Ten reasons to love LGBT people in light of the Bible

Matthew Vines* article published on the weekly website Time (United States) On June 11, 2014, freely translated by Stefano M.

1. The term "homosexual" it did not exist until 1892. Some modern translations of the Bible say that the “homosexuals” They will not inherit the kingdom of God, but neither the concept, nor the word to indicate people with exclusive attraction for the same sex existed until late nineteenth century. The Bible rejects the lusty conduct between people of the same sex, but this is very different from a condemnation of all homosexual people and relationships.

2. Sexual orientation is a new concept, never treated by the Christian tradition. Many Christians are based on their tradition of faith to give shape to their beliefs, but the concept of sexual orientation is new. Until the last, the sexual conduct between people of the same sex was placed in the same category as the throat and drunkenness: a vice due to excess, to which anyone can be inclined, and not the expression of a sexual orientation. The Christian tradition has never talked about LGBT people and their relationships.

3. Celibacy is a gift, not an imposition. The Bible honors celibacy as a right way of life (Jesus was celibate, after all), but it also makes it clear that celibacy must be a voluntary choice. The claim that all homosexual people remain celibate is in contrast with the teachings of the Bible on celibacy, which are inspired by the fundamental affirmation of the sacred scriptures according to which the physicality of the creation of God is a good thing.

4. The condemnation of relationships between people of the same sex is harmful to the LGBT community. Jesus taught, in the mountain speech, that good trees bring good fruits, while bad trees bring bad fruits. The refusal that the Church opposes towards relationships between people of the same sex has caused terrible and superfluous suffering to the LGBT community, that is, it is a bad fruit. These harmful consequences should make Christians available to review the traditional teaching of the Church.

5. Sodoma and Gomorrahthey constituted a group rape attempt, not a love relationship. It is commonly accepted that God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah taken by anger due to homosexual relationships, but the only form of sexuality between the same sex present in the text is a group rape attempt: nothing to do with love and a committed relationship. The Bible explicitly condemns Sodoma for its arrogance, inhospitable and indifference to the poor, not for the conduct between people of the same sex.

6. The prohibitions of Levitician do not apply to Christians. Levitician condemns the sexual intercourse between two men, but the entire code of laws of the Old Testament has never been applied to Christians, on the basis of Christ's death. The Levitic also condemns the fact of feeding pork, rabbit or crustaceans, of cutting the hair on the sides of the head, of having sex during the menstrual cycle of a woman: all practices that no Christian continues to observe.

7. San Paolo condemns lust between people of the same sex, not love. Like other ancient authors, San Paolo describes the conduct between people of the same sex as the result of excessive sexual desire by people who would be satisfied in a relationship with a woman. He had not foreseen long -term and love relationships between people of the same sex. And while describing the conduct between people of the same sex like "unnatural", he also said that men with long hair were against nature, and most Christians consider this warning as a cultural convention.

8. Marriage is commitment. Marriage often brings procreation with it, but according to the New Testament it is based on something deeper: a commitment with the partner who lasts throughout his life. The marriage is even compared to the relationship of Christ with the Church, and if the language used refers to pairs of opposite sex, the fundamental principles apply in the same way to pairs of the same sex.

9. Human beings are relational. Since the beginning of Genesis, humans have been described as eager to have a relationship, just as God himself is relational. Sexuality is a fundamental part of what it means to be a relational person, and condemn the sexuality of LGBT people definitively nourishes their ability to be related to all people, as well as with God.

10. Christian believers are already welcoming their sisters and LGBT brothers. Some of the main confessions, such as the presbyterian and episcopal church, already order shepherds and priests openly homosexual people, and there are seeds of change even in the [conservatively evangelical churches]. In November [2014] the Reformation Project hosted a preparation conference for 900 LGBT Christians in Washington, the movement for change in conservative churches has just begun.

* Matthew Vines is the author of God and the Gay Christian and is the founder of the Reformation Project, an organization no profit Based on the Bible that tries to reform the teachings of the Church on sexual orientation and gender identity. Follow it on Twitter.

Original text: 10 Reasons God Loves Gay Christians