This appeared on the website of the Independent.
At Uganda Talks we welcome guest blogs from our readers. Today, associate professor of psychology at Grove City (a Christian college in the U.S.), Warren Throckmorton, writes about Uganda’s anti-homosexuality bill.
Put down the stones
Christians believe that when Jesus was confronted by the religious leaders of His day, He had just the right response. However, I fear that many of my Ugandan brothers and sisters now doubt that Jesus was correct in His example. Let me explain.
In the 8th chapter of the Gospel of John, the Pharisees and teachers of the law brought a woman to Jesus for Him to judge.
They said, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the Law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” The woman expressed no repentance, no remorse; she was coerced to this degrading situation by the religious leaders who used her as a scapegoat and example.
Jesus did not speak but instead wrote in the dirt on the ground before He spoke. We don’t know what He wrote, but we do know what He said: “If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.”
No one tossed so much as a pebble. They all walked away, leaving the woman untouched by the wrath of men. Rather, she had been touched by the mercy of her Benefactor.
Jesus asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” She replied, “No one, sir.” “Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”
We do not know whether or not she left her life of sin. The Bible does not say. However, we do know that Jesus prevented this woman from being stoned to death. She had sinned and was free to go.
Was Jesus wrong?
As I read the Anti-Homosexuality Bill proposed in Uganda by MPs David Bahati and Benson Obua, I wonder if perhaps these gentlemen think Jesus should have picked up a stone. Instead, Jesus intervened on behalf of the woman, was He wrong?
Clearly, He did not believe adultery was proper. But He signaled a new way of dealing with sin, one which emphasizes mercy and freedom, rather than coercion and death. People must choose to follow the teachings of Christ, not be coerced by Pharisees or government officials. The human heart cannot be changed by laws, but through the freely chosen grace of Christ.
Brothers and sisters, jailing or killing gays or those suspected of being gay or those who know gays cannot create a righteous people, and in fact may further a self-righteous people. One may disapprove of homosexuality, and still treat homosexuals as you would want to be treated. Who among us could stand if our private sins were judged in such a manner as the Anti-Homosexuality Bill of 2009?
I urge my brethren in beautiful Uganda to follow the example of Jesus. Please, for the sake of Christ, put down your stones.
Uganda is a theocracy with your brand of Christianity in charge? Funny, I thought people were free to determine religious ‘truth’ in your country according to their own faith. Who knows, there may be some who see homosexuality in a whole different theological light than you, as well as interpret their god or gods in different ways.
It’s wrong because it is wrong?
Jesus told the woman caught in adultery to “go and sin no more”.He did not say go back to your old life. God is a God of mercy and rejoices with the truth not a lie. Its in the new testament 1Corinthians 6 that the bible warns us that homosexuals will not enter heaven.This is not a time to negotiate truth.Laws are made for law breakers in order to protect other people in society according to the word of God.God knows that laws cant change hearts of people to do right but these laws will finally lead these law breakers towards His mercy otherwise how will God give mercy and these civil laws protect society.I wonder if Warren will turn away from civil laws in the name of laws dont change hearts? Civil laws that are made to protect the family and marriage cannot be graded as satanic and anti-God.These people who say that it is a private affair and that everyone has their own privacy to do what they want in their bedrooms,are mistaken because if the love making your parents did in private brought forth you in the world and you have become part of our public-it is wrong for you to think That the gays have a right to do their thing in private and it will not affect the public.
Yes, those two laws could be an adequate foundation. But a foundation without building blocks serves no purpose, provides no protection, no stronghold, no shelter, no stability. If those two laws were all we needed, Christ would have simply repeated that same message everywhere He went…and the Epistles would have just regurgitated them over and over again as a mantra of sorts.
David, Eddy,
So, so, true!
The mob caught her in adultery. (They were right. There was sin.)
The mob felt justified in stoning her. After all, that was God’s law, wasn’t it? And they were righteous, law-abiding people, weren’t they? (Narcissism and sadism.)
Jesus invited the sinless to throw first.
No one did. (Individual conscience enlightened by God.)
It occurred to me just now that Narcissim violates the first of the Great Commandments and self-righteous Sadism violates the second.
I know you balk somewhat, David, at the idea that these two commandments could be an adequate foundation for moral conduct, but I still think these two laws (if obeyed) would be all we really need for true “morality” and true justice.
http://philosophy.csusb.edu/~tmoody/Past%20classes/F05%20191%20Compassion.htm
I really like that.
@ Michael,
You misunderstood me…I think that often, the mob is right (there has been sin, for example), but their motives are poisoned by narcissism…and sadism.
It is not just my conscience before God, it is also my conscience in community, sometimes a hostile, belittling and stupid community.
My conscience is never wholly my own, it is an amalgamation of multiple generations, several cultures, my childhood and my adult experiences. It can be just as fallen or corrupt as the mob…
The power of the mob is in the accusation that by our behavior we have demonstrated that our conscience is totally corrupt and that we are beyond redemption.
Christ says, “Awaken you conscience, stop sinning” and by implication, “live.”
David, I agree that It is important that one live according to one’s own conscience before God — whatever the mob might do or say.
In my own life, I have often feared the ridicule of the mob. A mob that could be righteous, but more often sought to marginalize because of their power, my weakness, stupidity or sinfulness.
Too often I confused the mob with my conscience…when I silenced the mob, I still had my conscience…
No additional comment; I just thought it was worthy of being repeated.
I won’t challenge the assessment that the passage in John is not part of the original. All the sources I am familiar with attest to that, including Metzger, Ehrman and the Jesus Seminar Fellows. But the point still remains that this is a part of the “Biblical Canon”, which is to say those teachings which lend to the edification of the Church. Additionally, it can be debated just how much of the entire Gospel of John is historically authentic. If we accept the dating to be some where between 90 – 110 AD then we are already dealing with a document which is more the proclamation of the Christian community and an interpretation of the ministry of Jesus.
More Trouble:
found here, for what it is worth: http://conservapedia.com/Adulteress_story
Don’t know it there is a better example, Warren, of the Biblical idea you want to share…
But your point is still well taken.
I think this passage is about the narcissic and devaluing nature of public piety…of which public humiliation and coercion are part and parcel.
There are also problems with using this passage, as it is one of the weakest passages attributed to John (probably added a couple of hundred years after the first rendition of the Gospel of John).
We all want the Jesus that stops and judges the mob…
Less so the Jesus that tells us to “Sin no more.”
One from within Uganda speaks out against the bill:
Richard – As I understand it, the paper is independent of the govt and available to the public.
Thanks to the more than 2,000 people from around the world who have joined the effort on Facebook. Over 400 new members today.
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=198541255168&ref=mf
Will this OP-ed be available to the general popullis in Uganda? -or- will it be suppressed by the gov’t and its ministers?
Seems the Ugandian’s in favor of the bill are framing their oppositition to those who see homosexuality as a human right. They have not addressed the idea of being given life as a gift from God and sin being something we all work on. The gay activists in America and Europe frame it as a human right to be gay – but that’s not the posittion of many who oppose the bill. We oppose the penalty for having sin.
I second that. Thank you.
Thank you Dr. Throckmorton – I can think of many things to say but none will mean as much as telling you how grateful I am for the truth and light you bring to a very complex subject matter.