What is a eunuch ‘by birth’? A curious, enigmatic, debated, and often dismissed, verse is found in the 19th chapter of the New Testament’s Gospel of Matthew. Some scholars for the past 40 years or so have argued that it includes a reference to men
A tale of the relationship of two women, Ruth and Naomi, is tucked within those books in the Hebrew Bible (the Christian “Old Testament”) that are called historical because they portray a legendary history of a people from its beginnings as a tribe to its
According to what we’re told in the Hebrew Bible (the Christian “Old Testament”), Jonathan, a king’s son, loved a man who would become a more famous king, David — and David in turn loved Jonathan. No matter the actual history behind the story, what we’re
Jesus and homosexuality: A lens It’s common for more progressive Christians to defend LGBTQ+ people by saying that Jesus said nothing about homosexuality. But is that true, if we’re referring to the versions of Jesus that have made it down to us in the collections
People bring their prejudices with them when they come to the Bible. It’s why the most popular of the choices of how to interpret those passages used to clobber LGBTQ+ people is the one that is historically less probable but supports a dominant cultural prejudice.
There are people who just get their jollies by arguing about “What the Scripture says.” It energizes them. They aren’t really interested in hearing the many sides of how people understand those old texts. They just find that being in the argument gives them a
The story that dominates this time of year almost as much as Clement Moore’s A Visit from St. Nicholas is found in two of the New Testament Gospels: Matthew and Luke. Bible scholars today debate how much, if any, of them is historically accurate since
So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them. God said, “See, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit; you shall
What do you think? If a man has one hundred sheep, and one of them goes astray, doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine, go to the mountains, and seek that which has gone astray? (Matthew 18:12) The parable of the Good Shepherd and his care of
Appearing on Piers Morgan’s program on CNN, Thursday, March 28, 2013, Evangelical Christian minister, Franklin Graham, son of renowned minister Billy Graham, explained the reason behind his resolute opposition to marriage for same-sex couples: It’s what God says, Piers. God is the one who defined