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My Faith, Civility, Culture and my personal views on sexuality.

About an hour ago, I watched a video Clip by Steve Chalke founder of Oasis UK Trust on the subject of Inclusion. Steve made a number of points. Among them, he felt that there were issues of a Pastoral Care nature, that he considered even more important than resolving the theological arguments in favour of or against gay marriage. My interpretation of  what Steve was saying is, he had now decided to opt for inclusion , by extending recognition and endorsement(matrimonially) of  gay married couples in order to be in a 'legitimate' position to offer them Pastoral Care.

Background:
In a previous Facebook timeline posting, I made remarks along the following lines:

1. Whereas I agreed with a number of things Steve Chalk had said on the video,I disagreed with the main emphasis in his 'version' of inclusion. The issue of  marriage for a lot of individuals was a question closely linked with their faith. To them, faith their belief in God(deity), was a very sacred aspect of their lives and was closely linked with upholding certain moral principles. Their belief was not necessarily as a result of arriving at a set of logical conclusions, but it was often the result of first hand experience of  God in their lives. Perhaps through a crises event.
2. For such individuals, and I 'd like to include myself in that category, whenever there are issues to be resolved , the avenue for doing so is through directly consulting God within the privilege of prayer in order to receive a direct response form God. THIS IS WHAT IS MEANT BY HAVING A LIVING FAITH. Now if Steve had confidently argued that he had consulted with God in prayer, and God had made him aware by 'private revelation' that he could endorse and perform gay marriage, I might have disagreed, but atleast I would have to acknowledge it was between him and God. Again an issue of personal faith.
3. I disagreed with Steve because he did not do the above(no 2). Instead he cited external influences such as impending Government legislation, and the reported experiences of individuals whose rationale for committing suicide was due to the rejection and the abuse they had become victims of , due to their sexual orientation. Steve then echoes the often rehearsed argument that if the church 'changes' or becomes more inclusive, then at least it will be meeting it's pastoral care obligations to the gay community more fully. In disagreeing with Steve on the issue, I did not highlight my views on gay marriage per se, however, I took issue with Steve's position that expression of faith had to be shaped or modified as a result of external factors such as the timing of Government legislation or the personal experience of individuals. 
4. I made the point that faith had to be politically neutral, it had to be independent of all such interferences. If it weren't of a more sustainable quality than that, then faith could not possible grow, and we might as well redefine our faith as faith in man, faith in the christian church, faith in government and not faith in God.
5. I also cited my own experience as a 22 years old Pastor in Ghana, West Africa. Christian churches at the time were under a lot of pressure, nationally. The military Government at the time was trying to stiffle ideological, political, socio-cultural dissent. On a local level, I was a visible target because my congregation rented the same premises as the Community Public Tribunal. As a result, I was summoned to the local Commission For the Defence of the Revolution(CDR) office. The 'interrogator'(only way I could have described him) was openly hostile to my faith and what he thought we represented as a Christian church. After asking me why we were promoting a 'western style' faith(being a Christian in his opinion was non-African) instead of an African traditional faith, he issued me with an ultimatum:We were to justify our existence in the Community(show evidence of this) and he wanted me to submit my weekly sermons to be screened for dissension before delivery. 
6. Those were very stressful times in Ghana for holding on to our faith. But we addressed the issues with God in prayer, of course I did not submit my sermons for screening, knowing fully well that the CDRs acted for the government which also had a very appalling human rights record at the time.   

Today I'd like to move things a little bit further from simply reacting to Steve Chalke's video statement.

(to be contd)