God is gay
Was Jesus gay? Probably
Preaching on Good Friday on the last words of Jesus as he was being executed makes great spiritual demands on the preacher. The Jesuits began this tradition. Many Anglican churches adopted it. Faced with this privilege in New Zealand's capital city, Wellington, my second home, I was painfully attentive of the context, a church deeply divided worldwide over issues of gender and sexuality. Suffering was my theme. I felt I could not evade the suffering of gay and female homosexual people at the hands of the church, over many centuries.
Was that divisive issue a subject for Good Friday? For the first time in my ministry I felt it had to be. Those last words of Jesus would not permit me escape. "When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing proximate , he said to his mother, 'Woman behold your son!' Then he said to the disciple. 'Behold your mother!' And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home."
That disciple was John whom Jesus, the gospels affirm, loved in a particular way. All the other disciples had fled in apprehension . Three women but only one male had the courage to go with Jesus to his execution. That guy clearly ha
Review of God and the Gay Christian
Some of my previous university students, many of them glowing students, have embraced the view that homosexuality is biblically acceptable. I hold seen this trend especially among those who either embraced homosexuality themselves or are close to others who include embraced this lifestyle. In a conversation with one of the students recently, she indicated that I needed to read more on the topic. I chose the guide God and the Gay Christian because it appears to be the most popular book on the topic.
I can see the appeal of the manual. It is written in a straightforward and endearing manner. Further, the storyteller, Matthew Vines, argues for the leadership of Scripture throughout. He attempts to make the case for the acceptability of homosexuality within the biblical corpus. For those unfamiliar with the arguments made in favor of his case, the mountain he has chosen to climb may sound unconquerable. Nevertheless, many have found his case convincing. I read the guide hoping to realize how my former students came to accept such a position.
As with most arguments, the most important occur at the foundation. I would say that Vines presents two major arguments for
What Does the Bible Tell About Homosexuality?
What Does The Bible Say About Homosexuality?
Introduction
For the last two decades, Pew Research Center has reported that one of the most enduring ethical issues across Christian traditions is sexual diversity. For many Christians, one of the most frequently first-asked questions on this topic is, “What does the Bible say about attraction to someone of the same sex?”
Although its unlikely that the biblical authors had any notion of sexual orientation (for example, the term homosexual wasn't even coined until the late 19th century) for many people of faith, the Bible is looked to for timeless guidance on what it means to honor God with our lives; and this most certainly includes our sexuality.
Before we can jump into how it is that Christians can maintain the authority of the Bible and also affirm sexual diversity, it might be helpful if we started with a brief but clear overview of some of the assumptions informing many Christian approaches to understanding the Bible.
What is the Bible?
For Christians to whom the Bible is God’s very written word, it is widely understood that God produced its content
Learning to Say ‘God is Love’ When You’re Gay
“God is love.”
This is one of those things everybody’s heard. Sometimes you sense like it’s the most profound thing in the world; sometimes you perceive like it’s a stale marshmallow, sweet at first but then dissolving on your tongue into bland nothingness. But as I’ve gotten to know LGBT people who were raised in Christian families, I’ve started to see how this incredibly common sentiment can damage people’s hearts and lives — because they were taught that the God of like couldn’t acknowledge them.
If you’re an LGBT person who was raised Christian, there’s a pretty good chance that you’ve never heard a leader in your church welcome LGBT people, trusting that people enjoy you were in the pews and encouraging their faith. You’ve had to try to understand both your sexuality and your faith in the midst of misinformation and deadly silence.
I’m coming to all this as a female homosexual convert to Catholicism. I didn’t grow up in the Church; I was introduced to God and to faith by people who genuinely did not act as though my sexual orientation separated me from God. I carry out my best to approve Catholic teaching, including in the area of sexuality. I’ve