Jesus may have been a rabble-rouser, but no doubt he’d wag a holy finger at the hoodlums who tagged Jesus Metropolitan Community Church‘s pro-gay billboard. According to bilerico, the pious progressive teamed up with Faith in Action to place a number of billboards and yard signs proclaimed Jesus’ equally progressive politics. Not surprisingly, some people objected to the so-called son of God’s posthumous politics.
JMCC’s senior pastor, Reverend Jeff Mineer, refuses to give up the good Good Book fight:
There appears to be some kind of organized effort to suppress our message of hope. But that will only reinforce our determination to go forward. For too long, religious extremists have distorted what the Bible really says about homosexuality. We’re taking the Bible back, and religious extremists aren’t happy about it.
Homie ain’t playin’.
Via Joe. My. God.
How about we take this to the next level?
Our newsletter is like a refreshing cocktail (or mocktail) of LGBTQ+ entertainment and pop culture, served up with a side of eye-candy.
(PS: Can any of you cultural warriors cite the headline’s reference? Here’s an inspirational hint: think Big.)
adamblast
That’s way too easy a hint, dude! 🙂
Dawster
Actually, the vandals have a point. Matthew 8:5-13 refers to Jesus healing a centurion’s servant, that’s it. It COULD have involved a possible homosexual relationship, but at best it would have been a owner/slave relationship… hardly “acceptable†by gay or straight couples in this modern day. Chances are, however… it was a typical ‘man servant’, or a valet of sorts – something that every centurion had (with no sex involved).
SO, most researchers agree there simply isn’t enough information given in these scriptures to assume that Jesus accepted gay marriage. To jump to that conclusion is spiritually irresponsible and equally disillusioning as the bible waving freaks of the Christian Right. There are many GOOD biblical arguments for gay marriage (just ask Jay Baaker). This wasn’t one of them.
adamblast
Actually, Dawster, the quality of the theological argument has very little bearing here: it could be airtight and brilliant and such messages would still be defaced and fall on deaf ears.
Personally, I think the Centurian story will eventually be viewed as the billboard suggests. Theology is ever-shifting, in spite of the supposed eternal truths it seeks to explain.
M
The Big Lebowski! Hurrah!
Bil Browning
Thanks for the linkety-love guys! We appreciate the attention.
To answer Dawster, the Greek word that the Roman centurion uses in this passage to describe the sick man – pais – is the same word used in ancient Greek to refer to a same-gender partner.
Dawster
to Bil Browning:
…”pais” is ”son’ or ‘young boy’ or ‘servant boy’… it calls for a male partner of close relation, but not a sexual one. the assumption cannot be made, there is not enough information.
to adamblast:
… the “history will prove me right” defense. very nice. working really well for george bush right now. stick with that.
does anyone realize that we are talking about a man who magically walked on water, healed the sick and raised the dead living in a time when people thought the earth was flat? i mean… really…
David in KC
Is anyone else tired of biblical argument?
adamblast
Way to be dickish, Dawster.
abelincoln
Why would Jesus have anything to say about being gay let alone gay marriage? Don’t forget the entire bible was written by naroowminded pinheads who lived decades after Jesus died and none of the gospels agree on some of the most basic “facts” of Jesus’s supposed life.
Read “Letters to a Christian Nation” by Sam Harris and “The God Delusion” by Richard Dawkins.
Dawster
i’m sorry adamblast! i guess it was a little mean. it popped into my head and i thought it was funny. but that is no excuse for comapring you to george bush.
i didn’t mean to be “dickish”… i apologize.
el polacko
i’m with ‘david in kc’ … i’m sick of people whining about what some passage in some ‘magical book’ means or doesn’t mean. i could not give one shit.
adamblast
Thanks, Dawster, for that. I wasn’t trying to defend the pro-gay interpretation of the Centurion story. I think pro-gay Biblical apologetics is fairly weak. But I think it will eventually rule mainstream Christianity because social change will mandate gradual religious change.
because in spite of what true believers would like
adamblast
Eek. That last partial sentence was a stray, appropo of nothing. I do most of my commenting on discussion boards where you can edit your posts, at least for a while.
poodle
if only this scene was on youtube then i wouldn’t have to imagine gentle jesus consummating a gay loveship.
Zach in Indy
I know a great many of you dont find much use in the the argument that we at JMCC are proposing. But think of it this way.
We are in the middle of a battle. This battle has been raging for the last few decades. The religious right, which it seems most of you have serious opposition, has waged a war against anyone who cares to create a separation of church and state. They wish to create a theocratic nation.
One thing you can not deny is, you can not have a conversation with someone once they take the moral high ground. Their argument no longer has to make sense. Reason is no longer a constraint. You can only have a conversation with them on the same ground that they have declared as their own.
It is from this point that we make our stance. Bottom line is, if Jesus was opposed to gays he would have mentioned it once or twice. The fact that people have dedicated their lives to the eradication of gays and the systematic dismantling of their civil rights has to make reasonable people nuts.
If you have not read the book, The Children are Free, I highly recommend that you do. It goes into much more depth about the other uses of the word Pies in other Greek text of the same time period. Ask yourself. How special must this “servant” been to the centurion to have traveled to see this Jewish profit and ask him, in a crowd of people, to heal him ? He’d have to pretty darned special. Certainly no house boy or stable cleaner. Is it so inconceivable that this Pies, as suggested by other Greek text of the same period, was his male love slave most revered?
spiffy
And here I thought those “lie” graffiti were referring to JMCC using a picture of a Caucasian man to portray Jesus…