Before we put away the decorations and crèches used in the Christmas and Epiphany celebrations that are taking place around the world, there’s one more episode in the stories surrounding these holidays that’s often glossed over too quickly. Whether any or all of these stories
Read the rest of the series Stories are powerful, but not all stories withstand the test of time -and not all stories should. Think of the story of The Giving Tree by the great Shel Silverstein. At one point in time, it was perfectly okay
If we know one thing about guys in ancient Rome, it’s that they swung both ways. “Roman society almost unanimously assumed that adult males would be capable of, if not interested in, sexual relations with both sexes,” as John Boswell noted back in his 1980
What is a eunuch by birth? A curious, enigmatic, debated, and often dismissed, verse is found in the nineteenth 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
Read the rest of the series The book of Leviticus was written for the people of Israel. It was a law book for them. It was also known as the Holiness Code. Leviticus was not only the book that recorded the law for the people
During the reign of Hezekiah from 726-697 the southern kingdom of Judah was prosperous. Judah had been made a vassal state of Assyria after the Syrio-Ephraimite war in 734-732 and was flourishing under these conditions despite paying heavy tribute to Assyria. Material wealth among the
There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. (Romans 8:1) Well, that seems plain enough. It’s particularly true when you tie it to our main focus passage: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son,
The notorious passages of the so-called Holiness Code in Chapters 18 and 20 of Leviticus have traditionally been used to justify the ill treatment of sexual minorities. On first reading, the text appears to be unequivocal in its condemnation of physical relations between members of
In the book of Acts, [10:10-16] Peter, an apostle of Jesus has a vision: And saw heaven opened, and a certain vessel descending unto him, as it had been a great sheet knit at the four corners, and let down to the earth: Wherein were
Christians and “Disputable Matters” The conservative Christian Church is divided over the question of “Is homosexuality, within the confines of same-sex marriage, a sin?” Even though there have been notable exceptions, the majority of the fundamental churches judge homosexuality to be a sin and gay