Christians, homophobia and trying hard to follow Jesus

[magus_69]

Christians, homophobia and trying hard to follow Jesus

By David Pocock ABC Religion and Ethics 2 Dec 2011

In the lead up to the World Cup I was pursued by the Bible Society to be part of a project that brought together international sporting personalities to write about their faith to be included in a publication of the Bible.To be honest, I

Comments

[romp]

What a good guy. He certainly seems to have his values nailed down, more than many people twice his age, especially those who are spoon-fed their beliefs by whomever is standing in front of them.

[cyranothe2nd]

I think it's a bit disingenuous to act like the Bible has nothing to say about homosexuality. True, Jesus never talked about it. But Paul certainly did. I have no problem with this guy's ability to compartmentalize or maintain cognitive dissonance or whatever. But he shouldn't act like its absolutely crazy when xians take the Bible seriously.

[365reasonswhy]

IA, but maybe he's of the school that believes Paul was only speaking of prostitution and orgies in Corinth instead of monogamous relationships?

[etherealtsuki]

There are Christians who don't take every word literally and realize it had made sense in the time that it was written. The verse in question Paul talks about is usually mistranslated or used out of context. At the time, there were people who did have sex for reasons like worship and idolatry (that verse, was pertaining to a temple that made people have sex as a way to worship their god).

[cyranothe2nd]

Yes, I know that. But I also understand why fundigelicals reject that reading of the Bible and take a literalist view (on those verses at least...) because it does gel with other verses in the OT and Paul's rather proscriptive views on sex in general. Also, it gels with the verses in Romans, that also condemn homosexuality. It does make sense in their paradigm, which is my point.

That said, I think taking the Bible seriously is about as strange as taking the Illiad seriously. Sure, both have some beautiful and inspirational passages. Both also have some ugly, small-minded and violent passages. I love Glaucus' speech to Diomedes, but I don't base my life on it. *shrug*

[365reasonswhy]

This is beautifully written. But he got one thing wrong. I don't think Tony Campolo supports gay marriage, last time I heard him speak, he supported civil unions, but not actual marriage. His wife Peggy supports gay marriage though.