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Posted on Mon 31 July 2017
4 of 6 - Letters to the Editor: Interpreting Scripture
Interpreting Scripture
SIR – The Rt Rev Michael Nazir-Ali and others (Letters, July 25) erroneously assume that those of us who disagree with their interpretation of Scripture do not read and study the Bible. We have not “capitulated to secular values”, but seek as best we can to demonstrate biblically informed Christian love to everyone we meet.
I do not wish to sidestep Romans 1 and 1 Corinthians 6, but to interpret them through a biblical rather than legalistic lens. Paul repeatedly teaches that Christians are free from the (Old Testament) law, and Peter in Acts 15 asks: “Why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of Gentiles a yoke that neither we nor our ancestors have been able to bear?” The conclusion is that the Church should not make life difficult for future Christians.
We also read that God made man and woman in his image. Through medical science, we now know that gender is not binary male or female. Some people are born – created by God – intersex. Did God make part of His creation with a Catch-22 situation of having in part a forbidden sexuality?
My conclusion is that if I am to love my neighbour as myself (one of just two laws on which “hang all the law”), then I would not wish to deny my neighbour the blessings I have received through my marriage.
Stephen Marriott
Guildford, Surrey
This letter was published in The Telegraph on 31 July 2017