[USMMA_83]

Strange times.... A misshapen eyebrow and homosexual lifestyle are on par with each other. Strange times indeed. I'm so out-of-step with our culture.

[goldstategop]

A non-judgmental church that's the very epitome of political correctness. One in which that rare God fearing liberal can feel right at home.

(Denny Crane: "Every one should carry a gun strapped to their waist. We need more - not less guns.")

[kb2614]

The ideal church for Mary would be named The First Church of Make Crap Up. Her version of the Bible would be 3 pages long.

[dawn53]

And, yes, I know it’s not exactly the same for gays, as there is some scripture in the Old Testament (though not in Christ’s teachings) that forbids homosexuality.

Guess she never read Romans.

[Mad Dawg]

We no longer make burnt offerings of oxen to the Lord.

Too true. Now people like this author sacrifice not oxen but unborn children. Molech rules! Kewel.!

Of course, this lady is clueless. Like so many liberals she doesn't know that even if there weren't the Pauline writings against homosexual behavior, there would still be millenia of exigesis and interpretation distinguishing ceremonial law from moral law.

But that would invovle actually studying the matter instead of making a living publishing material that would go better in a freshman all night bull session at an undistinguished college.

I was bemused to have my younger borther explianing to me that in his church the "myth" had been abandoned and that the pure teaching of Jesus was what they focussed on. Evidently it escaped his attention that from, say, 35 AD on Who Jesus was and what He Did was considered far more important that what He said. We're just so blessed to have people 1800 years after the event to explain to us that up until they came along nobody else really understood it properly.

[SkyPilot]

And, yes, I know it’s not exactly the same for gays, as there is some scripture in the Old Testament (though not in Christ’s teachings) that forbids homosexuality.

To try to educate this woman - the condemnation of homosexuality is also in the book of Romans, which is New Testament.

Romans 1:26-27 - "Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion."

To put an even finer point on it, the book of 1 Corinthians spell this out:

4) 1 Cor. 6:9-10 - "Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God." Just in case she missed it, here it is again in the book of Timothy (again, New Testament):

1 Tim. 1:9-10 - "We also know that law is made not for the righteous but for lawbreakers and rebels, the ungodly and sinful, the unholy and irreligious; for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers, for adulterers and perverts (perverts is the word for Homosexual offenders), for slave traders and liars and perjurers—and for whatever else is contrary to the sound doctrine"

Moreover, God and Jesus are One. That is Christianity 101. The God of the Old Testament is the God of the New. To say that Christ was some offshoot from God who never "taught" about forbidding homosexuality is supreme ignorance. This woman should read about what Christ taught about sin - all sin, of which homosexuality is sin.

Alas - this is a common straw dog that the left repeats time and time again.

They don't accept Christ, but they like to try to stand behind Him if they think they can manipulate Him.

[xzins]

This woman is ignorant of Christianity.

Were she speaking to a Jewish audience about not eating shrimp, then her words about following the OT dietary laws would make sense.

Those laws, however, were SPECIFICALLY voided by Divine decision for Christians. This is found in the book of Acts, a central text detailing early Church history. It was affirmed by the Council of Jerusalem. The letters of St Paul are chock full of discussion of it in one form or another.

The only way to be ignorant of Acts is if one is totally ignorant of Christianity.

[rockabyebaby]

I'm totally disgusted with this nonsense.......

[rlmorel]

This editorial epitomizes EVERYTHING that is wrong with the liberal way of looking at things. To liberals, nothing is about facts or reality. Everything is about gender, sexual preference, and race. Everything.

[Sybeck1]

It's a social club, not a church.

[George W. Bush]

The concept of the New Covenant in Christ seems to have entirely eluded the writer, despite her negligible disclaimer before launching into her rant against ancient scripture.

I suppose the unchurched and the atheist faction find such ravings relevant. But Christians will be left scratching their heads, wondering what the woman is on about.

[JohnnyZ]

What do I have to do to join the American Episcopal Church?

Isn't that the point? The people who would want to join are the people who would never actually want to participate in a real church.

[Nightrider]

if you visit Slate.com..Faith Based forum....you will find regular debates on the subject of homosexuality/homosexuals and the Bible verses related to such......you will find that all the noted verses above have been conveniently explained away by those espousing that homosexuality is really as 'natural' as heterosexuality.....

for instance: in the new testament, romans, they argue the the translation should have been a word denoting 'male prostitutes' and that paul is condemning heterosexual men going to the temple to use male prostitutes and women going to the temple to use female prostitutes....outside their 'natural' proclivity if they are homosexuals, etc (sarcasm).....as much a stretch this is, this argument is the basis of the various homosexual church teachings....they also argue that the Bible does not condemn homosexuality, per se, only illicit homosexual sexual relations, same as it condemns illicit heterosexual sexual relations.....they claim that when Jesus said "some are born 'eunuchs' means that He knew that some are born homosexuals, some heterosexual...

in leviticus, they claim that the passage pertains to the ritual purity demanded of the israelites by God....

as much as this defies logic, there are those who can make a very detailed debate of this crap (sic)......

as for me and my house, we will worship the Lord....the Holy Spirit spoke to Paul...Christ said that he would send the Holy Spirit, thus Paul's writings are as if Christ Himself was speaking to him, thus, the liberal idiot who wrote the subject of your post basically follows normal liberal behavior: ignore what is inconvenient to absurd points of view..full speed ahead....

the Christians on that Slate forum could use some help as it's about 10-1 anti-christian.....i know, however, i tend to hold my own a little better than most there.......

[Koblenz]

That, for me, encapsulates all the best Christian virtues of tolerance, diversity and acceptance.

I think the Episcopal church and other churches would be more diverse, tolerant and showing acceptance if they admitted a bunch of Jews, Muslims, Hindus and Atheists.

[Aquinasfan]

The priest stands in the place of Christ, who was a man. So having a woman priest, er,... well,... oh nevermind.

[RoadTest]

What you call Christianity is worldly paganism. Jesus came to separate the wicked from the righteous, not "tolerate" or "accept" them.

There's too much Pop-Christianity going around. Go back and read The Book to find out what it's really about. It's not diversity.

[N. Theknow]

And, yes, I know it’s not exactly the same for gays, as there is some scripture in the Old Testament (though not in Christ’s teachings) that forbids homosexuality.

Another asshat who thinks if Christ didn't specifically mention a sin as being a sin, it can't possibly be a sin.

The Gospel according to Clinton. Parse it, twist it, shape it and make the damn thing fit MY lifestyle Christianity.

Christ also didn't mention pedophilia. NAMBLA should start a PR drive on how they are a Christian Society.

[wideminded]

A few years ago I attended a funeral at an Episcopal church of someone I had known my entire life. This church was associated with a well known university. I was surprised that the priest who was now in charge of the church was a woman. I thought that it would seem strange to have a woman presiding over the service but actually there was no problem and it was a fitting memorial service.

Being in this church reminded me of another time I had been there decades earlier. A student who assisted in the church and was also a friend of my family invited me and my siblings to join him while he played music on the church bells on Easter Sunday. We climbed up into the church tower and he assigned us all to certain levers of the carillon. He played all the other ones, some with his feet, and called out to us when our bells were required in the music.

That young man was brilliant and also devoted to the church. Years later I realized that he was gay and so was the family friend whose funeral I later attended.

So it has always been true that some of the people most involved with the church were gay. That never seemed to be a problem because their gayness did not seem to be related to their involvement in the church, except perhaps in how it might be connected to a greater appreciation of liturgical music and art, etc.

The problem I think many people have with gays in the church is not so much their presence; it turns out that they were always there. The thing people object to is the possibility that the church will be turned over to promote gay culture rather than Christianity.

[Juan Medén]

Well, great! They'll gain one member. That will make up for the thousands that are leaving in disgust.

[ZinGirl]

Many thousands of years since Leviticus was written, we live our lives very differently.

My bible doesn't have an expiration date. Hers must have a "sell by 2006" stamped on it somewhere.