Higher critics and modernists, in their inherent enmity to the Bible, have reflected on the Word of God as containing immoralities, whereas God therein reveals, describes, exposes and condemns all manner of sin and wickedness which fallen sinful man can commit, and which makes him liable to God’s wrath and curse here and hereafter, if there be no repentance toward God, and faith upon Christ Jesus and His blood which cleanseth from all sin. There are some sins more vile and heinous than others and which the god-fearing and tender Christian can hardly bear to think of, far less discuss, they feel such a revulsion rising up in their minds at the very thought of them. This revulsion is of the grace of God in their hearts; and a mercy from heaven. Yet the Church of Christ to-day, as in the past, is required to “cry aloud and spare not” in its exposure and condemnation of sin and transgression against God, however difficult and delicate a task this may be for varied reasons.
And so we have had it pressed upon our mind to make some observations arising from the recent Report of the Wolfenden Committee, appointed three years ago by the Government. Part of its terms of reference were as follows: “To consider the law and practice relating to homo-sexual offences, and the treatment of persons convicted of such offences by the courts . . .” We write on this moral plague which is being brought into public discussion to-day by the issuing of the above-mentioned Report with the greatest reluctance on the one hand, and with a sense of absolute duty on the other.
It has been a painful and difficult business reading various facts and opinions on this appalling and godless conduct which appears to be rife in this professed Christian nation of ours. Isaiah describes Judah and Jerusalem as having as a sinful nation, “. . . Wounds, and bruises and putrifying sores . . .” (Chap. i. v. 6). Britain to-day has its “putrifying sores,” as revealed by the Wolfenden Report, and the revelation of the Bible on the sins of men.
Briefly, the Committee recommends to the Government that homosexual behaviour between consenting adults in private should no longer be a criminal offence. Until now such offences might expose the evil-doers to as much as eight years imprisonment. But this Committee considered how far the criminal law should concern itself with such behaviour and felt that it is not the function of that law to intervene in the private lives of citizens, except to preserve public order and decency; and much more to the same effect. Here we have given but a brief resumé of the main matter which has caused so much comment, some of it wise and sober, and much of it deplorable in the extreme as emanating from professed Christian sources.
This sin involved here must be condemned out and out, and in no uncertain terms by every god-fearing person, and every professed Christian Church worthy of the name, as that which provoked God to rain “upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven” (Genesis, xix. v. 24). Previously the Lord intimated to Abraham that the sin of this people was “very grievous,” and later took Lot and his family out from among them prior to the utter destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. Hear what Jude says in his epistle verse 7: “Even as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.” These wicked and vile persons were ushered into hell. And Peter in his Second Epistle, chapter 2, verse 6; reminds men, sinners, that the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah was “an example unto those that after should live ungodly.” And thus God did not wait until the Day of Judgment to openly manifest his holy abhorrence of the sin of Sodom, and neither should the Criminal law of Britain leave such ungodly men to proceed unhindered to pollute and undermine the morality of the land and to be a putrify-sore defiling increasing numbers.
Without being entangled in argumentation on the niceties of the application of Criminal law to private moral transgression, it does appear from Romans, chapter 14, that the Civil Magistrates, being ordained of God (ver. 1) had serious functions to perform anent evil. Paul writes, “For he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil.”
As far as we know, there is no appeal to God’s Word or a seeking guidance therefrom on the part of the Wolfenden Committee, in their assessment of this awful form of ungodliness, as to its root in the depraved nature of man, and relative evil factors connected with it. One is saddened at the utter lack of knowledge and (or) appreciation of the teaching of Holy Scripture, when this terrible conduct is said by some to derive from a mental state merely, or other causes and influences of a superficial nature unrelated to the Biblical doctrine of man’s total depravity. It is not the medical man who can diagnose this plague by medical science, but the Word of God by the light which it casts upon this God provoking practice. Let us therefore turn to the Epistle to the Romans chapter 1, in which the Apostle Paul, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, gives a full diagnosis of this terrible sin. First of all he writes of the disregard men had for God: “When they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened” (verse 21). “And changed the glory of the uncorruptible god into an image made like to corruptible man . . .” (verse 23); “Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator who is blessed for ever. Amen” (verse 25); “And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge . . .” (verse 28). Now following upon these charges against men relative to God, the Apostle throughout these verses interposes the moral judgments which God gave them up unto, as when he states, “Wherefore God gave them up to uncleanness, through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves” (verse 24); “For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections . . .” (verse 26); ” . . . God gave them over to a reprobate mind to do those things which are not convenient” (verse 28). And so these solemn words of Holy Scripture and much more in the same chapter apply now to wicked men involved to-day.
Now an amazing aspect of this matter to-day is the altogether inconceivable attitude of certain professing Christian personalities. The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Fisher, expressed himself publicly as tending to agree with the Wolfenden Report, that Criminal law should not operate as at present against adult and consenting parties in this evil; and did not give, as he should, a solemn warning against ungodly conduct from Scripture. How different were the utterances of Lord Samuel, a Jew, philosopher and politician, a few years ago. He warned Britain, in the House of Lords, of the growing danger in our midst, of the sins of Sodom and Gomorrah. This was the action of a public gentleman having the moral welfare of the nation at heart, and with which the utterances of the Archbishop compare most unfavourably. Again, the Rev. Shaun Herron, editor of the British Weekly before its transfer to the supervision of the Church of Scotland, commenting on the Wolfenden Report, stated: “The Churches will have to be very careful about this document and its recommendations.” He further wrote: “It would be dangerously easy to allow the prejudice and decency to perpetuate some of the present intrusions of the Criminal law into the personal lives of people—a thing more dangerous to society than to leave loopholes in the law itself.” Mr. Herron wrote a great deal more in the same strain without specific reference to the Bible, God, or the moral law. In the above quotation he uses the phrase “the prejudice of decency.” What a phrase! Surely decency derived from the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the Word of God, is not infected with “prejudice” against moral evil, but filled with proper abhorrence of God provoking and soul destroying conduct.
But the most surprising and deplorable statements upon the Wolfenden Report, from a professed Christian source, and which we have perused, are to be found in a column of the Scottish Daily Express, of 30th September, 1957. In this column the Rev. John W. Stevenson, editor of the Church of Scotland magazine Life and Work, is quoted from an article he wrote for October issue of his magazine on the Wolfenden Report. He writes of the ungodly practice concerned that ” . . . in itself is a condition which carries no stigma and for which the individual bears no responsibility. It can in fact be used ‘to the glory of God’ and for a true ‘love of the brethren.’ It is a condition of sensitivity which can enrich human relationship . . .” In an interview later by a Scottish Daily Express reporter, the Rev. John W. Stevenson amplified the statements from his article, and among other awful comments, he averred that some of the greatest saints in history have been men given to this practice. We will quote no more from this leading minister in the Church of Scotland. Free Presbyterian readers and others may be shocked, uncertain and critical, respecting these quotations being published by us here. But we can assure our readers we also would not really credit it that the said Rev. J. W. Stevenson made such observations until the press report was placed in our hands, and which we have before us as we write. It is well that the press bring to light the views of such men that some at any rate may see the almost unthinkable state of mind of a professed Christian editor in the Church of Scotland. To read that a minister of that or any Church, would assert that the unholy practices of Sodom could “be used to the glory of God,” is to be reading views formulated in hell and written down by a mind wholly under the power of spiritual darkness. When we make these statements, they are our personal views and opinions upon Rev. Mr. Stevenson, only as he reveals himself in his published statements on the subject with which we are concerned, and which we deem proper to bring under the scrutiny of true Biblical and Christian principles.
To the time of writing there has been little or no outspoken Christian reference to the degrading and corrupting state of conduct morally in Britain as disclosed in the Wolfenden Report. This may come in the House of Commons, if, and when the Report is debated there, and from some Church Courts or Committees in due course. A brief note has appeared in the columns of the Monthly Record of the Free Church of Scotland on the question.
The Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland must needs speak out on this terrible state of affairs, officially and in due course, faithfully and with dignity, and as a Church which is obliged to witness for the truth and honour of God and His Son Jesus Christ, and against all manner of national back-sliding and wickedness. Truly it may be said, “Except the Lord of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom and we should have been like unto Gomorrah” (Isaiah, chap. i. ver. 9).