So today I was sorting and pricing books at one of the thrift stores run by my wife. (Same as I was doing the other day, when I came across the book from which I excerpted the poem and scanned the image I then used for “The Dumb Soldier”/”George W. Bush Thinks Of His Soldiers”, a post o’ mine that, if you must know, I thought heartbreakingly poignant and discouragingly under-appreciated. But whaddaya gonna do?) While working through the books, I was thinking, “Wow. People sure are interested in sex, sexual roles, gender identification … all that. Well, duh. No surprise there. And Christians, of course, are famous for being a little too worried about who’s doing what with whom.” (If you’re just joining us, this is the train of thought I hopped on with The Sexual Lives of Others: Like Catnip to Everyone—Even Christians.)
As I was thinking about this sort of thing, I was also mindlessly flipping through the books, checking for pen marks or ripped pages, or cash whatever. And at the moment I was considering the wisdom of so many Christians spending so much time worrying about stuff like The Gay Agenda, I picked up and opened a Scholastic “Touch-and-Feel Book,” and saw staring back at me this:
That God. He thinks he’s sooooooo funny.
And he soooooooo is.
Just out: UNFAIR: Why the “Christian” View of Gays Doesn’t Work (softcover edition; Kindle edition; NookBook edition). Find me here and on my Facebook page.
![John Shore on The Huffington Post](http://johnshore.files.wordpress.com/2010/03/huffpost.jpg?w=120 "John Shore on The Huffington Post\")
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Mike, you have no idea what you're talking about.
And I think you know it, too.
Spike is (to my mind) what is wrong with religion. There will always be this type of interpretation…because it is just that…interpretation. There is no wrong answer to interpreting holy texts. Spike’s interpretation is just as valid as everybody else’s here. (If only the bible weren’t self-conflicting and written in obtuse parables!)
As far as God putting this book in your hands at the moment you were thinking about it….shall I get into statistics? How many times have you thought about gender roles and God DIDN’T put a book in your hands. Probably way more times than than when he did. The human animal remembers the ‘hits’ and forgets the ‘misses’.
But of course you knew that. Keep up the good work.
I'm a gay woman. And I'm a Christian.
And I do believe the Bible when it says:
John 3:16
16"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that WHOEVER believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
Whoever does not leave a space for, "except" so and so, or gays. It says "whoever".
You think YOU get yelled down. I think our friend Anita is still recovering!
Hey, Anita, be sure and let us know how the wheat and weeds sermon goes over, 'k?
Dang. First smiley intended. Second smiley just happened, like they do sometimes …
Ahhhh, gotcha. In a strange way, you kinda make sense.
(Killing time before church starts, I am. Almost time to go …)
Im sure some where, you guys arguing over the bible is just as bad as us not being christian. So, technically that makes you guys heathens too. Im not forgetting you- I'm including you.
and it is a shame when people stop participating, but… considering how I've had lots of people yell me down in these situations- its a win. to me. lol.
you know john, this title suggests some oddly provacative things. And that makes it way wronger…
As of yet my kids (3 and 5) aren’t “profligate drunkards”, but if things change I’ll let you know…
Anita- I’ll look into your take on those two Greek words, but the fact that most evangelical scholars and Bible translators don’t share your interpretation makes me doubt I’ll find your view convincing.
Gosh, Spike, you're so gay and you don't even like boys.
That's not missed at all Candace. Not at all.
If you're referring to Spike leaving, Arlywn, no, "we" didn't really "win" anything there. I always consider it a loss when someone packs their marbles and goes home.
Plus, you perhaps forget the "heathens" aren't the only ones here standing up for an open heart vs a closed one.
wait… did we just win that? Score one for heathen side. lol. No that joke will never get old. ever.
"I’ll be signing off now for good."
Am I the only one who pictured someone sticking their fingers in their ears and running away screaming "I'm not listening, I'm not listening, la la la la la la la!"?
Oh. My. Goodness. I….I….I can't believe that…..oh….some people just….uhhhh…..gosh….I…..ummmm…..merciful God in heaven…..
@ Spike well spoken,,and good questions? God bless you,,,
Yes. I have a log (or plank) in my eye. I am not afraid to preach the truth. God is the same yesterday, today and forever.
A command in the Bible is meant to be obeyed by any and all people who claim allegiance to Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord.
I'm sorry but, the two terms, "gay" and "Christian" are mutually exclusive, incompatible, incongruous.
JUDE1:3 Dear friends, although I have been eager to write to you about our common salvation, I now feel compelled instead to write to encourage you to contend earnestly for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints. 1:4 For certain men have secretly slipped in among you – men who long ago were marked out for the condemnation I am about to describe – ungodly men who have turned the grace of our God into a license for evil and who deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.
1:5 Now I desire to remind you (even though you have been fully informed of these facts once for all that Jesus, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, later destroyed those who did not believe. 1:6 You also know that the angels who did not keep within their proper domain but abandoned their own place of residence, he has kept in eternal chains in utter darkness, locked up for the judgment of the great Day. 1:7 So also Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighboring towns, since they indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire in a way similar to these angels, are now displayed as an example by suffering the punishment of eternal fire.
1:8 Yet these men, as a result of their dreams, defile the flesh, reject authority, and insult the glorious ones. 1:9 But even when Michael the archangel was arguing with the devil and debating with him concerning Moses’ body, he did not dare to bring a slanderous judgment, but said, “May the Lord rebuke you!” 1:10 But these men do not understand the things they slander, and they are being destroyed by the very things that, like irrational animals, they instinctively comprehend. 1:11 Woe to them! For they have traveled down Cain’s path,…
“I will praise you with an upright heart as I learn your righteous laws.” (Psalm 119:7)
I'll be signing off now for good. I'm sure that will please those who want to get the Bible to conform to their wicked ways. The Bible is the infallible word of God. It doesn't change with the "times" In fact, the Bible says that there is nothing new under the sun. Times haven't changed as much as you think.
My prayer is that you seek the truth. Don't search for what you want to hear in the form of ear tickling sermons. Beware of apostates and false teachers.
And that's really fine that I don't convince you Ross. If evangelical christian scholars (as opposed to a wider range of Christian scholars and theologians) are the only ones you consider reliable and contemporary evangelical translations of the bible are the ones that hold the most weight for you, then that's okay too. I'm only suggesting that equally devote and committed Christians who take the Word just as seriously as you (I certainly presume you do), have come to a different interpretative understanding than the one to which you and many (but not all including myself) evangelical Christians subscribe. The words, by the way are arsenkoites and malakoi. Just roll off your tongue, don't they?
Glad to hear by the way that your preschoolers have a handle on their drinking. Whew…
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