[Uucf-bible] Gay Marriage

[RevRonRobinson at aol.com]

In a message dated 9/14/2004 12:46:16 PM Central Daylight Time, 
enwebb at earthlink.net writes:
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I was listening to This American Life this weekend and they had an
interesting segment with two republicans discussing gay marriage.  They were
very cordial and southern with each other, but an interesting point was
made.  The gay man pointed out that Jesus specifically spoke against
divorce, but he doubted that the straight man's pastor ever preached on
turning to any (remarried) divorced church members and called them
adulterers.  He said that in Christianity there is a "cherry-picking" of
things that we no longer condemn.  The straight man actually paused and
conceded that it was a good point.  It dawned on me that while I remember in
Matthew 19, Jesus spoke of divorce, but I don't think that he ever directly
spoke on homosexuality.  Paul condemns homosexual behavior in Romans,
Corinthians and Timothy.  But the suggestions I can find about Jesus saying
anything are all veiled and basis on translations that could go a different
direction.  This would seem to be a powerful argument. 
Thanks Erika. I find it interesting that Jesus is a lot harder on divorce 
than Paul is (some attribute that to Jesus' probable life in a fatherless home). 
I like the lead of those historians and biblical scholars too, who point out 
that when we talk of Paul and "homosexuality" we can't think of homosexuality 
as we often think of it today--in fact, it wasn't an English word until late in 
the 19th century I think; Paul is condemning something very differently than 
"homosexuality" per se. And Timothy most likely wasn't written by Paul at all, 
but later. LOL it seems like when I get into these conversations with the 
more orthodox and literal-minded, we so quickly veer off into biblical 
scholarship that we leave the original issue far behind.
blessings,
Ron