Does that bible tell you so?

Last week, I had the chance to see the documentary ‘For The Bible
Tells Me So’. I left feeling inspired and equipped to have a
powerful argument the next time someone pulls the classic “But
the bible says being gay is wrong……….”
We have to be mindful of when the bible was written—both
culturally and historically speaking. When the bible was written,
populating the earth was a vital concern. So when the bible states
that a man lying with another man is an abomination, we have to be
careful of what we assume this means. The bible isn’t saying that
homosexuality is innately wrong, it is saying that it is wrong when
the main concern for sperm was to make babies. How could we
possibly populate the earth if men were “wasting” their sperm
and not using them to procreate? Okay, I can understand
that—then. But let’s be real, we no longer are in dire need of
more people. Our earth is definitely overpopulated and it is a true
concern, environmentally speaking.

Maybe God should write a new bible that celebrates homosexuality as
a way to deal with our current situation of overpopulation. As
humorous as that sounds, I think that it’s the only way that the
bible thumpers will believe homosexuality is okay. What’s
interesting is that ‘God’ never says ‘homosexuality is
wrong’ in the bible. Homosexuality as a term didn’t exist in
the bible. People who have strong feelings against this way of life
have nitpicked the bible for ‘words’ to support their ideas.
They are words and that is all they are, and the words are taken
out of context. People make this mistake often: the bible may READ
that homosexuality is an abomination but it does not MEAN that it
is an abomination.

After my ex-boyfriend became a fundamentalist, he made it clear
that he did not accept the new lifestyle that my mother adopted
when she came out. This broke my heart so I started researching all
that I could about what the bible really said and really implied
about homosexuality. His only excuse for not being “okay” with
homosexuality was that the bible apparently said it was wrong. This
didn’t settle well with me and I was elated when this documentary
came out—it addressed the major argument that so many people
carelessly use. I now feel confident that the bible does not say
that being gay or lesbian is wrong—it was simply saying that at a
time when populating the earth was a top concern, it was necessary
for men to be with women. But last time I checked, politicians
aren’t selling themselves on “ways to get out of Iraq, health
care, and increasing the population of our world.” Let’s
reevaluate where we are folks and start taking the bible for what
it is.