WHEN IT COMES TO HOMOSEXUALITY, most Bible scholars agree that the Bible seems uncomfortably clear: Don’t be doing that thing.
That’s pretty much the same advice heterosexuals get if they’re not married.
I remember sitting in a Bible study class when someone asked the seminary prof leading the discussion a question about homosexuality: “How fair is it for God to wire someone to have sex and then to tell them not to do it?”
The reason I remember that question is because of what a thirty-something unmarried heterosexual lady said: “Tell me about it.”
Like a gay person, as far as the Bible is concerned, she isn’t supposed to have sex either.
Still, the outspoken gal could get married and have sex if she wanted to—even if it meant being unhappily married afterward. Whenever she gets tired of having sex with a jerk, she could start wearing flannel every night. And blowing her nose after she climbed into bed. Some call that sexual sabotage. But she might call it a good night’s sleep.
Gay folks on the other hand seem pretty much doomed to a life of lonely celibacy, if they follow the Bible rule.
I’m not pondering the matter of whether or not Bible writers approved of gay sex. They did not. That seems clear enough. I know some folks make a case for Bible writers allowing for some wiggle room on the matter, pardon the imagery. But I don’t know of any serious Bible scholars who would agree, though maybe I need to get out more.
Here’s a question some Christians are asking: Could it be that the Bible writers were expressing their own opinion instead of God’s opinion, on a topic Jesus never addressed?
I know. This gets at the heart of what it means to be the Holy Bible, the inspired word of God. Yet some Christians say there might be some remarks in the Bible that God would rather not be associated with—remarks that reflect a lack of information written in an age before people knew better.
So my question is this. Do you think we know more about human sexuality today than the Bible writers knew a couple thousand years ago? Or did they know more than we do because their writing bears God’s stamp of approval?
I think it’s not for us heterosexual people to decide what homosexual people do with their lives. Jesus never called us to judge other people or to say if someone else is “in” or “out,” in fact he publicly accosted people who did that. All he told us to do was love him, love our neighbors and love our enemies. I don’t think the question is whether or not homosexuality is ok or “allowed.” I think the question is how do we love on people who follow that path for themselves.
It would seem as though many of us are only willing to accept “traditional” marriage, based at least upon what we see and read. I would suspect God may see things just a bit differently. To send his only Son to die a horrible death on that cross is evidence in my opinion of a love that knows no bounds, limits or expectations. He loves the sinner just as much as the saint. For my sake on judgement day I hope he grades on a curve as well!