Half a Story: a Review of "For the Bible tells me so"

A half story is a story that only tells one half of the plot and therefore there is no proper ending. Daniel Karslake, producer and director of “For the Bible tells me so,” is telling such a story with his film.

The movie is praised as a film which reconciles homosexual practice and the Bible. And in an extra feature, Karslake interviewing Gene Robinson, the first Episcopal gay bishop, states that the film was intended to, “elevate the conversation about homosexuality and religion to a higher level.” He concludes that it simply “comes down to love.”

Part of the film is about five families who have gay children, including the families of former House Majority, Richard Gephardt, as well as Bishop Gene Robinson. A great deal of the focus is on how the families reconcile their Christianity with their children’s homosexuality.

There are a couple of important truthful points in this film.

1. Parents should love their children unconditionally.

2.Abusive name calling, picketing with signs that say such things as “God hates faggots,” hate mail and death threats are terribly wrong. Some of such actions are criminal and all of it is sin.

But there is so much in this film that is wrong including the way Karslake explains the only two real truths he offers. Indeed, my main focus in this review will be explaining how the film tears apart real Christian love and makes it at best a sentimental human trait unconnected to the love of Jesus Christ.

There are at least three ways the parents in this film react when they find out their children have a homosexual orientation. Most, after the initial shock, accept both the children and their sexuality. They even go so far as to believe God is using their child to further the rights of homosexuals.

One mother is extremely judgmental of her child and believes that is the reason her daughter committed suicide. One couple, Brenda and David Poteat, keep loving their child, yet because of their belief in the authority of the Bible do not agree with the child’s sexual lifestyle.

The Poteats, who disapprove of homosex on the basis of Scripture, are made to seem backward and uninformed. This is done by jumping immediately to a scene of progressive biblical scholars refuting what the Poteats have just said about the Bible’s views on gay sex. It is also done by zooming in on a booklet in the Poteat's home, entitled “Why you should speak in tongues,” as though believing in the gift of tongues could somehow be a sign that anything you believed about the Bible was wrong.

In fact, throughout the film, there is a constant use of progressive scholars and pastors, between each story, as a means of clarifying, affirming or denying each person’s beliefs. The scholars and pastors include Reverend Mel White, Reverend Peter Gomes and Reverend Dr. Laurence C. Keene. All who disagree with their progressive interpretations of the Bible texts are put into a category titled fundamentalist.

In truth, all Christians who hold to the authority of Scripture are lumped with the most outrageous religious bigots and notorious tyrants of the last few centuries. For instance there is a constant interweaving of pictures of the notorious Phelps’ family with other Christians such as Billy Graham.

Even the President of Fuller Theological Seminary, Richard Mouw, is treated atrociously, in that his explanations about the biblical text and homosexuality are corrected by progressive scholars’ viewpoints. Yet the progressive speakers, in other places in the film, are allowed to speak without evangelical interference.

So, now here are the basic false perspectives in this film, which in many cases are stated not by words but by the interweaving of images of hate with other parts of the film:

1.Parents can only show unconditional love to their children by accepting, as righteous, their children’s participation in homosex.

2.Most Christians who believe that the Bible teaches that homosex is sinful are fundamentalists who are hate filled and bigots. Their beliefs are equivalent to those of the Ku Klux Klan, Hitler and Fred Phelps and his cultish family.

3.The Bible does not teach that homosex is sin.

4.Although this film is about Christians and the Bible, the gift of Jesus Christ, his life, death, resurrection and his transforming grace are totally missing. The distortion in this part is that Jesus’ gift of salvation has nothing to do with the issue of homosexuality.

Of course, the second and third false suppositions are the cause of the first untruth. If the authority of the Bible can be explained away, or it can be reinterpreted within a cultural context then what it states about homosex does not matter.

The fourth false supposition, that the transforming power of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection has nothing to do with a Christian’s view of homosexuality,” is the distortion that caps all others. Looking at the Scriptures from a Christian point of view, the Bible’s most basic story is that the Father promised and gave his Son, Jesus Christ to die on the cross as a ransom for our sins. The Hebrew Bible holds the promise; the New Testament is the fulfillment. That promise and fulfillment entails all other details of our walk with Christ.

One of the ‘big’ ideas, stressed several times, in this film is that the statement in Leviticus 20:13, “If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination; they shall be put to death; their blood is upon them,” is no different then the food laws in chapter eleven where such food as shrimp is considered “abhorrent,” (NAS) or “detestable” (NRSV) Another text referred to is Leviticus 18:22, “You shall not lie with a male as one lies with a female; it is an abomination.”

Beyond the fact that the food laws of the Bible are different than the biblical laws dealing with immorality which include such immoral acts as bestiality, incest, homosex and burning children before false gods, when the work of Christ is applied to this problem there is more clarity.

Turning to the N.T., Acts 10: 9-16, a different understanding emerges. This is the story of Peter’s vision of the unclean animals being lowered in a sheet from heaven for him to eat. When Peter is troubled about God’s command to eat, he answers, “By no means, Lord, for I have never eaten anything unholy and unclean.” But a voice from heaven tells Peter, “What God has cleansed, no longer consider unholy.” Notice the emphasis here is on what God has cleansed.

The work of proclaiming clean and cleansing belongs to the Lord. God uses his own analogy of unclean food to call Peter to Cornelius house where he would make clean the Gentiles who trusted in Jesus Christ.

Both creatures and humanity are made clean by God, but the cleansing of humanity required the blood of Jesus Christ. Furthermore, this does not mean that sins, like homosex, are turned into something good but instead, the person is cleansed and transformed. The call to discipleship is open to the new Christians in Cornelius house. They are called to a new life which includes striving to live holy lives.

In another text Paul reminds Christians that although they had practiced all kinds of sin including homosex, they were now”washed,” “sanctified” and “justified.” He tells them to “flee immorality.” (1 Cor 6:11, 18)

The real plot of the story of sinful humanity is God’s call to love, suffering and redemption. Just as we were chosen in love to be redeemed by the blood of Christ, just as we were bought with great pain because of our Father’s love, we can also choose to love in just that way.

When one chooses to love a child who is living in rebellion against God’s authority it is painful. The future may be filled with sorrow, uncertainty and suffering. But that is God’s call. He calls us to embrace with love the child while suffering the painful awareness of their sinful lifestyle. That is a deeper love than a love which merely enfolds the sin of the child thus avoiding the pain. It is a love that must be drawn from Christ

The theme of the story is that a God who suffered on the cross will stand with those whose children and family members are caught in the bondage of a homosexual lifestyle. The end of the story is that Christ will forgive and transform the sinner no matter what the sin. The glory of the story is a future with Jesus Christ where there is no longer any sin.

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I am placing the trailer of "For the Bible tells me so" here to give the reader an understanding of how this movie is put together. Most of the scenes featured here are spread out more throughout the movie but the effect is the same.