From Anonymous:
Dear Liberal Preacher,
I am a young college student who is questioning their sexual orientation. My question is what does the bible say about being gay? I have always heard it is wrong to be gay and I want to know what you are supposed to do if you can not be straight?
Thanks
Anonymous
Dear Anonymous College Student:
I am so glad you are in college. You will learn that many things you were previously taught are wrong, including that your sexual orientation is a sin.
I am a liberal Christian. We typically are not certain of much, but I am certain your sexual orientation is not a sin.
I wish I could explain my position in a blog entry but I can’t. I’m writing a book titled The Sex Education of a Baptist Ministry which explains how I became convinced, with not even an ounce of uncertainty, that one’s sexual orientation and gender identity is not a sin.
Now here’s the bad news. In my opinion, there are probably two Bible verses which disapprove of same sex. What they don’t tell you is that many of the verses which are supposedly clear are, in fact, unclear. Either way, parts of the Bible are simply wrong. I know that may be shocking news but I want the chance in the book to convince you such is the case. I also want to convince you that in thinking about God and life and sexual orientation, etc. we (if you are a Christian) need to consider that all sources for our theology are equally valid (experience, reason, church tradition, Bible, science) and are our sources are problematic, including the Bible.
Now I don’t mean to be “smart,” but Dale C. Martin has taught me in Sex and the Single Savior that the Bible does not “say” anything. Put a Bible in the room and be quiet for two or three hours and listen to if you hear any the Bible say any words (literally, now). All that is to say that simply referring to the Bible is not enough. The Bible requires interpretation. Now all interpretations are not possible and not interpretations are equal. The church throughout its history is forced to use more than the Bible. Actually, when you consider Christians disagree about what books should be in the Bible, that we have tons of manuscripts and have to pick which ones to use, and when you consider many other factors – well, it’s really just more complicated than many Christians want to be honest about. Regardless of what I just wrote, for starters I would encourage you to read the Bible and start highlighting all the horrible things in it. Buy Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer’s book Jesus Against Christianity. Read the first 100 pages and then check back with me.
Sorry for the delay in responding to your very important question. I’ve been in intense pain the last five weeks and am recovering from gallbladder surgery. (Sorry for not having a drawing at the end of the post. Just not up to it yet.)
You need to recover from the untruths the church has taught you.
Now here’s a prayer for your healing. Here are the lyrics of Easy To Be Me (Lifehouse).
“Easier To Be”
Lifehouse
Chasing fireflies
Elusive dreams
This pre life crisis
Is killing me
Beautiful tragedy
Who I was wasn’t me
Yeah yeah
Do do do do
You make it easier to be
Easier to be me
It’s hard to believe
You make it easy…
We speak in silence
Words can’t break
It feels like we are
Falling awake
In a place and a time
Of our own
Yeah yeah
Do do do do
You make it easier to be
Easier to be me
Hard to believe
It felt like the world
Fell from my feet
Gave up on myself
You didn’t give up on me
Let myself go
You were still there
Like coming home
Coming up for air
Yeah yeah
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