Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Christian Gays?



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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