Dialogue w/ Tony and Peggy Campolo on Homosexuality
Frazer Mennonite Church
Sunday School Hour
Frazer, PA
May 16, 2010
Dr. Tony Campolo and Peggy Campolo
Frazer Mennonite Church
Sunday School Hour
May 16, 2010
- Tony Speaks: There are two issues that define Evangelical Christianity, neither are theological; homosexual relationships and abortion
- There are more distinct issues such as divorce and remarriage
- The church has laid a heavy burden on our homosexual brothers and sisters
- The church has been manipulated by politicians on this issue
- Jesus is neither a Democrat nor a Republican
- There is no conclusive evidence as to what cause this orientation. There is no study that would validate one position over the other
- The ability to move a person out of a homosexual orientation is close to nil
- To be Evangelical is to hold to the doctrines of the Apostles Creed
- Romans 1
- When Jesus came on the scene, he sets aside the purity codes. The old purity codes are no longer applicable, on the moral codes
- Tony’s argument in favor of a conservative position on the issue rides on the passage from Romans 1.
- John Wesley points out that there are certain things that need to be taken into consideration. Must ask, what did the scripture mean to those whom it was addressed? What does this literally say in a reasonable sense? What does the community of faith say about the scripture?
- Peggy speaks: Scripture must be read in the context of history for what it meant when it was written
- Paul wrote Romans in Corinth where the prevailing religion was the worship of Aphrodite.
- In the worship of Aphrodite, people played roles of the opposite gender and engaged in orgies that included everything from promiscuous sexual intercourse with same sex prostitutes in the temple to self castration
- Romans 1:22-23
- There is an obvious connection between idolatry and homosexual practices in Romans 1. What Paul says here cannot be applied to the kinds of relationships created by loving homosexual partners making a lifetime commitment to each other
- 1 Timothy 2:12
- “Traditional family couples” is a code word often used to shut gay people out
- We agree that homosexual orientation is not a choice, homosexual people should not have to be in the closet in order to be a part of the church of Christ
- We disagree on the subject of lifetime monogamous sexual relationships between people of the same gender
- Tony Speaks: These are our brothers and sisters in Christ
- Story about Roger a homosexual guy who get gay bashed by other students in high school and committed suicide
- Story about Jim Dagen and the funeral he officiated of a gay man who had died from AIDS.
- Story about a student chaplain who was outted and if her father found out that his daughter is a lesbian, he would have nothing to do with her ever again.
- Peggy Speaks: Gay people aren’t the only ones who live in the closet
- When you don’t know what the real Jesus is about, some times you think that what you have is all there really is
- Story about Peggy’s visits to old ladies and Helen Rue, who Peggy comforted as she was dying.
- Story about Peggy’s high school in Northeast Philadelphia and her friend Tom
- Story about Tony and Peggy’s trip to Province town
- There should have never been a need for these brothers and sisters to form separate churches
Tags: Evangelical, homosexual, abortion, divorce, remarriage, Democrat, Republican, Apostles’ Creed, Romans 1, purity code, moral code, John Wesley, Peggy Campolo, Corinth, Aphrodite, Hermes, orgies, intercourse, prostitutes, castration, idolatry, Paul, Roger, Jim, AIDS, funeral, Helen, gay, lesbian, LGBT, Philadelphia, West Philadelphia High School, Lincoln High School, Tom, Province Town