You Say They’re Homosexuals? Jesus Says, “So What? That Doesn’t Matter. You Come, Follow Me.”

I received an email which voiced numerous objections to the idea that Jesus accepted some sexually active gays and lesbians, which I document from Luke 17. I replied to him, “You’ve covered far too much ground to answer in one email. Let me answer one point from your first paragraph.” He had written

But I’ve seen posts from you that say that Jesus “taught” on gay and lesbians. And that from Luke 17:34-35, that God “accepts” gays and lesbians. But that is NOT what Jesus said. All Jesus said was “there are two men in a bed… two women grinding” (if you are correct). Jesus didn’t “teach” ANYTHING in these verses. Jesus didn’t say whether it was wrong or right.

True. Jesus didn’t say whether it was wrong or right. What he said was that it didn’t matter, that it was irrelevant.

You left something out. In verses 34 and 35 we read, “one shall be taken, and the other left.” One member of each pair is acceptable to God, and one is not.  Based on the testimony of Luke 17, then at least some sexually active gays and lesbians are acceptable to God, and delivered from judgment. (I’ve had some literalists ask me if I believe that 50 percent of gays and lesbians are going to heaven, which is quite silly.)

I tell you, in that night,
there shall be two men in one bed;
the one shall be taken, and the other shall be left.
Two women shall be grinding together;
the one shall be taken, and the other left.

(Luke 17:34-35, KJV)

It is the separation of the righteous and the unrighteous that is the key point of my thesis. The fact that some sexually active gays and lesbians are acceptable to God is the point I am making.

The point of this passage is that homosexuality and homosexual activity are not factors in a person’s acceptability to God. God does not take sexual orientation into account. Jesus ignores it.

-read more at « Bible-Thumping Liberal.

(emphasis added)

Related articles

• The Gospels’ Queer Values (queersaints.wordpress.com)
• Ron Goetz: Straight Ally in Faith, “Bible – Thumping Liberal” (queeringthechurch.com)

 

Erotic Pride Before God (Psalm 134)

Come and bless Adonai,

                                all you who serve Our God,

                                ministering by night in God’s house!

                Lift up your hands in the sanctuary,

                                and bless Adonai!

                May you be blessed from Zion

                                by the One who made heaven and earth!

Psalm 134

 

During Pride month I ponder the place of queer people in the congregation of God worshipers. In the face of traditional and ongoing discrimination by religious bodies I can scarcely believe that this invitation to come and bless and to be blessed is for me. If I come will the door be open? If I bless will hearts be receptive? As one who is among those cast out and silenced, how shall I respond to this invitation?

There is an intrinsic fear among the various spiritual expressions toward queer folk. It is the fear that tans-les-bi-gay-intersex-asexuals transgress the purity of the congregation. We who seek out forbidden pleasure are polluted by our sexual “proclivities.” Our impure presence reflects upon others casting our “shame” beyond ourselves and onto all we associate with. As those in ancient times, we are made to feel that we should shout “Unclean! Unclean!” giving time for the clean to flee unscathed.

People like us are rarely granted entrance to the assembly of the Sacred. Our presence may contaminate and make profane that which is holy. Often we find the door to the divine barred.

-continue reading at The Bible in Drag

Related articles

• An Introduction to the Theology of Gay Pride (queerchurchnews.wordpress.com)
• Film fest kicks off gay pride month (thehindu.com)

GenderQueer Liberation Theology: An Exploration

The intersections between race, gender, and sexuality are fraught with luminosity. It is the spaces created by these intersections that offer a prophetic voice of wisdom and new way of existence. Being black or white, male or female, and straight or gay is simply too finite for a world of infinite complexities. God created us to be multi-faceted and multi-dimensional. The human experience is dense. Liberation theology is placing God in dialogue through the vantage point of marginalized oppressed groups. Marginalized voices stemming from race, gender, and other socio-political locations have an opportunity of visibility through liberation theology. This idea of visibility is particularly important to my identity as a GenderQueer[1] person. In an effort to begin to interpret Christianity from the lens of GenderQueer embodiment this particular experience visible. This has been an eight month investigation of what it means for a GenderQueer person to reclaim traditional interpretations of theological insights via praxis; for it is the GenderQueer, multi-cultural, and pansexual[2]embodiments that are closely aligned to a vision of God physically manifested on Earth. This is the ultimate triad of creation and embodiment, and the theological dialogue is vastly rich at these intersections. The depth and scope of this article is the deconstruction of the performance and social construction of the gender binary. I am largely focusing on the theological praxis embodiment of the GenderQueer experience of which sexuality and race are peripheral informants of this work. Through the lens of GenderQueer identification, the acknowledgment of the power of gender in its social construction and performance thereof allows us to move beyond the gender binary, which creates a seat at the table for GenderQueer bodies.

-taken from “Seraphim Delight”\

(http://thetomboyeffect.wordpress.com/2012/06/13/gqlt/).

which describes itself in the sidebar as

AN EXPLORATION IN GENDERQUEER LIBERATION THEOLOGY

GenderQueer – A person who identifies as neither male nor female. GQ individuals might identify outside of all trational gender binaries entirely.
Liberation Theology – A mode of interpreting the Divine from within an oppressed group.
Questions? Me too. Stay tuned.
*All genders, sexualities, identities, and people validated here.

Related articles

• Gender, Sex and Intersex: A Primer (queeringthechurch.com)
• Transgress Binaries, Boundaries and Bodies (queerspeak.wordpress.com)

God loves LGBTs says ‬Catholic Filipino author

New book by Raymond Alikpala says ‘being gay is a special grace from God’

Coming to terms with one’s self is not easy for homosexuals in a society where gender is limited to either male or female.

Raymond Alikpala, 46, a lawyer and formerly a seminarian, knows very well the anguish of living in the shadows having done so in the first 38 years of his life.

“I came out because I was tired of hiding who I really am. I wanted to be able to finally live my life honestly and proudly. I stopped caring about what others would think should they find out I  ambakla (gay),” says Alikpala.

He shares his story of growing up a devout Catholic and harboring the secret of his homosexuality in a book “Of God and Men” to be launched June 16, 2012 at  3  p.m. at  Bestsellers Bookstore,  4th Level, Robinson’s Galleria, Pasig City.

Alikpala said a number of his friends encouraged him to write his story “as catharsis for my years in the closet.” He felt however that “it was much more than that.”

Perhaps because of his years in the seminary, Alikpala’s objective in writing the book is more evangelical. “To spread the good news that God loves bakla, lesbians, bisexuals and transgenders and transsexuals as much as She loves all Her other children.”

–Yahoo News, Philippines

Related articles

• New documentary depicts Jesuit’s struggle for LGBT rights (queerchurchnews.wordpress.com)
• LGBT rights in the Philippines – any signs of progress this 2012? (rightonthemark.wordpress.com)
• Gay party set to make new bid for Congress (newsinfo.inquirer.net)
• LGBT Community Squares Off Against Pacquiao (newamericamedia.org)
• Ang Ladlad applies for accreditation as partylist (newsinfo.inquirer.net)

Christians and LGBTQ Equality: There Is No Middle Ground

In response to my post “‘It’s no sin to be gay.’ See how easy that is, Andrew Marin?” folks have made the point that Andrew’s work is valuable, because he is “building bridges” — because he is, as one reader put it, “creating stepping stones from one end of the spectrum to the other.” They appreciate Marin establishing a neutral, non-judgmental, values-free middle ground where parties on either side of the gay-Christian debate can meet to together discuss and explore the issue.

The problem, though, is that when it comes to the issue of LGBT equality, there is no such thing as a values-free middle ground. There can’t be, because that is a moral issue. And that means it’s about a very definite right and wrong.

And it’s a moral issue of no small consequence. There couldn’t possibly be more at stake. The people on one side of this debate — the majority, which wields all the power — are claiming that, in the eyes of God, those on the other side are less than human.

No matter how strenuously he or she might deny it, the fact is that any Christian who does not forthrightly and unambiguously assert that there is nothing whatsoever inherently immoral about same-sex relationships has chosen a side in this conflict. To a starving man, the person who can’t decide if they want to share their food is no better than the person who refuses to (emphasis added).

– more at John Shore, Huffington Post

 

Related articles

• Secretive LGBTQ Group Forms at (Christian) Biola University (patheos.com)
• {Above all Love One Another: A confession. On being an LGBTQ Ally & a Christian} (logicandimagination.com)
• Underground Gay Group Shakes Up Christian College (usnews.msnbc.msn.com)
• SL Letter of the Day: John Shore’s Advice to a Young Christian (slog.thestranger.com)
• Christian Fundamentalist Homophobia, Part Two: The Argument is in the Eyebrows (phoenixandolivebranch.wordpress.com)
• Christian Fundamentalist Homophobia, Part Three: Finding Unconditional Love Outside the Church (phoenixandolivebranch.wordpress.com)