We all have been reading a lot about gay marriage lately and
especially how Christians were and are fundamentally against gay marriage as an
abomination as taught by “their” Bible which they cannot go against.
The realities of gay marriage on the ground today, is that
many people, religious or not, feel that gays should be allowed to marry if
they are in a “loving” relationship and vow to remain in one just like heteros.
Yes, it feels abnormal and against the natural order but if
nature created gays than they must be treated as part of our natural society
and as part of humanity on earth.
The religious aspect of homosexuality has always interested
me and a recent article by Leonard Pitts of the Miami Herald (May 4, 2012)
entitled: A CHRISTIAN FINDS ACCEPTANCE
OF HOMOSEXUALITY IN THE BIBLE, has prompted me to look at the issue a little
closer.
The article actually talks about a young man named Mathew
Vines who is a Christian and grew up in a conservative evangelical church in Kansas and now is a
Harvard undergrad and also gay. He has a very compelling but long video on his
position as a gay and a Christian on YouTube “THE GAY DEBATE; THE BIBLE AND
HOMOSEXUALITY…very compelling.
Vines tackles the notion that if the Bible says its wrong
than you have to believe homosexuality is wrong. I have always maintained that
basically ALL issues can find support in the Bible even such issues as the
approval of slavery as well why women should not be given the right to vote.
There are only six (6) passages in the Bible that deal with
homosexuality even though homosexuality, the life style, was not really known
in those days but obviously existed; male gang rape of other males was an
accepted practice to humiliate and shame the losers of a battle.
The Old Testament Book of LEVITICUS is usually quoted as a
condemnation of homosexuality when it calls it an ABOMINATION. The book of
rules for the Jewish nation also proscribes stoning a child to death if he
sasses his parents. The logic here is if we don’t accept the death of our
children for misbehaving why should we accept similar logic about
homosexuality? The rules were made for Jews and are not binding on Christians.
The Old Testament also contains the story of SODDOM AND GOMORRAH
which is also oft quoted as a condemnation of homosexuality.
Actually Biblical scholars will tell you that the incident
at Sodom and Gomorrah , when translated correctly, is about
towns that were extremely inhospitable to strangers or outsiders and were very
arrogant in their behavior which God sought to punish and the Old Testament
sought to make example of.
The NEW TESTAMENT which addresses Christians directly and
not Jews, is said to have a problem with translation on the issue of
homosexuality. Remember the New Testament was originally in Greek but was then
translated countless times into Latin and eventually into English. Also, please
be mindful of the fact that years ago, the New Testament saw many, many errors
passed on by people that were copying the book manually and in candle light.
Parts in question include St. Paul ’s letters to the ROMANS, TIMOTHY,
etc. Here Vines argues about translations and interpretations and he makes a
good point in his exegesis and well worth listening to…see the YouTube video.
I did like his use of a GENESIS passage where in creating
mankind on earth, God saw Adam and said that it was not good for man to be
alone and He decided to create a person that would be a suitable partner to
Adam. Naturally God made Eve and the rest is history but Vines argues, if God
says it is not good for man to be alone than clearly gays finding suitable
partners can only be good and according to God’s wishes.
You can never really tell people what the Bible says or
doesn’t say, they will believe what they want to, just like Christian
slave-owners did and their Christian ministers who supported slavery on biblical
evidence, so finding an answer to today’s issues in the Bible is problematic if
not impossible since everything in the Bible is subject to personal
interpretation.
No I leave it to Mother Nature to get my answers; if she
created gays than it is OK to welcome them into our society as equals.
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