Saturday, August 29, 2015

Chapter Ten: "You're on the Wrong Side of History"

In case you're a new reader, this is an ongoing review of Kevin DeYoung's What Does the Bible Really Teach about Homosexuality? I'm trying to summarize his arguments chapter by chapter. Click the title to order the book.

Supporters of same-sex marriage claim the traditional view of traditional marriage is “on the wrong side of history.” That phrase is, as Kevin DeYoung says, an “attempt to win an argument by not having one” (p. 103).

Being on the wrong side of history is supposed to put us in mind of narrow-minded, wrong-headed views from the past which now, in more enlightened times, no one really believes any more.

DeYoung reminds, though, that “the wrong side of history” once included popular positions held by elite and progressive intellectuals of the time, with eugenics (a pseudo-science that claimed to reveal superior and inferior elements of the human population, and which advocated selective breeding and sterilization) a prime case in point.  

He also debunks supposed examples of how the church and the Bible were on the “wrong side of history,” showing how half-truths and misinformation about Christian history perpetuate this argument. He offers historical illustrations about Columbus (Christians supposedly thought the earth was flat), Galileo (supposedly condemned because he opposed the church’s geocentric universe), and slavery (which he shows was condemned by many Christians throughout history).

QUOTES
Unlike slavery, the church has always been convinced (until very recently) that homosexual behavior is sinful. (p. 107)
As Christians we ought to fear being on the wrong side of the holy, apostolic, and universal church more than we fear being on the wrong side of discredited assumptions about progress and enlightenment. (p. 108)