This post is the fourth of four related to our group’s discussion of 1 Corinthians 6. For more information on what 1 Corinthians doesn’t say about modern LGBTQ people, click here. For a little background on Paul’s description of the body as God’s Temple, click here. And for what to do when you find yourself disagreeing with the Bible, click here. 

In thinking through possible arguments regarding LGBT people and the Bible, one which kept coming up was the idea of LGBT equality as a “slippery slope” into other things considered taboo or sinful. It goes something like this: “If we give same-sex relationships a pass, what’s to stop us from allowing all the other stuff from 1 Corinthians 6 too? Adultery, idolatry, bestiality? I mean, what’s next: man-and-horse marriage?” First of all, I always find it amusing when people insist on bringing bestiality into the conversation (which was the consistent argument during my upbringing). Look, an animal can’t give consent, so that issue is a horse of a different color and not relevant to the arguments around LGBT equality. Second, the slippery slope argument relies on a reckless assumption about Christians’ relationship with the Bible, and I think it’s time we dissect this here on the blog:

“The Bible says so” is a terrible rubric for right and wrong.

While I do believe the Bible (when studied reverently and taken in context) is one of our best and most reliable windows to God, it’s not the ultimate authority some branches of Christianity make it out to be. The Bible says we can put children to death for talking back to their parents and says we should kill people who work on the sabbath. It says we can sell our children into slavery, and it gives guidelines for concubines, conceiving children with your brother’s widow, and all sorts of strange things we just don’t do in the modern era. No sane person follows these instructions today, and moreover, we are not required to! Rather, we are trusted to interpret the Bible’s commands with the love of God guiding us. Every part of the Bible is helpful in getting to know God and understand the human condition, but not every biblical command is meant to be lived out literally across every era. Just as Jesus reinterpreted the laws to his context, we are permitted some leeway to do the same.

In Matthew 18, Jesus speaks of a concept called “the loosing and the binding,” the idea being Jesus has empowered us to loosen or tighten the laws to our context so long as we are still within the original spirit of the law (and, if we err, err on the side of grace). Jesus modeled this for us when he said the sabbath was made for humanity, not humanity for the sabbath— an example of loosening a law. On the other hand, Jesus also said to look at another person lustfully was to commit adultery in your heart and “if your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out,” so he certainly tightened some laws as well! As explained in Matthew 18, Jesus trusts us to bind and loosen in community with one another and under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, but we must also do this with extreme care and compassion.

With this in mind, the idea of a “slippery slope” should become a bit laughable. The goal of the Christian life shouldn’t be following every biblical instruction to the letter; it should be keeping the spirit of the laws under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, who convicts us and retrains us to see the world through the lens of God’s love. The more we submit to this retraining, the more we see across manmade boundaries, and the deeper our love for God, for neighbor, and for self can grow. If a law helps you to love better, by all means, keep it intact, but if a law stands between you and God’s people, maybe it’s time for some loosing and binding.

So yeah, “the Bible says so” is not a satisfactory rubric for our behavior.
If it were, we would all of us be on a slippery slope at all times,
and that sounds like an utterly terrifying way to live.

“My community and I, in conversation with the Bible and listening for the promptings of the Holy Spirit, have agreed…” Now that’s a healthy way to view the world.