Pro-Gay Texts in the Bible – things you may not hear in YOUR church

Pro-Gay Texts in the Bible

 

©by Paul Halsall 

Introduction 

First. Let us remember the most important verse for gay people in the Bible. John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Child, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but have eternal life”.

And in this same Bible, a book produced, in all its phases, in patriarchal cultures in which marriage and property exchange were completely intertwined, God gave us also the most pro-gay book of the Bible – the Song of Songs.

Read it one day: it is about two lovers making love; the lovers are male and female, but they are not described as married, property and progeny and not an issue either. What is important in the Song is the beauty and value of human erotic attraction; this attraction is validated by God, and by Jesus also who continually plays down the importance of traditional ideas of the family.

God takes as one of the great prophets of the Old Testament a man who is not a man – a eunuch, the sexual minority par excellence, of the ancient world, the prophet Daniel, who, along with his companions, is take because of his physical beauty to be a court eunuch in the Palace of Nebuchadnezzar. This was known to all ancient commentators, for instance St. John Chrysostom, but has been ignored recently. GOD has a place for those who deviate sexually from social norms – gays, lesbians, and transgendered people. In Isaiah 56:4-5, the Lord addresses the eunuchs, and those who do not participate in the dominant culture of preserving name and family through children: “For thus says the Lord: to the eunuchs who keep my sabbaths, who choose the things that please me and hold fast to my covenant, I will give, in my house and within my walls, a monument better than sons and daughters, I will give them an everlasting name that shall not be cut off.”

Note that eunuchs could not keep the covenant in the same way as heterosexuals – they could not dedicate their first born sons for instance – and so, gay people CAN keep the covenant of the Law of Love – to love the Lord God and ones fellow human beings – but the way they do so might be slightly different from heterosexuals.

The Bible, you see, is full of many wonderful things. You can pull out a few verses here and there that seem, especially in modern translations, to be anti-gay, but this is always a misunderstanding. There are verses, indeed whole books of the Bible which challenge the viewpoint of the fundamentalists who seek to prove their view of the world by selective quotation [ask a fundamentalist where the Bible has any doctrine of the Trinity someday!].

As to St. Paul’s apparent attacks. It seems that Paul was disgusted with certain aspects of sex in Greco-Roman society. He was at times a bigot and a prude – he even admits as much when discussing whether women’s hair should be covered. He at no time discusses equal relationships between people of the same sex. It is possible that if he had known about them he would still have disliked them; after all Paul seems to condemn prostitutes, but given that we know most ancient prostitutes, whatever their social opprobrium, were forced, usually sold in fact, into prostitution, it does not speak well of Paul, IMO, that he condemned these poor abused people: Jesus never did! We hold Paul as authoritative for his expansionary view of an inclusionary church, for his profound understanding of sin and redemption, for his exaltation of Jesus as Saviour. We do not hold his every word and decision, nor those of any other apostle, as correct in every way.

And neither does anyone else! In Acts 9, I think, the Council of Jerusalem laid down certain laws for non-Jewish Christians [so we are not talking OT laws here]. Among the laws was an instruction not to eat the blood or the meat of strangled animals. No Christians observe these laws [what exactly do you think is in sausage? ], and while Catholic’s may have an excuse – we believe the Church existed before the Bible and has much say in interpreting it [and WE are the Church !], fundamentalists have no such rationale. They simply ignore it.

In sum: the Bible is *OUR* book. It speaks to us, and it speaks to all people who are “deviant” in their society. It is misused and picked over by fundamentalists, and you should resist going along with their agenda, in my opinion. But above all it teaches the God loves you and wants you to love and be loved. I hope you have found, and will find, Regina, a lover, woman or man, who will bring that experience of God into your life.

 

Text by Text Summary

The most pro-homosexual text in scripture is:

John 3:16
“For God so loved the World that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life”

In other words, all the pro-human texts in scripture are pro- homosexual too.

But that is not what anti-gay folk mean when they say there are no “progay” texts in Scripture. It all depends on how you read it, though.

Try these then:

 

Matthew 5:22 Jesus on Gays and Homophobia?

Matt 5:22 But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire. Matt 5:23 Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee;

( Mat 5:22 . . lego . . . pas ho . orgizo . . adelphos eike . eike . . . enochos . . krisis . hos an . epo . . adelphos rhaka . . . enochos . . sunedrion . hos an . epo . moros . . . enochos . geenna pur Mat 5:23 oun . . prosphero . doron . . thusiasterion . ekei mnaomai . . adelphos echo tis kata .)

Someone on the internet discussion group Gaynet recently pointed out that this passage may be the only reference made by Jesus to homosexuality. I think think argument can be made, but not conclusively.

I consulted the Greek Text [main word roots give in transliterated form, D. Greenberg, The Construction of Homosexuality, LSJ9 [Greek Dictionary], and various English translations.

The context is of course the compilation known as the Sermon on the Mount, a series of sayings of Jesus which are taken to call for a transcending of the Torah, to get to the “spirit” if you like [although I am sure a defence could be made of the Law, that is not my concern here].

The important words are Raca/Rhaka, and Fool/moros.

Rhaka is not a Greek word. This seems to be its only occurence in a Greek text, and LSJ merely states that it is Hebrew. Most translations either ignore the word, or note it as a general term of abuse. Greenberg relying on the work of Warren Johannssen [an acquaintance of mine - and very anti-religious in fact], points out that its roots in a variety of semetic languages mean “soft” [Hebrew "rakha"] and carries a connotation of effeminacy or weakness. The Akkadian word “raq” is used to denote a woman’s name or occupation, and its graphic representation in Akkadian derives from a Summerian symbol for woman. In other words it can be argued that “Raca” [applied here to a "brother"] is an accusation of “sissy”, or perhaps “catamite”.

This argument works better if the word “Moros” is considered. The word can mean “fool”, but it also has the amply used connotation of sexual aggressor, or even “homosexual aggressor”. LSJ9 confirms this, although Johannsen makes much more of it.

It could reasonably be argued then that Jesus words here condemn those who abuse other about their homosexuality.

Less convincing, but still plausible, is that since the abuse of “queers” is condemned, but homosexuality itself is not mentioned [unlike the women taken in adultery story] that Jesus is defending those who engage in homosexual practice. Considering Jesus break with other mores of contemporary Judaism, equally seen in his commendation of those who are “eunuchs for the kingdom of Heaven”, this is a plausible, but far from certain reading of this text.

Compared to justifying Cardinal Ratzinger and the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith from Matt 16:18 though, it is a cinch.

 

Matthew 8:5-13/Luke 7:1-10The Centurion and his “pais”

In Matthew 8:5-13 and Luke 7:1-10 the same story is told about the centurion who approaches Jesus so that this “servant” might be cured.
Texts:

 

Mat 8:5 And when Jesus was entered into Capernaum, there came unto him a centurion, beseeching him, Mat 8:6 And saying, Lord, my servant lieth at home sick of the palsy, grievously tormented. Mat 8:7 And Jesus saith unto him, I will come and heal him. Mat 8:8 The centurion answered and said, Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof: but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed. Mat 8:9 For I am a man under authority, having soldiers under me: and I say to this man, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it. Mat 8:10 When Jesus heard it, he marvelled, and said to them that followed, Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel. Mat 8:11 And I say unto you, That many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven. Mat 8:12 But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Mat 8:13 And Jesus said unto the centurion, Go thy way; and as thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee. And his servant was healed in the selfsame hour.
Luke 7:1 Now when he had ended all his sayings in the audience of the people, he entered into Capernaum. Luke 7:2 And a certain centurion’s servant, who was dear unto him, was sick, and ready to die. Luke 7:3 And when he heard of Jesus, he sent unto him the elders of the Jews, beseeching him that he would come and heal his servant. Luke 7:4 And when they came to Jesus, they besought him instantly, saying, That he was worthy for whom he should do this: Luke 7:5 For he loveth our nation, and he hath built us a synagogue. Luke 7:6 Then Jesus went with them. And when he was now not far from the house, the centurion sent friends to him, saying unto him, Lord, trouble not thyself: for I am not worthy that thou shouldest enter under my roof: Luke 7:7 Wherefore neither thought I myself worthy to come unto thee: but say in a word, and my servant shall be healed. Luke 7:8 For I also am a man set under authority, having under me soldiers, and I say unto one, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it. Luke 7:9 When Jesus heard these things, he marvelled at him, and turned him about, and said unto the people that followed him, I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel. Luke 7:10 And they that were sent, returning to the house, found the servant whole that had been sick.

 

There are several aspects to this story which might lend it to a gay reading. In the first place it seems somewhat odd that a centurion would be so caring about a slave, caring enough to risk ridicule by approaching a Jewish miracle worker for help. The underlying Greek text intensifies this suspicion of a possible homosexual relationship. Tom Horner, author of David and Jonathan: Homosexuality in Biblical Times, points out that in Matthew, the earlier account and directed to a Greek-speaking Jewish audience, the word for servent is “pais” – which means “boy”, but can also mean “servant”, and, given the rather greater than average concern for a servant demonstrated by the centurion, can also mean “lover”. The word “pederasty” for instance derives from “pais”. Luke, who was writing in a much more Greek milieu changes the word “pais” to the much more neutral “doulos” (“servent” or “slave”), presumably aware of its homosexual implications to any reader witha a Greek cultural background. Jesus, clearly, does not condemn the centurion in this story of faith.

 

Ruth 

The Book of Ruth sensitively portrays bonding and devotion between two women. Also don’t miss Book of Judith for a surprising overturning of male/female roles: Judith sneaks into the enemy camps, cuts off the head of Holofernes, the leader of the enemy army, returns and receives a hero’s welcome, and then lives out the remainder of her days with her maidservants, rejecting all male suitors!

I

Samuel 18, 19 & 20, II Samuel I:26  

These texts describe the relationship between David and Jonathon. You may not interpret them as homosexual, but I do, and I think I have valid reasons to do so.

The “friendship” between David and Jonathan. The relevant passages: 1 Samuel 18:1-4; 20:3-4, and especially, 20:41 and 2 Samuel 1:25-26, quoted here: “And as soon as the lad had gone, David rose from beside the stone heap and fell on his face to the ground, and bowed three times; and *they* (David and Jonathan) KISSED ONE ANOTHER, and wept with another, until David recovered himself” (1 Sam. 20:41 New International Version). Note: It’s really amusing to see the Fundamentalists try to dismiss the obvious passion in this episode!

 

“(David speaks:) ‘Jonathan lies slain… I am distressed for you, my brother Jonathan; very pleasant have you been to me; YOUR LOVE TO ME WAS WONDERFUL, PASSING THE LOVE OF WOMEN’” (Emphasis added by editor.) (2 Sam 1:25-26, New International Version)

 

 

The Song of Songs [All of it] : 

This is a series of herterosexual love poems. But it is unique in the scriptures [the product largely of a pastoral society in which property transfers were accomplished by marriage and inheritance, hence the laws and concern with marriage], in that it presents sexual love between two people who are not clearly married [marriage is not discussed] as a joyful thing in itself. This is pro- homosexual, if you like, because it challenges the procreation centered view of sex held by some.

 

Isaiah 56: 38 

This prophecy concerns the outcasts of Israel, and specifically the sexual minorities of the time, ie eunuchs. These were people who were not part of the dominant family/property complex, but people still who God loves and includes [since there was no category of homosexul - until very late in the 19th century it seems - these Biblical texts are ones I read as relevant and pro-gay: I am not asserting that they are discussing homosexuality, which would falsify my earlier statement that there was no such concept at the time].

 

Daniel 1 

The prophet Daniel was understood by Byzantine commentators to have been taken to serve as a eunuch, the major defined sexual minority of the ancient world, at the King of Babylon’s court. Note the emphasis on the physical beauty of the four young men. He is, nevertheless, along with David one of the heros of the Jewish Scriptures. Fr. Helminiak reports suggestions that “eunuch” was just a general way of refering to “homosexuals” in the period, although remains merely a suggestion. More interesting has been discussion of the “favour and tender love” Daniel enjoyed with the chief eunuch. Nothing definite can be asserted, but Daniel is one of the most intersting biblical figures for gay people.

You may note the development seen in Isaiah and Daniel when you compare them with Deut. 23:1 which excluded eunuchs from the community. I take the phrase of Jesus about “Eunuchs from birth” to be the closest thing in the Bible to the concept of homosexual as we now understand it [BTW it is a modern misperception to think that eunuchs could not and did not have sex]. .

So I would also include as a pro-homosexual text :-

 

Acts 8:26-39 

[an apparent description of bi-location by the way]. In this passage an Ethiopian Eunuch [remember a group specifically excluded for sexual reasons from membership in the people of Israel by Deut 23:1] is baptised by Philip. This entire passage [which has Philip also preaching to Samaritans] is about the inclusion in the Church of the excluded. First a racially/ethnically excluded group, then a sexually excluded individual.

You may not agree with my reading of these passages, but it is untrue to say that in either the Jewish Bible or the New Testament there are no passages that can be read as supportive of homosexuals.

 

Socialist Words of Jesus

(Let your favorite Hippie confess, the post below actually appeared to the blog I had on MySpace in 2007. Aint it frightening how NOTHING has changed in SIX years?)

Okay now, the Conservatives in the good pl’ USA are still claiming to be Christians, while staunchly opposing anything and everything that might help peopl. Whether it be helping people get thru a period of employment, feeding childtren, allowing everyone to have access to affordable healthcare, or even the Presient yelling kids to work hard and stay in school, Conservatives yell, “No, No, No!!”

I m begining to think that there must be whole pages and sections of the Bible that these people never heard, never read, or have cut out. Or maybe their Bibles never did contain them in the first place?

Maybe you could so them a favor, and send the foolwing – with no comment – to them and ask them if they still want to claim that the “love Jesus”?

Matthew 5:1-48

 ^1-2 When Jesus saw his ministry drawing huge crowds, he climbed a hillside. Those who were apprenticed to him, the committed, climbed with him. Arriving at a quiet place, he sat down and taught his climbing companions. This is what he said:

 ³“You’re blessed when you’re at the end of your rope. With less of you there is more of God and his rule.

 ⁴“You’re blessed when you feel you’ve lost what is most dear to you. Only then can you be embraced by the One most dear to you.

 ⁵“You’re blessed when you’re content with just who you are—no more, no less. That’s the moment you find yourselves proud owners of everything that can’t be bought.

 ⁶“You’re blessed when you’ve worked up a good appetite for God. He’s food and drink in the best meal you’ll ever eat.

 ⁷“You’re blessed when you care. At the moment of being ‘care-full,’ you find yourselves cared for.

 ⁸“You’re blessed when you get your inside world—your mind and heart—put right. Then you can see God in the outside world.

 ⁹“You’re blessed when you can show people how to cooperate instead of compete or fight. That’s when you discover who you really are, and your place in God’s family.

 ¹⁰“You’re blessed when your commitment to God provokes persecution. The persecution drives you even deeper into God’s kingdom.

 ^11-12“Not only that—count yourselves blessed every time people put you down or throw you out or speak lies about you to discredit me. What it means is that the truth is too close for comfort and they are uncomfortable. You can be glad when that happens—give a cheer, even!—for though they don’t like it, I do! And all heaven applauds. And know that you are in good company. My prophets and witnesses have always gotten into this kind of trouble.  ¹³“Let me tell you why you are here. You’re here to be salt-seasoning that brings out the God-flavors of this earth. If you lose your saltiness, how will people taste godliness? You’ve lost your usefulness and will end up in the garbage.

 ^14-16“Here’s another way to put it: You’re here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world. God is not a secret to be kept. We’re going public with this, as public as a city on a hill. If I make you light-bearers, you don’t think I’m going to hide you under a bucket, do you? I’m putting you on a light stand. Now that I’ve put you there on a hilltop, on a light stand—shine! Keep open house; be generous with your lives. By opening up to others, you’ll prompt people to open up with God, this generous Father in heaven.  ^17-18“Don’t suppose for a minute that I have come to demolish the Scriptures— either God’s Law or the Prophets. I’m not here to demolish but to complete. I am going to put it all together, pull it all together in a vast panorama. God’s Law is more real and lasting than the stars in the sky and the ground at your feet. Long after stars burn out and earth wears out, God’s Law will be alive and working.

 ^19-20“Trivialize even the smallest item in God’s Law and you will only have trivialized yourself. But take it seriously, show the way for others, and you will find honor in the kingdom. Unless you do far better than the Pharisees in the matters of right living, you won’t know the first thing about entering the kingdom.  ^21-22“You’re familiar with the command to the ancients, ‘Do not murder.’ I’m telling you that anyone who is so much as angry with a brother or sister is guilty of murder. Carelessly call a brother ‘idiot!’ and you just might find yourself hauled into court. Thoughtlessly yell ‘stupid!’ at a sister and you are on the brink of hellfire. The simple moral fact is that words kill.

 ^23-24“This is how I want you to conduct yourself in these matters. If you enter your place of worship and, about to make an offering, you suddenly remember a grudge a friend has against you, abandon your offering, leave immediately, go to this friend and make things right. Then and only then, come back and work things out with God.

 ^25-26“Or say you’re out on the street and an old enemy accosts you. Don’t lose a minute. Make the first move; make things right with him. After all, if you leave the first move to him, knowing his track record, you’re likely to end up in court, maybe even jail. If that happens, you won’t get out without a stiff fine.  ^27-28“You know the next commandment pretty well, too: ‘Don’t go to bed with another’s spouse.’ But don’t think you’ve preserved your virtue simply by staying out of bed. Your heart can be corrupted by lust even quicker than your body. Those leering looks you think nobody notices—they also corrupt.

 ^29-30“Let’s not pretend this is easier than it really is. If you want to live a morally pure life, here’s what you have to do: You have to blind your right eye the moment you catch it in a lustful leer. You have to choose to live one-eyed or else be dumped on a moral trash pile. And you have to chop off your right hand the moment you notice it raised threateningly. Better a bloody stump than your entire being discarded for good in the dump. (Matthew 5:1-48, The Message)

Matthew 25:31-46

 ^31-33“When he finally arrives, blazing in beauty and all his angels with him, the Son of Man will take his place on his glorious throne. Then all the nations will be arranged before him and he will sort the people out, much as a shepherd sorts out sheep and goats, putting sheep to his right and goats to his left.

 ^34-36“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Enter, you who are blessed by my Father! Take what’s coming to you in this kingdom. It’s been ready for you since the world’s foundation. And here’s why:

   I was hungry and you fed me,
   I was thirsty and you gave me a drink,
   I was homeless and you gave me a room,
   I was shivering and you gave me clothes,
   I was sick and you stopped to visit,
   I was in prison and you came to me.’

 ^37-40“Then those ‘sheep’ are going to say, ‘Master, what are you talking about? When did we ever see you hungry and feed you, thirsty and give you a drink? And when did we ever see you sick or in prison and come to you?’ Then the King will say, ‘I’m telling the solemn truth: Whenever you did one of these things to someone overlooked or ignored, that was me—you did it to me.’

 ^41-43“Then he will turn to the ‘goats,’ the ones on his left, and say, ‘Get out, worthless goats! You’re good for nothing but the fires of hell. And why? Because—

   I was hungry and you gave me no meal,
   I was thirsty and you gave me no drink,
   I was homeless and you gave me no bed,
   I was shivering and you gave me no clothes,
   Sick and in prison, and you never visited.’

 ⁴⁴“Then those ‘goats’ are going to say, ‘Master, what are you talking about? When did we ever see you hungry or thirsty or homeless or shivering or sick or in prison and didn’t help?’

 ⁴⁵“He will answer them, ‘I’m telling the solemn truth: Whenever you failed to do one of these things to someone who was being overlooked or ignored, that was me—you failed to do it to me.’

 ⁴⁶“Then those ‘goats’ will be herded to their eternal doom, but the ‘sheep’ to their eternal reward.” (Matthew 25:31-46, The Message)

 
Let your religion be less of a theory and more of a love affair.–Gilbert K. Chesterton
 
Jesus said, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your passion and prayer and intelligence.’ This is the most important, the first on any list. But there is a second to set alongside it: ‘Love others as well as you love yourself.’ These two commands are pegs; everything in God’s Law and the Prophets hangs from them.” (Matthew 22:38-40)

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Obama, MLK, Not “Nice” Enough to Moderates? | Politics | Religion Dispatches

Obama, MLK, Not “Nice” Enough to Moderates? | Politics | Religion Dispatches.

Challenge, Controversy and Change – a Stikkspeakng Devotional

Challenge, Controversy and Change - Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Acts 21:17-26
When we arrived in Jerusalem, the brothers welcomed us warmly. The next day Paul went with us to visit James; and all the elders were present. After greeting them, he related one by one the things that God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry. When they heard it, they praised God. Then they said to him, “You see, brother, how many thousands of believers there are among the Jews, and they are all zealous for the law. They have been told about you that you teach all the Jews living among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, and that you tell them not to circumcise their children or observe the customs. What then is to be done? They will certainly hear that you have come. So do what we tell you. We have four men who are under a vow. Join these men, go through the rite of purification with them, and pay for the shaving of their heads. Thus all will know that there is nothing in what they have been told about you, but that you yourself observe and guard the law. But as for the Gentiles who have become believers, we have sent a letter with our judgment that they should abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols and from blood and from what is strangled and from fornication.” Then Paul took the men, and the next day, having purified himself, he entered the temple with them, making public the completion of the days of purification when the sacrifice would be made for each of them.

Reflection by Ron Buford

Among religious people, breaking the 10th commandment is a great stumbling block: “Thou shalt not covet.” Here are two Christian sects: one Jewish; the other Gentile. The Jewish sect has good reason to ask, “Why keep Moses’ law when newcomers don’t have to keep it?”

The church today stumbles similarly. Why do we accept unmarried couples living together? We had to get married. Why do we let gay people get married? They used to have enough shame to keep their behavior a secret. Why do we accept people who are divorced? We stayed married and hated each other. Bottom line: We suffered, you suffer too; God requires it.

Correction: No, not God but our imperfect understanding of God required these things for a while. The love of God, changing our understanding, and our own repentance compel us to risk making change, no matter how much it costs us, no matter how many jobs, members, churches, or friends we lose. God’s ever-expanding inclusion and grace is the greater good—even greater than everyone getting along.

In the book of Acts, Paul connives (yes, connives), strategically dividing his enemies based on their theological differences, opportunistically seizing upon his Roman citizenship to bring about change. He escapes Jerusalem’s perception of control over God’s plan, moving it to the Roman Empire–whose control will also eventually fade . . . just as we and so much of what we believe and do eventually fade into the arc of God’s future.

Prayer
Gracious God, we believe in You, and to Your deeds we testify. Let the stillspeaking God be true, and every human trapped in time and space be a liar. As we receive new light from You, grant us courage in the struggle for justice and peace, Your Presence in trial and rejoicing. Amen.

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Was Jesus a Conservative?

(Again, I was looking for something in my files, and I came across one of those articles I kinda wish I had written. I am not terribly thrilled by some of the name-calling the original author get into, but I certainly can understand the anger….

I am also afraid that the author no longer seems to have an active blog. I think there really needs to be more thinking Christians blogging…
Ninure da Hippie)

Conservatives (Republicans and their predecessors) have fought among other things:

* child labor laws
* the forty-hour work week
* unions
* protection of the air and water
* overtime pay
* Medicare
* Social Security
* consumer protections
* national heath care
* racial equality
* equality for women
* inter-racial marriage

Conservatism is about preserving or returning to the conditions of an earlier time, it is, by definition, anti change. Ultimately, unless it goes to it’s extreme expression, fascism, it’s doomed to failure because, simply, change happens. Or the house of cards built on the
exploitation of the poor and working class tumbles. Conservativism is anti-American, running contrary to the Founding Fathers battles against the conservatives (Torys) of their day. If conservativism had prevailed in the late 1700s, there would be no United States of
America today.

In contrast this to conservatism, we read of Jesus:

And Jesus went forth, and saw a great multitude, and was moved with compassion toward them, and he healed their sick. (Matt. 14:14).

Jesus stood against the conservatives of His day, the Republicans of His time, the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the Herodians, and they released their “Republican attack dogs” on Him and led Him to His death.

The word “Christian,” means “like Christ.” Which is something we should endeavor to become. Religious conservatives are the anti-thesis, the opposite, the “anti-Christ” and stand against His compassion and love for the poor, widows and orphans expressed so many times in the Scriptures.

The apostles, in their letter to Paul, expressed concern that the poor were taken care of, contrarily, Ronald Reagan used to express concerns not to provide a perception of a safety net.

The so-called “Religious Right” and other conservative anti-Christian movements are no more Christian than their father the devil. One cannot Scripturally claim to be conservative and Christian for “Conservative CHristian” is an oxymoron, they are self contradictory.
Indeed, the “Conservative Christian” movement is a part of the “great falling away.” (2 Thes. 2:3)

Terrell D Lewis

http://epigramz.blogspot.com/

Fighting the Riech Wing Conspiracy

Rant: Christian American Quiz

Christian American Quiz

Please answer the following Questions:

1) Which is the only country in the world to have dropped bombs on over twenty different countries since 1945?

2) Which is the only country to have used nuclear weapons?

3) Which country was responsible for a car bomb which killed 80 civilians in Beirut in 1985, in a botched assassination attempt, thereby making it the most lethal terrorist bombing in modern Middle East history?

4) Which country’s illegal bombing of Libya in 1986 was described by the UN Legal Committee as a “classic case” of terrorism?

5) Which country rejected the order of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to terminate its “unlawful use of force” against Nicaragua in 1986, and then vetoed a UN Security Council resolution calling on all states to observe international law?

6) Which country was accused by a UN-sponsored truth commission of providing”direct and indirect support” for “acts of genocide” against the Mayan Indians in Guatemala during the 1980s?

7) Which country unilaterally withdrew from the Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty in December 2001?

8) Which country renounced the efforts to negotiate a verification process for the Biological Weapons Convention and brought an international conference on the matter to a halt in July 2001?

9) Which country prevented the United Nations from curbing the gun trade at a small arms conference in July 2001?

10) Aside from Somalia, which is the only other country in the world to have refused to ratify the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child?

11) Which is the only Western country which allows the death penalty to be applied to children?

12) Which is the only G7 country to have refused to sign the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty, forbidding the use of landmines?

13) Which is the only G7 country to have voted against the creation of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in 1998?

14) Which was the only other country to join with Israel in opposing a 1987 General Assembly resolution condemning international terrorism?

15) Which country refuses to fully pay its debts to the United Nations yet reserves its right to veto United Nations resolutions?

Answer to all 15 questions: The United States of America.

Do you call these actions “Christian”!!!!!

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My YouTube Channel
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A witness in Galilee (via The Christian Science Monitor)

A witness in Galilee (via The Christian Science Monitor)

Longtime Monitor photographer Gordon N. Converse took this image for a photo portfolio titled ‘The Land of Jesus’ in 1978.(Gordon N. Converse/The Christian Science Monitor) In Jerusalem, where the conflict between Jews and Muslims dominates everything from religion to politics, it can sometimes…

Childrens’ Day?

(Note: I’ve hit my files again with an article I read back in 2007. I’d make a terrible parent, but nothing gets me as mad as the awful way this so-called Christian nation treats children. Whether it is to ignore their needs – for food, housing, education, or healthcare – as a country, or adults abusing them physically, verbally, or sexually. – Ninure da Hippie)

We habe Mother’s Day, and Father’s Dat…I think the cars companies are trying to get Grandparents’ Day, Uncles’ Day and Aunts Day too.

But as a fromer child, I think their ought to be a Children’s Day.

Not a day to give some kids even more presents, but a day to allow those who care to commit to protecting children from harm. A day to cmmit to seeing that children might receive all that they need, eevn of their parents are stupid and/or lazy.

It makes me angry to read of adults coming up with excuses to treat children in ways that they would not tolerate for themselves for five seconds.

It is in that spirit that I share this article with you today.

Sightings  5/3/07

Christian Discipline of Children
– Bonnie J. Miller-McLemore

At Remnant Fellowship Church in Brentwood, Tennessee, only a short distance from my home, religious leader Gwen Shamblin encourages parents to spank their children, describing corporal punishment as a “time-tested, ancient teaching of the Bible” necessary to shaping adherence to God’s authority.  According to the February 7, 2007, issue of the Tennessean (and here was one time when I really hoped the reporting was unreliable), parents who bring children to the nursery have foot-long glue gun sticks in their diaper bags for physically disciplining them.  These details hit the news because eight-year-old Josef Smith died in October 2003, and his parents, members of Remnant Fellowship, were finally facing trial for whipping, confining, and beating him to death.

Although later in February the parents were sentenced to life plus thirty years, the debate about Christian discipline is far from resolved.  On the one hand, social scientists such as Alice Miller indicted Christianity in the 1970′s and 1980′s for perpetuating parental abuse.  Initially Miller simply argued that narcissistic parents use children to meet parental needs — an iniquity visited on following generations, as emotionally deprived children become parents who use their children to get the affirmation missing in their own childhood.  Over time, however, Miller became more strident, and eventually accused Christians of perpetuating a “poisonous pedagogy” of cruel mental and physical techniques designed to render children obedient, described in horrifying detail in childrearing manuals.  Meanwhile, Philip Greven and others found ample historical and psychological evidence to argue that such discipline can indeed be quite hazardous to children’s health.

On the other hand, in recent years some sociologists, such as John Bartkowski and Brad Wilcox, have tried to modify such assessments.  Empirical research, they say, documents increased affection and paternal involvement as positively related to an emphasis on children’s submission to parental authority and use of corporal punishment.  There is even initial evidence that such punishment does not have adverse emotional or behavioral repercussions, an outcome that may result from its place within a broader set of positive parenting behaviors.

More than anything, all this politically loaded research suggests that Christians of all stripes should be wary of extreme claims on both sides.  Subtle agendas shape social science facts and have serious social implications.  Christians must take their troubled disciplinary history seriously, admitting the harm done in Christianity’s name, and yet also question sweeping accusations that Christianity itself is inherently abusive.  News about Josef Smith’s death powerfully reminds us just how hazardous careless use of Christian proclamation can be, especially as it impacts those least able to protect themselves and most dependent on adult benevolence.  Fervent promotion of doctrines about sin, obedience, and bending the will to God have had and can have devastating consequences.

At the same time, seeing children as sinful does not de facto lead to their harsh punishment.  It can, in fact, have an inverse affect of assuring respect for their full humanity and agency.  Many classic theologians commonly associated with ideas about children as depraved, such as Augustine and Calvin, did not condone corporal punishment, offered nuanced views of children’s spiritual capacities, and even found such doctrines cause for greater compassion for all children, especially poor children.

Scriptural accounts of Jesus’ ministry actually set a high disciplinary standard.  Nowhere does Jesus advocate physical punishment.  Instead, he goes out of his way to heal children, says they embody the kingdom, and threatens eternal damnation to anyone who would harm their faith.  “Discipline” and “disciples” share the same root.  The disciples follow Jesus not because he stands over them as commander in chief, but because he aligns himself with them and elicits their love, trust, and admiration.  Perhaps influenced by Christianity more than she realizes, Miller herself concludes: “We do not need to be told whether to be strict or permissive with our children.  What we do need is to have respect for their needs … as well as for our own.”  For Christians, discipline means fostering conditions that induce a desire to love God and seek the good of others.

Whether Remnant Fellowship Church (or any congregation that talks openly about how to discipline children) encourages this kind of discipline or rather condones abuse is still up for debate.  But when it comes to corporal punishment, there is ongoing need for serious caution, and for the work of a practical theology that studies not so much the truth of doctrine but how doctrine gets lived out in daily life.

For children in particular, what people believe about Jesus or God — whether God demands obedience or offers love — matters.

References:
“Child’s Death Renews Scrutiny of Local Church,” by Anita Wadhwani and Heather Donahoe, The Tennessean (February 7, 2007).

Bonnie J. Miller-McLemore is E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Professor of Pastoral Theology and Counseling at Vanderbilt University, and author of Let the Children Come: Reimagining Childhood from a Christian Perspective (Jossey-Bass, 2003) and In the Midst of Chaos: Care of Children as Spiritual Practice (Jossey-Bass, 2006).
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The current Religion and Culture Web Forum features “From Altered States to Altered Categories (and Back Again): Academic Method and the Human Potential Movement” by Jeffrey J. Kripal.  To read this article, please visit: http://marty-center.uchicago.edu/webforum/index.shtml.

———-

Sightings comes from the Martin Marty Center at the University of Chicago Divinity School.

Submissions policy
Sightings welcomes submissions of 500 to 750 words in length that seek to illuminate and interpret the forces of faith in a pluralist society. Previous columns give a good indication of the topical range and tone for acceptable essays. The editor also encourages new approaches to issues related to religion and public life.

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Columns may be quoted or republished in full, with attribution to the author of the column, Sightings, and the Martin Marty Center at the University of Chicago Divinity School.
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There are those who rebel against the light, who are not acquainted with its ways, and do not stay in its paths. The murderer rises at dusk to kill the poor and needy, and in the night is like a thief.
- Job 24:13-14

To be a follower of Jesus means in the first place to enter by compassion into his experience, with all that it expresses of the divine and of the human. And it means in the second place to enter with him into the suffering and the hope of all human persons, making common cause with them as he does, and seeking out as he does the places of his predilection among the poor and despised and oppressed.
- Monika K. Hellwig
from Jesus: The Compassion of God (The Liturgical Press, 1983)

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“I trace the rainbow through the rain and see the promise is not in vain.”</center?

Every 3.6 seconds a real person dies from hunger somewhere in the world!!!
Feed a hungry person today:
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God is still speaking
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The Religious/Political Right’s Vocabulary & Phrase Book-Volume Two

I was looking for something in my files, and once again came across one of those articles that hardly seem dated.

Think about that for a minute.

The right doesn’t seem to learn that their “double speak” isn’t very productive – unless their goal is really the destruction of America… – Ninure da Hippie

The Religious/Political Right’s Vocabulary & Phrase Book-Volume Two

April 26, 2006

By Clint Willis

“Racially balanced” as in “The Republican Party is very racially
balanced.”

This phrase is used during hurriedly arranged photo ops after someone
of prominence has made the insinuation to the mainstream media that the
Religious/Political right is composed of mostly rich white men.

Someone is bound to utter this phrase just as you notice that all of
the women, blacks and hispanics in the group have suddenly been pushed
up into the front row smiling proudly, not realizing that behind them
the next solid three rows are the white guys grinning for the camera
because they know that they’re really the ones in charge.

“Judeo-Christian Values”
Note Judeo always comes first.

This phrase is used often and loudly when the right-wing Christian
section is emphasizing that they have generously included Jews in their
outrage about abortion, gay rights, or tax breaks for major
corporations.

Usually the next day the more extreme fundamentalists of the group give
a sermon to their followers stressing that while they love their Jewish
brothers (well, maybe just enough to get the election swung in their
favor), they must still realize that in order for Jews to get into
their heaven, they still must first accept Jesus Christ as their
savior.

Sort of how they feel about their private Golf Clubs.

“Pro-business liberal”

This one threw me the first time I saw it in print, because by rights,
according to all good conservatives, there is no such thing as a
“pro-business liberal”.

Apparently this phrase is employed to throw blame at liberal democrats
with their liberal businesses joining the liberal wing of the
Republican Party and ruining everything.

In other words, just throw the word “liberal” on anything to make it
sound bad or to assign or distract blame.

“God, America, and the flag”,

is the new holy trinity, replacing “Baseball, mom, and apple pie”.

You must worship all three equally or be branded a traitorous liberal
unchristian deviant.

“Budget Surplus”

is a phrase never used in mixed company (i.e. Republicans with
Democrats).

The budget surplus is what the Republican Congress proudly claimed as
theirs, not President Clinton’s, from the steps of the Capitol
Building.

In the late 90s the budget surplus was the direct result of their
“Contract with America”… well that is until GW spent it all at
Halliburton.

Now the political right wing would rather we didn’t mention it, and if
we do, they claim it didn’t really exist anyway and was just on
paper–shhhhhhh!

“Your facts are erroneous”

is a phrase used most often when they know Democrats are speaking the
truth, but they haven’t found time to “Google or Yahoo” something
opposing from a right-wing slanted website to refute it yet.

“Knee-jerk reaction”

translates to “They’ve intelligently reacted to something important
before we did, causing us embarrassment, so we’ll dismiss it as nothing
in order to distract the public.”

The press is currently having a knee-jerk reaction to rising gas prices
at the pump, but don’t worry… soon it’ll be “old news”.

Currently President Bush is stressing that we should leave prices as
they are (no matter how high they go) and instead use conservation and
alternate fuels.

Thus we preserve “big oil’s” profit line; which should cause another
“knee jerk” reaction from the voting public.

“Some of my best friends are gay”

They live about three miles from me.

My sister’s hairdresser’s maid introduced me to a plumber who lives
next door to them, but I can’t remember his name.

He says they’re nice people.

“This is all just old news!”

translates to “The public knows this is a problem we haven’t even come
close to solving yet, even though we’ve had plenty of time to look into
it, so we’ll just declare it unimportant!”

Example, “New Orleans is old news”

“Impeding Free speech”

translates to “Not permitting right-wing political or religious
propaganda to be prominently displayed in public buildings”.

See also:

“Violating the spirit of the First Amendment”

which translates to using the “Free speech amendment” to allow such
things as homosexual pornography, cuss words on the Sopranos,
publishing books criticizing George Bush, Rush Limbaugh, Pat Robertson,
or or or even The Los Angeles Times recently suggesting that Dick
Cheney resign!, or the press’ reporting of several state legislatures
(so far Vermont, California, and Illinois) that have
recently, or are planing to, call for the House of Representitives to
prepare to look into Bush’s impeachment.

“God created dinosaur bones, but not real dinosaurs!”

Sorry, I just had to include this one after I nearly fell out of my
chair laughing when I read it in print.

A religious nut actually asserted that God created the bones, and then
put them into the ground where we could find them, to test our faith
because the actual animals never really existed!.

“I am praying for you!”

Personally I’m disgusted every time George Bush utters this phrase.

He prayed for the space shuttle astronauts safe return,

he prayed for the miners in West Virginia,

and he prayed constantly for the victims of the World Trade Center to
be rescued along with the lives of the victims of the Pentagon.

All he was doing was kissing the asses of the Political/Religious
Right, and gave false and useless comfort to the victim’s families who
believed that his important presidential prayers would somehow be paid
more attention to by God… which they weren’t

“I do not believe in basing American Policy on poll numbers”.

Unless they agree with what George is saying at the moment.

“We are on the side of the political right!”.

Apparently they don’t seem to realize that that means which side of the
aisle they sit on, and not that they’re correct all the time.

_______________________________________________________

The above is from “Jesus Is Not a Republican : The Religious Right’s
War on America” by Clint Willis.

Hippie Rant: Acceptance, Tolerance, Intolerance, and Bigotry

I wrote this for a Blog I used to have on MtSpace.

There were a number of comments I received to things I wrote in that Blog that indicated that some people may know HOW to read, they weren’t able o COMPREHEND WHAT THEY WHERE READING.

I seem to be seeing a lot more from people who seem to have the same problem with understanding that difference between freedom of religion and freedom FROM Christianity.

If ypu know any people like that, feel free to share this with them (just give me due credit). – Ninure da Hippie

Acceptance, Tolerance, Intolerance, and Bigotry

Acceptance: There are peas on my plate. Peas are not my first choice to eat when I am humgry, but I eat them.

Tolerance: There are peas on my plate. I don’t care for peas, I am not that hungry, so I leave them alone.

Intolerance: There are peas on my plate. I HATE peas. I hurl the plate on the floor and jump and down on the peas. I try to file criminal charges against the person who cooked the peas.

Bigotry: There are peas on my plate. Not only do I hate peas, I hate the people who cook them, who grow them, and anyone who likes them. I spend a great deal of my time trying to outlaw peas, and deprive anyone who grows or likes them of their human rights. I proclaim that anyone who has anything to do with peas hates God, abuses children, and is a terrorist.