7. What the Bible Says and Doesn’t Say about Homosexuality  24 page booklet that can be downloaded from the Soulforce website  Most popular item for sale on the website  The booklet is broken down in 8 main points or “Premises” as Mel calls them.  Starts off by saying, “LIKE YOU, I TAKE THE BIBLE SERIOUSLY!”  Then he continues to give his “Biblical” resume  “More than 50 yrs. reading, studying, memorizing, preaching, and teaching from the sacred texts.”  “Earned masters and doctoral degrees from a conservative biblical seminary”  “Learned Hebrew and Greek to gain a better understanding of the original words of the biblical texts”  “Studied the lives and times of the biblical authors to know what they were saying in their day so I could apply it to my own.”

8. Premise # 1 “Most people have not carefully and prayerfully researched the biblical texts often used to condemn God’s lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender children.”  Blames the “epidemic of Biblical ignorance in the United States”

9. Premise # 1  Here he claims:  “Jesus says nothing about same sex behavior”  – Matthew 19:4-12  “The Jewish prophets are silent about homosexuality”  – What about Moses?  “Only six or seven of the Bible’s one million verses refer to same sex behavior in any way – and none of these verses refer to homosexual orientation as it’s understood today.”  The Bible contains a little more than 31,000 verses

10. Premise # 2 “Historically, people’s misinterpretation of the Bible has left a trail of suffering, bloodshed, and death.”

12. Premise # 2  Comparing Christians and anyone that stands firm against accepting homosexual lifestyles to those evil, murderous people shows serious flaws in his argument.  Anyone that would sin and commit sinful acts against others isn’t any better than terrorist that do so in the name of God.  As tragic as these examples are…they have NOTHING to do with “What the Bible has to say… And Doesn’t say about Homosexuality”.

13. Premise # 3  “We must be open to new truth from Scripture.”  “It took a blinding light and a voice from heaven to help the apostle Paul change his mind about certain Hebrew texts.  A sheet lowered from the sky filled with all kinds of animals helped the apostle Peter gain new insights into Jewish law.”

14. Premise # 3  Paul was converted to Christ. His mind was not changed; it was transformed by the grace of God.  Peter was being disobedient to God by refusing to take the Gospel to the Gentiles. He didn’t have new “insight”, he was made aware of his sin and was repentant.  Let’s look at Galatians 1:6-10

15. Premise # 4 “The Bible is a book about God – not a book about human sexuality.”  Actually, the Bible is a book about God’s relationship to humans beings and His instruction on how we are to relate to each other.  The problem with how White states his fourth premise is that he seems to want to say that the Bible doesn’t really deal with homosexual behavior “as we understand it today”. Yet all through the booklet he argues that Christian faith is about love for one’s neighbor. You can’t have it both ways. If the Bible is only a book about God, then why even mention how we should relate to each other?

16. Premise # 4  The truth is the Bible speaks to the issue of sexuality. It starts in Genesis by laying out a pattern of behavior that God has designed.  White continues by dismissing the Bible’s teachings about several things related to marriage and sex. He states, “In fact, the Bible accepts sexual practices that we condemn and condemns sexual practices that we accept.” The he list the following verses:  Deut. 22:13-21  Deut. 22:22  Mark 10:1-12  Leviticus 18:19  Mark 12:18-27  Deut. 25-11-12

17. Premise # 4 “Over the centuries the Holy Spirit has taught us that certain Bible verses should not be understood as God’s law for all time periods. Some verses are specific to the culture and time they were written, and are no longer viewed as appropriate, wise, or just.” “Often, the Holy Spirit uses science to teach us why those ancient words no longer apply to our modern times.”