Homosexuality, the Bible and Experience

Nice article.
Doesn't try to change what the Bible says regarding homosexuality.
It simply chooses to ignore it.

Which every Christian already does to a degree:
No Christians I know condone slavery. But the Bible does.

Hi Greg:

I also enjoyed the article, but I would disagree with Johnson's impatience with those who make cultural and linguistic arguments against the usual anti-gay biblical interpretation. IMO there is a good reason to doubt that the biblical authors had covenantal monogamous gay relationships in mind when they used the words present day translators convey as "homosexuality". But leaving that aside, i would disagree that the Bible says slavery is acceptable. IMO the Bible takes it as a given that slavery existed, and proscribes behaviors within that given social structure. But this could be an example similar to Moses' rules for divorce that jesus described when the Pharisees challenged him. These rules were concessions to the hardness of the sinful human heart, an attempt to make the best of a bad situation. Perhaps the biblical slavery rules were the same.

I do think though that Johnson is on to something when he suggests how we ought to read the Bible. I don't believe God intended the Bible to be an encyclopedia of moral and spiritual facts. I believe it is aimed to point us to God,, nothing more, and that we gain no moral knowledge at all from reading something like "God says X is a sin, therefore X is a sin". If the only reason we know X is sinful is that the Bible tells us so, then we still don't know anything at all. Until we can see it ourselves we are still blind.

your friend
Keith

Bishop John Shelby Spong in his book, "Sins of Scripture" gives a very logical reason for the prohibitions against homosexuality. In a nutshell, he says that when Leviticus was written during the Babylonian Captivity, the Jews were trying their best to maintain their cultural identity. Homosexuality was accepted in Babylonian society so the Jewish leaders condemned it. In other words, this whole rant and riot against gay people is based on an attempt by an ancient primitive people to maintain their cultural heritage.
And people wonder why I've become a non-theist.

hi Frank:

I guess I don't follow. Assuming that Spong is right, how does that have anything to do with whether or not God exists?

your friend
keith

Keith,

I think you misunderstood what I said. I said I am a NON-Theist not an Atheist. I believe in the existence of God. What I do not believe in is the existence of an external God. I believe that God is within us all and that Jesus Christ is my pathway to God. I guess it's a form of Deism. I hope that I've explained myself.

Take Care
Frank

Hi Frank:

I appreciate the clarification, but I think my question remains: hows does non-theism follow from Spong's claim (that the Levitical rules wrt homosexuality come from ancient Israel's attempt to maintain its cultural identity)?

Not to get side-tracked too much, but I have a couple of questions about "no external God". What is internal to you is external to me and vice versa. So how can God be (completely) internal to each of us? if God is internal to you, he exists independently from me--since what's internal to you exists independent from me. Vice versa, of course, therefore God exists independent of you and of me (and of everyone else for that matter). So how is your "internal God" different in principle from the usual "external God"?

your friend
keith

your friend
keith

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