By Pastor Eric Schering
In Papua New Guinea there is a small homosexual community in the capital city Port Moresby. However, there is no provision in the country for same sex marriage, as has been the case in the US since 2015. In Papua New Guinea and many other countries both homosexual practice and homosexual marriage are illegal.
Dame Carol Kidu is a fascinating person and has had an illustrious career. She is an Aussie who spent her first 20 years growing up in a suburb of Brisbane. When she was about 16 years of age, she met Buri Kidu, a Papua New Guinean on scholarship in Australia. They fell in love and married. They then relocated to Papua New Guinea where Carol learned village life, adjusted to PNG culture and gave birth to six children. Buri went into government work and eventually became the first indigenous Chief Justice of the PNG Supreme Court, serving in that capacity from 1980-1993.
In 1994 Sir Buri Kidu died of a heart attack. Carol continued to live in PNG and in 1997 contested to become a Member of Parliament. She won the election, becoming the only woman and one of the few expatriates to serve as an MP. She conducted herself with integrity as an MP during a time when most Members of Parliament were corrupt.
Her term of service as an MP extended from 1997 – 2012. Appointed as Minister for Community Development by Prime Minister Michael Somare, she gave very good accounting of the millions of kina (1 US dollar = ca. 3 kina) entrusted to her department – rare for MP’s serving as Ministers in PNG. Let me add that all MPs in PNG receive in excess of 5 million kina per year for development purposes. (This in addition to their salaries). At least half of the MPs do not give a good accounting of the development funds, as required by law.
Dame Kidu worked hard to develop leadership roles for women in PNG. While a Member of Parliament she proposed legislation that would reserve 22 Member of Parliament positions to be set aside for women. The proposed legislation, brought before Parliament in 2012, failed. In that same year she decided that she would not again contest for a seat in Parliament.
Another notable effort by Dame Carol took place in 2011 when she introduced a bill in Parliament to de-criminalize prostitution and homosexuality. The vast majority of MP’s and other leaders in PNG have disagreed with her on this point. They were strongly opposed to the introduction of what they perceived to be “western values” that didn’t line up with the Word of God.
Fifty years ago most instructors and principals in public high schools and secular universities in the US understood that a man being legally married to a man or a woman pledging lifelong fidelity to a woman was contrary to human nature and natural law.
No longer. Many high school teachers and university professors today confidently teach the validity of same sex relationships as well as the option of pursuing either hetero or homosexual relationships, or both. In addition, a biological male, if he is so inclined, is permitted to state publicly that he is a female (and vice versa) and as such he should be allowed to compete in the 100-meter dash or the high jump or other women’s athletic events.
In many instances such competition discriminates against women, as certain high schools and universities are waking up to.
Does the Word of God have anything to say on the LGBT topic? If Scripture is silent on homosexuality and lesbianism, or if the Word of God is neutral on these issues, then we are free to take whatever position pro or con. If on the other hand, Scripture addresses these concerns, then we need to set aside our predispositions and align ourselves with God’s Word.
As one person has said, (I’m paraphrasing) if we as pastors and theologians prophetically address many issues in our culture but fail to speak a biblical word concerning the single most pressing moral issue of the day, we cannot claim to be prophets in our generation.
Two thousand years ago Paul, the most passionate presenter of the Christian faith did not limit his outreach to Jews in Judea and Galilee. When outside of his Jewish context, he did not flinch in speaking words of truth and hope to people in the bigger metropolitan areas, such as Rome and Corinth, where homosexuality was practiced.
He said to believers in Corinth, one of the five largest cities in the Roman Empire,
Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor male prostitutes, nor homosexual offenders, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor slanderers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. (1 Cor 6:9,10)
He is essentially saying: “All these types of behaviors are in direct opposition to the values in the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ. Anyone who continues to practice male prostitution or engage in drunkenness or homosexuality, etc., has not yet been transformed by the Holy Spirit.”
“But”, says Paul, (paraphrasing) “these are not hopeless situations, because some of you who are currently a part of the church of Jesus Christ in Corinth, you yourselves were once engaged in these kinds of behaviors. But through the work of the Holy Spirit you were washed, you have been transformed by the power of the Lord Jesus Christ.” Paul rejoiced that some Corinthian believers had been set free from the grip of enslavement to homosexuality, drunkenness, greediness, theft, male prostitution, etc.
In the CRC we are at a crossroads in the issues of homosexuality and LGBT. Some CRC leaders advocate homosexual practice and same sex marriage. The vast majority of CRC pastors and elders are convinced the Word of God teaches heterosexual relationships/heterosexual marriage. May the Holy Spirit lead us in the right direction these next 2-3 years.