First up from the God Machine this week is a look at the ongoing fight over women's access to contraception, which had faded from the front pages, but which clearly hasn't gone away.
Sarah Kliff reported yesterday that Ohio's Steubenville University "decided it would end its student health insurance plan rather than comply with the health reform law's mandated coverage of contraceptives," and other schools are likely to follow suit. Lawyers for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops intends to go further, taking their opposition to contraception to court.
The Catholic Church's U.S. hierarchy warned Tuesday that without quick action by Congress, it will sue the Obama administration for mandating that insurance plans provide birth control to women without a co-pay. [...]
The bishops group and its leader, Cardinal Timothy Dolan, have led calls to rescind the mandate but threatened court action Tuesday in light of "approaching regulatory deadlines."
For the record, houses of worship are already exempt from the contraception policy, and the Obama administration approved a compromise so that religiously-affiliated institutions will not have to directly pay for contraception if they don't want to.
But the fight continues anyway. HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius spoke at Georgetown yesterday, where she faced protestors and hecklers, but reminded her audience of John F. Kennedy's remarks in 1960 to Baptist leaders in Houston, and the vision of an America in which "no religious body seeks to impose its will directly or indirectly upon the general populace or the public acts of its officials."
It probably wasn't a message the bishops wanted to hear.
Also from the God Machine this week:
* Radical TV preacher Pat Robertson offered some destructive advice to a viewer this week concerned about a friend's Buddhist statue.
* President Obama's re-election team hired a religious outreach director this week: Michael Wear, who currently serves as executive assistant to the executive director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships.
* And Norway will amend its constitution so that it no longer has an official religion, ending the 1,000-year tradition of its state church. Policymakers made the move to respect the nation's growing pluralism and religious diversity.
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It is people of little faith, who needs government to enforce their doctrine. Government should always say no.
Brilliant NCC. It seems that those who hate government the most use it the most to force their values and beliefs on the rest of us. I think they call that hypocrisy.
Pat Robertson is an idiot and so are those who watch his patheic show. It's all these nut ball fanatical religious zealots that are causing so much chaos in our Country. I am so sick and tired of their intolerance toward others and their hypocrisy. I want them the hell out of government policy and government legislation. We need to start taxing the F**k out of these damned religious churches and organizations and stop giving them a pass because they believe in make believe crap. Honestly they are pushing everyone in this country to do as they do and believe in what they believe. Pat Robertson and people like him are inciting crazy people and uneducated people into doing harm to others, just look at what he said in that video. To break someone else s property for crying out loud. I want the Government and the Church to be far far apart from each other. We are turning into a Theocratic Government and before we know it we will end up fleeing this country just like our founding fathers did from England trying to get away from the Church and their religious laws.
Okay, here's something weird:
I went to the 700 Club site hoping to find more context for Pat Robertson's offensive comment about destroying the Buddha statue -- and there was no context; the clip above contains everything he said on this matter.
But while I was there I found the 700 Club program from May 17, and on that show there was an astonishing segment on the way private prison companies are damaging the criminal justice system by placing profit above people. I know you will find this hard to believe, but at least 90% of that segment, even including Pat Robertson's commentary on it, was something that progressives would strongly endorse.
This is an area where progressives and conservatives agree. For heaven's sake, could we please learn to hold our noses around the stench of the right-wing worldview in order to make genuine political gains in helping improve our prison system?
I urge every reader of this blog to go view that portion of the 700 Club -- it begins about 12 minutes into the May 17 "full episode."
Although I despise Pat Robertson, I have to say, he's right on this issue, and I wish TRMS would do the same -- instead of focusing exclusively on yet another ten seconds of idiocy spewing from his mouth.
I am pretty sure Hitler loved art, music, antiques, fine food and wine etc. But that said, he was a monster. Just because Pat Robertson can speak up for humans at times, it does not excuse the fact that most of the time he is a hate monger and often a liar. The mind is like a parachute. It has to be open to work. His mind is closed and although I really appreciate your desire to find common ground, he would never give up his bully pulpit to compromise with you or any one else.
Hope, to take it a step further, Robertson HAS to do some good or he wouldn't be able to attract any followers, and until he can have followers mandated to him by law, he still has to get them the old fashioned way. Just like any two-legged predator.
So you are calling Pat Robertson a predator. How very on topic of you. Good job of getting that term introduced into the conversation no matter how irrelevant it is to the discussion at hand. Pat Robertson is a proven hate monger and a political money maker who does very little actual good for people. The predator part seems to be something in your heart.
I just love all these people who think their way is the only true way but I would like to know why they are not making sure there is no divorce or unwanted pregnancy in their congregation. Good behavior starts at home and if your home is not in order you have no business trying to reform others. I suppose there is no divorce in the Christian right and all children are wanted, loved and provided for if not by their parents then by the church. Oh yes and then there is Newt, how many divorces has he had? But he has made peace with his God so his divorces are ok. How convenient as Church Lady would say.
Telling ANYONE to commit an act of violence (Break it!) is just not a "Christian" act or thought. When the "so called" leaders of a religion advocates ANY Violence....we ...as "Loving Christians" should be running AWAY from this person! This man is not a true Christians if he advocates Violence......period. Telling someone to break another persons Sacred Item is NOT CHRISTIAN it is just PLAIN WRONG.
Okay. Now I'm confused. I thought the Catholic Church's beef was about Catholic schools or affiliated institutions having to offer birth control in their policies (although many do because they fear not attracting the best talent if they don't).
However, it seems to have now morphed into saying we don't want anyone's plan offering free birth control? Here they were crying about the administration imposing its will/beliefs on the church, but isn't the newest demand tantamount to the church imposing its beliefs on the rest of us?
Saul of Tarsus (later dubbed St. Paul) in some of his letters to the early Christian communities used the following salutation, "let the mind that was in Christ Jesus be in your mind." He also probably said this in person when greeting members of these early communities on his travels. And this salutation probably arose from his encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus, in which Saul of Tarsus was "blinded by the Light," an encounter after which Saul of Tarsus stopped being a guilt-reporting tax collector and became a follower of Jesus.
So, what was this "mind that was in Christ Jesus"? A guilt-obsessed sin-focused mind? A judgmental hate-filled mind? A mind fixated upon owning, having and getting the things of this world, taking maybe even by force? A mind consumed with thoughts of seemingly being separate from all other minds, worrying about one thing or another, never at peace? A mind split into warring factions, for and against, defending and attacking? What exactly was this "mind that was in Christ Jesus" that Saul felt compelled, in words and writing, to convey to all members of the early Christian communities, both men and women alike? The Resurrected Mind?
Aaaah, the clue is in Saul's encounter with Jesus' Mind on the road to Damascus. It was Light. It was Spirit. It was Innocence. It was One. It was Peace. And Saul of Tarsus experienced all these attributes of the Resurrected Mind in his encounter with "the mind that was in Christ Jesus" on the road to Damascus. A wholly Innocent mind only recognizes and sees innocence in all, no guilt, no sin. A wholly Spirit mind overlooks the body and the mistaken belief that The Mind could ever be a body. A mind filled with Light shines away the darkness. A wholly One mind denies completely the idea of duality and separateness. A wholly Peaceful mind does not make war or even think thoughts related to the making of war against anyone over anything. In the wholly Light mind there are no divisions or hierarchies, no cultures or nationalities, no races or even gender identification, only Light, because you see (as Saul saw), the Light is just the Light and nothing but Light. Oh, and the Light mind is eternal Life and unconditional Love, as well as being the totally Forgiving mind.
Therefore, it is understandable why Saul of Tarsus made this salutation such a central part of his message. He had an experience that completely "changed" his mind, so he wanted to share this with everyone he met, spreading the "good news," as it were. (Good News is what Gospel means, btw). Unfortunately, I don't think I have yet heard anyone in any religion, not even in Christianity, ever use Saul's salutation of "let the mind that was in Christ Jesus be in your mind." Why? Saul understood, why don't they?
Oh, I get it. Not having had the transcendental experience Saul had with Jesus' Mind, Jesus' Spirit, on the road to Damascus, almost all of today's religious leaders and even their followers don't know or recognize "the mind that was in Christ Jesus." Thus, they can't share what they believe they don't have to share, because they don't believe in or are unaware of "the mind that was in Christ Jesus" that Saul indicated in his salutation is in ALL of our minds. On the other hand, these religious leaders and their followers believe intimately in the opposite of "the mind that was in Christ Jesus." But this holds true for even those of no religious affiliation, those who believe Jesus was a myth and what he was teaching were quaint sentiments.
Saul of Tarsus knew otherwise, therefore his salutation. And yet, if one looks further into his letters, verses pop up indicating that he let his upbringing and guilt-searching days as a tax collector creep back into his thinking. He even listed the "sinners" of early Christian communities (although I believe a later scribe may have inserted this laundry-list of "sinners" passages into Saul's letters, they're almost verbatim verses, like they were copied from one letter to another. This later scribe couldn't believe, based on their upbringing, that Saul would or could ever forgive these obvious "sinners" in the early Christian communities).
Once again, "the mind that was in Christ Jesus" is totally forgiving, loving, peaceful, joyful, innocent, light-filled and One in the Spirit of Oneness. Hmmm, maybe I'll send an email or letter with Saul's salutation to the Catholic bishops here in the U.S. and Pat Robertson and James Dobson and any other "Christian" religious leaders? It couldn't hurt, and maybe it would help remind them to "let the mind that was in Christ Jesus" be in their mind, and bring themselves and everyone else peace.
So, let the mind that was in Christ Jesus be in your mind. Peace.
THE OTHER SIDE
OF MY LOOKING GLASS
One day I passed through my looking glass
and found myself in a great morass
where down is up and up is down
and criminal creeps are bestowed with crowns
Evil is worshiped as holy and great
and the truth of Christ's love is turned into hate
Kindness and joy are put down and mocked
and the way to ascend is deliberately blocked
Those of the light are crushed by oppression
outcast, harassed and beset by depression
Discounted as freaks are the spiritually gifted
while angry, deceitful dark folks are uplifted
On the side I came from truth is not an illusion
and people don't live in distorted confusion
So I planned an escape from this great morass
to get back to that side of my looking glass
But instead of returning to where I came from
I arose to a place where the two sides are one
I discovered a pathway between dark and light
where all at one time there is both day and night
Neither distinction is treated with deference
and heaven and hell have no frame of reference
There's just one direction here that I can find
it's forever and always toward the Divine
Copyright 2010
Oracle- this sounds a lot like the Buddah spirit! Enlightenment, awareness, all the things Buddah taught as well.
Unfortunately Christianity has become a sin and death cult. Too bad.
newsblog ........ correction , The people change, Christanity never changes ,
There are only two religions in the whole world , Christianity and NON-Christianity .
Oh for God's sake Leslie Todd, stop it. You sound like Pat Robertson.
"If there is no God, who pops up the next Kleenex?"
Art Hoppe.
I'd leave Leslie alone. If, like many, she has been trained by the establishment to turn a deaf ear to Jesus Himself, she can't be reached by anyone.
Completely the opposite, of course, of you being brainwashed by political, religious fanatics, speaking of not hearing the truth about Christ.
Leslie Todd. There are 38,000 known denominations of Christianity.
Lets say for the sake of argument that ALL of them preach that if the people in all of the other denominations do not believe in their Church those people all will go to hell.
So that means all 38,000 known denominations of Christianity are all going to hell because each denomination does not believe the same as the other 37,999 Churches.
So maybe people need to get busy worshiping their own way and leave everyone else to do the same thing.
I know it takes all the fun out of the fire and brimstone hatred game and takes ignorance out of the Christianity equation.
But hey there is always the choice to actually live like Jesus would. Wow. What a concept.
The only problem with some people who do not believe is that they sometimes don't work as hard. They are living just for a paycheck or a house. I'm not sure if they're at all concerned about Our Planet. They live to buy the latest toy they want more and more and more. They are never satisfied. They have to be 1st or a close 2nd. They don't recycle. They waste a lot. Imagine there no heaven, it's easy if you try no hell below us above us only sky. Imagine all the people living for the day. You may say I'm a dreamer.
If organized religion was not so profitable, it would have remained a trade like scribing and tailoring. Perhaps we could have avoided centuries of war, torture, lies and guilt. It would have also freed up a bunch of cable channels for something more resembling entertainment.
Belly laughing ! OMG. So funny and so true ! Remember Tammy Faye Baker though ? She was as entertaining as it gets in a pathetic ' reality TV ' kind of way !
Yes, but Tammy Faye actually had a good heart.
Good heart ? Hmmm. Not so sure that stealing millions of dollars from some of the poorest people in America and living the high life until they got caught qualifies her for having a good heart. But you can believe whatever you choose.
Pat Robertson is like so many christians, He is so much unlike CHRIST.
Dan .........you got that right .
When there are religious fanatics that adopt mans doctrine and add their political parties agenda , you will get a very dangerous broode of vipers running the show ,like Jim Jones .
I keep hearing that Christians are dropping out of Church and not staying Christians , thats just not true , they drop out due to the political nature of the Church and their Agenda . The very instance a pastor stops talking about JESUS and starts talking politics he is no longer a pastor , He is now an employee of his party .
Will Pat Robertson just die already? He couldn't possibly be any more despicable.
The true idiots will, like Robertson will be unable to shut up and need to be strongly encouraged to keep spouting drivel. Sooner or later one of them will somehow tell the rednecks that hunting dogs are a leading cause of homosexuality and that Budweiser causes impotence. Given enough time their hookers will out them. If all else fails, Jesus will return and won't be white.
I'm a bit confused. Pat R and the GOP say we are a Christian nation but they are into war and capital punishment and prisons and torture and giving the rich more and the poor less and accumulating a lot of stuff(how many house does Pat own?) I'm confused because, although I am not a Christian, I read somewhere that all these things are the opposite of Jesus' teachings. Can somebody please clarify? Thanks.
I'm going to send Pat a letter about garden gnomes. See what he has to say about those. BTW, what kind of "friend" asks Pat Robertson advice about another friend? I have a feeling Pat has a letter generator on his computer that comes up with stupid questions and he spends a few minutes of his show pretending to have "fans" who write to him because they value his opinion.
ongoing fight over women's access to contraception
Hey maddow, just go to any drug store, grocery store, and buy some condoms!!!!!!!!!!!
And should I have to pay for a woman's birth control pills???
Remember back in the 60's oh wait you not old enough for that, but anyway when the pill came in the lates 50's, it became one of the poster child for the woman's movement in the 60's.
It was considered to be a "liberator" for woman's rights.
"Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity." Anonymous
"Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former."
-Albert Einstein
"Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and consciencious stupidity."
-Martin Luther King, Jr.
One Word Liberal: Constitution.
Stop trying to re-write it.
http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2011/07/25/278811/lee-admits-he-is-an-extortionist/
Conservative Mike Lee ( R-UTAH ): I Want America's 'House To Come Down' Unless Congress Votes To Rewrite Constitution :
In an interview on MSNBC's Hardball Monday evening, tenther Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) admitted that he is using the threat of a catastrophic default to extort the nation into rewriting the Constitution to force a permanent era of conservative governance:
. . . MATTHEWS: Okay, in ten days you want to change the United States Constitution by two-thirds vote in both houses? That's what you're demanding.
LEE: Yes. If possible we can't change the Constitution just in Congress but we can submit it to the states. Let the states fight it out . . .
And who is rewriting the Constitution Stupido ?
No comment ? The truth is really scary for you I know but for once could someone like you just say ' oh ... I guess I was wrong ? "
Please don't feed the trolls.
But it is such good practice articulating the real deal though. LOL.
The Constitution is not that old. There are other documents that are older and wiser. To each his own, just remember Bear Arms means to show strength, and this can be easily accomplished without the use of guns. Guns are for cowards.
Ummm. I believe the discussion in this part of the thread is about Liberals or Conservatives rewriting the Constitution. Not sure where the notion about the Constitution not being very old and the definition of arms fits into that conversation. But I agree with you about guns that are used for violence and not for protection or hunting. It is tragic that they were ever invented in the first place and used for war and street crime.
Stupidita The 1st Amendment protects your right to spout your drivel as well as protecting us from having your religion legislated on us. The 14th Amendment offers every citizen equal protection under the law. That may be unacceptable to you but it is the law of the land.
Robert Burns:
"A fig for those by laws protected,
Liberty's a glorious feast.
Courts for coward were erected,
Churches built to please the priest."
Amen....and have a nice day.
Well, I am going to explore another new church today, this ones' minister used to be a catholic priest who I felt was full of the holy spirit. He gave a sermon at my son's funeral which spoke to my heart. So, I am praying that the spirit hasn't left him. He was accused of things but, never prosecuted. We'll see. God bless all. Peace out.
Well thank goodness that case was not that he wasn't even accused because how could people make up a bunch of slander and lies as an act of revenge in that case ? Oh, wait. People do that all the time anyway Praise The Lord.
I don't understand what you're trying to say. I am reading a story written by this man, it is his auto-biography. It is very insightful, sometimes I do not pay attention to the news, I pay a lot of attention to what a person is trying to say especially when they speak from the heart. Noone should take lightly anything someone says. There is still so much to learn. I'm trying really hard to interpret animal spirits. I just hope My Native American friends have not left anything of great importance out in their findings. If so, I will have to find out using my intuition and with the help of my new found friends I hope to be at least able to understand what they are telling me. I think if I were able to hear more of their voices I would be able to interpret them, almost there. I have no idea whats' next. Except I haven't seen the moon in about a week stars are moving, all the eclipses have occured and I don't like staying inside.
I heard a food show contestant say "look what happened to Eve" yesterday and I had to wretch... That has to be the most boring and ludicrous bit of "creationism" ever manufactured by men and yet, there it was (again...) on television.. Couldn't anyone conjure something less banal (aka, mentally retarded) than the original sin blamed on the woman fable? Man-made indeed, and pathetically so. A tired analogy for the ages to embrace? Really? This is your all powerful gawd we're talking about?
Are you sure it wasn't Eve saying that to Adam, and in turn Adam has always resented that. Sunshine has been proven to help grow plants more than the moon does. Adam was the patient one he decided a long time ago that time doesn't matter, however long it takes Adam will find Eve and he will take his time doing just that. He likes to play hard to get sometimes. Eve knows for sure that love always conquers fear. Adam still has to learn how to do that. Eve is stronger than Adam not neccessarily physically, but emotionally and mentally. She has evolved a little sooner than Adam. So, now she is being patient.
Oh wow. Side splitting humor.
Too bad Obama doesn't do what's right and do away with the unconstitutional White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. If I remember correctly he promised to dissolve it if he were elected. I hope this doesn't mean we can't trust politicians!
Hopefully people will eventually follow the advice of the American founder and Deist Thomas Paine. In his important thought provoking book The Age of Reason, The Complete Edition he called for a revolution in religion based on our God-given reason and Deism.
Progress! Bob Johnson
www.deism.com
more sewage being spewed from maddox friends and lovers. Robertson spoke correctly. The problem in America is not the real Christians, but those who want lawlessness and Immorality, all in the name of "rights". America is doomed.
Pastor,
Here is your chance to "convert" some of us heathens! Why don't you explain to us what a "real Christian" is? I know you are against homosexuality and since you consider yourself a Christian, exactly what did Jesus say about homosexuality?
I would not waste my time on anyone who only desires to debate scripture, and not live by it. It is not my job to "convert" anyone, as I cannot anyway. I can show someone the way, but they must desire it...obviously you don't. When you sincerely desire truth, post me.
Sigh, another "Christian" who doesn't believe in Christ!!! What was it Christ said? "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but the sinners, to repentance." Sooooo you can only minister to those who are already "saved"??
The reason I asked about what Jesus said about homosexuality is that he said NOTHING about it. Don't you find that odd? Doesn't that tell you something? Jesus had so much to say yet he didn't mention homosexuals at all? It wasn't as if there WERE no homosexuals during that time - Plato and Socrates, two famous homosexuals (there were MANY others), lived WELL before Jesus's time!!
I don't know if a God exists, but I do know that the words of Jesus are so beautiful, yet the actions of Christians have NOTHING to do with what Jesus said - which is why I am not a Christian and which is why YOU gave me the response you did!! Don't you ever wonder if you are actually worshiping the anti-Christ??? I'd think about that if I were you!!
You're the one spewing sewage buddy! Scripture written by men for not so intelligent men, like yourself!
The scripture was written as an account of History dating back to the beginning of time. There is a phenemenon known as total recall, they've made books and movies based on the subject. The fact that this is real never occurs to some people, just like those who rememember things vividly before they were born, like myself.
Millions of people on this planet do not use scripture to measure their world. A spiritual relationship is very personal. You may want to consider that.
I never use scripture. I respect it for what it is a History lesson.. Either Shakespeare is laughing really hard right now or he is crying because he decided to use a lot of parables and metaphors in his writings. I promise you I will find out the connection, but, for now I think he just interpreted it and while so doing he came across the answer he was looking for and then he closed his eyes and was gone.
oncearepublican........Jesus had MUCH to say about homosexuality. I guess you just don't know where to look. Jesus never condoned sin of any kind. Sin was established through the Law. You should stick to things that you actually are qualified to speak about. You are not a Christian because you choose not to be. people are homosexual because they choose to be, it is not a "right"...it is a choice!
No, homosexuality is not a choice. No one would chose to be the object of contempt, hatred, abuse, rape and murder by the likes of you. What is a choice is the stupid that you wallow in.
sorry Monk, peddle your trash elsewhere. I have never done any of the things you mention (Thanks be to God). Of Course Homosexuality is a Choice.....always has been, I see you have bought into the deception.
Where did you get the idea that you are in a position to give me orders? You have no authority over me and I will do what I will where I will, and there's sod-all you can do about it.
Yes, you have. You may not have raped or murdered anyone, but you are contemptuous and hateful. At a minimum you are abusing civility. And you are intolerably self-righteous. Don't expect any help when you choke on that camel you're about to swallow.
pastor65, Do you think eunuchs that some are born eunuchs and some are made eunuchs of men and some make themselves eunuchs? Some are born from their mother's womb a eunuch, did not choose to be so.
I do.
Based on Jesus' statement in Matthew 19:12, many people believe that the first category of eunuchs Jesus mentioned includes gay men.
I have been chastised before for saying that which I read before, I also do not give you any authority over me, Mr. pastor.
You are my idol. I thought of referencing that very same passage and glossing it as a full-on biblical endorsement of one "deviant" kind of sexuality. That is, asexuality. But you are braver than I am. But now that you've opened a breach, I'll jump in, too.
The Roman Catholic church would cite that passage for support of clerical celibacy, but that is clearly not what it's about. In support of that assertion, I would bring in Matthew 22:23-33, in which a group of Sadducees quiz Jesus about marriage and resurrection. The important part, for this discussion, is v. 30: "[I]n the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven." So what's in view here isn't celibacy--remaining (allegedly) chaste by choice and commitment--but instead asexuality as a state of being, just as hetero- and homosexuality are. Angels are not sexual beings, resurrected humans will not be sexual beings, and some people are born already asexual
So, there you have it. There is one indisputable example of being queer in the Bible, and it's a positive example.
(As an aside, I don't believe that there is anything in the Bible that really addresses the matter of homosexuality as that would be extremely anachronistic, although there are obviously things in there that people today mistake for belonging to that category.)
As a reader of what was written, I felt immediately it was me that was being written about.
11 But he said unto them, All men cannot receive this saying, save they to whom it is given.
12 For there are some eunuchs, which were so born from their mother's womb: and there are some eunuchs, which were made eunuchs of men: and there be eunuchs, which have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven's sake. He that is able to receive it, let him receive it.
This fits many different things that nullifies "choosing". Eunuchs being born eunuchs as a parable deserves being pondered further. Yes, it could mean celibacy in priesthood. Asexuality is also a natural state. The site GayChristian101 has quite a large amount of translations of documents in various languages to aid better understanding of what was actually being said, as it fit to the time when it was written. The sin of Sodom is well known to be inhospitality and the act of idolatry and sexual predators.
"As I live, saith the LORD GOD, Sodom thy sister hath not done, she nor her daughters, as thou hast done, thou and thy daughters. Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom,
2.f
3.abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters,
4. [Inhospitality] neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy. And they were
5. haughty, and
6. committed abomination before me: therefore I took them away as I saw good." -Ezekiel 16:48-50
Man lying with man as a woman would be mistranslation of something that is more akin to adultery or fornication.
New Testament Sodom and Gomorrah says inhospitality is what will lead to the curse of a city that does not receive apostles:
"Verily I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of judgement, than for that city" [which will not receive you]. Matthew 10:15.
I know one thing, I struggled with this and when I read the eunuch passage, (especially helpful was being in red letters) it really spoke to me. I kept going back to it.
I had a hunch you might be on the same page with me, given your other writings about historical scripture.
I can see that 'eunuch' could be given a broader meaning than simply the technical. I mean, I seriously doubt that a male child being born without testicles is really what's in view. It's meaning here is broader, more abstract, and was written down long before our modern categories of sexuality. The word 'born' is probably more important than the word 'eunuch', so on reflection I was probably being overly pedantic in restricting the meaning to only asexuality.
Still, clearly we're on the same page: the Bible (or at least Jesus) doesn't insist that we all must be heteronormal.
pastor65 seems to be steering well clear, the coward.
Pastor 65 is probably a hit and run.
I do think a eunuch, when used as "born eunuchs" is a term to encompass many things besides the other 2 "types". It is especially important to all the LGBTQ folks that feel unnatural to marry someone they are "supposed to" marry. Remaining miserable to hate God that they are told hates them, The context is marriage. There was the case of accepting these eunuchs would not be marrying traditionally and it would seem to leave it to the person to receive. I do not think it was meant that a person should be alone, as in Adam was alone.
Then we can go back to read about Ruth and Naomi being devoted to each other. Ruth clung to Naomi as Adam clung to Eve. Same word used explained better here: http://web.archive.org/web/20080201125111/www.wouldjesusdiscriminate.com/biblical_evidence/ruth_naomi.html
I believe you understand that people do not all fit into the same categories and there are many anomalies of human state of being.
I always hope that someone else may read these things. There are some claiming authority to teach others. I am too unsure to teach others, but I had enough of him saying homosexuality is absolutely a choice. Someone might read themselves and more curiosity about the wording, context and translation to have better understanding of what was actually written. To me, the references to Sodom destruction are falsely called homosexual, when it appears more idolatry rituals, inhospitality and adultery.
Oh, boy, do I understand that people fall into different categories! There are more kinds of people than we have words for.
Maybe pastor65 is/was a hit and run, but he created his Newsvine account months ago and hasn't only commented on this topic. Maybe he just roams around and pops of whenever he sees something that makes him see red (and orange, and yellow, etc.). That would be sad, if true.
This is the difference between fundamentalists and Buddhists: one will resort to destruction, and the other will meditate on the illusion that contains fundamentalists who resort to violence and destruction. Which one would you rather be? "Prince of Peace", my ass!
What year are we talking here?
Zen is all about wisdom and the attainment of enlightenment. View this selection of quotes and proverbs from the philosophies of Zen, Buddhism, and Taoism and from such great teachers such as Lao Tzu, Buddha, Hsi-Tang ,Nan-sen.
http://www.slideshare.net/www.zingoo.blogspot.com/10-best-zen-quotes
Zen Quotes
It is time for Christians to take a vow, such as 'I vow not to do anything or support anyone that promotes evil and hatred in the name of Christ.' If you can not say that it is time to shut up.
I'm a Christian, Mr. Robertson, and you, sir, are a bigoted, idiotic, and dangerous man.