Editor:
Thank you for [Candace Chellew’s article] A Seal Upon My Heart. This describes my relationship with my life partner and it helps to validate my belief that it is LOVE that matters. Love is the panacea of life for Love is God. I would love to see this written piece sent to our president and placed in all of the major news papers in this country.
I believe if Christians truly have the love of God in their hearts, there would not be a “war” on same-sex unions or marriages. I believe if all of the biblical scholars were honest about the Word and not serving their own agendas, this country would truly be the “land of the free and the home of the brave.” Instead we are still fighting social injustices that bind and imprison certain communities and fear and personal opinion drive our politicians to make laws of more bondage.
I get discouraged when I think about the state of the union where social injustices are concerned. My partner and I do not feel free to be who we are. We are still in the process of evolution to freedom. Please pray for us that God will continue to provide peace and assurance of our unconditional love and His plan for our lives.
fac
Editor:
I wanted to take the opportunity to write to you, thanking you for posting such a well-written and well-researched Web site. It is evident you and your staff have taken great effort in clearly communicating your views and your interpretations of Biblical passages. Please extend my thanks and congratulations to those responsible.
I am a conservative heterosexual Christian. I guess that would make me “the enemy”? Perhaps to many of your readership, at least. However, in any debate, there are two sides and each must respect the right of the other not only to state their opinion but to vigorously defend it. I would certainly give you the recognition and acknowledgement that you have done just that. I do find, however, too many “it seems” and “suggests” in many of your interpretations of Biblical passages to change my mind (I’m sure you could say the same of my views). Such is the nature of the debate, I suppose. I would agree that Jesus never spoke directly against homosexuality, but then again, He never spoke against cocaine abuse, speeding or Internet taxation. I suppose someone could validly ask how an omniscient God could miss those things…but then again, the Bible is largely a book of Grace, not law, and in coming to be among us, Jesus did not replace the Law, but fulfilled it. The debate has raged for centuries and will continue to do so, well after I’m dead and gone.
I believe homosexuals have been unfairly stereotyped by the media and by the Conservative right. The media focuses on the extreme fringe of gay and lesbian life, largely because that draws in the viewers. The same could also be said of their view of the Conservative Christians – we’re unfailingly painted as Bible-thumping street preachers. We’re not, and homosexuals are not all leather ‘n’ chains, codpiece wearing, spiked-hair-and-dog-collar wearers, either. Neither characterization is terribly accurate and I would suggest the homosexual community has suffered greatly because of this, far more than the conservative right. I believe the VAST majority of homosexuals are law-abiding citizens, wage earners, tax payers. I’ve worked with many gays and lesbians in my professional career and only ONE was anything approaching that stereotypical characterization – and she was one of my very best employees. Yet the mainstream media continually paints your community unfairly based on the sensational lives of those at the bleeding razor’s edge. I believe that image unfairly polarizes the opinion of the conservative right, also.
I believe the Age of Tolerance is ebbing in the United States. As the pendulum of our society swings away from the left (nudged there during the 1960s and 1970s) and toward the right, moral stands will be made and lines will be drawn in the legislative sand. America will go too far and the groundswell of popular opinion will again swing left. It is a cyclical thing, I’m sure you would agree. Consistent in the cycle, though, will always be the differing view points, the Rule of Law vs. the Will of the People, etc. On both sides, we can find or manufacture sufficient evidence to justify our positions. Common ground will be found, but the agenda of the extreme will inevitably rule the day. Perhaps with time those positions will soften. But one side will always be suspicious and wary of the other.
Thank you for taking the time to put together such an informative site and for reading my email. I bear no animus to you or to your readership; I prefer to live under the Grace that Christ embodied while He was here and in to abide in loving kindness the Holy Spirit makes possible. But even Christians disagree on some points, and on this one, we’ll find ourselves debating from opposites sides of the table. In that, my prayer is that the debate will remain civil and it would be our viewpoints – and not each other – that we dispute.
In Him, Dave
Editor:
I am in a relationship with a Baptist woman, born and raised in the church. After reading [Alden Möller’s] The God I Came To Know, I found it very interesting and enjoy it very much. I am out and she is not but were are working on that part what we do share is the spiritual part, which has brought us closer together.
Thank you for the article.
Mel
Editor:
I consider myself a “liberal” Christian, if there is such a thing in the context. But my best wishes to you on dealing with the issue of homosexuality and Christianity. I’m a married heterosexual male, 28, and have always had Christ in my life; even during my dark years. And I’m glad to see that people are coming out and challenging people to read “into” their Bible, not just take it at face value. Especially the article on The Bible and Homosexuality.
I have an older sister who is gay and she has a open, kind heart. I could never think of God as punishing her for something more than likely out of her hands. And I especially appreciate the Greek and Hebrew definitions of words thrown around in the scriptures that people have taken for granted about Sodom and its destruction, etc.
Thank you, Scott