Doctors, Psychologists, Scientists, and other Jerks who get it wrong!

I don't know why it is that some pastors feel the need to take on the entire scientific establishment. Whether it is the subject of Creationism or the fight over Global Warming, overwhelming scientific consensus apparently causes a lot of suspicion among my more conservative colleagues. I can't figure it out. We seem perfectly content to let scientists develop computers for us. I don't see anyone completely rejecting the medical profession and performing surgery on their own. Yet, when it comes to some issues, we act like the men and women who have dedicated their lives to scientific study are the naive ones who base most of their assumptions on the leftist agendas taught by their communist college professors.

Honestly, I have no idea what I think about evolution theory. I haven't studied it and don't plan on doing so. I don't think I have much to contribute to the conversation and am generally bored with it to tell the truth. As for the global warming deal, I would also have to take a pass. I don't understand the science behind it and I do see tremendous hypocrisy in someone like Al Gore who leaves Yeti-sized "carbon footprints" all over the grounds of his mansion. The thing that gets to me though is that regardless of whether or not someone agrees with the science, it is generally a good idea to protect the environment. It doesn't take some scientific theory for me to understand that their is no future in fossil fuels or that it probably isn't a good thing to fill our landfills with so many plastic bags. You don't have to agree with the weather-man to see that that is probably a bad idea.

In the same vein, I don't think we all have to agree on an issue like homosexuality to engage it pastorally. The overwhelming majority of doctors and psychologists agree it is pychologically harmful to subject homosexuals to therapy that is designed to make them straight. I don't believe for a minute that these doctors are part of some left-wing attack on American values. This comes directly from their clinical experience: reparative therapy is damaging to individuals who profess same-sex attraction. That is it. It is not a value judgement. It is not a statement on gay culture. It is a time-tested observation made not at the behest of some advocacy group, but from clinical experience.

That being said, I am sure this information comes as a challenge. It certainly does for many of our more conservative brothers and sisters. I myself don't know whether I come down on the nature or nurture side of the debate. However, it doesn't matter. The challenge for me is to respond pastorally. Before I make any value judgement, I have to understand that we are all children of God and that I must think and pray before counselling anyone. In this case, thinking means doing research and the research says that you cannot 'ungay' someone. Okay. That is where I have to start.

I think 'ungayification' is a comfortable place for many pastors to dwell. It is a way to push a perceived problem off onto someone else. It makes the problem go away. To paraphrase the movie 'Saved', sending someone to treatment isn't as much about the person being treated as it is reassurance for the pastor/parent/spouse who sends that person there. The fact that someone can be harmed or damaged permanently from these treatments does frighten me. I would never want to be responsible for that. Never. Unforunately many pastors (as well as their parishoners) see themselves as spiritual therapists and are quick to apply a spiritual remedy to a issue that is mental, physical, and emotional all rolled into one.

I think the main challenge is for us to listen to the words of those who are knowledgeable and still maintain our spiritual integrity so that we can address the individual. I, for one, will be honest and say that I struggle with how to make sense out of what the bible has to say about homosexuality. I have never really gone along with the hermeneutical gymnastics required to somehow excise these texts from the scriptures. I wouldn't want to do that on any issue, whether it is divorce, drunkeness, sexual immorality, or greed. We have the biblical text as it is. What we do with it is for me the more important issue. Take an issue such as divorce and you will see how the church has come around to being pastoral when it would be much easier to be critical.

I don't know why there is so much pressure in our church culture for us to 'pick sides' in these debates. I am not pro or anti anything. Honestly, I find the bible to be a complex document and find Jesus to be a complex person. My confidence in the issues does not come from knowing what is right or wrong. It comes from my faith in the work of the Holy Spirit. I am a not a doctor, a psychologist or a scientist. I am a pastor. I respond with the love of Christ.