[CS-FSLUG] God Didn't Say That

[Aaron Lehmann]

On Thu, Jan 06, 2005 at 10:22:33AM -0800, Ralph De Witt wrote:
> On Thursday 06 January 2005 12:17 am, Eduardo Sanchez wrote:
> (snip)
> > And a question to Ralph: Ralph, these issues are settled for all
> > practical purposes, save for those who willingly insist in twisting the
> > Holy Scriptures, so I suspect this is nothing more than a flamebait.
> Nope no flamebait.
> > Why did you forward us this drivel?
> >
> Eduardo:
> I was not going to answer this as it is no flamebait and I am no troll, but 
> then decided to answer. I simply did it because to me and perhaps the larger 
> percentage of Christians this "problem" is solved by full inclusion in the 
> life of the church. The first quote I received to this thread was a very 
> closed minded and unchristian "'Same pro-queer garbage I've seen before."

Bravo!

> 
> To me and perhaps the larger majority of Christians "The Bible teaches us to 
> love God and neighbor (Matthew 22:36-40), and to allow 
> the Holy Spirit to develop within us the qualities of love, joy, peace, 
> patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control 
> (Galatians 5:22-23).
> 
> When children, youth and adults embody these values, regardless of sexual 
> orientation, we are growing into the whole people God hopes we will become. 
> You or I may hyperfocus on a person's sexual orientation, but God loves the 
> sum of all of our parts."
> 
> In my mind simply put God's son came to earth to love, heal, and forgive. The 
> bible does not condemn homosexual's but does condemn homosexual sex and other 
> sexual practices as part of the religious service. Remember that homosexual 
> and heterosexual sex was a part of most of the predominate religions at the 
> time Christianity was starting and Christians wished to distants themselves 
> from the other religions of the time. With One God and no sex.

Interesting.  As a clariying question, is it your belief that the Bible
ddoes not condemn homosexuality in a secular context?  In other words,
that so long as it's not part of worship, any sort of sex is
appropriate?

I once read something for a Jewish sstudies class that intrigued me.
The intent of the Law, according to this book, was not merely to warn us
of sin, but to make our lives Holy.  The prohibition against tying knots
on the Sabbath was not intended to make the Jews look ridiculous, but
rather so that even in miniscule things like shoe-tying, they remembered
Who was the God of All, including shoe-tying.  If viewed in such a
light, sex inside of marriage becomes holy, and sex outside of marriage
becomes somewhat like getting drunk on communion wine or something: an
abuse of a sacrament.

I'm not precisely sure how the above fits with the disscussion, but I
found it interesting, and though greater minds than I might be able to
do things with it.

> 
> In our Judeo-Christian society, the documents known as the Bible serve as the 
> primary guide on most issues. It is interesting that many Christians take 
> literally the references to homosexual acts while interpreting other text 
> with great flexibility. And I some times grow weary of the flood of FUD on 
> this subject and others that is produced by a single person and simply wish 
> on occasion to remind the list and the world that this FUD is not the 
> majority christian view. Causing fear, hatred, and division is not the 
> christian ethic or way.

I very much appreciate this post.  If anyone's keeping score, +1 to
Ralph.

Aaron Lehmann