Thinking Out Loud with Alan Shlemon - Palestinian Culture Creates Unique Challenges

Episode Date: April 28, 2019

Alan recently taught Palestinian Christians in the West Bank of Israel about the subject of homosexuality. In this podcast, he shares three principles he told them that help them navigate their relationships with Christians who struggle with same-sex attraction. Download the mp3...

Christians in the Middle East face challenges that are unique to their culture. And so, for example, I'll often hear the same 20 questions asked on a given subject when speaking to different audiences in the United States, but then I'll get 20 different questions from a single audience in the Middle East. And that's because, of course, different cultures create different sorts of challenges. And that's what makes speaking internationally both challenging but also very interesting. topics I was asked to address was the topic of homosexuality. Now, the vast majority of the audience that I was speaking to, probably about 90% of them, consisted of Palestinian Christians and Muslims. Now, the remainder were probably like skeptics and other atheists. Now, being Arabs in

the Middle Eastern milieu, virtually all of them held the view that homosexual behavior was sin. milieu, virtually all of them held the view that homosexual behavior was sin. And even for the skeptics and atheists, for the most part, they thought it was generally forbidden as a behavior. Now, of course, that's not surprising given that both the Bible and the Quran prohibit homosexual sex, right? In the Bible, you have Romans 1, 20, 60, 27. You got 1 Corinthians 6, 9 through 11. You got 1 Timothy 1, 10. And of course, you got some Old Testament texts as well. And then in the Quran, you have Surah 7, verses 80 through 84. So, both the Christian and the Muslim religious texts prohibit homosexuality. Now, during my interaction with these religious Palestinians, there was never a

hint of compromise about what their respective religious texts taught. They were, I would say, unwavering about God's design for sex and marriage. And so that freed me up to sort of move past arguments responding to pro-gay theology, which was very refreshing that I didn't have to focus on that. However, Palestinians err on the other side of the spectrum. So they get the truth right, but what they lack oftentimes is compassion. And there is a really strong cultural tide against not only people who engage in homosexual sex, but also those who experience same-sex attraction. homosexual sex, but also those who experience same-sex attraction. And so these people are oftentimes shunned and shamed, and there's very little opportunity for them to share what they're experiencing and then find some sort of a compassionate response. Now, unfortunately, that attitude has also carried over into the church. Not only do Palestinians, Christians

adopt the culture's mindset, but they also have their church leadership adopt this mindset. And the church leadership doesn't get involved in ever talking about homosexuality. And they're not involved, therefore, in training believers to understand it or, for that matter, equipping believers to have basic principles, practical principles that will help those who struggle with same-sex attraction. And so, if a Palestinian Christian then experiences homosexual desires, but doesn't want to satisfy those desires, either in thought or deed, then there's a dearth of options to find support. And so, though these people might want to live obediently to the commands of Christ, it's rare for them to find a Christian community that will walk with them through their struggle. And so, that's precisely why I considered it a privilege to speak to fellow believers about this topic. A positive picture about what the Bible teaches about sex and marriage, followed by showing that Scripture is univocal in its teaching that homosexual fantasy and behavior is sin.

And since that's not where these Palestinians struggled with kind of believing that or accepting that, I didn't have to focus my attention there. Instead, what I wanted to do was to walk them through some practical principles that could help them navigate their relationships with friends and family who struggle with same-sex attraction, but desire to live a godly life. And in many cases, these believers know homosexual fantasy and behavior sin, but they need help knowing how to proceed. And so here are three principles that I shared with the group. And of course, these are not exhaustive principles, but I just thought I'd try to tell you sort of three of the principles that I thought were central to what I believed was important for them to walk away with. Here's the first one. I told them that they need to make their relationship with the person who is struggling with same-sex attraction, they need

to make this relationship with them a high priority. In other words, don't distance themselves from these people, but rather move towards them. And I argue that relationships are a bridge by which we can show compassion or tell people the truth or share the gospel. And so I said, look, your ability to influence them or to have a positive influence in their life will be a function of their relationship with that person. And that's why making their relationship with them a high priority was sort of where I began. A second principle I mentioned was that they got to avoid making homosexuality out to be the worst sin, you know, the greatest abomination against God, the unpardonable crime. And so for many reasons, some believers treat the

sin of homosexuality as the most grievous. Now, although the Bible does place the sin of homosexuality in the group of sexual sins that are committed against the body, this is 1 Corinthians 6.18, the Bible does not elevate it above every other sin. And sometimes, even though we might not say that it's the worst sin, oftentimes our behavior can communicate the same message. And that, of course, affects people who struggle with same-sex attraction. If they are led to believe that their sin is the worst sin. And then the third point I made, the third practical principle I mentioned was that I felt like the Christians there need to create a safe environment for faithful believers who experience same-sex attraction and struggle with godly living. Now, it's important to understand here that does not mean to compromise our biblical standards.

Rather, it just means that a person who struggles with homosexual desires may at times succumb to that temptation in thought or deed. And at that point, we just can't blast them with a Bible verse and expect perfection, right? We don't do that with anybody else. And as long as they are repentant, they need our prayer, they need our support, they need our accountability, and they need our love. And in fact, that's how we would address any other believer who struggles with a different sin. Now, if they're not repentant, however, then we should address them and understand the way Jesus did in Matthew 18, verses 5-17, or the way Paul does in 1 Corinthians 5. And so those are three principles exciting to me to see these Palestinians eagerly receive this teaching because I know that they're going to then turn around and influence their culture with what they've learned.