When it comes to homosexuality, the Seventh-Day Adventist Church must…

…know what homosexuality is.

The official position of the church refrains (perhaps wisely) from commenting on particular causes of homosexuality:

“Seventh-day Adventists endeavor to follow the instruction and example of Jesus. He affirmed the dignity of all human beings and reached out compassionately to persons and families suffering the consequences of sin. He offered caring ministry and words of solace to struggling people, while differentiating His love for sinners from His clear teaching about sinful practices.”

Read the rest of the statement here.

However, I think that with a blank slate like this there is too much room for wild misdirection. For example, the Christian terminology surrounding the “ex-gay” movement is a royal mess. With “change” meaning frankly anything you want it to mean and “gay” meaning something totally different to the dictionary and common usage.

I shudder to think what would happen if this kind of confused material were let loose in the Caribbean. In fact I know what would happen. The word “cure” would resurface with a vengeance and everyone would understand it to mean that the “cured” man no longer likes men but now likes only women instead. None of this “struggling” nonsense. The Caribbean is less nuanced than the United States. Any man in Trinidad or Tobago who is “struggling” with same-sex attractions is effectively “gay” or a “bullerman on probation” and to be treated as such—with rank suspicion.

So in light of the vacuum in the official statement, many pastors feel free to insert their own theories about homosexuality into the mix. Like Pastor Ryan Simpson of whom I have a recording here (but no ill feelings):

A Jamaican Adventist pastor talks about homosexuality.

This is a great opportunity to fill a void of ignorance with sound knowledge about what homosexuality is; because as Dr.  Albert Mohler found out, when everyone has become comfortable with misinformation or half of the information they don’t take too kindly to correction.

What the church can do:

Compile a balanced and thorough overview of what we know about homosexuality scientifically as well as what we don’t know for pastors to study at seminaries (like the University of the Southern Caribbean or Andrews University) as well as part of their ongoing training. All pastors should be required to study this thoroughly. There should be a special emphasis on the science of homosexuality not only on origins but on topics like: What percentage of the population is gay?

If it exists there should be a fair overview of what “reparative therapy” is and the theories surrounding that. As well as what we can and cannot ascertain about this from science. Whatever happens, it is imperative that the SDA church does not fall into the “ex-gay” rut for reasons that I will explain later. For now I will say that ex-gay theories are too seductive for those who are not trained to think critically and can flood the SDA church with baggage that can take a long time to clean out later—and which, more importantly, would stymie any real outreach efforts to members with same-sex attractions who live in the Caribbean or elsewhere and do not follow the “Western gay model” (hereafter also known as the Western gay formula”) for which it (the “ex-gay” program) was poorly designed by the way.

Ministry Magazine—an example

This is the church’s publication that reaches its pastors and those of other denominations. In the mid-nineties it did an entire issue on homosexuality; a re-print of which is available online at Gladventist here. Go ahead and read the articles. The church needs to do something like this targeted at its pastors in a more official format and as part of an explicit campaign on the issue of homosexuality. It cannot delay.

In short the church needs to require that pastors understand what homosexuality is. More than “some people are homosexuals and we should pray for them”, they should know about fraternal birth order among other things.

Does anyone know of any book(s) that gives a balanced handling of the matter (i.e. “What is homosexuality? Why does it exist?”) and does not stray into advocacy either way?

This is effectively the beginning of the promised series about what specific measures I think the SDA church (particularly in the Caribbean) should do to reach out to members who are gay/homosexual/same-sex attracted.