So is it Christ's church, or Paul's? Chris Byrne asks that question when discussing what the Bible has to say about homosexuality.
If Jesus didn't either preach it himself, or state that it still applied from the old law (for example, he specifically stated that the ten commandments, and the golden rule still applied); then it is NOT part of Christs law.In fact... if they were otherwise moral, Jesus seemed to be OK with gay guys (Matthew 8:5-13, and Luke 7:1-10).
You know what Jesus DID condemn? Hubris, pride, arrogance; particularly the hubris of any man who presumed to know Gods mind so much as to believe he should condemn his fellow man on Gods behalf.
A Christian's spiritual duty to others is not to condemn them for their sins, but to love them as we love ourselves, and to witness to them.
PAUL actually did preach against homosexuality. Paul hated all "sexual unseemliness", "perversion" and "unnatural acts" in fact... Really, it seems he hated all sex but for procreation.
He also preached against associating with immoral people, and unrepentant sinners.
... And when Paul preached against it, he did it as advice for living a moral life, not as relating the word of God.
There is this unfortunate tendency some Christians have, to take the word of Paul, speaking of his own mind, as the word of God.
Paul didn't think much of women either. He's one of the main reasons for so much anti-female rhetoric in Christian writings. Again, the word of Paul, not the word of God.
2 comments:
I think he's treading on thin ice here, on several counts.
The passages he reference have nothing to do with homosexuality or Christ's endorsement of it. They have everything to do with our faith in Christ.
His claim that Paul was a source of anti-female rhetoric is mistaken. Read Paul's words to the Galatians: "For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus." Galatians 3:27-8
And his claim that Paul's epistles were not inspired by God goes against credible scholars, church fathers, Godly men, and my own conscience. Perhaps we should ask ourselves, who is Paul, and who is Chris Byrne? Paul was a well educated Jew, trained under one of the greatest Judaic teachers of all time, Gamaliel, who is recognized even to this day in Judaism. Paul and experienced Christ in person. What are Chris Byrne's credentials?
Christ's own words in Matthew 5 ...
18"For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Law until all is accomplished. 19"Whoever then annuls one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever keeps and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20"For I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.
Ryan,
As Florence Nightingale said, "let each person tell the truth from his own experience.” http://books.google.com/books?id=totpAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA15&lpg=PA15&dq=They+scream+out+at+you+for+sympathy+all+day+long&hl=en#v=onepage&q=iota&f=false
Glad you stopped by. Even gladder I got to talk with you last evening.
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