Once again why is it we have two guests posting hate posts who don't have the courage to register and make a real name for themselves ,or they have and they use guest status to hide and write what they really feel but dont have the courage to say it with thier screen names because they know they are wrong. Should get rid of guest status ,it doesn't help the community.
As for what they said ,don't listen to them .......what would jesus think of thier behavior?What would he say about homosexuality?
Jesus did have something to say about gay people, as much as He could say in that very strict culture where there was no gay lifestyle the way we understand it. He said in Matthew 19:12 , “For there are some eunuchs, which were so born from their mother’s womb, some are made eunuchs by men, and some make themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven.” He begins and ends this very strange statement by saying, “Not everyone can accept this statement…Only those whom God helps….Let anyone who can, accept my statement.”
It is only in our day that the Kinsey Institute has demonstrated that sexual orientation is likely determined prior to birth. It could well be that those to whom Jesus refers as being "born eunuchs" are the people we call lesbian or gay.
Jesus' attitude toward eunuchs differed greatly from the fundamentalist Pharisees of his day. To them, eunuchs were excluded from the covenant and barred from worship and participating in the community of faith. Jesus' graceful approach to eunuchs is beautifully pictured in the promise of the prophecy of Isaiah 56:4-8, "To the eunuchs...I will give them an everlasting name that will not be taken away."
In Jesus' day there were three types of persons called eunuchs: 1 celibates, 2 those who were slaves and were castrated so that children would not be born to them, and 3 those who were "born eunuchs" or homosexuals. Royal and wealthy households would use castrated slaves to work with and guard the concubines and women slaves. However when assigning slaves to female members of the royal family they would choose homosexual slaves. With female members, the concern was not just unwanted pregnancies, but also rape.
It is against this background that we must read the story found in Acts 8:26-40. In this passage the Holy Spirit sends Philip the Deacon to witness to and baptize an Ethiopian eunuch of Queen Candace of Ethiopia. One of the earliest converts to Christianity was a person excluded for sexual reasons from the Old Testament community.
What did Jesus have to say about the issue of homosexuality? He said nothing specifically. He did, however, have much to say about issues of the heart, and about morality.
Out of the thousands of passages in the Bible, only a handful are usually used by those espousing biblical condemnation of homosexuality. The prophets, who's office often involves cataloging sin, do not condemn same-gender sexual relations. At least in recorded Scripture, Jesus said nothing at all on the subject. There is not one mention of same-gender sexual relations in any of the gospels. While one must be cautious about arguing from silence, I agree with Spong that this "does suggest that those who consider this 'the most heinous sin' must be terribly disturbed that our Lord appears either to have ignored it completely or to have said so little on the subject that no part of what he said was remembered or recorded." Spong, 135-36
The Hebrew testament forbids homogenitality for purity reasons, male-male sex makes one unclean because it breaks a religious taboo... it associates one with the Canaanites. The hebrew scriptures also list other purity requirements, like washing at prescribed times or not eating certain foods.. example: circumcision... made a person a Jew... qualified them, but no one thought that God rejected the uncircumcised. The purity requirements of the Jewish law were part of being a Jew, they were not necesarily part of being a good person, just and righteous before God. Jesus was clear that being a good person and keeping the requirements of the Jewish law were not the same things, one of the reasons that he was crucified was that he challenged the real importance of the law.
"It is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but it is what comes out of the mouth that defiles... what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this is what defiles, for out of the heart comes evil intentions, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, false witness, slander; these are what defile a person, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile." (Matthew 15:10, 18-20)
The only purity that mattered to Jesus was purity of heart. Jesus objected to eternal religious show fasting so others can see, praying in front of everybody, putting a lot of money into the collection so others will notice. "People honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me." (Mark 7:6)
Jesus is not impressed with externals, He looks into the heart. "For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything; they only thing that counts is faith working through love." (Galations 5:6)
A POSITIVE WORD
As recorded in the eighth chapter of Matthew, Jesus is called upon to go to the aid of a Roman Centurion of faith. The Centurion tells Jesus that his "servant lies at home paralyzed and in terrible suffering." (Matt. 8:5-6 NIV). Normally, the Greek word for servant used in the New Testament is "doulos" and is quite clearly meaning slave or indentured servant. In this instance, the word used is "pais," which means beloved boy.Not son, which would be "uios." There are some scholars who believe that the person being described as the Centurion's "pais" is in fact his young, male lover.
Again, the evangelical/fundamentalist mind recoils at such a suggestion, because Jesus would never condone a homosexual relationshipor so they want to believe, certainly not by healing an illness probably brought on by detestable homosexual behavior. No, this is nothing more than a faithful Roman officer who has a sick attendant or something like that, who Jesus heals. That is all, they would say in denial. We on the other hand hold out the possibility that this Centurion, full of faith in Jesus, is asking for ministry for his beloved, as any lover would do. And Jesus, who never uttered one word against homosexuals or homosexuality in any clearly identifiable way, healed the boy and blessed the Centurion.
Learn from Jesus ,Learn your Bible and don't teach Bigotry and Ignorance.
