Positive time!! (Could get you down couldn't it?
)
Dallas Church adopts Gay-friendly stanceQuote:
A Dallas church has changed its website to identify itself as inclusive of varied sexual orientations -- a move that potentially could put the congregation at odds with the Baptist General Convention of Texas, which previously has excluded another church over its embrace of openly gay leaders.
A March 6 article in the Dallas Morning News characterized the move by Royal Lane Baptist Church as the congregation coming “out of the closet” regarding its quietly welcoming stance toward gays and lesbians -- including allowing them to fill church leadership positions such as deacons.
“In effect, this is a collective coming out about who we are and have been for a long time,” Ruth May, vice chair of deacons, told the newspaper, which identified her as a lesbian.
In keeping with the spirit of Christ I would say.
Actually though there ARE several pro-gay passages in the Bible that have been examined at length in pastor of the Jesus Metropolitan Community Church Rev. Jeff Miner's book
The Children are Free: Reexamining the Biblical Evidence on Same-sex Relationships.
Miner shows numerous interesting examples - for example Ruth and Naomi's relationship:
Quote:
Ruth's covenant with Naomi, which includes the memorable phrase, "Wherever you go, I will go; wherever you live, I will live," actually refers to a committed same-sex relationship.
Another example where Jesus met a gay couple and did not discriminate at all or even comment - the healing of the centurion's servant in This story is recorded in Matthew 8:5-13 and Luke 7:1-10:
Quote:
In the original language, the importance of this story for gay, lesbian, and bisexual Christians is much clearer. The Greek word used in Matthew’s account to refer to the servant of the centurion is pais. In the language of the time, pais had three possible meanings depending upon the context in which it was used. It could mean “son or boy;” it could mean “servant,” or it could mean a particular type of servant — one who was “his master’s male lover.” (See note 18.) Often these lovers were younger than their masters, even teenagers.
Would Jesus Discriminate?
And of course David and Jonathan who are well known as a gay couple and for which the evidence does not need repeating.
The Gnostic texts go even further with Jesus' attitudes in this regard but these have been excluded by the Church (though this does not invalidate them) so perhaps this is not the place to discuss them. Elements of them do survive in the accepted gospels though, for example the following from Mark 14:48-52:
Quote:
Then Jesus said to them sent to arrest him, “Have you come out with swords and clubs to arrest me as though I were a guerrilla? Day after day I was with you in the Temple teaching, and you did not arrest me. But let the scriptures be fulfilled.”
All of them deserted him and fled. A young man was following him, wearing nothing but a cloth. They caught hold of him, but he left the cloth and ran off naked
Oh and the classic Jesus quote which should really wrap this up as it is from THE MAN HIMSELF (or God Himself if you are that way inclined):
Quote:
“Not everyone can accept this teaching, but only those to whom it is given. For there are eunuchs who have been so from birth, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by others, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. Let anyone accept this who can.”
Matthew 19:11-12
Actually this comment by Jesus FOLLOWS ON from the quote used above by Camp David - ie it is
Jesus own comment on the original quote in the
same place.
Quote:
In the ancient world, including ancient Jewish culture (as reflected in the Talmud), “natural” or “born” eunuchs were not associated with missing testicles. Rather, they were associated with stereotypically effeminate characteristics and behavior (just like modern gay men), and were thought by Rabbi Eliezer to be subject to “cure” (just like modern gays). Moreover, as we have also seen, eunuchs were commonly associated with homosexual desire. (For a complete discussion of the term "born eunuch" and the connection with homosexuality, see The Early Church Welcomed a Gay Man.) As a reasonably informed person of his time, Jesus would have been aware of this common view of eunuchs. Yet he very matter-of-factly asserts that some people are simply born that way. The implication of his statement is profound — God created gay people the way they are! Jesus says so.
Unlike Rabbi Eliezer, Jesus feels no need to “cure” these born eunuchs. He speaks no words of condemnation. Rather he lists people born gay alongside another honored class (eunuchs for the kingdom), and accepts them as a natural part of God’s creation order.
Source
