by Chris Kling

Created on: August 13, 2008   Last Updated: August 14, 2008

The question before the board is, "Should Christian churches allow gays to be ordained as priests?" My answer, I hope, will be short, concise and - I pray - biblical.

First, let's discuss the notion of what a "Christian church" is. In order to determine that, let's first try to understand what the word "Christian" is.

How many times do the sixty-six books of the Old and New Testament known as "the Bible" mention the word "Christian"? So far as I can tell, three times. Twice in the New Testament book of Acts (Acts 11:26 and Acts 26:28) and a third - and last time - in 1 Peter 4:16.

Acts 11:26 reads, "And when he (Barnabas) had found him (Saul), he brought him unto Antioch. And it came to pass, that a whole year they assembled themselves with the church, and taught much people. And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch."

Acts 26:28 recounts Paul's efforts to convert Agrippa, and Agrippa's baleful reply, "Then Agrippa said unto Paul, Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian."

And 1 Peter 4:16 reads, "Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf."

In the first instance, the disciples "taught much people" in a year's worth of assembly. What were they teaching? Yoga? Pilates? No, of course not. They were teaching the Gospel. They taught the same things that Jews had been taught for two millennium; the same prophecies and lessons that the Jews had passed down for generations - with a new revelation: Jesus Christ was the fulfillment of those prophecies. And when they taught those truths, " ...the hand of the Lord was with them: and a great number believed, and turned unto the Lord." [Acts 11:21]

In the second instance, Paul teaches King Agrippa of his own conversion on "the Roman Road". Paul explains that in spite of his own behavior, in spite of the fact that Paul himself had tortured and killed the new "Christians", Christ came to him and spoke, "But rise, and stand upon thy feet: for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness both of these things which thou hast seen, and of those things in the which I will appear unto thee"... and Saul quit the torture and murder of Christians, and became one himself. In other words, his "lifestyle" before conversion included the sins of murdering Christians, but HE GAVE THAT UP after the conversion - and BEFORE he became a minister!

Just before the third instance, Peter wrote, exhorting new Christians to live truer Christian

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