|
Does the Bible Object More to Homophobia Than to Homosexuality? |
|
The first minute of Rev. LaFountaine's opening statement was not captured on tape.
If we had meore time... Actually, I do a four-hour biblical self-defense workshop. And I would love to come and talk about this in that setting. But fifteen minutes does not allow me time to do justice to the context within the passages. [sound system noise] ... behavior. There are over three hundred passages that talk about heterosexual behavior. I find it very interesting that some folks in our religious communities preoccupy themselves with these six passages, and say that indeed God says "no", gay-lesbian-bisexual people do not have a place at the table. I disagree. The question isn't, "Does God object more to homophobia than to homosexuality?" The reality is, homophobia as I understand it is an unconscious fear, an innate fear around gay-lesbian-bisexual people. A lot of people in the church say, "I'm not afraid of homosexuals, I just don't want them to be homosexual." That indeed is a fear. Homophobia and heterosexism is treating people who are gay-lesbian-bisexual as if they are not, to say there is something wrong with you. And that is not true. The reality is, who we are as gay-lesbian-bisexual people, that is God's good gift to us. And Jeff, I hope that we can do an education series on the Bible instead of a fifteen minute debate on scripture passages. But to begin to look at, what does the Bible really say? What is Genesis 19 really about? Sodom and Gomorrah, what is that passage about? That passage is about homoerotic rape, inhospitality. And Jesus actually refers back to that passage. All other references around the Sodom and Gomorrah story refer to the inhospitality of Sodom and Gomorrah. And Jude 7 talks about angelic nature, they're talking about the raping of angels. Sodom and Gomorrah has been mistranslated throughout the centuries, because of people's homophobia, their internalized feelings around gay-lesbian- bisexual people. The Levitican passages are talking about a Levitican code for the Jewish people. It's interesting, there's over six hundred laws in that Levitican code. And I really challenge people who want to hold up these two references to gay males, to live out every one of those other Levitican codes. In Leviticus 20 there is a reference that says that children who curse their parents should be stoned, and of course we say, we don't do that. Well, we hope that we don't do that. [Wind gust] There's a little wind blowing. [To moderator] Can we stop the time? That's all my bibliography. I brought a bibliography. I guess if you're not coming to it, it's coming to you. [laughter] It's a joke. This is the danger of being outside although it's beautiful. I want to talk about the Romans 1 passage, because that's the only passage that talks about lesbians. And all the other passages it refers to gay males. The Romans 1 passage where people say, that's the crux of natural theology, that indeed what Paul is saying there is that it is wrong for someone to lie with a person of the same sex. Paul's understanding of homosexuality was very much a presupposition which was held with the other Hellenistic Jews around homoerotic actions. First of all, he saw that as a natural desire, that it was natural for people to have a desire for the opposite sex. That when someone chose to be homoerotic, that they were choosing against nature. So Paul did not have an understanding of homosexuality. Actually the word "homosexual" was not even coined until 1869. He believed, like the other Hellenistic Jews, that homoerotic acts were intrinsically lustful, and all who engaged in such actions had insatiable sexual desire. He understood it not in a loving, monogamous relationship, but he understood it as man- boy pederasty, cultic prostitution, and masters over their slaves. He had a very limited view of gay-lesbian-bisexuality. The other thing that informed his belief system was the confusion around sexual identities and roles. In that time it was very patriarchical. The man was the man and he was to be the active partner in sexuality. And so of course, in homoerotic behavior somebody had to be the passive, the feminine. And you may know, or you may not know, in that time period within the patriarchy, we as women were seen as "less than." It was the worst thing to be created a woman. And so anything that would be "woman-like", being a receiver sexually, was seen as negative. The other fear that Paul held was the fear that homoerotic practice could lead to the extinction of the human race. Philo and other philosophers wrongly assumed that same-sex intercourse rendered a man sterile. So this was informing his view. There wasn't an understanding of gay-lesbian-bisexual people. I think only recently, in the last 20, 30, 40 years, people have begun to say this is who gay-lesbian-bisexual people are. How many of you have ever met a homosexual? Raise your hand. OK, a handful. I think the thing that's important to say is that as a Christian woman, I am Christian first. That my allegiance is to Christ. And that I tried for twenty-seven years to be heterosexual. And it wasn't until I dated this man David, who said, when are you going to deal with the fact that you're lesbian? My sin was denying who God created me to be. I repented from that sin and said, yes God, you have created me to be lesbian, and this is your good gift to me. And I can only tell you the positive experience. I am a member in good standing of Denver Presbytery and continue to be affirmed by that group of colleagues. And I think one of things that is important to remember is that those of us who are gay-lesbian-bisexual and who are Christian, particularly people who are Christian, want to be in the church. The irony is the church wants to kick us out. We are already in the church. We have been in the church for centuries, serving the church faithfully. The reality is that the injustice that has been done unto us by bad interpretation, bad translation, by not understanding what the Bible is about. Dr. James Forbes from Riverside Church in New York City, recently said at a conference that we did, is that people often take those six texts and treat them very unbiblically. They don't treat them within the context of what scripture is about. For me what it means to be Christian is to follow Jesus. And I look at what Jesus says in the scriptures, and he talks about loving neighbor as self. Nowhere did he say love neighbor only if they are heterosexual. He says, do not judge lest you be judged. There's a lot of judgement going around. I can speak as a Presbyterian in my own denomination where people will say you're less than, you're sinful. We love you but we hate your sin. That is the biggest judgement and the most violent action I've ever experienced, to be told we love you, but ... Because who we are is God's good gift to us. I think part of the challenge is what is sin. Sin I believe is what goes against our understanding of God's intention for faithful human existence. Jesus and Paul in their day redefined the character of sin. Jesus states it was sinful to touch a leper, yet it appears that not to touch a leper was a sin of omission. To avoid the leper was to go against God's intention for human relationship. Jesus touched the leper, and in so doing sinned, and yet redefined what sin is about. In Paul's day, to eat non-Kosher food was a sin for faithful Jews. And yet for Paul, who continued to see himself as a faithful Jew, even after his call, his conversion, anyone who mandated the eating of Kosher foods, or mandated the observance of circumcision for a Gentile was sinning. You can find that reference in Galatians 2. In conclusion, the challenge is how do we discern the will of God for God's people? I think we discern the will of God by looking at the fruits of the Spirit of gay-lesbian-bisexual people in your congregation, in your community. Are they doing the will of God? Are their works doing righteousness and bringing glory to God? It's interesting, in Acts 5 the Pharisee Gamaliel said, if this is of humankind it's going to fail. He was talking about the apostles of the time. But if this is of God, you are going against God. And I challenge people that are in the churches, that are saying no to gay- lesbian-bisexual people, that you are going against God, by not providing a welcome or hospitality. Saint Augustine said in his writings, Christian Doctrine: "Whoever therefore thinks that he understands the divine scripture or any part of it, so that it does not build the double love of God and of our neighbor, does not understand it at all." When Christ was asked what was the most important commandment, he said to love God with your heart, mind, soul, and strength, and to love neighbor as self. I think that's the challenge that we have in terms of eradicating homophobia, eradicating any sort of injustice that is happening in our churches, that is happening in our synagogues, in our community; saying yes to God. Part of this is getting to know gay-lesbian-bisexual people. Not just knowing them because you see them on TV in a debate. But knowing them personally. I speak a lot with the evangelical community in my denomination, is to say, let's build on common ground. We have a faith in Jesus Christ. What can we learn from each other? How can we be the body of Christ for each other and learn about our different experiences? I have forty-five seconds, is that right? MODERATOR: About a minute. LAURENE: Oh, about a minute. That's a miracle, isn't it? I want to share a quote from Desmond Tutu, archbishop of Cape Town. Desmond Tutu says: "From the hearts of persons that we first accepted as baptized fellow Christians, members together with us all in this body of Jesus Christ, wherein as the result of that baptism there is neither Jew nor Greek, male nor female, free nor slave, there is radical equality." (And he's talking about gay-lesbian-bisexual people.) "And then we spurn them, we shun them. Because we're all caught up in the acknowledged or tacit homophobia and heterosexism. We reject them, we treat them as pariahs, we push them outside the confines of our church communities, and thereby negate the consequences of their baptisms. We make them doubt that they are children of God, and this must be nearly the ultimate blasphemy. We blame them for something that is increasingly clear they can do little about." "Someone has said that if this particular sexual orientation was indeed a matter of personal choice, then gay-lesbian-bisexual people must be the craziest coots around to choose a way of life that exposes them to so much hostility, discrimination, loss and suffering. To say this is akin to saying that a black person voluntarily chooses their complexion and race, that exposes him or her to all kinds of hatred, suffering, disadvantage to be found in a racist society. Such a person would be stark raving mad." "It is only of homosexual persons that we require universal celibacy. Whereas for others we teach that celibacy is a special vocation. We say that sexual orientation is morally a matter of indifference, but what is culpable are homosexual acts. Then we claim that sexuality is a divine gift which when used properly helps us to become more fully human, and akin really to God, as it is this part of our humanity that makes us more gentle and caring, more self giving and concerned for others than we would be without this gift." "Why should we want all homosexual persons not to give expression to their sexuality in loving acts? Why don't we use the same criteria to judge same-sex relationships that we use to judge whether heterosexual relationships are wholesome or not? I am deeply disturbed by these inconsistencies and know that the Lord of the church would not be where his church is in this matter. Can we act quickly to let the gospel imperatives prevail as we remember our baptism and theirs and be thankful." The reality is that we are in the church, we will continue to be in the church, we are faithful people of faith, Christians, Jews, Buddhists. That we will continue to follow God and be who God has created us to be. And that's the good news of the gospel. Thank you. [applause] |