“The Bible & Homosexuality: Enough with the Bible Already”

Adam Walker Cleaveland suggests that Christians who use verses like Leviticus 20:13 and Romans 1:26-27 to condemn homosexuality are missing the point.

Darrell Bock on Newsweek’s gay marriage article

Bock, Research Professor of New Testament Greek at Dallas Seminary, issues the first in a series of posts entitled, “Haircuts, Public Homilies, News Magazines, and Gay Marriage: A Look at the Case from Newsweek Issue.”

“I have been interviewed by Lisa [Miller, Newsweek writer] and know her to be a competent reporter on religion. One way to respond to this effort is to simply react at how liberal and “agenda driven” the American media is. But that is too easy a response and skips over the debate that needs to take place.”

Read the full post.

How to report on an evangelical scandal

At GetReligion, Mollie Ziegler breaks down a recent story by Eric Gorski about disgraced pastor Ted Haggard’s new direction in life:

“The reader isn’t directed how to feel but given a lot to think about. That’s journalism.”

Gorski’s AP story can be found here.

Weekend Walkabout: Nov. 21, 2008

[Friends, I'm pressed for time today – please pardon the dearth of posts. May your weekend be a joyful one. You can help it in that direction by making time to seek Him. See you Monday, Lord willing.  - HC]

26 posts from the week that escaped mention (almost!):

• The Addict in Us All, Carolyn McCulley
• Benedict on Monasticism, The Anchoress
• Considering Servant Leadership (parts one, two, three), Jan Lynn
• Dear Church Member, Ragamuffin Soul
• The Empty Promise of Meditation, Al Mohler
• Five by Five, Defending. Contending.
• Great Ideas for churches to make the most of Christmas, what’s next
• Happy 100th Birthday, Irene Peterson!, John Piper
• If not consumerism, what?, Rod Dreher
• Joshua Guthrie: Dollar for a Drink, Alex Harris
• Korea - 14 Days - Questions, Questions, Questions…, John Saddington
• Lately, I’ve Been Rethinking My Position on Gay Marriage, Locusts & Honey
  
• A Mother’s Hope, girl talk
• New Archaeological Evidence for the Old Testament?, Aaron C. Rathburn
  
• Operation 513: In Memory of a Fellow Evangelist, Reformed Evangelist
  
• Puritan Reformed Journal, Vol. 1, Michael Dewalt
  
• Qeiyafa, Looting, and Buried Secrets, Todd Bolen
• The Realism of the Supernatural, Sally Thomas
• Study: Two Thirds of Americans Believe Their Values Not Shared by Hollywood, Sharper Iron
  
• Ten Dollar Blessings and a Lesson in Circles, Billy Coffey
• The Unresolved Tensions of Evangelicalism Part 1: The Biblical Worldview, Michael Spencer
• Videos of the Week - 11/20/08, Collide
• Why I Gave Up ‘Humility’, John Stackhouse
• X-Ray Discovery Sparked 19th-Century DIY Craze, Wired Science
• Your ‘past’ year resolution?, Eugene Cho
• Zondervan Acquires Online Community-Building Resource for Churches, Justin Taylor

Rosebrough on The Voice New Testament

Chris Rosebrough is concerned about The Voice’s handling of 1 Corinthians 6:9 – where traditional versions like the ESV read “men who practice homosexuality,” The Voice uses “sexual deviancy.” You can hear him discuss this on the latest Fighting for the Faith podcast.

(Speaking of this issue, see this post by Tony Jones at Beliefnet, in which he explains – in dialogue with Crunchy Con Rod Dreher – how he arrived at his current stance on gay, lesbian and transgender rights.)

Rosebrough has begun a multi-post series on The Voice here.

eHarmony to offer service to gays, following legal settlement

Reuters story here (HT: Christianity Today liveblog):

“NEW YORK, Nov 19 (Reuters) - Online dating service eHarmony has agreed to create a new website for gays and lesbians as part of a settlement with a gay man in New Jersey, the New Jersey Office of the Attorney General said on Wednesday.”

Church service disrupted by liberal activists

The account is reported at this site, Right Michigan.

“The ‘open minded’ and ‘tolerant’ liberals ran down the aisles and across the pews, hoping against hope to catch a ‘right winger’ on tape daring to push back (none did).  And just in case their camera missed the target, they had a reporter in tow.  According to a source inside the church yesterday there was a ‘journalist’ from the Lansing City Pulse along for the ride, tipped off about the action and more interested in getting a story than in preventing the vandalism, the violence and anti-Christian hatred being spewed by the lefties.”

(HT: K. Daniel Glover)

‘God Hates Signs’ Protest

The man pictured (whose surname is Burnstein — see his Flickr page) is seen here protesting a Westboro Baptist Church protest.

(HT: BHT >> boingboing >> Laughing Squid)

Mohler on gay marriage (update)

The first in a series of posts entitled “What’s Really at Stake in the Gay Marriage Debate” can be found at his blog.

“The pictures in the mind change.  The pictures in books for children change.  Mommy and Daddy give way to Mommy and Mommy, Daddy and Daddy, or any number of variations on the relationship theme.”

Part two is now posted. (update 10/21)

Part three (update 10/24):

“Civilizations are built on careful and necessary distinctions.  As an institution, marriage has been defined throughout history as a heterosexual union.  Marriage is so central to our civilization that its related words have become equally essential.”

Part four is up (update 10/28):

“Despite their massive and contentious collision over this great question, the two opposing sides in this controversy are agreed on one major point — the importance of the issue.”

Christians fasting and praying for an end to gay marriage in CA

… according to a recent L. A. Times story (HT: Mollie Ziegler):

“For more than two weeks, Missy Huff has spent her days in a darkened church classroom, praying all day and into the night and subsisting on a pastel-colored regimen of VitaminWater and Jamba Juice smoothies. But she does not yearn for food. She is too committed, she says, to the cause of traditional marriage. …”

The case of Ray Boltz: is sexual orientation God-ordained?

Last month, contemporary Christian performer Ray Boltz announced that he is gay. John Starke reflects on Boltz’s remarks, that

“It’s not like God made me this way and he’ll send me to hell if I am who he created me to be”

at the CBMW’s Gender Blog:

“Now the questions stands:  Considering the statistical evidence of the genetic determination of desires, would Paul edit Romans 1?”

Mr. POMO goes to NYWC

Pomomusings’ Adam Walker Cleaveland says he will be Twittering his experience at the National Youth Workers Convention in Sacramento, Oct. 10-13.

“I love the stuff YS does and really respect a lot of the people there - but the organization is still coming from a different theological place than I am…so, we’ll see. … The big question is do I bring my political-LGBT-supportive t-shirts…that’s the question.”

Campaign video by Catholic group Fidelis

(HT: God-o-Meter)

The case of Clay Aiken, a gay Southern Baptist

Kris Rasmussen reflects on the way that evangelicals have treated the issue of homosexuality:

As a whole, the modern church has done a terrible job of attempting to tackle this issue. We have spat out a scant few Bible verses to prove we are right and then dismissed the subject entirely–either out of fear or discomfort or both.

Read his post at Idol Chatter.

« Previous Page