of self-sufficiency. During all of this, I had no real relationship with Christ.

My primary focus has shifted away from fear and the need to follow sin lists as a way of measuring and/or assuring my righteouness or acceptance by God.

Even more, I have learned so much from digging deeper in to the Bible's buried treasures; deeper than is possible with a casual, fearful and literal mind. This is evident in my self-acceptance as a gay man.

4. Buried treasures, my foot! RULES, law and order, the Bible clearly states what is right and wrong! You are trying to throw out the law. If there is no law there is no sin! You're trying to say that homosexuality is not a sin! God made Adam and Eve...!

For those who are afraid that I'm throwing out "the law", I say, "be not afraid". I could not throw away the core of God's law even if I tried. Jesus said that ALL of the law and all of the prophets are summed up in the command to love God and love fellow humans.

I've read one religious author describe God's law/commandments as "The One, the Two, and the Ten". Picture a pyramid and the "One" highest law sits at the very top. Then comes the "Two", next the "Ten" etc. Love is the law that tops all law. This makes quite a lot of sense. 1 John 4:8 says that God is Love, not that God is loving or that God loves, but that God is Love.

Think about it. If God was the ruler of the universe before time and "sin", long before the Ten Commandments were given to Moses, then Love was the rule of law in eternity past. Stop and think for a moment! This means that the law of love existed LONG before the ceremonial or moral laws of Leviticus, and even BEFORE the existance of human gender. In fact, this love is neither dependent on nor beholden to arrangements of human gender. In short, proscription against homosexuality cannot be found in the foundation of God's law. One must search for it on a lower, less-fundamental level.

Now, I hope that when you read "biblical law" you too will look deep to where the principle of love is. Ask the question, "What concern was the law trying to address (context) and was the law's purpose based in love?"


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