The role churches have in matters in how to react to homosexuality and those who might engage in homosexual acts is a matter of discussion in several religious communities, Christian and others. My church and its denomination have gone one way, most go the other but many of them are asking questions. I am sure that many on both sides are praying that they have interpreted correctly and that most of the people of good will on both sides understand the complexity of the matter.
But it seems to me that the question has always been, “Does God really condemn homosexual thought and/or conduct?” and not “Has God changed His/Her mind on this matter?” The first question seems to ask whether two millennia of church thinking might be in error. The second question seems to imply that God has no fixed standards.
But Kermit Rainman of Focus on the Family is quoted as saying, "Gay activists and their allies have made no secret of their strategy to convince Bible-believing Christians and Jews that homosexual behavior is no longer sinful in God’s eyes." [link]
The United Church of Christ says that God is still speaking. Mr. Robinson's seems to be saying that God changes the message on the way. Somehow I would rather discuss the first question than the last.
[There is a third possibiliy that one churchperson mentioned to me a few years ago, which would be to conclude that the Bible does not condemn lesbian sex but does condemn male homosexuality. I don’t know how many scholars or theologians conclude things this way and of course it really is somewhat irrelevant what the numbers would be, but it seems that even if one takes this position that one still cannot how the question is phrased. And I wonder if the thinking isn’t a bit flawed.]
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