Letter to a Gay Man in the Churches of Christ

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 3.5

Part 4

Part 5

Part 6

Part 7

Part 8

Part 9

New research re society’s attitude toward homosexuality

6 Responses

  1. unChristian « One In Jesus.info, on October 1, 2008 at 3:21 pm said:

    […] Letter to a Gay Man in the Churches of Christ […]

  2. Ironic Faith: Homosexuality « One In Jesus.info, on October 24, 2008 at 9:00 pm said:

    […] Letter to a Gay Man in the Churches of Christ […]

  3. Paula, on March 16, 2010 at 3:53 pm said:

    This question may have already been discussed in this thread, but I haven’t had the chance to search it out, so I thought I would ask.

    I know of the scriptures in the OT & NT that speak against homosexuality. But if homosexuality is such an abomination against God, how come Jesus didn’t speak out against it, or if He did say something about it, how come God didn’t inspire/move the men to write it down?

    Thanks for any guidance you can give.

  4. Jay Guin, on March 17, 2010 at 8:50 pm said:

    Paula,

    Jesus spoke out against fornication. Matt 15:19, for example. And in First Century Palestine, “fornication” included all forms of illicit sex, including homosexuality.

  5. Ellen Williams, on March 26, 2010 at 6:14 pm said:

    I was having a discussion with a friend whose views are more liberal than my own about homosexuality.She said that she doesn’t take the Bible literally and that she believes Jesus would agree that some things that used to be practiced, such as stoning of adulterers is no longer applicable. She was trying to apply this to homosexuality. Not STONING of homosexuals, but that homosexuality isn’t wrong anymore. I think she’s a Unitarian and a very devout Democrat. She seemed pretty closed to considering any point of view but her own, so I didn’t press her. It did start a series of confusing thoughts for me, though.
    There are things that we can disagree on and we are not to judge each other. Someone thinks eating meat or drinking wine is a sin, someone else receives them both with thanksgiving. I don’t really think sexual purity is like that, though because the apostles stressed sexual purity to the first Christians when they didn’t want to burden them with a lot of rules. I could argue, though that they were mainly concerned about sex within the context of idolatry, since the other things mentioned were part of that context; eating meat sacrificed to idols, etc. Paul said eating meat sacrificed to idols was not a sin for him. But then I remember how Paul was really upset with the church in Corinth for not correcting a situation of sexual impurity there. Now I’m thinking about how Paul said he knew what sin was because he was taught the Law . So, the law teaches what sin is, but it also teaches how to be a Jew. Gentiles were not required to become Jews, so some parts of the law do not apply to Gentiles. I’m unclear as to how one can determine what parts apply to Jews and what parts apply to everyone. I hope this isn’t too confusing as I follow my thoughts around this rambling path.

  6. Jay Guin, on March 28, 2010 at 4:48 pm said:

    Ellen,

    Many have argued that the New Testament condemnations of homosexual acts are to be read strictly in light of idolatrous practices. I don’t think the argument stands up to a careful reading. I offer some of the argument in Part 1 of this series: http://oneinjesus.info/2008/04/03/letter-to-a-gay-man-in-the-churches-of-christ-part-1/

    Jesus, Paul, and other NT writers repeated say that “sexual immorality” or fornication is a sin, and in that age, “fornication” certainly included homosexual acts. For example,

    (Acts 15:20) Instead we should write to them, telling them to abstain from food polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from the meat of strangled animals and from blood.

    This was written to Gentiles.

    (Jude 1:7) In a similar way, Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding towns gave themselves up to sexual immorality and perversion. They serve as an example of those who suffer the punishment of eternal fire.

    The residents of Sodom and Gomorrah were not Jews, of course.

    Romans, of course, is the most famous NT passage on homosexual acts, and the above link offers a truly expert understanding of Rom 1.

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