Cultural Redefinition

In this practice the culture to which the particular passage under investigation was addressed is re-defined in such a way as to dispense with the universal application of an uncomfortable mandate. This practice is most commonly used in instances such as the presentation of homosexuality as a legitimate lifestyle rather than one that is condemned by God. Each passage that speaks out against the practice of homosexuality is re-interpreted in such a way as to make the culture to which it is addressed guilty not of immoral behaviour but of an incomplete practice of love. In this manner the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah is no longer homosexuality but inhospitality. However, once the Bible is twisted in this way it can be made to say everything anyone would like it to say and it can therefore say nothing at all. It is no longer a guide to salvation or an example of Godly behaviour but an echo of our own desires, an interesting book which may or may not apply to our lives today, depending on what we wish. However, the Bible is not a book that addresses itself in one way to the people of one age and in an other way to the people of an other age. It cannot be since the Bible is the word to all ages by an eternal unchanging God. What God demanded of the people of Sodom and Gomorrah, Jerusalem and Rome, he demands of people today since it is His law that determines proper and improper behaviour and that law does not change because He does not change.