Red Letters

So my previous post was a bit of a barn burner. I'll admit, I really had my temper up on that one. I'm going to readdress the issues raised previously, but I am going to try to keep it calm. So, in that spirit, we move forward.

I have in my collection of Bibles, scriptural commentaries, and other assorted religious teachings and writings, what is called a "Red Letter" Bible. In this version, all the words of Jesus are printed in red. It's very handy, especially if you want to know if Jesus really said that. Well, all you have to do is look up the verse in question, and if it is in red, then you know. I'm going to throw this in here-I am not a theologian, a Biblical scholar, a preacher, or anything like it. What I have is a Bible, a desire to connect with God, and to understand the truth of God and the expression of God in this world. Occasionally this desire compels me to write things down, and that's what you get here in this blog. Ok...moving on.

So, I got this version of my Bible and I checked, thoroughly, for ANY reference, made by Jesus himself, to homosexuality being a sin or to homosexual marriage, or really anything at all having to do with homosexuality. Would you like to guess what I found?

Yeah, nothing. I did find references to sexual immorality and adultery. Now, for those of you who might be getting ready to jump all over the "sexual immorality" bit, let's consider what that might mean. Sex outside of marriage, maybe? Sex with multiple partners? Pornography? Pederasty? Prostitution? Rape? It's not particularly clear what that is. Left up to my interpretation, I would say that it is sexual behavior that is not part of a loving, committed (consensual) relationship between two people. The sin would be if someone engaged in sexual acts or behavior that was not consensual, not loving, not committed. It would not be because sex in and of itself is immoral, but because the behavior is destructive.

I have said before, but I'll repeat, sin (in my opinion) is that which separates us from God and prevents us from hearing his call in our lives. If we're tearing around having sex all willy-nilly with whoever happens across, we're not focused on God. We're focused on pleasure and we're focused on ourselves. That is sin.

So, what about Leviticus and Genesis? The story of Lot (talk about a messed up guy...but anyway) does not strike me so much as a story about homosexuals themselves as about a group of men who are behaving in a homosexual way without necessarily being homosexual. Refer back to my comments regarding willy-nilly sex. Of course, Lot offers them his virgin daughters to rape instead (where's the outrage regarding that, by the way?) and they refuse, and then they're blinded by the angels.

In Leviticus we have two verses that people just love to quote to "prove" how wrong homosexuality is. Two comments on this.
First, in my handy-dandy red letter Bible, I find it interesting how not one quote from God is in red. Nothing that is attributed to God directly has been outlined. Not even the 10 Commandments. I don't know what the reason for that is, but here, again, are my thoughts. Ever played a game of telephone? You know, where one person says something, and then the message has to travel around the circle to the person who started it and about 99% of the time it has changed so much that it's not even the same message anymore? I wonder if we don't directly attribute God's words to God because part of us knows that we might have gotten some of the message mixed up in translation. So these two quotes, from Leviticus, although attributed to God could possibly be mixed up. They could also be falsely attributed, but I'll not get into that.
Second, we ignore an awful lot of the rules from Leviticus. I mean a LOT. For instance, I myself enjoy shellfish, pork, meat on Fridays, meat and cheese together (helloooo pizza!) and I don't recall ever sequestering myself OR undergoing ritual purification after my monthly time. I also have a tattoo. So yeah, I may not be a homosexual, but I'm already breaking a bunch of laws here.

And the kicker is...I am not one tiny bit concerned about any of them. Ask me why...go on, it's fun. (I'm going to pretend you did.)

I am not concerned because Jesus said this about the law in Matthew 22 37-40: "'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.' This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets."

On these two commandments hang ALL the law and the prophets. If I trust in the saving grace of Jesus Christ, and I strive to love God with everything I have and love my neighbor as myself, then I'm doing alright. I'm not perfect, but I'm doing what I was told as best I can with my flawed human self. I'm not going to worry about what God thinks of my tattoo, or whether I was eating shellfish. I'm also not too worried about my homosexual neighbors. What God thinks of them is between them and God and I have no business interjecting my opinion in there or judging anyone for anything. Not while I myself am so hopelessly flawed and law-breaking.

I do not believe same-sex couples are committing a sin by loving one another or by wanting to declare that love and commitment in a marriage ceremony with their family and friends. I do not believe that their marriages will somehow damage my marriage, or destroy society, or destroy the institution of marriage. I also do not believe that any person's private faith or morality has ANY business determining the legal and civil rights for other people. That's just constitutional.

Equality and love for all. I think God, and Jesus, would approve.