The debate over homosexuality is not going away anytime soon.  Unfortunately, it’s not improving much either.  In this (hopefully) brief post, I’d like to step back from the issue, and talk about how I wish the church would frame the debate.  What follows is a series of propositions I wish the church would embrace in its cultural engagement about homosexuality, and just about every other issue. This is not a post about homosexuality at all, but about foundational presuppositions for the church in engaging the culture on any issue.  It just  happens that the issue of the day is homosexuality.  The same principles could apply to race relations, war, taxation, and the right to life.

I’d like to see the church do theology first.

What does this look like?  First, it means that the debate is rooted in the foundational truths of Christian theology.

Christianity, as a worldview and theological system (of course, Christ is not merely a worldview or system of theology, but in terms of cultural engagement on ethical, these are the operative systems of dialogue) is a coherent, cohesive set of propositional truths which are interrelated, are grounded in Scripture, and which inform our ethics, politics, and lifestyles.  We believe what we believe about homosexuality, abortion, euthanasia, economic justice, war, and any other topic, because of what we believe about God.   Our theology shapes our anthropology, our ethics, and our politics.

In the context of homosexuality, evangelical Christians hold certain beliefs about creation, about the image of God in humanity, about the sanctity of the marriage covenant, and about the God’s use of this covenant as an analogy of His relationship to humanity.  We believe that God created humanity in His image, male and female, incomplete without the other, and with a command to procreate.  We believe that marriage is a divinely instituted relationship in which God intends for human sexuality to be expressed in ways that honor Him.  These are foundational theological tenets, and views about homosexuality arise from them.

Unfortunately, we don’t usually frame the debate about homosexuality in these terms.  The secular world knows very little of our theology, and it seems that the same is true of the church.  Christians become frenetic on social media when Ken Hamm debates Bill Nye about the science of creation, but we seem to be woefully ignorant of the implications of a theology of creation on our ethics and our spiritual formation.

Our view on homosexuality does not arise in a philosophical or theological vacuum, yet we are often drawn into single-issue discussions with people who do not have the theoretical framework to understand our views.  We talk about homosexuality, when we should be talking about theology.  It’s like saying “I don’t want to know about chemistry, I want to know about carbon.”  The church has failed to teach theology to the culture, then we wonder why they can’t understand our positions.

Second, I’d like to see the church reclaim the narrative.  If Christians often look like reactionaries when it comes to homosexuality, it’s because we are.  The narrative is set for us by the media, by Macklemore and Ryan Lewis, by liberal Christians and progressive secularists.  We are drawn into talking points and social media memes, rather than meaningful dialogue which glorifies God and engages culture.

Third, I’d like to see the church embrace a classical view of ethics.  Ethical discourse today usually breaks down into a discussion of what one is or is not permitted to do- “what can I get away with.”  The ancient Greeks understood ethics quite differently, and thanks to Augustine, so did the church for quite some time.  Plato did not ask “what can I get away with?”, but “what kind of person should I be? What does it mean to live a good life?”  Too often, the church gets so bogged down in why they believe it is wrong to be gay, that they never get around to discussing how God wants His people to live.   Ethics should be rooted in devotion; we have reduced it to calculation. We tell the world what they can’t do, but we often don’t tell them what they can be in Christ.

Finally, I’d like to see the gospel take center stage in the discussion. All ethical problems are gospel problems.  Cultural problems are gospel problems.  The problem with the culture is not that there are too many gay people.  The problem is that there are not enough people radically devoted to Jesus Christ.  Let us not allow a single issue to so polarize the church and the world that we lose a hearing for the gospel.

This is not to say that everyone who believes the gospel sees homosexuality the same way.  However, the discussion about homosexuality should be much more meaningful and productive in a context in which people on all sides hold common values of fellowship, devotion to God, obedience to His Word, and accountability to the church.

There is, as always, more to say, but my point is simply to say this: homosexuality is not a primary issue for the church.  It is peripheral. The primary issue is to worship Christ, and the second is like unto it: to lift Him up before all nations so that His glory may fill the earth.  If we want to have meaningful cultural engagement, let us present Christianity as it is, in its fullness.  Let us boldly and clearly proclaim the theological worldview from which our views on ethics arise.  Let us do theology first.