Israel Folau leaves a conciliation hearing at the Fair Work Commission.Credit:Janie Barrett
Given the silence of the theologians I guess it is up to me – an agnostic,lapsed Catholic,Master of Theology,former Charismatic Christian – to make a few relevant points. Although these points are on the whole critical of Folau,you will see that I am also somewhat sympathetic toward him.
First let us go back tothe actual Instagram post that started it all:"Warning. Drunks,homosexuals,adulterers,liars,fornicators,thieves,atheists,idolators. Hell awaits you. Repent. Only Jesus saves."Folau added his own comment to the graphic,"Those that are living in sin will end up in hell unless you repent. Jesus Christ loves you and is giving you time to turn away from your sin and come to him."
Folau attached the biblical passage that underpins the post – the letter to the Galatians,chapter 5,verses 19-21. He is using the 17th-century King James translation:"Now the works of the flesh are manifest which are these:adultery,fornication,uncleanness,lasciviousness,idolatry,witchcraft,hatred,variance,emulations,wrath,strife,seditions,heresies,envyings,murders,drunkenness,revelings and such like:of the which I tell you before,as I have also told you in time past,that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God."
These words were originally intended for communities of mainly non-Jewish Christians in a province called Galatia (in what we would call modern Turkey) somewhere in the decade 50-60 AD. They are not the words of Jesus. They are the words of Saint Paul. The King James translation,although widely loved for its beauty,is not as precise as modern translations.
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It is nevertheless pretty clear that the sins referred to here can be summarised as sexual promiscuity,idolatry,drunkenness,violence and other bad stuff. Whoever composed the original Instagram post has also attempted to summarise these sins. Note however,that Galatians 5:19-21 does not,in any translation,mention homosexuals. Folau and whoever wrote the original post have projected homosexuality into the promiscuous category. That is their bias.
You will also notice that there is nothing in the passage from Galatians about these sinners going to hell. The early Christians were expecting the imminent arrival of the resurrected Jesus to usher in the Kingdom of God. To be part of that you needed to repent and believe. This was urgent business. They believed that the world as they knew it was coming to an end. Many evangelical Christians still cling on to the same vain hope.