Second, if God wanted to condemn all homosexuality, God blatantly failed to do so for the first 4000 years of history considering that there is not the slightest hint of condemnation for lesbianism, only for male homosexuality, even though lesbianism existed at the time of the writing of the Old Testament, and that in verses contiguous with the prohibitions on male homosexuality, there are specific female sexual behaviors that are similarly prohibited (which counters the argument that the OT ignores female morality, and thus would not address lesbianism). The obvious conclusion from this, is that God's intent was not to condemn all homosexuality, only a form of male homosexuality that either makes those individuals ritualistically unclean or were active forms of pagan idolatry and could not be capapable of love. It makes no sense for God, who in the New Testament shows us the inadequacy of the Old Testament Law, to add new Laws on top of the old Laws by suddenly including lesbianism in the list of prohibited behaviors, as is alleged to be the case in Romans 1.
Finally, Jesus makes it exceedingly clear that all of the Law and the Prophets are summarized in two commands: Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind, and Love your neighbor as yourself (Matt 22:36-40). Neither of these two commands are violated by homosexual marriages, anymore than they are in heterosexual marriages. Homosexual Christians are no less apt to engage in behaviors which clearly exhibit the characteristics of these two commands, or of the fruits of the Spirit (Gal 5:22-23) than are heterosexual Christians. Therefore, I find no Scriptural or phenomenological evidence for the traditional Evangelical allegation that homosexuality is sin.
It is based on the brief presentation of the summary evidence above that I have concluded that homosexuality is not sin. We are told that "love comes from God" (1 John 4.7). If this is true, and the love between a man and a woman in a long-term, committed relationship is truly love (which we can assume that logically flows from God), then why would not the love between a man and a man, or a woman and a woman in a similar relationship not also be from God? I contend that it is from God, and that God blesses homosexual relationships as God does heterosexual relationships
Spong concludes his chapter on this subject in this way:
"That is all that Scripture has to say about homosexuality. Even if one is a biblical literalist, the biblical references do not build an ironclad case for condemnation. If one is not a biblical literalist there is no case at all, nothing but the ever-present prejudice born out of a pervasive ignorance that attacks people whose only crime is to be born with an unchangeable sexual predisposition toward those of their own sex.
If new knowledge about the cause and meaning of homosexuality confronts us, then we must be willing to relinquish our prejudice and the prejudice of Holy Scripture and turn our attention to loving our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters, supporting them, and relating to them as a part of God's good creation. That will inevitably include accepting, affirming, and blessing those gay and lesbian relationships that, like all holy relationships, produce the fruits of the spirit-love, joy, peace, patience, and self-sacrifice-and to do so in the confidence that though this may not be in accordance with the literal letter of the biblical texts, it is in touch with the life-giving spirit that always breaks the bondage of literalism." (Ibid., 154)
Remember, in talking about homosexuals, we're not talking about a group of immoral, twisted, perverted people who woke up one morning and said "I'm going to choose to become homosexual." Their orientation was not a matter of choice and is a permanent part of their being, hence it is immoral for any family or church to pressure such people to even try to change.
Even among heterosexual people, there is no one "right" way to be sexual. Our uniqueness comes from the creativity of God at the most basic level. I believe God is please when we respond to our unique form of sexuality in ways that are life-giving. I believe that it is life giving when sexual relationships reflect a high degree of mutuality, love, and justice.
1 Corinthians 12:12
The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ.
One would think that the writers of the Gospels would have desired to clarify the issue if it were an issue but its only pulled out of passages that never condemm homosexuality in general.
My biggest issue is that we Christians, before declaring homosexuality a sin, need to first examine the huge amount of scholarship of sincere Christians that clearly show its only the false traditional teachings that make homosexuality a sin, clearly not the word of God.
If we use the Bible as a weapon to further judge, divide and even hate any particular group, if we use it to justify our own way rather than see in it God's immeasurable grace poured out for all, we dishonor the Bible we claim to love.
Here Jesus told his purpose in life in his hometown of Nazareth in Luke 4:18-19. Then Jesus said that God's love includes all people, and for this the people tried to kill Jesus.
"For freedom Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a religious yoke of slavery."
Galatians 5:1
"The Spirit of God is upon me, because God anointed me to proclaim the good news to the outcasts. God has sent me to announce release to the captives and recovery of sight to those who cannot see; to liberate those who are kicked and stepped on and to proclaim the time of God's favor and acceptance of everyone (paraphrase of Isaiah 61:1-2)."
"I have other sheep that are not of this fold; I must bring them also. So that there shall be one flock, one shepherd" (JOHN 10:16)
REFERENCES, RECOMMENDATIONS & SPECIAL THANKS GO TO:
Greenberg, David F., Professor of Sociology Ph.D. 1969 (physics), M.S. 1963 (physics), B.S. 1962 (physics), Chicago. Major Interests: sociology of sex, criminology, sociology of law, mathematical modeling, ancient civilizations, deviance, human sexuality, sociology of science, statistical methods in the social science The Construction of Homosexuality . The University of Chicago Press, 1988.
Arthur, Rev. Bob. is an ordained teaching minister with the Church of the Full Covenant, Dallas, Texas. Homosexuality and the Conservative Christian . STI Publications, 1982. Author of "Dispelling The Myth", an exegetical study guide dealing with the traditional problem passages about homosexuality in scripture.
John Boswell (1947-1994) was the A. Whitney Griswold Professor of History at Yale University and the author of Christianity, Social Tolerance, and Homosexuality : Gay People in Western Europe from the Beginning of the Christian Era to the Fourteenth Century, The Royal Treasure, The Kindness of Strangers, and Same-Sex Unions in Premodern Europe.
Victor Paul Furnish, is University Distinguished Professor of New Testament at Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University, Dallas. "The Bible and Homosexuality: Reading the Texts in Context," Homosexuality in the Church: Both Sides of the Debate, ed. Jeffrey S. Siker (Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press, 1994)
Lance H. Darryll, former professor at Colgate Rochester Divinity School, (http://www.crds.edu/home800.asp) and current editor of InSpiriter, the journal of the Association of Welcoming and Affirming Baptists. 143 citing Kenneth J. Dover, Greek Homosexuality (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1978)
Robert Graves (1895-1985) professor at Oxford, W. H. Auden went as far as to assert that Graves was England's "greatest living poet." In 1968 he received the Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry. During his lifetime he published more than 140 books
Rev. Dr. Thomas Marland Horner (Tom Horner), Jonathan Loved David: Homosexuality In Biblical Times . The Westminster Press, 1978.
George Edwards, Biblical rationale for acceptance of homosexuality as legitimate expression of human sexuality in context of liberation theology. Edwards is retired from faculty of Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary and was member of General Assembly Task Force on the Church and Homosexuality. In Gay/Lesbian Liberation: A Biblical Perspective
Michael England, He was educated at the University of California at Los Angeles and holds a Master of Divinity degree from Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary, Mill Valley, California. He is pastor of MCC of Greater Hayward, CA, and has served as pastor of MCC San Francisco, MCC Salt Lake City, Utah, and MCC at the Pennsylvania State University (State College, PA). He was founding director of the UFMCC Board of Campus Ministry and served on the UFMCC Ministerial Credentials and Affairs Committee. The Bible and Homosexuality. 4th ed. Gaithersburg, Maryland: Chi Rho Press, 1991
Robin Scroggs, professor of New Testament, Union Theological Seminary, a happily married heterosexual who has been acclaimed in many Christian publications for his serious research about what the New Testament really says about homosexuality.
The New Testament and Homosexuality: Contextual Background for Contemporary Debate (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1983)
Brooten, Bernadette of Brandeis University. Love Between Women. University of Chicago Press: Chicago, 1996. p. 247), 1996; Ward p. 271-273).
Rev. Bob Arthur, former Assistant Dean of Men at Bob Jones University and Greek and Semitic language scholar.
Ann Thompson Cook, And God Loves Each One: A resource for Dialogue About the Church and Homosexuality (Washington: Task Force on Reconciliation, Dumbarton United Methodist Church, 1990),
Dr. Rembert Truluck, Doctor of Theology from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary Louisville, KY, 1968. Southern Baptist Pastor from 1953 to 1973, Professor of Religion at Baptist College of Charleston, SC, 1973-1981 Bible teacher, preacher, writer and pastor at Metropolitan Community Churches in Atlanta, San Francisco, and Nashville, TN., 1988-1996
Spong, John Shelby University of North Carolina, Degree in Philosophy, San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1991. M.Div. Virginia Theological Seminary Special Study: St. Luke�s School of Theology, Sewanee, Tennesse 1961, Union Seminary, New York, 1988, Yale Divinity School, New Haven, 1989, Harvard Divinity School, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1990, Magdalen College, Oxford University, 1992, Fellow, Emmanuel College, Cambridge University, 1992, Elected Quatercentenary Scholar, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, Scotland, 1997, Christ Church, Oxford University, 1997, Scholar in Residence, Honorary Degrees, Doctor of Divinity, St. Paul�s College, 1976, Doctor of Divinity, Virginia Theological Seminary, 1977, Doctor of Humane Letters, Muhlenberg College, 1998, he was the Episcopal Bishop of Newark, NJ, for more than twenty years and is one of the leading spokespersons in the world for progressive Christianity. Rescuing the Bible from Fundamentalism: A Bishop Rethinks the Meaning of Scripture and......
Dr. Rev.Truluck
http://truluck.com
Whosever
http://www.whosoever.org
Logos Ministries
http://www.churchoffullcov.org/~logosmin/
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http://www.religioustolerance.org/hom_bibl.htm#menu
Christianity & Homosexuality
http://members.aol.com/gunnyding/christ.htm
Gay Christians,Org
http://www.gaychristians.org/
White Crane a Journal of Gay Men's Spirituality
http://www.whitecranejournal.com/wc00000.htm
Homosexuality and the Bible
http://www.mccedinburgh.com/bible.html
Living Springs
http://geocities.yahoo.com/v/pb_done.html
The Bible and The Homosexual
http://members.aol.com/DrSwiney/bennett.html
Homosexuality - What the Bible Really Says
http://www.gayxjw.org/bible.html
Inspiritus, Gay Christians
http://home.wanadoo.nl/inspiritus/pagina2.htm
An Investigation into the Bible and Homosexuality
http://www.yougogirl.com/gaychristians/cahill0.html
Bridges across - bible and homosexuality
http://www.bridges-across.org/ba/wink.htm
Explicit and Implicit References to Homosexuality in the Bible
www.ambs.edu/LJohns/Homosexuality.htm#Continue
Christianity and Homosexuality: Bible Interpretation
geocities.com/WestHollywood/Heights/7608/interp.htm
http://www.ncf.carleton.ca/ip/sigs/life/gay/religion/bible
MCC-DC Online: Homosexuality and the Bible by the Rev. Clay Witt
http://www.mccdc.com/bibleand.html
Homosexuality - What the Bible Really Says2
http://www.gayxjw.org/bible.html
Homosexuality & Christianity - Gay, Christian, Bible, Scriptures, Clobber Pass
www.cathedralofhope.com/homosexuality/index.htm
The Truth About Sodom
http://www.whiterockchurch.org/sermons/1_sodom.asp
Homosexuality and Christianity
http://www.jeramyt.org/gay.html
TLG Search for arsenokoit*
http://www.jeramyt.org/gay/arsenok.htm
& References
