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Homosexuality and the Bible
203
and the fifth. Adventists also see as part of their identity the task of
preaching the Elijah message in these last days. And according to
Malachi 3:5-6, the heart of the Elijah’s message is meant to “turn the
hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to
their fathers.”
So
what is at stake is no less than the call to be faithful to the com
mandments of God, in light of the Gospels and the Three Angels’
Messages. All of us are called to be faithful to God, with regard to
both
the day and way of worship, and the fundamental structures of
marriage and family as given by God in Creation.
THE GREAT CONTROVERSY WORLDVIEW
AND THE CHARACTER OF GOD
Finally, the book of Revelation also brings us to the issue of the
larger worldview of Scripture. Revelation reiterates what was already
present at the beginning of Scripture, in Genesis 1—3, with a descrip
tion of the Great Controversy centered in the issue of the character
of God. In Genesis 3, the serpent casts doubts upon the character of
God, and the great moral conflict, begun in heaven with the rebellion
of Lucifer, is brought to this earth. Job 1-2 reveals that the moral
conflict is cosmic, yet it springs from the same basic issue of whether
or not we will trust God’s character and His Word. In the last three
chapters of Revelation, we have the windup of the Great Contro
versy, and the final triumphant shout of the universe as God’s char
acter is vindicated in His dealing with sin: “true and righteous are His
judgments” (Rev. 19:2; cf. the song of Moses and the Lamb in Rev.
15:3: “Just and true are Your ways, O King of saints!”).27
The homosexuality debate is part and parcel of the great contro
versy worldview. It is a symptom of the clash of two worldviews,
the biblical versus the humanistic. The reasoning of the gay activist
community, and even of many not part of that community, utilizes
(whether knowingly or not) the perspective of the humanistic, evo
lutionary worldview. It is so easy to imbibe the spirit of the culture
without
even being
uwurc of it and to adopt elements of the secular