I have a question.

[yoshi426]

Setting aside all the verses that "condemn" homosexuality.
Based on all of the scriptures that define what marriage is to be and what intimate relationships are supposed to be.....how do they support gay and lesbian intimate relationships?

[NathanATX]

Here are a few possibilities...

http://rainbowallianceopenfaith.home.../GayLove3.html

[kara speltz]

I'll let Jimmy Creech, a former United Methodist heterosexual minister who was defrocked for performing same gender marriages, respond to your question. These were his comments back in Lynchburg, Va in 2003. They resonate even more with me today. Kara

We Are Born To Be Lovers
by Jimmy Creech
October 2003

We are born to be lovers. We are not meant to be alone. Basic to who we
are as human beings is the instinct to reach out from ourselves to care
for, nurture, empower and protect those we love; and, it is basic to each
of us to desire and accept the care, nurture, empowerment and protection
from those who love us. To love is to be connected, to be in a mutual
and equal relationship others. Out of such love grows intimacy,
friendship, marriage, family and community.

Our love is embodied. Our sexuality is the physical, intellectual,
emotional and spiritual capacity to give and to receive love. Having
affectionate feelings for another is not enough. We cannot love
intimately and truly without our whole selves, without our bodies. Love
must be physical as well as emotional, intellectual and spiritual.

The capacity to love is not just a gift from God, it is God's presence
alive and active in our very beings. We embody God when we love. To be a
lover is what is meant when we say we are created in God's image. To be a
lover is to know God. There is no such thing as an unholy love.

Love knows no boundaries, no barriers, no limits. It is the nature of
love to push us out of selfishness, fear and ignorance to overcome
boundaries and barriers in order to love another person.

Love is free without restraints. Loving someone intimately is a human
right that cannot be regulated by law, religion or culture. There is no
government, no religion, no cultural custom that has the authority, the
power to tell us who we must love intimately. And, there is no
government, no religion, no cultural custom that has the authority, the
power to tell us we cannot love someone intimately because of her or his
race, ethnicity, religion, class, family or gender. To love someone
intimately is to be connected to that person on a deep and spiritual
level that defies and ignores all social categories and classifications
of people.

Let no one tell you that your love is unnatural, immoral, unhealthy or
sinful because your love does not conform to their prejudices and fears.
Love between persons is more than normal, more than wholesome: it is
divine.

Trust you love. Believe in it. It is love that makes a marriage and a
family, not government and not religion. Honor your love as precious and
innately holy. Don't wait for others to honor it. Your love does not
depend upon someone else's approval or acceptance. And, the more you
honor your love, the more others will understand your love and honor your
love.

Trust your love. Believe in it and you will change the world!