Photo by See-ming Lee
There has been a lot of controversy and pain caused by religious movements who have claimed that God does not approve of homosexuality, or that if someone is a practicing homosexual, they are destined for hell. I am very familiar with this issue, because I struggled with it myself several years ago. I’ve come to really believe that, bottom line, God is Love.
The first thing that needs to be addressed is the verses from the New Testament of the Bible. This is where most of the confusion arises. 1 Corinthians and Romans both contain statements that are often viewed as God’s final law and rule on homosexuality. I could get into the whole analytical aspect of these verses, by dissecting what the words mean in their original language, or what the author, Paul, means, but I don’t feel this is necessary. These books, most importantly, are originally letters that were written to the churches ofCorinthandRome. The first thing to realize is: everything in these books are simply Paul’s opinion. The Bible is not a book that was dropped out of heaven by a God who lives up in the clouds. The inspiration and loving message of the Bible is filtered through the beliefs, customs, and viewpoints of the men and women who wrote its pages. The best way to sort out what is to be taken is truth, and what is not, is to go back to what Jesus said,
“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, You shall love your neighbor as thyself.”
