Is it Possible to Be a Gay Christian and Read the Bible as being divinly inspired

[Legendary]

Just wanted to know you guy's take on this.

[BrianB]

Originally Posted by Legendary

Just wanted to know you guy's take on this.

I believe the bible is divinely inspired but written by imperfect men and translated by imperfect men.

[HELENz]

Originally Posted by BrianB

I believe the bible is divinely inspired but written by imperfect men and translated by imperfect men.

Ding-ding-ding. Could not have said it better.

[Daniel]

I would think that it is possible to be gay, straight and everything in between and read a 'sacred' document - not limited to the bible - and believe that it is divinely inspired.

Putting it another way, what's the reasoning behind the thought that gay people can't believe the bible is inspired? Do straight people have a belief gene that gay people don't?

[Legendary]

Well I know that some fundamental Christians believe the Bible to bee 100% perfect and without flaw..so everything written is part of God's plan. Not saying that all take the Bible literally.

[Daniel]

Originally Posted by Legendary

Well I know that some fundamental Christians believe the Bible to bee 100% perfect and without flaw..so everything written is part of God's plan. Not saying that all take the Bible literally.

Are fundamentalists too. They sing in the choir, go up front during the altar call, and even preach from the pulpit.

Are they 'out'?

That's another thread!

[Legendary]

Originally Posted by Daniel

Are fundamentalists too. They sing in the choir, go up front during the altar call, and even preach from the pulpit.

Are they 'out'?

That's another thread!

I'm confused? What do you mean?

[Daniel]

Originally Posted by Legendary

I'm confused? What do you mean?

Well. Let's see. Here's the math as I understand it.

Gay people are everywhere. Some gay people are fundamentalists. Fundamentalist belief is more often than not anti-gay. Ergo: gay fundamentalists are probably in the closet, not only to themselves but to others.

[Alecto]

Originally Posted by Legendary

Well I know that some fundamental Christians believe the Bible to bee 100% perfect and without flaw..so everything written is part of God's plan. Not saying that all take the Bible literally.

Nah. Some just like to say so. If you dig deep enough, they have explanations for all those wacky parts that they don't personally like.

[Legendary]

When I said fundamentalist I meant those with an anti-gay agenda. I just noticed alot of people believe the bible to be corrupted because of mans imperfections

However, any unbiased document scholar will agree that the Bible has been remarkably well-preserved over the centuries. Copies of the Bible dating to the 14th century A.D. are nearly identical in content to copies from the 3rd century A.D. When the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered, scholars were shocked to see how similar they were to other ancient copies of the Old Testament, even though the Dead Sea Scrolls were hundreds of years older than anything previously discovered. Even many hardened skeptics and critics of the Bible admit that the Bible has been transmitted over the centuries far more accurately than any other ancient document.

There is absolutely no evidence that the Bible has been revised, edited, or tampered with in any systematic manner. The sheer volume of biblical manuscripts makes it simple to recognize any attempts to distort God’s Word. There is no major doctrine of the Bible that is put in doubt as a result of the minor differences that exist between manuscripts.

http://www.gotquestions.org/Bible-corrupted.html

Has this been proven?

Does anyone have any credible resources with info regarding the Bible being corrupted.

[koneill08]

Well, if you don't mind me jumping in here. I don't know that the English translation of the bible is what they are necessarily talking about. But who knows, they could be.

In any event, at least from the oldest manuscripts, the texts are very close to one another, which is one archeological way to authenticate an ancient piece of writing. That said, anything interpreted in another language other than the ones originally written (Hebraic, Aramaic, Ethiopic, Septuagent, Greek, etc.) leaves room for interpretive error or misjudgment simply because of the vast differences in language construction and use. Not to mention, personal or kingdom (earthly that is) predjudices, and oppression techniques. (Side note: What better way to keep a people in "check" than to write it into a "sacred" book that is translated from one language into yours, and put in your own personal desires and then call it God's word. That being the case, would be easy to hoodwink an entire nation/culture into believe that if they disobey that sacred writing, they would be disobeying GOD, and thereby would be punished severely, or even put to death....Easy way to maintain order and allegience in your kingdom, don't you think??? That's one of the flaws of the KJV of the english bible, because that is in large part what constantine did when he had the first english bible put together...but I digress!)

Now that being said, if you want to listen to someone who has knowledge of the languages of almost all of the ancient manuscripts found so far, and who also has the historical, archeological, and social contextual knowledge of the places and times of the different stories in the bible, I would recommend highly the following person. Her and her late husband have acquired as part of their university collection (both were/are university professors) some of the oldest manuscripts found to date. She has I think the Latin Vulgate and Greek Septuagent in her collection.. She shows them from time to time. Anyway, I would like to tell you, she is a female pastor for a church in California (Los Angeles I think), she is wonderful in her teaching style if you really want to get down to the nuts and bolts of the original languages of the bible. Not only that but you will hear her say OVER AND OVER again, that we should not be in each other's "backyards" telling them what their property looks like, or where it needs repairs. In other words, dealing with "sin" (as identified and defined from a typical judeo-christian standpoint - not necessarily of the fundamentalist or religious right perspective) Anyway. In other words, from her standpoint, dealing with sin is the Holy Spirit's job, and not peoples. So as people, she will say over and over again, worry about yourself and don't worry about other people's sin, deal with your own and I'll deal with mine.

She used to be on tv, but I think it's gotten too expensive for her to remain there. But she broadcasts her messages 24 hours a day on her website which is www.pastormelissascott.com

This is what biblical teaching should be, not that fundamentalist, hell, fire, brimstone, and prosperity crap that's out there now.

Enjoy, I hope this sheds some light!!

[Pablo Rafael]

I believe the Bible to be divinely inspired. I also think that the blaming a lot of the misuse of the Bible on translation errors is an error in itself. There are some biases in translation such as the often used "homosexuals" or "homosexual offenders" for the word "arsenokoitai (sp?)" The KJV of the Bible stressed obedience to the authorities and used words that emphasized that point. Still all in all I do not see translation errors as a major problem.

I believe that the principles of the Bible are inspired, but they are told in human language through fallible humans who were a part of the culture in their time and place.

Are the words inspired? I think not, but the ideas are. It takes a lot more study to find the principles of the Bible than it does to find a literal surface meaning.

It takes a lot of illogical, round-about reasoning to explain away the discrepancies in the Bible. I say just skip that altogether and try to use the Bible to come to a clearer understanding of God working in our world and in our lives.

[BruceChris]

The interpretation of the bible is called hermeneutics, or exegesis. The accepted understanding of the bible conflicted with the findings of science at least once, in the time of Galileo. We all know how that came out, although it took many years for Galileo's findings to be widely accepted. They didn't have email back then, or even telegraphs.

The findings of science of, say 50 years ago seemed to follow the understandings of the bible in that gender chromosomes, anatomy, and gender identity all seemed to follow a male/female breakdown. If sexual orientation did not, this was seen as a moral failing. If we wern't attracted to the males or females that we were supposed to, well, we're all sinners, and so what else was new?

However, the findings of science are, that more and more, these things do not fall into simple and obvious patterns, and that there are cause and effect reasons as to why this is so. I have every reason to believe that God planned things that way.

I may expand on that, I'll be back. BruceChris

Pablo is much more of a poet than I am.

EDIT: -- When I said fundamentalist I meant those with an anti-gay agenda.-- Jesus said to love one another, He didn't say that we could be picky.

[Pablo Rafael]

Originally Posted by BruceChris

Jesus said to love one another, He didn't say that we could be picky.

This simple statement really hits at the heart of Christianity. It is a good thing God isn't picky when he shows his love to me. Since God loves all of us, how can I strive to do any less to others.

[Legendary]

I wonder why people believe that people believe the bible to be 100% accurate. Like the creation story. From what I hear there is proof to support both the creation and evolution theories.

[Daniel]

Originally Posted by Legendary

I wonder why people believe that people believe the bible to be 100% accurate. Like the creation story. From what I hear there is proof to support both the creation and evolution theories.

If you don't mind me putting in my two cents?

It's human nature for one thing. We all project our desires onto others and things as well.

We fall in love and think that our partner will always be faithful and save us from ourselves (that is until the same person breaks our heart). Human beings tend to see things in idealistic terms, especially younger people. They have the strange notion that they are going to live forever, that nothing can harm them, and that the future is a bright and wonder thing. This doesn't take into account the aging process - for one thing. Life can be very very tough.

So- in sum, why do people project perfection/infallibility onto the bible? Because- I think- they are looking (whether rightly or wrongly I cannot say) to find some means to find a center.

Life is messy. And it's a strong desire of humans to want to find something or someone that will bring order to seeming chaos.

Lastly, one can believe just about anything. I would be very careful how I use the word 'proof'. Amassing information that supports one's point of view is very different than a theory that is subject to peer review.

It's the difference between propaganda and facts.

[Gennee]

The bible was written by men who were divinely inspired by the Holy Spirit. What we read six months ago may have another meaning to each person now. This has happened to me many, many times. The bible is an inexhaustible book full of wisdom and guidance.

Gennee

[bnmoore]

Originally Posted by Legendary

Does anyone have any credible resources with info regarding the Bible being corrupted.

I find "corrupted" an interesting word choice.

What or whom would you consider credible resources?

The Bible that I use and read has pictures of mistakes placed side by side made back when it was copied by hand.

Look up the word origins for inspire or inspiration and check the ties to Spirit. You could also research 'divine'.

My answer to your original topic is that you are the only one that can answer that question for you.

[Tallit]

I'm not a Christian, but I do believe the Torah was divinly inspired. I do disagree with some interpretations of it though.

[paul]

Originally Posted by Legendary

I wonder why people believe that people believe the bible to be 100% accurate. Like the creation story. From what I hear there is proof to support both the creation and evolution theories.

I think tis is a good question

I think- they are looking (whether rightly or wrongly I cannot say) to find some means to find a center.

I think this is a good answer. (Hi Daniel )

It also seems to me to be a question that "Jesus" looked to address (or, at least, the words attributed to Jesus). Jesus spoke of following "... the law of love... written on the heart..." vs. a law "carved in stone. One's alive and beating, the other is cold and dead. The gospels are replete with stories of Jesus correcting people who were looking to judge people by throwing the book at them (so to speak). Treating people from a heart of love is a whole different proposition.

Life is wiggly. We may fall into the delusion of thinking we can have an anchor, but if it doesn't move, chances are it's dead.

And BTW, it's pretty easy to find errors in the Bible for those who want to believe it is "the inerrant Word of God." There's some pretty glaring stuff if you are interested.