I saw a recent news article stating that the Church of Scotland will allow it's congregations to decide whether to allow gay and women clergy or not.
BBC News - Church of Scotland General Assembly votes to allow gay ministers
I understand the debate over women in the clergy and see both sides of the debate. I do not, however, understand the debate over gay clergy.
What is the biblical basis for allowing gay clergy?
How does one reconcile allowing openly gay clergymen with the various scripture references stating that homosexual acts are sin and that the sexually immoral (a term which I think includes homosexuals) will not inherit the kingdom of God (Lev. 18:22, Rom. 1:27, 1 Cor. 6:9, 1 Tim. 1:10, Gal. 5:19, Rev. 21:8, Rev. 22:15)?
I sincerely want to understand this matter from a biblical perspective and do not mean to offend anyone.
Here is a cut and paste from a post I did in another forum on same sex marriage in the US. It covers the types of OT law vs NT law, modern application, and the common attempts to slam the conservative stance, while also covering the Pro Homosexual Fundamentalist appraoch. It is short given the broad issues covered, but will help you understand the thought process of the opponents:
For those of you making attmepts at Christian theology and quoting law from the OT, about clothing, trimming hair, etc., here is a quick lesson for you to better understand Biblical law.
It has to do with different types of Old Testament laws. There is ceremonial, civil, and moral law. When Christ died on the cross and rose again, the use of ceremonial law basically ended. Civil law is the more tricky part as it often times was based on cultural norms, so it is usually currently used to shape/guide current conduct, . Moral law is immutable unchangeable law.
The cutting of hair, multiple cloths, and not marking/tattoing yourself for the dead (practiced by cults to call upon spirits/gods) type laws were often based in civil law so that the Jews could show themselves separate from the other religions of the time that would wear mixed pattern clothing or cut their hair in a certain way to show their loyalty to their cult, i.e., modern application, don't get a scorpio tattoo since you do not beleive in astrology.
For those Christians groups that believe that homosexuality is not a sin, they use the civil law argument that those laws were actually about the use of male temple prostitutes and not about moral law (a reasonable argument if you look into it, but not cut and dry by any means). But if you look at other versus throughout scripture, mainly the one pointed out earlier about a man laying with other men as they would with a woman (Romans Ch1, New Testament), that states it as "unnatural," "shameful lusts" and "sin/error" it forces it further into the moral law realm, which again is unmutable.