I haven't written anything in a while, but I couldn't let this go without responding.

In the matter of homosexuality, the Bible is far from clear at first reading. But when you return to the original languages, and look deeper even just in English, looking for the synergistic Truth that God intended for us to find, a new clarity arises. A clarity that shows that God not only loves homosexuals, but that God looks favorably on our loving relationships: they are part of God's plan too.

I won't go into the full exegesis here, but please go to www.InclusiveOrthodoxy.org and read the Bible study Mr. Cannon has there under the "Homosexuality and the Bible" section, as well as the rest of the site. There, he addresses all of the supposed "anti-gay" passages in the Scriptures and shows that they are not condemning at all. There are further proofs beyond those that he brings up as well. Even past those, are the stories of Jonathan and David, and Ruth and Naomi, wherein God clearly shows his favor upon these two same-sex relationships that, while there is no proof that they were sexual, were intensely romantic, involving embracing, kissing, and a declaration of love and devotion that is still used in some wedding ceremonies to this day. And I have it on the commentary of an expert friend of mine that the Hebrew word used to describe Jonathan and David's embrace is closely related to the word for 'orgasm' (usually stated as "[they embraced...wept] until David exceeded himself").

At the very least, there is no support for condemnation of loving, committed homosexual relationships, and that there is marginal support for them. When you go into the the heart of the gospel stories you find out what to do in such situations.

Jesus is approached by the Jewish scolars of the Law and asked a question designed to make Jesus blaspheme in his answer. They ask him "What is the greatest commandment?" and Jesus answers them. He says "The greatest commandment is this: That you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your mind, with all your soul, and with all your strength. You shall have no other Gods before Him. And the second is like it: that you shall love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets depend upon these two." Loveing God and loving your neighbor are things we can grasp pretty easily (though doing so isn't so easy), but that last bit is the key. The bit about "All the Law and the Prophets depend on these two" is what makes Jesus' answer so powerful, stunning the priests to silence and giving us an insight into the source of God's Word: Jesus' own midrash (Rabbinic interpretation). Paul later explains in Romans "8Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law. 9The commandments, "Do not commit adultery," "Do not murder," "Do not steal," "Do not covet,"[a] and whatever other commandment there may be, are summed up in this one rule: "Love your neighbor as yourself."[b] 10Love does no harm to its neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law."

So what does that mean? Those who have read my rantings on this before know what I'm about to say: Jesus is informing us of what his "fulfillment of the Law" means, in part, and what it means to have the Law written upon our hearts. There is a new, more mature understanding that humanity was brought into by Christ's death and resurection. The old Law, Paul tells us, was a temporary caretaker, a paedogogus, a mentor, until we were ready to grow up. Just like a young child needs lots of rules to keep him safe and to give him a simplistic framework from which to infer real, more complex truths, God raised up God's children with a strict Law, and then when they were beginning to enter a collective "adolescence", God revealed to us a new level of understanding called the Law of Love.

The Law of Love, Jesus clearly says, is behind all the Laws and the sayings of the prophets, the driving force behind every word. Thus, we as receivers of that word, must first know that the point of each and every thought written in the scriptures is Love. If our interpretation of any passage is not loving, it is not a correct interpretation. Looking at Justin Cannon's Bible study, the story of Jonathan and David and that of Ruth and Naomi from a spirit of true love, and you must conclude that God loves gays and loving committed sexual and romantic same-sex relationships.

Even more than that, there is the story of the roman centurion asking Jesus to heal his "beloved slave boy" (a common Greek holdover practice among middle and upper class Romans was to take on a youth as a sexual partner and raise him to be a man), and Jesus not only did not rebuke him for his pedophilia, but healed his beloved boy and sent the Centurion back to his arms. And so we can be assured that, Biblically speaking, even a loving sexual relationship between a man and a boy could be blessed. Our society makes this impossible, of course, because the risk and secrecy that such a relationship would require would itself be hurtful to the boy, but it is, in and of itself, not sinful either.

I get great encouragement when I read these passages, and many others to whom I have shown this to have told me the same, including those who aren't gay. The most learned priests I know agree with me (on the gay part, I'm *not* about to bring up the pedo argument in thei culture!) and have have come to the same conclusion themselves. Some have published papers in the past to the effect, and were rebuffed and ignored, but not disproven, nor even were their arguments contested on even the smallest point. Just ignored and shoved under the "uncomfortable" carpet.

This is the healing message that both the conservative church needs to hear, and the gay community needs to hear. This is the only way the growing gap can be healed and God can be brought more Glory in this age. Without this message, millions will fail to take in The Message of the gospel because of fear and rejection.

Love in Christ,
~CSL