Church of England evangelists release 30 minute video explaining why gay sex is ‘sinful’ and ‘wrong’
The current leader of the Church of England Evangelical Council, the Bishop of Blackburn Julian Henderson, recently threatened to quit the church if it begins accepting LGBT+ relationships and same-sex marriages. (The Church of England Evangelical Council)
A group of evangelicals within the Church of England has produced a 30 minute long video on why gay sex is “sinful” and “wrong”.
The Church of England Evangelical Council (CEEC) is a registered charity and “was set up to provide a collective evangelical voice” with the institution.
In response to a set of resources published this month by the Church of England titled Living in Love and Faith, which explore LGBT+ issues including “identity, sexuality, relationships and marriage”, the current leader of the CEEC, the bishop of Blackburn Julian Henderson, recently threatened to quit the Church of England if it begins accepting LGBT+ relationships and same-sex marriages.
The group has now produced a 30 minute long video, titled “The Beautiful Story”, on why gay sex is “sinful” and “wrong”.
In the film, assistant minister Santhosh Thomas insists: “Humanity is made in the image of God, male and female, there’s a difference there. And actually we’re told that the difference is a fundamentally good thing. It’s not good for the man to be without the woman… men and women are made to be together.”
In a moment of painful irony, author and speaker David Bennett claims: “What I desperately want the Church of England to understand is that if it changes the doctrine of marriage, it is actually oppressing a group of LGBTQI people who have chosen to follow Jesus Christ.
“It would in effect crush them. It would crush me as a celibate gay Christian. It would mean that our obedience wouldn’t be celebrated in the church.”
A lay minister from Bristol named Ed Shaw, who describes himself as “same-sex attracted” but chooses to be single, says: “The reason I think that gay sex is wrong is not just because of the standard verses that everybody turns to, but because of the big Bible story, and how key marriage and union and difference is to the whole Bible narrative from Genesis to Revelation.
“I would actually think that gay sex is wrong even if none of those individual verses existed.”
At one point in the film, Shaw even compares sex outside of marriage to sexual harassment and assault, saying: “Over the last few years #MeToo has exposed to us all the damage that the sexual revolution and sexual promiscuity has caused to so many people in society, particularly women.”
The CEEC was founded by John Stott, former chaplain to the Queen, in the 1960s. Stott, who passed away in 2011, believed homosexuality could be “healed” and wrote in 1985: “I do not deny the claim that homosexual relationships can be loving (although a priori I do not see how they can attain the same richness as the heterosexual mutuality God has ordained).
“But their love quality is not sufficient to justify them. Indeed, I have to add that they are incompatible with true love because they are incompatible with God’s law. Love is concerned for the highest welfare of the beloved. And our highest human welfare is found in obedience to God’s law and purpose, not in revolt against them.”
More than 50 years since the group’s formation, its constitution still reads: “We acknowledge God’s creation of humankind as male and female and the unchangeable standard of Christian marriage between one man and one woman as the proper place for sexual intimacy and the basis of the family.
“We repent of our failures to maintain this standard and call for a renewed commitment to lifelong fidelity in marriage and abstinence for those who are not married.”
