Kim Davis
Kim Davis was holding fast to her beliefs. Good for her. I’m proud of her. I think that if you believe in something you should stick to it. Unfortunately, you also need to think about your job choices. If you don’t belief in violence, you probably shouldn’t be a Navy Seal. Kim Davis should have known that gay marriage was going to be the law of the land. I could see the writing on the wall. Why couldn’t she? She should have had a plan. Her plan shouldn’t be to defy the law of the land. Instead, she should have held a press conference and stated her beliefs and then resigned.
Look, this isn’t an attack on Christianity. It simply isn’t. This is an attack on someone who has decided to defy the law. If you break the law you go to jail. Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee said, “Kim Davis in federal custody removes all doubts about the criminalization of Christianity in this country.” This is simply wrong. The statement is wrong. I’m a Christian and I don’t feel under attack.
When you sit back and look at the Bible, I mean really study the Bible, Jesus is telling us to take care of the poor. He is telling us to love our neighbors. He is telling us to love and obey God. If you read the Bible and think one of the most important tenets of Jesus’ teachings has to do with gay marriage, you have read the Bible incorrectly. Read it again. There are at most four or five passages that may have something to do with gay marriage or homosexuality. (Personally, I don’t think that any of those passages have squat to do with homosexuality. I think that the passages have to do with obeying God.) If you are Christian then you believe that Jesus came to earth to clarify the Old Testament. When you look at the red words… the words of Jesus, what did he say about homosexuality? Nothing. Zero. Zip. Nada. I rest my case.
Ms. Davis needs to resign. She has become a hero to the Right. She can join Sarah Palin on the lecture circuit.
Of course the teachings of Christ have nothing to do with
gay marriage because “gay marriage” is not marriage according to Christian
teaching and tradition. Marriage in Jewish and Christian traditions has always
been conceived as a gendered institution of a man and a woman(Genesis 1:27; Matthew
19:4-10) as taught by Jesus. BTW,
marriage was also considered a gendered institution for Hindus, Muslims,
Buddhist, Romans, Greek, Enlightenment thinkers, Lincoln, Ghandi, Roosevelt
etc.
Jesus’ expectation for marriage was more strict (monogamy
and no divorce) than the Jews of that time (Matthew 5:32) who allowed for
divorce and polygamy. Christ wasn’t only preaching obedience but also purity of
heart and mind {Matthew 5:32), a standard more demanding than the Old Testament.
“Real words” If you mean to say that Christ never said a
word about “homosexuality” or “homosexuals,” then you are 100% correct. These
are 19th century neologisms which have not been introduce into the
Bible. Christ didn’t talk about same sex behavior either.
Jesus left a Church, not a book. He said nothing to change the interpretation of
same sex behavior in the Old Testament and other writers in the New Testament repeat
the judgment of the Old Testament (Romans 1:24; 1Cor1: 10).
Finally, for 2000 years the orthodox teachings of the Roman
Catholic, Protestant Churches and Orthodox have always accepted these passages
as referring to same sex behaviors. Of course, a biblical autodidact and a lover
of ancient Hebrew and Greek languages as well as the history of early Christian
communities may find the truth missed or hidden by these traditional churches.
TBow All true.
TBow I’m sorry. Real words is supposed to be red words.
Look we have made may errors over 2000 years. We thought that owning other human beings was a good idea for thousands of years. Now, I think that we generally believe that it is wrong. I don’t buy the because we have always believed this or always done this is a good argument.
I do believe that folks in the time of Jesus really didn’t spend a lot of time thinking about homosexuality. It wasn’t a big deal in ancient times. (Yes, it was a deal for the Greeks but no other cultures.) So, it is no wonder that the Bible is mostly silent on homosexuality.
The question isn’t whether or not we should believe this or that. The question is whether we should as a nation discriminate against a group of people? Kim Davis can believe whatever she wants to believe, it is her right. As a nation, I think that we have made the right decision.
ecthompsonmd TBow
ECT: Look we have made may errors over 2000 years. We
thought that owning other human beings was a good idea for thousands of years.
Now, I think that we generally believe
that it is wrong. I don’t buy the because we have always believed this or
always done this is a good argument.
Modern people tend to assume that
our ancestors had no problems with slavery. I’m not sure who “we” are. I don’t
think that slaves thought that owning people was good. Slavery was accepted
(fallen world) but never proclaimed as good by Jews or orthodox Christian
authorities or the Bible. The Book of Exodus may have been the greatest
inspiration for the Abolition movement. Soon after the slave trade began in the
West, several Popes condemned the reintroduction of slavery which had been
extinguished in Western Europe during the Middle Ages.
Anyway, I am not arguing that
“because we have always believed this or …” I mentioned several authorities because
your argument seems to stand on just your novel interpretation of scripture.
ecthompsonmd TBow
ECT: Look we have made may errors over 2000 years. We
thought that owning other human beings was a good idea for thousands of years.
Now, I think that we generally believe
that it is wrong. I don’t buy the because we have always believed this or
always done this is a good argument.
Modern people tend to assume that
our ancestors had no problems with slavery. I’m not sure who “we” are. I don’t
think that slaves thought that owning people was good. There were slave rebellions in ancient times. Slavery was accepted
(fallen world) but never proclaimed as good by Jews or orthodox Christian
authorities or the Bible. The Book of Exodus may have been the greatest
inspiration for the Abolition movement. Soon after the slave trade began in the
West, several Popes condemned the reintroduction of slavery which had been
extinguished in Western Europe during the Middle Ages.
Anyway, I am not arguing that
“because we have always believed this or …” I mentioned several authorities because
your argument seems to stand on just your novel interpretation of scripture.