Jesus, The Bible and Homosexuality- Explode the Myths Heal the Church

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Jesus, The Bible and Homosexuality- Explode the Myths Heal the Church is the third book I've read on the Bible and homosexuality. The first was Straight & Narrow by Thomas E. Schmidt, which concluded the Bible said being homosexual (or more precisely having homosexual sex was a sin). The second was What The Bible Really Says About Homosexuality by Daniel Helminiak. That boook concluded that the Bible is really silent about homosexual relationships and only condemned homosexual sex as part of either Jewish purity laws, idolatry and/or exploitative relationships between men and boys. The first book was written by a straight man, the second by a gay priest. Both looked at the Bible. But, each came to completely different conclusions about what it would tell us to do today about homosexual relationships.

Jesus, The Bible and Homosexuality was written by a straight man high up in the Presbyterian Church. Like me, he has no personal ax to grind when it comes to this issue. He is not a homosexual and pretty much went along with the general condemnation of by the church until he was forced to confront the issue because of his position in the Presbyterian church. I think that this book will appeal a great deal to the large numbers of Christians who are in the position of wanting to treat homosexuality with compassion but who feel they need to stay true to the Bible.

Honestly, parts of the book were rather difficult for me to get through. Jack Rogers cites a lot of facts, dates and names around the Presbyterian church's struggle with this issue. He goes into way more detail than I care to know. In fact the last chapter is entitled "Recommendations for the Presbyterian Church". I must confess I skipped that chapter. But, I think these details will be important for church leaders in other denominations who have to address this issue. We each must confront this not only on a personal level. But, if we are in a church, as churches and as denominations, we must confront it together. Seeing what the Presbyterians have done right and wrong may be helpful.

I have always resisted the comparison of homosexuality to being black. While there are some similarities in terms of the denial of civil rights, there are major differences. However, the chapters on the church's history of the treatment of blacks and women based on interpretation of scripture are important lessons. As Jack Rogers points out there has been a history of using the Bible to justify oppression. Women and blacks, in particular, have been denied their rights by white men largely based on those men's interpretations of ancient texts. Most people believed:

1. The Bible records God's judgment against the sin of people of African descent (Ham- Noah's son) from their first mention in scripture.
2. People of African descent were inferior in moral character and incapable of risiing to the level of full white, "Christian civilization" and
3. People of African descent were willfully sinful, often sexually promiscuous and threatening and they deserved punishment for their own acts.

Take the above paragraph and you can directly substitute women for blacks. Women were condemned by God and men because Eve led Adam into temptation. Women were not seen as capable of being as morally upright as men. So, blacks and women, were oppressed for their own good and because it was the natural order of things. When I read this, it didn't take a great deal of insight to realize you can plug homosexuals into these three sentences and many Christians wouldn't disagree at all. While most people today would find these statements ignorant and reprehensible when applied to either women or blacks, they would have no problem applying them to homosexuality. Similarity this was "natural" and "common sense" in this country just a few decades ago when applied to blacks and women. Rogers goes into a fair amount of detail showing exactly how the Bible was (mis)used to justify oppression against blacks and women, citing the scriptures used and the scholars who applied them. These things were seen as "self-evident" reminscent of the man Jack Rogers ran across who said he had no need to study how to treat homosexuals because his grandmother had told him it was wrong and that was good enough for him.

In the third chapter, Jack Rogers shows how the church began changing its mind on scripture when it moved from a sola scriptura mode of proof-texting to applying the overall theme of scripture of Jesus' mission to interpret scripture. Churches have started to approach the Bible through the lens of Jesus' life and ministry and as he points out, he cannot imagine Jesus turning away anyone who is despised and discrimated against to the point of suicide yet that is exactly what many of our churches are doing. That, in and of itself, should give churches huge pause in what they are doing. He gives 7 guidelines for interpreting scripture in times of controversy.

In Chapter 5, we get to what the Bible says (and doesn't say) about homosexuality. This was old news for me. But, it will be new news for some. In a nutshell, the Bible is silent about committed, homosexual relationships. The few passages of scripture that talk about homosexuality talk about homosexual sex presumably between uncommitted people. The passages in Leviticus that so many Christians love to toss around, condemn things like eating shellfish, planting two types of crops in a field, blended fabrics and other things we all do routinely as "abominations". I won't go into the detail here. But, this part of the book will be very eye opening for many. If you think you know what the Bible says about committed homsexual relationships in 2009 and you think it condemns them, reading this chapter or "What the Bible Really Says About Homosexuality" might be shocking to you.

The last chapter that I read addresses the idea of homosexuality and marriage. Professor Rogers shows statistically speaking that, while marriage is in trouble in the United States, it doesn't need defense from homosexual marriage which does not threaten heterosexual marriage at all. He also points out the hypocrisy of putting homosexuals in the bind of saying that all sex outside of the institution of marriage is sin while denying them the right to marry. We are assigning homosexuals to a life of celibacy, a life that the Bible clearly states is not for everyone and is an assignment from God.

I see more and more Christians who are willing to at least debate gay rights now. Both civil rights and how homosexuals should be treated in the church is up for discussion. A while ago Brian McClaren called for a five year time out to think about the topic. But, while I like the fact that he is not advocating continued discrimination, by doing nothing, we are condemning gay people to continue to suffer from this discrimination. We should never hesitate when it comes to seeking justice. Justice delayed is justice denied. The time is always now. Hopefully, books like this one will move some people off of the sidelines and into the arena to fight for justice.

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Surreality

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Tomorrow, the first "African-American" (really biracial) President will be sworn into office. Not only that, but the first President younger than I am will be sworn in.  I keep seeing it on television.  I hear him called the President elect.  I watch the inaugural celebrations already taking place. But, somehow, I can't quite take it all in.

I'm a child of the 60s.  Born during a time of social upheaval but, a lot of hope.  I'm too young to remember much about Martin Luther King, Jr.  But, I'm old enough to remember "they" shot him.  I didn't grow up under Jim Crow.  But, I know people who did.  By the time I came along, most systematic, legalized racism had been eliminated.  But, we were left with racism in the hearts of many and laws will never change people's hearts. I think most black people wondered if MLK's dream of judging a man based on the content of his character rather than the color of his skin would be actually fulfilled in our lifetimes.  

I still remember watching over the web as Obama stood on the steps on a cold February morning almost two years ago and announced his candidacy.  I was curious about him at that point, having heard a little about him and one simply amazing speech at the DNC Convention a couple of years earlier.  Even though I got caught up in the Obamania and grew more impressed with him the more I learned about him, even thought I worked on his campaign and tried to convince everyone I came into contact wit to vote for him, something in the back of my mind said "This will never happen.  'They' will never allow this man to win the election.".  When the Reverend Wright story broke, I thought to myself "That's it.  That's the excuse white America needs to dismiss Obama."  I knew that, as a black man he had to run a campaign like no other to break through the barriers.  I knew that, as a black man (or woman), you don't have to do things as well as your peers to get to the same place, you have to do twice as well.  I knew it would take a flawless campaign for Obama to even have a chance of winning and I just knew that would be the end of him.  But, I was wrong.

Even today, as I sit here thinking when I wake up 48 hours from now, America will have it's first multi-racial, multi-cultural leader it just hasn't really sunk in yet.  It has a very surreal feel to it.  I feel like I'm in a dream and any minute I'm going to wake up and have that sinking feeling you have when you've just awakened from a great dream back into plain old reality. 

Don't get me wrong.  I don't think that on Wednesday morning, the economy will be fixed, America will have universal healthcare and we'll have world peace.  Quite the contrary.  I think Obama will be a good President and I'm confident that, over time, he'll do really good (maybe great) things. But, he's facing some amazing challenges and he's going to have very impatient Obamaphiles criticizing him very soon and the Obama haters criticizing him on day one.  Tomorrow, everything will change and nothing will change.  To me, this election marked a fundamental shift in our consciousness. I think we had a very clear choice between the politics of fear and the politics of hope. We had one party offering again to "keep us safe" and the other party offering us the opportunity to change the world.  I have to say I was pleasantly stunned to see us choose hope over fear and I am hopeful that we will soon reap the fruits of that choice.  But, it will not be an easy road.  We've got many challenges ahead of us.  There will be stumbles and setbacks.

Tomorrow, I plan to go to Champp's and watch the inauguration with the other dreamers in West Chester.  If you're there and you see me pinching myself, you'll know why.

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Seal- Soul

Cover of SoulA few weeks ago I was watching Eli Stone (great show, BTW) and Seal made a guest appearance. He sang "A Change Gonna Come" in a cameo appearance. It was only a minute or so of the song. But, it was one of those moments in a show or a movie where the music is so good, you want to forget the story and just have the the music continue. Well, I found out Seal has an album of R&B classics. I ordered it from Amazon.com and it came in the mail yesterday. I can't get enough of it. Soul It's just $8.99 at Amazon right now.

I've always loved Seal's raspy voice. I have most of his albums. But, being a lyrical type of guy, I've never ben a really huge fan because often when I can understand the words he's saying, I can't understand the meaning. Seal is intentionally vague about what his songs mean even refusing to print the lyrics in the inserts. He wants the listener to decide what the song means to them. I pretty much like straight forward lyrics. But, this album fixes that little problem I have, combining Seal's Sam Cooke like voice with great orchestration and tunes from an era where they really knew how to write music. Orchestrated by David Foster and Jerry Hey, the band backing Seal is just amazing. You'll end up listening to the band just as much as you do to Seal belt out these tunes.

There aren't too many albums I'd deem an instant classic. When I'm rating songs in iTunes, they typically have to be about 20 years old to get more than 3 stars from me. But, there are several on this CD that I've rated a 4 and I'm thinking about pushing them up to a 5 (the highest).

If you like R&B at all. I recommend you rush right out and pick up this CD.

Here's another video from the album People Get Ready

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Buckeyes- Close, But No Cigar

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I was one of the few people who actually thought OSU might win last night against Texas. I didn't say much about it. It's not like I was sure we would win. But, with everyone saying the Bucks had no chance and with the brilliant mind of Jim Tressel on our side, I hoped against hope that we would pull off an upset and regain just a little dignity in the mind of the national football pundits who seem to think the Big 10 is now a laughingstock.

During the game, even though we led for a great portion of it and did a great job of shutting down Texas' offense, I kept getting this bad feeling. Our offense still did not look all that competent with the exception of the running game. The seemingly inevitable mistakes (dropped balls and penalties) kept hurting us, keeping Texas' drives alive and killing ours. The Big 10 simply finishes their season too early leaving our players looking like they're playing their first game of the season in the bowl games instead of their last game of the season.

The normally uber-conservative Tressel did mix it up. The package with Pryor and Boeckmann in was impressive. Pryor caught a touchdown pass and the 2 point conversion that was taken away on the off-setting interference call with Pryor and the defender should have been a no-call. Although, ultimately, that made no difference. Texas got a huge break on the roughing the passer that was not roughing the passer.

When Texas went up 17-6, I thought it was over. I thought about going to bed. But, I got on Facebook and started messing around instead. The way the Buckeyes offense had been completely ineffective at putting the ball in the end zone, at that point, I thought "No way they're going to do it now." But, they proved me wrong, putting up 15 points in the fourth quarter and holding Texas to zero until that final drive. That was some inspired football.

When the Bucks scored with 2 minutes to go, I thought we might win, for about 30 seconds. Then, I looked at the clock and got that feeling again that whatever can go wrong will go wrong in a bowl game. We had come out playing relatively well. We had a great game plan. At least while we might have looked a little nervous, we didn't look flat. Then it happened. Texas had the drive of the night. We came so close to stopping them (within 6" on a 4th and 2 play). But, the curse had more power than Tressel's coaching or the seniors' determination. With 16 seconds left, Texas put the ball in the end zone, crushed the Buckeyes hopes and allowed the pundits to breathe a sight of relief and say "I told you so." Actually, I think of the bowl games and national showcase we've lost recently, this might have been our least talented team and we put up the best fight. Tressel did a wonderful job and the boys played their hearts out. It just wasn't meant to be. Maybe next year.

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First Day of 2009- Weighing In

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I've been avoiding the scales because I knew what they were going to say.  My clothes have already been whispering to me.  This morning the scales screamed.  I've been living la vita dolce over the past few weeks/months.  Zero exercise, too much alcohol and too many sweets (not to mention the parties and the entrees).  I don't normally make New Year's Resolutions.  But, tipping the scales at an all time high of 203 calls for an exception. My scales tell you where you are relative to your last weigh in (no matter how long it's been).  I'm up  6 pounds and I was already over my target then! I'm committed to taking off this excess weight by the end of next month. 

Ah, why can't the things that taste good be good for you?