Reply #6: Actually, Jesus did say something about gays [View All]

[JDPriestly]

In Matthew 19, some Pharisees cornered Jesus and tried to trick him up by asking him about marriage and divorce. Jesus answered "Moses because of the hardness of your hearts suffered you to put away your wives; but from the beginning it was not so." Matthew 19:8. Jesus went on to say that if you divorce and marry a second wife, you are committing adultery.

Jesus' disciples began to discuss this and suggested that maybe if what Jesus was saying was true then it was better not to marry.

Jesus answered at Matthew 19:11 . . . . "All men cannot receive this saying, save they to whom it is given."

Then Jesus explained: "For there are some eunuchs, which were so born from their mother's womb; and there are some eunuchs, which were made eunuchs of men; and there be eunuchs, which have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven's sake. He that is able to receive it, let him receive it." Matthew 19:12.

So, what do we now call those who Jesus would have described as eunuchs "which were so born from their mother's womb"? Homosexuals, I believe. What else? After all, those who would be celibate by choice are included in the description "eunuchs . . . which have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven's sake."

The interesting thing is that Jesus does not seem to scorn or disapprove of eunuchs "which were so born from their mother's womb." The "Christian" uproar and condemnation of homosexuals has no basis in Jesus' teachings.

I quoted from the King James version of the Bible. In the Revised Standard version the line is Matthew 19:12 "For there are eunuchs who have been so from birth, and there are eunuchs . . . . " So the meaning is not changed in the Revised Standard translation.

Here is Willied's definition of eunuch in case this term is not familiar to you: An eunuch (IPA: /ˈKuː.nək/) is a castrated man, in particular one castrated early enough to have major hormonal consequences; the term usually refers to those castrated in order to perform a specific social function, as was common in many societies of the past. The earliest records for intentional castration to produce eunuchs are from the Sumerian city of La gash in the twenty first century BC. Over the millennial since, they have performed a wide variety of functions in many different cultures such as courtiers or equivalent domestics, treble singers, religious specialists, government officials, military commanders, and guardians of women or harem servants. In some translations of ancient texts, individuals identified as eunuchs seem to include men who were impotent with women, those we would now call transsexuals or homosexuals, and those who were simply celibate.

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