What the Bible really says about gays

[papau]

"(Can) Scripture be reinterpreted, ...on the basis of the lived experience of Christians, guided by the Holy Spirit.(?)"

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-mcgough18jul18,0,4109333.story?track=tottext

MICHAEL MCGOUGH author of "The Bible, Christianity and Homosexuality" (www.truthsetsfree.net)
What the Bible really says about gays
Liberal Christians can wield two weapons against conservatives on the issue of homosexuality.
By Michael McGough

July 18, 2005

Justin R. Cannon, a student at Earlham College in Richmond, Ind., is one of the youngest combatants in the Christian culture wars. But he's a happy warrior because his contribution to the debate — an illuminating online analysis that argues the Bible doesn't condemn faithful gay relationships — has piqued the interest of clergy and laypeople across the country.<snip>

Revisionists such as Cannon are ingenious and often persuasive in arguing that strictures in both the Old and New Testaments that have been read to broadly condemn homosexuality were actually directed at particular offenses — male prostitution, a breach of hospitality (the real "sin of Sodom") or the insult to patriarchy represented by a male lying "with a man as one lies with a woman" (Leviticus 18:22).
<snip>

Sophisticated Christians have long recognized that, as a colleague of mine put it after launching his own Scripture study, "there's a lot of wacky stuff in the Bible." For example, Cannon points out that the same holiness code in Leviticus that prohibits men from lying with each other "as with a woman" also forbids the shaving of beards and the sowing of two kinds of seeds in the same field.

Conservatives argue that this doesn't mean that we're not to take Scripture literally, but only that some Old Testament rules are superseded by the Christian Gospel. But that thinking runs aground because the New Testament itself contains its own literal conundrums. In the Epistle to the Romans, St. Paul asserts that "a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law." But in the Epistle of James, he says: "A man is justified by works and not by faith alone." <snip>

[nickinSTL]

1. some Old Testament rules are superseded by the Christian Gospel

ah...and they get to decide which ones?

[Mari333]

2. Yes, I call them Cafeteria Christians

they pick and choose anything from the bible thst promotes their own bigottry..the bible was once used to justify slavery, now they cherry pick passages from Leviticus or Romans to justify their homophobia...they ignore the sin of gluttony (Baptists are the fattest people in the country)..one way to counter their arguments is to know the Bible better then they do..many of them never even read the whole thing..they make a lot of it up as they go along..or listen to their preachers interpretations of it. Next time someone uses a passage from the bible to justify themselves, throw a passage out at them to point out their own sins and shortcomings..they hate that..

[AlabamaYankee]

3. Martin Luther Wanted to Remove James' Epistle

Since Luther's theology was pretty thoroughly grounded in the idea of Salvation by Faith alone, he had no time for the "works righteousness" of James. It's still a major issue in the Church, with Lutherans, Episcopalians and similar denominations holding to Luther's position, and the Romans nominally agreeing, but with the caveat that works are important as well.

[JPZenger]

4. Old Testament Reference Has to Do With Defeated Enemies

There is one Old Testament quote that is often used to attack gays. I heard an Episcopal Bishop explain that the section is more of an attack on improper treatment of defeated enemies. He said the intent was to admonish people to treat defeated enemies properly, and not to sodomize them (which was done at the time).