Michael Brown Is Not A Man Of God

Michael Brown, author of A Queer Thing Happened to America, was good enough to provide me with a link to a video in which he is seen debating a Mr. Knox, apparently an openly gay minister. (The video is at the bottom of the page.)  I really appreciated this video and found it most illuminating. In it, Mr. Brown does come off as someone willing to at least be polite to LGBT people, but he is not prepared to give an inch.

What I found most interesting about the video was the contrast in styles and intent between Mr. Brown and Mr. Knox. Mr. Knox appeared to be someone who reaches out with true warmth and compassion--not mere politeness--through his faith in an attempt to offer solace and guidance. Mr. Brown, on the other hand, seemed to use scripture as a way to gain control. His statements were really demands that we see things his way and only his way.

Mr. Brown is obviously someone who has studied the Bible a great deal, but he is someone who focuses on the jots and tittles and misses larger themes. After watching the video several times and thinking about it for a couple of days, I have come to the conclusion that there is something missing in Mr. Brown's spirituality--spirit. There is no warmth there, no real love. Polite language is not love. A willingness to let others speak without really listening to them is not love. Using scripture in an attempt to force others to submit to one's point of view is not love.

It's as if Mr. Brown has made a kind of Faustian bargain. If you recall, Faust believed that knowledge would save him, and Mr. Brown seems to think that if he can just study the Bible enough, if he knows just a little more than anyone else about the smallest details, no one will be able to honestly resist his claims. Like so many bean counting literalists, Mr. Brown makes no clear distinction between God's Word and what he believes God's Word to be. In short, Mr. Brown has turned his understanding, his views, his beliefs into an idol. In his mind, to disagree with him is to disagree with God. In my opinion, Mr. Brown's faith is hollow. I don't believe he has really surrendered to anything greater than himself. And I think his words and actions indicate that he doesn't want others to follow God so much as follow Mr. Brown. He is not prepared to respect LGBT people as individuals seeking truth in their own way on their own path. He wants to beat them into submission with a pretense of love and with jots and tittles.

A Christian Response to Homosexuality from AskDrBrown on Vimeo.