Achtemeier at Covenant Network event
How one evangelical changed
his mind on LGBT issues
By Edward Terry , The Layman , November 6, 2009
CLEVELAND, Ohio – For the opening plenary address at the Covenant Network of Presbyterians’ annual conference, self-proclaimed evangelical Mark Achtemeier told the story of his conversion from an opponent of lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, transsexual (LGBT) ordination and marriage rights within the Presbyterian Church (USA), to one of their allies.
Dr. Mark Achtemeier mingles with the audience following his Nov. 5 address to the Covenant Network of Presbyterians in Cleveland, Ohio.
In his speech, he shared his prayer for the denomination to make the same change and offered a Scriptural basis for doing so. He also shared that many conservatives are struggling with similar conflicts over the issue, and others, like him, are being led to a “new and better place” by the Holy Spirit.
“I’m encountering a growing company of conservative evangelical Christians quietly confessing to me they no longer believe exclusion is faithful,” he said. “The reality of Jesus’ love for God’s gay and lesbian children is self evident enough that … the ranks of ordinary people are embracing it more with each passing day.”
An ordained minister and professor at Dubuque Theological Seminary, Achtemeier has served on the PCUSA’s Theological Task Force on Peace, Unity and Purity of the Church, has been an expert witness before the Permanent Judicial Commission, an overture advocate for John Knox Presbytery and testified at a U.S. Senate hearing on the recently-passed hate crimes bill.
In his 50-minute talk, which was followed by a question-and-answer session, Achtemeier outlined his nearly 9-year, academic journey from a self-described “firebrand exclusivist” to a supporter of what he describes as Catholicity for LGBTs.
“If you had told me eight or nine years ago that on this day I would be standing before you getting ready to speak out in favor of marriage and ordination for lesbian and gay Christians, I would have declared you out of your mind. But here I am,” he said, with the audience at Church of Covenant responding with applause.
His conversion began through some gay friends – who he chose not to name when asked later by someone in the audience for more details. He was not finding what he expected to find in “these people,” he admitted.
Many times describing the conservative view of homosexuality, once his own, as similar to alcoholism, he admitted to not understanding the GLBT calls for justice, equal rights and compassion. He had viewed homosexuality as self-indulgent and self-destructive behavior, and his view of what the Church should be was shaped by that, he said.
“My prejudice could not have been more mistaken,” he said.
Then he broadened his understanding, he said, by studying viewpoints that didn’t match his own. He began to see the issue differently, he said. Among his actualizations was how distraught he would be if he were denied the opportunity to be with his wife, and that his gay friends couldn’t understand how their desire to be in a lifelong, faithful relationship could be characterized under the category of sin.
“Could it be, I started to wonder, if I was mistaken,” he said, adding that he had begun to allow his own experiences to call into question his understanding of the Bible.
He then shared how his study of a 5th century sermon by St. Augustine that addressed walking in the way that Jesus walked helped him realize that experience can shape how one understands Scripture. He asked why we don’t interpret Scripture saying to walk as Jesus did as a command to walk on water as Jesus did.
“The short answer to that is this particular interpretation of the Bible contradicts our experience pretty consistently,” Achtemeier said. “People who try to walk on non-frozen bodies of water tend to fail, however pious we are, however seriously we take Scripture, that is a fact of experience we simply cannot get around … Does that mean we’re elevating our experience above the authority of Scripture? Of course it doesn’t. What it means is that we have to find another interpretation that makes better sense of what we experience in the world … Augustine might have suggested that walking in the way that Jesus walked means following the path of righteousness and charity that He walked on His way to the cross. Now is Augustine playing fast and loose with Scriptural authority by this suggestion? … There is a vast difference between vetoing what the Bible says on the basis of experiences and looking for understanding of the Bible that make powerful sense of our experiences.”
He said the assumption that covenanted partnerships are self-destruction began to feel to him like the walking on water interpretation. He began looking for another Biblical interpretation that makes better sense. He points to Genesis 2:18 for an example:
“The LORD God said, ‘It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.’” (NIV) Denying gays or lesbians a relationship with a partner, he said, is similar to saying that they aren’t fully human.
“Obviously, the predominant pattern for this gracious gift of God is heterosexual … ,” Achtemeier said. “But what if same-gender orientation, rather than being some kind of disease or affliction, is simply an alternative form which this gift takes from time to time.”
Near the conclusion of his talk, he pledged to pray and work with those in attendance toward a day when the whole Church accepts the consecration of same-sex marriages and will confirm the calls to ministry for LGBTs. He also drew a line in the sand with regard to those who disagree.
“I can testify from first-hand experience that traditionalist Christians hold their positions passionately with the best and most Godly intentions, but I can no longer close my eyes to the spiritual and psychological damage that flows from their well intentioned, but deeply misguided teachings.”