Demonizing Homosexuality in the Name of Jesus Christ is Paradoxically Oxymoronic
Updated again: This poor woman can't even go to the park.
When there were two men relaxing at the side of the pool unnaturally close to each other, effeminately rubbing elbows and exchanging doe-eyes, I was again anxiously watching my children hoping they wouldn't ask questions. They don't see Daddy do that with anyone but Mommy. We haven't been back to the pool for a couple of weeks, except once but it rained. The truth is, now I don't really want to go back.I have no words...Oh wait, yes I do. Thank goodness she won't be bumping into Jesus anytime soon. What the hell would she tell her children when they saw Jesus unnaturally close to his male disciples as he effeminately rubs their feet, exchaning, what can only be called, doe eyes?
Not to mention, no one really knows the sexuality of Jesus, if He even had one. The Secret Gospel According to Mark implies Jesus might even be gay, Himself.
According to Morton Smith, of Columbia University, a manuscript that he found at the Mar Saba monastery near Jerusalem in 1958, showed that the full text of St. Mark chapter 10 (between verses 34 and 35 in the standard version of the Bible) includes the passage:
"And the youth, looking upon him (Jesus), loved him and beseeched that he might remain with him. And going out of the tomb, they went into the house of the youth, for he was rich. And after six days, Jesus instructed him and, at evening, the youth came to him wearing a linen cloth over his naked body. And he remained with him that night, for Jesus taught him the mystery of the Kingdom of God".
Updated again: Should Gay People Be Allowed to Marry? - After a Maine state law permitting same-sex marriage was repealed at the polls Tuesday, the New York Times asked the question to students 13 years and older: Tell us what you think about same-sex marriage. Do you think gay marriage should be permitted or not? Why? Do you think it will be allowed nationwide in your lifetime?
Updated: James Lawson, an architect of the civil rights movement, sees a similarity today in attitudes toward lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, he said while addressing a gathering and panel discussion hosted by Soulforce.
“There is a great need for us to link the ‘isms’: anti-Semitism, racism, sexism and now heterosexism. They come from the same kind of place.”
Imagine being told you are not allowed to love who you love, not allowed to marry who you love, and are not allowed to express the way you feel about who you love. That there is something wrong with you for falling in love with who you fall in love with. Jesus, an unmarried man, who spent the majority of his adult life surrounded by twelve men, who made no secret of his love for those men, preached about love, first and foremost. Homosexuality is about love, first and foremost.
Yet, many people, in the name of Jesus Christ, preach hate in order to abolish this type of love...the type of love involving two people of the same gender. These men and women experience the same deep and/or intense affection for each other as people of opposite gender. They just don't fit into society's idea of what romantic love should look like. So, we bash it...outlaw it...make sure it remains not only forbidden and inferior to heterosexual love, but claim it is somehow damaging to heterosexual love.
Hate is encouraged among those who want to curtail the rights of others who fall in love with their own gender, and what's even worse is that the hating or judging of homosexuals -- "Judge not and you shall not be judged" -- is often the central focus of attention of Christianity, at the expense of almost everything else Jesus Christ clearly stood for.
Promiscuity is often given as a reason for condemning homosexuality...that it's not so much about love, as it is sex. Really? If that's the case, then why does a Denmark study on divorce, where the vast majority of gay marriages are male-male, show a much lower divorce rate amongst homosexuals? The rate of divorce for gay men is the lowest at 14%, compared to 23% of all lesbian marriages, and 46% of all heterosexual marriages.
Homosexuality does not promote promiscuity...if anything, the prohibitive stance society takes against homosexual love is responsible for elevating the rate of indiscriminate sex practiced amongst gay men, in particular. However, keep in mind that that rate is more than likely, exaggerated a great deal.
What's truly remarkable is despite all the hate preached about homosexuality in the name of Jesus, more often than not, gay men and women build loving relationships with who they fall in love with anyway, proving that love can conquer all.
So, for those of us who insist on strictly adhering to Biblical teachings, we should seriously consider the following:
MARK 12:18-27
If a man dies childless, his widow is ordered by biblical law to have intercourse with each of his brothers in turn until she bears her deceased husband a male heir... Oh my, this may pit brother against brother...guaranteeing certain death for the brother who marries an attractive female.
DEUTERONOMY 22:13-21
If it is discovered that a bride is not a virgin, the Bible demands that she be executed by stoning immediately...Well, there goes 85% of the female population.
DEUTERONOMY 22:22
If a married person has sex with someone else's husband or wife, the Bible commands that both adulterers be stoned to death...And the rest of the female population and 60% of the male population.
MARK 10:1-12
Divorce is strictly forbidden in both Testaments, as is remarriage of anyone who has been divorced...Well without the female population divorce shouldn't be an issue.
LEVITICUS 18:19
The Bible forbids a married couple from having sexual intercourse during a woman's period. If they disobey, both shall be executed...Well, considering the female population has already ceased to exist, this should not be a problem.Jesus never mentioned homosexuality, and the Bible had very little to say about it, so why is Jesus so often used to promote an agenda of hatred toward those who are only trying to live what Jesus preached and lived?
8 comments:
I think this post makes some great points. I am straight and while I can proclaim my straight relationship from the rooftops or kiss a partner in a coffee shop, a gay couple might be set upon and beaten for this simple act.
What I do not understand is this (and taking the contradictory nature of the Bible out of the way for a moment), WHEN did Jesus become a spokesperson for the anti-gay brigade? I do not understand how they can use him to push an anti-gay message when his message was always about tolerance and compassion.
As a straight, non-religious person I fully support equality for all sexualities, including marriage with full benefits and entitlements, just like straight marriage. Marriage in itself is not a "Christian" concept.
We only constrain ourselves by the barriers we place there and I am afraid, from my pov, that religion has taken over as being very damaging in many ways, creating more hurdles than knocking them down, and it is indeed sad that Jesus gets used as a figurehead for this. How would these people feel if it turned out Jesus was homosexual? Would they rush to support him or would they abandon him?
I agree. There are people who truly try to follow Jesus Christ and do a lot of good. Unfortunately, they do not get the publicity that the ones that use Jesus Christ to promote their own agenda do, not paying any attention to what he said or did.
I don't think Jesus mentioned marriage at all, and he preached against judging others and hate, exactly what the people who target homosexuality promote.
Never thought about it that way. Still not totally comfortable with the whole idea but it is true that Jesus condemned lots of stuff that many Jesus preachers promote.
Interesting.
Why do you have to be comfortable with it for it to be OK? I'm not comfortable with lots of things yet I don't think what I'm uncomfortable with has anything to do with what's right or wrong.
Get over it.
That's the whole problem with our narcissistic society. Everything has to fit into our own comfort zone. That's bullshit.
Yeah, I think there is a fairly simple solution. Just put yourself in the other person's shoes and see how you would feel if who you were attracted to and fell in love with was forbidden.
Let's just say things were reversed... imagine straight boys/men growing up forced to date and marry other boys/men.
If they're truly straight, imagining themselves in that situation should be enough to convince them it's wrong to condemn love between two consenting adults no matter what their gender. Or to condemn a child for who they happen to be attracted.
It's such a huge part of who we are, that to pronounce judgment against someone's sexuality, especially a child, is the same as judging that person as somehow unworthy. And more sensitive children will take that message to heart feeling they're unworthy to live as is manifested in the high suicide rate amongst gay boys/men especially.
You must be a faggot to say such things.
Cocksucker!
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