Seeker030 posted on his blog and clarified what sort of relationship he had in mind when he wrote the tweet that got me started on this series. I hadn't quite understood what he was getting at, and I have left a comment there, responding to his specific concerns. Please check it out.
As long as we're thinking about Jesus and same-sex couples, there are a couple of further general points I had in mind which I think are worth presenting for consideration.
Jesus must not be thought of apart from the rest of the Bible. The fact that Jesus did not speak directly to a specific topic does not necessarily mean that Christians are free to do whatever they feel like. We cannot ignore what Paul, and John, Peter, and James tell us about how Christians ought to live. We cannot ignore the prophets and wisdom literature of the Old Testament when they tell us how God wants his people to live. After all, Jesus himself, on the road to Emmaus, interpreted the parts of scripture which referred to him for the disciples. Luke 24:27 Christians believe that Jesus is the Word of God (John 1:1) and that the Bible is the Word of God in human language. There can be no real contradiction between them. What this means is that if we find the Bible telling us to do this or not to do that, then that is how God is calling to live, even if Jesus did not speak about it.
Jesus does not always approve what we want. People sometimes say, Jesus would not want me to have the unhappiness which this rule would bring. But Jesus does not promise pleasure or happiness in this life. In the Beatitudes (Matthew 5:3-12), he calls blessed, people who are poor in spirit, who mourn, who are persecuted. Ultimately, their reward will be great, but for now, we are told that we have a cross to carry daily. (Luke 9:23) The line, "How can something that feels so right be wrong?" is sometimes used to assuage guilty consciences in situations of adultery and fornication. We shouldn't let our feelings overcome what we know about right and wrong or invoke an image of a loving God which has been transformed into an image of an indulgent God.
Whatever moral standards exist are for our good, since God did not send Jesus for the purpose of condemning us, but to save us. John 3:17
"Jesus appreciates same-sex couples who are committed to one another in love."
To sum up my feelings on this, I'd say that Jesus certainly appreciates all, including same-sex couples, who are attempting to live a life of love, even if their understanding of what is right or wrong is mistaken on some points. And it certainly doesn't matter whether I think they are mistaken.
My belief is that when it comes to sex, for one thing we are supposed to avoid lust. That is one of the big points in the Theology of the Body, which I have been posting about. But lust is not the same thing as attraction, much less is it the same as affection. So an affection which does not seek to reduce the other to an instrument for one's own sexual gratification is legitimate. And when it comes to action, it seems to me that what is forbidden is only those actions which involve contact with the genitals or which more or less inevitably lead to sexual arousal. I believe that there can be innocent touch including such things as embracing, stroking, cuddling, even light kissing — depending on the "tolerance" of the individuals. Different people probably have different levels of activity in which they can engage without sexual arousal. Within those limits, I see no problem in physical expressions of affection and love. (I know that other Side B people take a more rigorous position either because they believe the pleasure that comes from these forms of touch is so sexual as to be restricted to husband and wife, or because it is too difficult for most me to stop before the touch progresses to more explicitly sexual activity.)
So I agree with Seeker030 in the sense in which he meant his tweet. I wouldn't mind some of that sort of expression of love in my own life.
An der Grabstätte von Kronprinzessin Cecilie
1 week ago
3 comments:
While I don't agree with your discussion of the Old Testament (it requires us to essentially follow the entire Old Testament...after all, where does one draw the line?).
But I like your discussion of the Beattitudes. It is one of my least favorite attitudes the statement There's no guarantee of happiness and pleasure in life, more the opposite. And every excuse to maximize bodily pleasure will like to lead to things that are morally reprehensible by any definition or culture.
However, I think your assumption that "How can something that feels so right be wrong?" is always indicative of a guilty conscience is wrong, particularly in the case of homosexual activity. One of the few things in my life that has ever felt right, both in the physical and moral sense, has been lying naked with my boyfriend. And there was definitely sexual arousal. I might still be inclined to say the line above, though, because OTHERS would state what I do as wrong, and my assertion of "...that feels so right..." is my explanation that what I am doing is morally justifiable in my eyes, and that there is no conviction of immorality.
Of course many people probably have a guilty conscience when they say the aforementioned line, but I think it's worth pointing out that the insinuation doesn't apply to anyone.
Thanks for the thoughtful and candid comment.
Let me begin with a little quibble. I didn't say the line "always" bespeaks a guilty conscience, just that it "sometimes" does. So I think we are basically in agreement on that point.
What I think the line shows is an awareness that there is a question of the morality of some activity. The question may be raised directly by the disapproval of others, or it may come from within. The fact that the question is raised does not mean that the activity is wrong. But neither does the assertion that it "feels so right" answer the question, because, at least some of the time, what is emotionally satisfying can be objectively wrong. It seems that you are using it as a shorthand for a deeper consideration of the issue.
It's certainly not my place to judge the subjective morality of your activity with your boyfriend. That's your job, and you have done it. What I can say is that I am happy to know that you consider questions of morality and that you are satisfied with the rightness of what you do. Even that may not be my business but I care about you.
I should also say a word about the Old Testament. My mention of prophets and wisdom literature was deliberately framed to avoid including the Pentateuch. Certainly the Torah is at the heart of the Scriptures Jesus believed in, but it has to be read in the light of the Sermon on the Mount as well as what St. Paul says about law and grace. My belief is that the passages in Leviticus about homosexual activity need to be applied in the light of the New Testament. On their own, they do not settle the question, IMO. We have to interpret what St. Paul says.
Beyond that, I was too subtly alluding to the point that there is a lot more to morality than sexual morality. The prophets and wisdom literature point much more to the need for justice and charity in our dealings with one another and to the need for recognizing the Lord as our only God.
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