Bishop Love's Address at the Albany Diocesan Convention 2008

Excerpt:
In the next few moments, I am going to try to share with you my understanding of some of these issues and why I made some of the decisions that I have. I realize not everyone shares my understanding of the issues confronting us.

In the Episcopal Church, every man or women ordained as a deacon, priest or bishop publicly states: "I do believe the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments to be the Word of God, and to contain all things necessary to salvation." (BCP) As your bishop, I take this declaration as part of the ordination vows very seriously. I believe that the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments are not only the Word of God, but the living Word of God that continues to speak to us to this day and for all time.

In so saying, I am very much aware that the Bible as we know it today is a compilation of works, representing various literary styles, written by human authors over hundreds of years. While parts are intended to be interpreted literally, other parts are figurative, and some are poetic or history. Underlying all of it, however, is God’s inspired truth, as referenced by Paul in II Timothy.

To argue as some have tried, that whatever prohibitions God may have had toward homosexual behavior, as revealed in Leviticus 18 or Romans 1, only applied to the people to which the original text was written, and therefore does not apply to today’s culture, and modern societies’ enlightened understanding of sexuality, would seem to suggest that somehow God was limited in His understanding of human sexuality. I might remind us of the faith we proclaim every time we say the Nicene Creed: "We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all that is, seen and unseen." If God is Almighty and if He created all that is, as we proclaim, and as Holy Scripture attests to, how can we say that we are more enlightened in this generation that God was when he first inspired Moses and Paul to write the words He gave them?

It is argued by some, that people, who identify themselves as homosexual in orientation, were created that way by God and therefore it is in accordance with His will that they live out their gift of sexuality in a same sex relationship. Others state that science has proven that people, who are homosexual, were born that way. To the best of my knowledge, there is no scientific study that proves that people are born homosexual. There is no genetic link that has been discovered. In regard to God creating people homosexual in orientation, Matthew 19 makes a strong case against such an argument. Jesus said, "Haven’t you read, ‘that at the beginning the Creator made them male and female,’ and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh?’ So they are no longer two but one." Full Address

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