God's Conversation with Lindsey Graham

The apostle Paul would like a word with Lindsey Graham. About sexuality and closets, sure; but more importantly, this:

Remember when they said abortion should be a state issue?

Lindsey Graham now advocates for a national abortion ban: “God is with us.”

pic.twitter.com/JEmPXmKcms

— Republicans against Trump (@RpsAgainstTrump) June 23, 2023

The problem arises upon reading First Corinthians (or as Donald Trump would say, “One Corinthians”). The money quote is in verse 11 of chapter 2 but for fairness and context, herewith verses 6 through 11, from the English Standard Version:

 6 Yet among the mature we do impart wisdom, although it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to pass away. 7 But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory. 8 None of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. 9 But, as it is written,

“What no eye has seen, nor ear heard,

    nor the heart of man imagined,

what God has prepared for those who love him”—

10 these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. 11 For who knows a person's thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.

Instead of bragging "God is with us," the Closet King could have cited Scripture on behalf of his advocacy of forced birth. However, Lindsey Graham may not be the best guy to start quoting biblical passages. In Romans 2:26-28, the apostle Paul remarked

For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error. And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done.

There is Jude 1:7, in which Jesus’ brother Jude (Hey, Jude!) reportedly stated

Just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire.

The New Testament was a little rough on homosexuality, though not as much as was the Old Testament’s Moses, who in Deuteronomy declared “You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination.” In Leviticus, he laid out the remedy, maintaining “if a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination; they shall surely be put to death; their blood is upon them.”

Fortunately, we’re a little more enlightened now and do not impose the death penalty upon individuals of one sex having intercourse with someone of another sex. Progress!

We make up our own minds, some people being informed by Scripture and some not, some claiming dishonestly that they are being informed by Scripture.  At this year’s Faith and Freedom Conference, the senior Senator from South Carolina was wise enough not to quote either Testament and arrogant enough to claim he knows the mind of God. The Bible says what the Bible says, and can be evaluated; suggesting we know the mind of God is frowned upon in that very same book.

Of course, I am not boldly asserting that Lindsey Graham is not a practicing heterosexual, for none of us (or almost none of us) knows of his behavior behind closed doors. And when the Senator acknowledges that he does not know what God wants us to do about reproductive freedom, our own speculation about him will be less relevant. The holding of breath is not recommended.

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