Ellen Grandstanding

[howeird]

Way too many instances of Eleen's video deploring the recent spate of gay teen murders and suicides have been showing up on my friends FB pages.

It is horrible when a teen loses his or her life for any reason. And much worse when the teen is murdered by peers who hate gays enough to kill. And tragic when someone thinks that being outed is something to thrown himself off a bridge for - though I doubt it was more than just the final straw - suicides are rarely over a single issue. Still tragic, though.

But Ellen's video does nothing to help. As an openly gay individual, she will be ignored and maybe even reviled by the people who most need to be reached - the haters.

It is a sad fact that the Bible is crystal clear that homosexuality is a capital crime, and this is taught in all three of the most-practiced religions in America. If you think Jesus was in favor of it, read the book of Matthew, and think again. Jesus says that marriage is between a man and a woman, and it's eternal.
Matthew 19

1 When Jesus had finished saying these things, he left Galilee and went into the region of Judea to the other side of the Jordan.
2 Large crowds followed him, and he healed them there.
3 Some Pharisees came to him to test him. They asked, "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any and every reason?"
4 "Haven't you read," he replied, "that at the beginning the Creator 'made them male and female,'
5 and said, 'For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh'?
6 So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate." 
7 "Why then," they asked, "did Moses command that a man give his wife a certificate of divorce and send her away?" 
8 Jesus replied, "Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because your hearts were hard. But it was not this way from the beginning.
9 I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for marital unfaithfulness, and marries another woman commits adultery." 
10 The disciples said to him, "If this is the situation between a husband and wife, it is better not to marry." 
11 Jesus replied, "Not everyone can accept this word, but only those to whom it has been given.
12 For some are eunuchs because they were born that way; others were made that way by men; and others have renounced marriage[c]because of the kingdom of heaven. The one who can accept this should accept it."

I don't have an answer to the problem of gay bashing. Parents need to play a huge role, I expect teachers already do. But when the basic ideas come from church and synagogue and mosque, it may take a messiah. I don't think Ellen qualifies.

As for teen suicide, self esteem has to come from the inside. The best we can do is be supportive and teach peers to be supportive. Yeah, right, try to get kids to be nice to each other. That will probably take a messiah too.

Comments

[didjiman.livejournal.com]

Are those the passages you refer to? Where does Jesus say that the marriage is only between a man and a woman? Looks like he's just clarifying when a man and woman can divorce.

[howeird]

The way the passage is worded, Jesus did not consider homosexuality as an option.

[didjiman.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure about reading the nuance of Aramaic->Greek->English translation, but I don't get the same interpretation. e.g. he did not use the word "only" or that other form is a sin. He is defining that a proper marriage between a man and a woman becomes a single entity in god's eyes. He does not say a marriage between a man and another man is illegal or something else.

But in the end, it's not my bible, so you guys go wild at it :-)

[howeird]

Not my bible, either, but I had to study it when I was growing up. :-(

It's not a translation issue. It's what Jesus didn't say, because it would never have occurred to him. As a rabbi and preacher campaigning to return Jews to traditional Old Testament practices, he would never have considered same-sex marriages. Homosexuality was a capital offence in his world.

In all the rest of the New Testament he never mentions homosexuality. A modern equivalent would be the fact that in all his speeches, Obama never once mentioned cannibalism. He doesn't have to, we all know he's against it. Well, maybe Newt Gingridge doesn't, but you get what I mean.

[didjiman.livejournal.com]

Point taken that he did not condone it.

OTOH, he didn't mention that Jews should drive cars, eat Chinese food, or watch bad 3-D movies. So may be those should be outlawed too?

[howeird]

For many of the ultra-orthodox, they are.

[didjiman.livejournal.com]

I actually do know that :-) But that's exactly my point - 99.99999999999% of us are not ultra-orthodox Jews or Bible Literalists so why the heck does what some translators wrote about what Matthews might have said regarding a Jewish Rabbi has to do with laws in the modern society?

Yes yes, I know, wars have started with words less than that.

[howeird]

why the heck does what some translators wrote about what Matthews might have said regarding a Jewish Rabbi has to do with laws in the modern society

I have two answers for that. The answer I believe in is: they should have nothing at all to do with each other.

The answer which was pounded into me from grade school is the Old Testament contains the human race's first comprehensive written legal code. There are more than 300 laws in there, from the well-known "Thou shalt not murder" all the way down to a prohibition against eating sea creatures which do not have fins and scales. Most of Europe, and by extension the Americas, based their laws on those when their rulers adopted Christianity. The Holy Roman Empire and its popes had a large hand in enforcing that.

[didjiman.livejournal.com]

Thank god that I am a US citizen of Asian descent :-) Those are your bible, my friend, not mine :-)

Anyhow... this whole discussion is kind of funny because I am looking at a picture of you and Mr. Sulu, a dancing, prancing, gay Japanese American :-)