how do 'LGBT-affirming' Christians get past Paul's position against gay sex?

[© tweed]

I don't ask because I believe there is anything inherently wrong with gay sex, but because it is clear Paul did.  I also don't ask because one has to believe in 'biblical inerrancy' in order to believe in the divinity of Christ, but because if the believer is to toss out one of Paul's admonitions as outdated, archaic, ill-informed, whatever, on what authority can the others stand?

And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet.

[Free Speech Enjoyer]

Already been discussed.

[© tweed]

I've framed the question differently, and thus don't think I am asking to tread over the exact same ground.

[Free Speech Enjoyer]

I still think your question is answered quite thoroughly in the other thread.

[Blue3]

How did Christians who believe men/women are equal get over Paul's positions on women?


What Paul writes is sometimes contradicted by others in the Bible... sometimes even by himself, sometimes by Jesus himself.

There is no male or female in the eyes of God, according to the Epistle to the Galatians. And isn't gay marriage really just an extension of the acceptance of male/female equality? Jesus also says that only what is in your heart can make you impure. Paul himself writes about the importance of love. John writes how God is love, and how all those who love live in God. When Paul condemned same-sex relations, first look at the context of what he is writing (there's more to that passage), and second, it seems Paul only thought those kind of relations could only be lustful. But the truth is a same-sex relationship can be just as loving or lustful as any opposite-sex relationship. And of course, the person who gets the biggest compliment in the entire Bible, from Jesus, is a gay Roman centurion who begs Jesus to heal his "pais"/lover.

[Wiggle Your Yummy Moist Preggers Cake Ben Shapiro]

Celebacy.

[politicus]

Already been discussed.

Indeed.

[CatoMinor]

I largely agree with what this fellow says on the matter.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ezQjNJUSraY

[Sic Semper Fascistis]

How did Christians who believe men/women are equal get over Paul's positions on women?


What Paul writes is sometimes contradicted by others in the Bible... sometimes even by himself, sometimes by Jesus himself.

This is an excellent point. I don't know why people expect religious texts to be consistent. Those are all full of contradictions, and I'd argue it's a very good thing.

[DemPGH]

I'm neither, but surely Paul finds fault with many things that we would not today, and it's necessary to point out firstly that Paul was a product of his culture, which was very male-dominated, patriarchal, social normative, and semi-barbaric. Secondly, I would think that a Christian would be interested in following and applying the concepts that Christ taught (good, bad, or in between, whatever you think of them), not Paul. Paul's opinions are Paul's opinions, forged by his times and culture, to be taken as such.