Woke in the WELS: An Honest Conversation about Sexuality: Video 2

[ Leaders' Guide | Video 1 | Video 2 | Video 3 | Video 4 | Video 5 ]

Videos Two has been posted for "An Honest Conversation about Sexuality." After a brief introduction from Ben and Bill, we return to our panelists, who make the assertion "[LGBTQ] is just another sin, right?"

And, out of the mouths of babes... the second panelist makes the assertion that the church follows culture, and so when culture changes the church is left holding the bag. My sweet summer child ... I certainly understand the confusion as our synod is chasing the culture. This should not be, and that's why we're talking about it.

We get to our first pause for questions at the six minute mark. I'll list the questions and the answers that Bill and Ben give later in the episode.

Question One: What are some of the challenges that get in the way of having a conversation? After the break, Bill suggests our use of language is a barrier, as we were told in the leader's guide - certain words are "archaic" or offensive and would prevent a good conversation. 

Question Two: Is all sin the same? Bill tells us around the ten minute mark that "sin is sin is sin... Paul tells us in Romans all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." First, "sin is sin" is a tautology. Second, it's interesting that we get the scriptural proof text quote since in Video 1 we were admonished that you can't just proof text Deuteronomy or Romans 1 and consider it an open-and-shut-case. The correct answer of course is that while all sin damns, not all sinners are condemned: we make the distinction between moral and venial sins. We also make the distinction of righteousness before God and righteousness before man. Furthermore there are distinctions in how a sin damages our bodies and souls. Certain sins hit differently, especially sexual sins, and in particular homosexual sins.

Question 3: Is same-sex attraction a sin or temptation? This question was left unanswered...

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Three other things I wanted to point out from the remainder of the video. First, around the 14-minute mark the panelist talk about a separation between "younger and older people." I can't help but wonder if youth group, segregated Bible studies and other things the Church does to make itself "relevant" to the youth create a wedge between age groups? And second, around 20 minutes Bill tells us "Sunday morning worship is essential... but it's in the smaller circles where two or three come together in Jesus' name where these [seemingly more] important conversations can take place." Yuck! 

Which is kind of rich considering Ben is a member at illume, and illume only does small group "communities" and eschews Sunday morning worship:

Third, Ben closes us out by saying "Acceptance is implicit forgiveness." Quite frankly this quote deserves an entire blog post to tease out, but let's try and keep it succinct. First, "acceptance" is not a theological category. Secondly, forgiveness is never implicit - there is a reason Lutheran worship features a confession and absolution. There is a reason we hold onto private absolution. There is a reason we train our families and our children not to say "it's OK" when someone apologizes but to use the Biblical words "I forgive you." Finally, what good is forgiveness if you haven't been convicted of your sin?