Fwd: [Vision2020] Christianity and Sexuality Redefined

[sean]

"Go and sin no more" certainly reveals both 
forgiveness and clarity that a sin had occurred. 
What love that over and over this God would 
forgive.  But clearly there is an onus on the 
people to stop that which God calls wrong.

>
>
>  >From the "Letters" section of today's (April 11, 2006) UI Argonaut with a
>special thanks to Josh Studor -
>
>------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>Christianity and Sexuality Redefined
>Written by Josh Studor -Guest Columnist
>    
>Tuesday, 11 April 2006 
>
>I am a gay Christian. I've struggled my entire life to make these seemingly
>contradictory identities coalesce into a coherent theological, spiritual and
>sociological philosophy. Why is it so difficult to make the two work
>together? The answer is simple: The Bible is seemingly very clear and many
>Christians are very dogmatic about the subject.
>
>Take the following excerpts:
>
>"If a man lies with a man as one lies with a woman, both of them must be put
>to death. What they have done is a perversion; their blood will be on their
>own heads" (Leviticus 20:13).
>
>"(A mob called up to a man's home saying) 'Bring out the man who came to
>your house so we can have sex with him.' The owner of the house went outside
>and said to them, 'No, my friends, don't be so vile. Since this man is my
>guest, don't do this disgraceful thing'" (Judges 19:22-23).
>
>With these passages in mind, how does one square being gay and being
>Christian? Many Christians would say it can't be done. Those Christians hold
>one of two views on the subject: The Extreme View and The Pick-and-Choose
>Views.
>
>The Extreme View would encourage people to take the Bible as a literal
>translation of God's word. That being the case, God is serious when he said
>that he wants us to kill the faggots. Of course, putting that in play would
>take implementing some sort of Christian Taliban. Family members would have
>to report their loved ones if, and when, they decide to come out or get
>caught.
>
>But the Bible doesn't stop there, so neither could this new Christian order.
>The Bible is very clear about other abominations. For instance, "If anyone
>curses his father or mother, he must be put to death" (Leviticus 20:19).
>
>Of course, the Extreme View isn't accepted by many people, except probably
>the bigots at godhatesfags.com. See, in Acts 10, Peter gets a vision from
>God, which basically makes it OK for Gentiles to be Christians and does away
>with dietary laws. Christians take this to say that homosexuality is still a
>sin and God will punish offenders unless they become saved.
>
>This is where The Pick-And-Choose View comes into play. Basically, it tones
>down the harsh punishments of the Old Testament and ignores the stuff we, as
>a society, don't like anymore. For instance, many Christians ignore the 19
>times the Bible bans divorce, the 13 times it bans being drunk and the 33
>times it bans charging interest but not the 4 times in which the Bible
>mentions homosexuality. Interestingly, Jesus never mentions homosexuality
>but instead accepts the adulterer, the prostitute and the tax collector and
>gives only two basic commandments: First: ".love the Lord your God with all
>your heart, all your soul, and all your mind. This is the first and greatest
>commandment. The second is equally important: 'Love your neighbor as
>yourself'" (Matthew 20:37-39).
>
>The Pick-and-Choose View is really just a gentler Biblical bigotry because
>the holders of this view grab onto anything that makes modern Christians
>feel icky and ignore the sins that are more common. This very lazy
>Christianity is more like the way the Aryan Nations use the Bible to "prove"
>white people are God's chosen race.
>
>The alternative is to ask why the Bible says what it says. This idea
>recognizes that parts of the Bible, and its law, were useful at the time but
>may not be anymore. God may have given the law to the Hebrews as a sort of
>divine command style because they were too ignorant to understand why the
>law was the way it was. Now, people realize God gave us the power of reason
>so that we don't have to take things like the creation and flood myths
>literally anymore. Maybe it is also time to ask why Leviticus banned
>homosexuality. Maybe it is just because the other societies accepted
>homosexuals and the Hebrews needed to set themselves apart.
>
>That's how I do it. I realized it was impossible to take the Bible literally
>all the time and that God loves me regardless of who I am the same way he
>loves everyone else.
>
>------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>Seeya round town, Moscow.
>
>Tom Hansen
>Moscow, Idaho
>
>" . . . wording plays a big part in understand[ing] the nature and meaning a
>verse written two thousand years ago in a different language, and some
>Bibles just have it plain wrong."
>
>- Donovan Arnold (August 23, 2005)
>
>
>
>_____________________________________________________
>  List services made available by First Step Internet,
>  serving the communities of the Palouse since 1994.  
>                http://www.fsr.net                      
>           mailto:Vision2020 at moscow.com
>ØØØØØØØØØØØØØØØØØØØØØØØØØØØØØØØØØØØØØØØØØØØØØØØØØØØØØ


-- 
Thanks,
s


         * * * * * * * *
         Sean Michael
         .dwg


"the climbs are life"