"What the Bible really says about gays"

LA Times Commentary:
MICHAEL MCGOUGH

What the Bible really says about gays
Liberal Christians can wield two weapons against conservatives on the issue of homosexuality.
By Michael McGough

Justin R. Cannon, a student at Earlham College in Richmond, Ind., is one of the youngest combatants in the Christian culture wars. But he's a happy warrior because his contribution to the debate — an illuminating online analysis that argues the Bible doesn't condemn faithful gay relationships — has piqued the interest of clergy and laypeople across the country.

"I have received all sorts of positive letters and e-mail from pastors, bishops, Bible study teachers, seminary professors, gays and lesbians, as well as a few straight allies," the seminary-bound Cannon told me, referring to his study, "The Bible, Christianity and Homosexuality" (www.truthsetsfree.net). (Some responses, he conceded, "weren't so friendly I have tried to … be loving and gracious in my replies.")

Cannon's website makes use of etymology and history to cast doubt on the prevailing antigay interpretations of several Bible verses. It is only one front in a robust theological counterattack against Christian conservatives who insist — as a 1998 statement from Anglican bishops puts it — that same-sex relationships of any kind are incompatible with Scripture.

Revisionists such as Cannon are ingenious and often persuasive in arguing that strictures in both the Old and New Testaments that have been read to broadly condemn homosexuality were actually directed at particular offenses — male prostitution, a breach of hospitality (the real "sin of Sodom") or the insult to patriarchy represented by a male lying "with a man as one lies with a woman" (Leviticus 18:22).

In seeking to have antigay Christians reexamine their prejudices, the revisionists are doing the Lord's work — literally, because Jesus said a great deal about love and nothing at all about homosexuality. But arguing about whether particular passages in the Bible condemn homosexuality — "proof-texting," in the jargon of biblical scholars — may not be the best way to counter conservatives....Scripture can be reinterpreted, and sometimes repudiated, on the basis of the lived experience of Christians, guided by the Holy Spirit....(which was) the approach taken by the Episcopal Church, which decided to ordain the Rev. V. Gene Robinson, a priest in a committed same-sex relationship, as bishop of New Hampshire....

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-mcgough18jul18,0,3211593.story

With the author, and not today's mainstream "Christians."

It is a welcome contrast to those stories interpreted to criticize Christianity as a whole rather than a particly subset of it.

I make up my own mind about things. I know in my heart that it's wrong to hate someone because of their sexual orientation. Whatever happened to "conscience"?

I'll admit I struggle with that with the current crop of fundies, but I still know it's wrong. I just remind myself that they can't help impaired brain function (rather through fear or dna) and that helps a lot.

my posts knows.

I am trying to soften my heart, but after learning about what happened to Andy, it's awfully hard. :(

he sounds like a great guy.

It is so hard to not hate. And I get so angry at the fundies who claim to be christians and are so filled with hate.

I like your bird in your siggy. Today, we saw 6 wild parrots in a tree in our backyard. They weren't as pretty as your bird, no yellow, just red marking on green, but cool nonetheless.

I did know him a little and I thought he was wonderful.

Where are you that you have wild parrots? :) I love parrots very much. They are so intelligent, silly and entertaining. My bird, Gabby, has lived with me for 18 years. Sometimes it's hard to believe it's been that long. :)

Emily will be knocking at my door in about 12 hours. We don't expect much more than rain and strong winds, the eye will (hopefully) pass about 100 miles south.

This is the 2nd time I've seen wild parrots since we moved. The first time was in the parking lot at work. That time it was just 1 pair.

It's been fun living here. I have seen green jays, couch's kingbirds and great kiskadees (and probably other birds I just didn't know were "special").

I know some Churches disagree with the Evangelicals, and I know about the Episcopal Church ordaining a gay priest. I didn't read anything that would help me convince an Anti-gay RW Fundie that they are wrong, or imisinterpreting their Bible.

Help me out here.

no matter what the argument.

"There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus" (Galations 3:28). The Old Testament was the way of Jewish Law, but the New Testament was the new way of the Spirit and Love of Christ, and a someday direct contact with God. Not to deny the Will of God, but to surpass the old law, for "after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster" (Galations 3:25).

When they always, only, quote the Old Testament to get these horrible anti-woman, anti-gay, etc. condemnations, remember that many Christians--myself among them--never pay any attention to anything in the Old Testament unless it is agreed to and upheld by Christ. Jesus never even mentions homosexuality or abortion (which they had then too; by herbs). God loves and reads your mind, heart and soul, and this is where you live. "God is no respecter of persons," the saying goes (or the actual quote, Romans 2:11, "For there is no respect of persons with God"), meaning we are all equals before God and there are no "hierarchical" or "favoritism" distinctions. The outward discrimination is the way of the world; the inner truth is the way of God and of those who seek.

I don't believe God cares one way or the other what anyone's sexuality is, for God invented them all. "...But I was hungry, and ye fed me not." This will be a truer test.

I just want to worry about getting rid of weeds in my lawn. My mother remembered going to catholic school and being hit with a ruler on her left hand when she first learned to write. Lefthandedphobia still exists in the world today. Sexuality is the same as left/right handedness. It is fraught with myth and fears. It is a trajedy that so many of us have so much room in our hearts for hatred. I'm glad that the Christian left is speaking out. It helps me and my family feel a little safer in this strange time in our country.

are complete hypocrites . . . they quote selective verses to support their own bigotry -- claiming that "it's in the Bible, so it must be true" -- while ignoring innumerable verses that they don't feel obligated to follow . . . like the Levitican prohibitions against shaving one's beard or sowing two seeds in the same field . . . Biblical picking and choosing to reinforce one's pre-existing prejudices is not what true Christianity is all about . . .