Scriptural Views – The Bible and Homosexuality

Yesterday, we were moved by Harvard student Matthew Vines’s careful, well-reasoned, thoughtful video presentation and article on the Huffington Post about the Bible and homosexuality. We are re-posting it here. Matthew speaks from a uniquely conservative and Christian perspective. He has done meticulous research into the theological, linguistic, and cultural issues incumbent upon any serious student of the scriptures and he speaks passionately, persuasively from the viewpoint of a beloved child of God.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ezQjNJUSraY&feature=player_embedded#!

I love God. I also happen to be gay. In a better world, this would be no more interesting or noteworthy to people than loving God and happening to love, say, cheesecake. But of course, we all know that that isn’t the world we live in. And for some reason, a lot of people have a big problem with anyone who believes in God and is gay.  — Matthew Vines

4 comments

  1. Dan says:

    What a beautifully crafted talk he gave. I wish I had been that articulate and poised when I was his age.

  2. NB says:

    Great talk and great argument, and I have some more questions left unanswered.
    Gen 1:27, 2:24, and Matt 19:4-5 (we all know those verses) are used by Fundamentalists.
    What would be the answer for those verses? writer just didn’t mention about homosexuals, because majority of people were heterosexuals?

    • lgbtbju says:

      I don’t think any of these verses has any contextual bearing on homosexuality. They are about marriage. Even fundamentalists will admit that not everyone is called to heterosexual marriage, although we all know single people beyond a certain age are often made to feel an inferiority status within their IFB churches and communities.

      Jesus is referencing the second chapter of Genesis in the Matthew passage, and reinforcing God’s blessing on marriage as an individuation process for married partners from their parents.

      In Genesis 1, I think we can see that God has created both male and female humans in His own image. The implications of this are staggering within the fundamentalist worldview, which often finds ways to assign a lesser status to women.

      Most people are heterosexual. That is a biological necessity for the perpetuation of the species. But we are all created with at least one X chromosome, which means that every single human being begins life as female. The author of Genesis (arguably, this was Moses, but are we certain?) did not have this particular scientific information at his disposal. We know that gender and sex assignment is not merely chromosomal, but that the neo-natal environment of the womb, the mother’s hormone and antigen balance play a deciding role in the development of the human brain. No one is certain quite how homosexuality develops or when, but most people who are homosexual report little or no choice in their sexual orientation and most often become aware of it through normal adolescent puberty, if not sooner, according to the American Psychological Association. The author of Genesis didn’t know this, and wasn’t talking about it.

      — Jeffrey Hoffman