Somehow I don't feel so special anymore!
Sunday, December 30, 2007
Perspective
It seems that most relgious types believe in one form or another that God gave significance to the Earth and his creation (man) and made it the center of the universe.If this was true, then why would Gods most important and valued creation be one of the smallest and insignificant things in the universe?Just consider the following animation to give you a better idea of our place in "God's" creation.
Somehow I don't feel so special anymore!
Somehow I don't feel so special anymore!
Monday, December 17, 2007
Was Jesus Homosexual?
Sounds like a strange question to ask considering the far right religious stance that homosexuality is sinful.
Before any one starts to froth at the gills and their blood boils at the sheer suggestion, lets just establish that this is my opinion based on what the bible or other spiritual source tell us about Jesus and not by any means absolute fact, but how the facts appear to point in the gay messiah direction.
First we must consider the times in which Jesus lived and the community in which he was brought up and the culture he belonged to.
Jesus predominantly lived his life in and around Galilee which is in the Middle East. Conditions would be hard and life harder, men would need be tough if they were to survive.
He was Jewish and a Rabbi and as such would be expected to act and conduct himself in a certain manner.
So lets look at who, or what Jesus actually was.
Jesus was perhaps the most “gentle” soul that walked the face of the earth, In a world were men were rugged, battered and as masculine as John Wayne dipped in testosterone and rolled in gladiator sweat, Jesus minced around as effeminate as camp could be. In modern society he would be called a bit of a limp wrist, in his time he was practically a full blown girl.
He rejected the established code of masculine valour. He frowned on the violent nature of men’s role that was the accepted norm of the time. If he was alive today, he would be called a queer.
He was a Rabbi, but refused to marry. Now for a Jewish male this was peculiar at best, for a rabbi it would be unheard of. You had to be married to be a rabbi so it was doubtful he ever could be a Rabbi. To be in his 20’s and not married was just screaming their was something “different” about him.
Jesus had plenty of opportunity to have sex with women, he was flocked by them, but he always avoided it. If a modern man did the same, we would assume he was gay.
He spent the majority of his time hanging around with people of ill repute, such as prostitutes, former thieves, sodomites and all manner of other lowly sinners. In this day and age Jesus would be looked at as being a tad peculiar at best, especially with his close connection with sinners and sodomites.
He was physically intimate with other men. He surrounded himself with other men of a similar disposition as his. There are accounts in the bible where they place their heads in each others lap whilst dining. Now today in a more tolerant society this would be deemed a “bit gay”. Back then it was probably very nearly a crime punishable by stoning.
Jesus and his chums often were seen to kiss each other
Jesus’s "groupies" competed, each claiming to love Jesus the most, often declaring their love for him quite openly.
John 13:25 tells of John lying with his head on Jesus’s breast. Straight men don’t do that, at least not in our culture, and it would have been unheard of in their day and culture.
Ok, so that is my opinion based on nothing but what I can see for myself in the bible.
So now for some “evidence”.
In 1958 a Scholar from the University of Columbia, named Morton Smith discovered a fragment of manuscript in Mar Saba Monastery in Jerusalem which was, according to local scholars and records, excised and edit out of the original Gospel of Mark.
The passage read: "The youth, looking upon him (Jesus), loved him and beseeched that he might remain with him ... they went into the house of the youth ... And after six days, Jesus instructed him and, in the evening, the youth came to him wearing a linen cloth over his naked body. And he remained with him that night, for Jesus taught him the mystery of the Kingdom of God."
This passage would fill the gap in Mark 10:46 which has Jesus and his chums making a journey to Jericho and then as soon as they got there, they left again. There seems to be a whole episode in Jericho that vanished with in one sentence. Later on Jesus was caught in a park with a naked young man dressed, or rather undressed, in the same manner as the one mentioned in the missing text. See Mark 14:51-52.
During the Last Supper before Jesus' execution, the authors/editors of the Gospel of John describes how the "beloved" disciple laid himself on Jesus' inner tunic – which to us is another word for his undergarments. See John 13:25 and 21:20.
There is a story recorded in Matthew 8:5-13 and Luke 7:1-10. where a Roman centurion came to Jesus and asked him to heal his Servant. Seems innocent enough, but the ancient Greek word for Servant was “pai”, which also happens to be the same word used for same sex partner (the Greek had no qualms about homosexuality) so the Centurion would have asked Jesus to come heal his boyfriend. You have to remember that Roman soldiers of the time were not permitted to marry and it was not unheard of for Centurions and higher ranking soldiers to have young (often teenage) male servants that were also used to satisfy sexual needs. This may sound shocking now, but the culture of the time was different and these things were, if not exactly acceptable, were known and tolerated. So the Roman could have been asking Jesus to heal his lover.
Matthew 19:11-12 has a statement from Jesus about “Eunuchs”, which announces “Not everyone can accept this teaching, but only those to whom it is given. For there are eunuchs who have been so from birth, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by others, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. Let anyone accept this who can” Again this may sound a relatively harmless statement about eunuchs, but let’s examine the use of the term eunuch. The latter part of the statement speaks of those who made themselves eunuchs, which means those who forego marriage and children to better serve God, such as nuns and priests. Jesus also mentions the made into eunuchs, which was a common practice of the time. The unusual one is the one where Jesus speaks of those who were born Eunuchs. Medical the chances of being born a eunuch (with a penis but no testicles) is extremely slim, but consider other literature of the time that uses the term “Born Eunuchs” as a veiled euphemism for homosexuality.
In the ancient world, including ancient Jewish culture (as reflected in the Talmud), “natural” or “born” eunuchs were not associated with missing testicles. Rather, they were associated with stereotypically effeminate characteristics and behaviours such as that of homosexual desires.
The bible does not denounce same sex relationships, in Ruth 1:14 the same Hebrew word is used to describe Ruth’s love for Naomi, as used to describe Adams love for Eve e.g. as a partner or lover. In II Samuel 1:26 David declares that he loved Jonathan more than any woman. This is just one of several Bible passages that describe and celebrate an intense love between these two men that went well beyond friendship
Although there is no mention of Jesus being directly homosexual in a physical sense, there is no proof that Jesus was heterosexual in a physical sense, either. He never claimed to be heterosexual. He never denounced homosexuals either. There is no Biblical evidence that Jesus ever had sex with anybody, though in his times, celibacy was considered abnormal and a little queer!
Before any one starts to froth at the gills and their blood boils at the sheer suggestion, lets just establish that this is my opinion based on what the bible or other spiritual source tell us about Jesus and not by any means absolute fact, but how the facts appear to point in the gay messiah direction.
First we must consider the times in which Jesus lived and the community in which he was brought up and the culture he belonged to.
Jesus predominantly lived his life in and around Galilee which is in the Middle East. Conditions would be hard and life harder, men would need be tough if they were to survive.
He was Jewish and a Rabbi and as such would be expected to act and conduct himself in a certain manner.
So lets look at who, or what Jesus actually was.
Jesus was perhaps the most “gentle” soul that walked the face of the earth, In a world were men were rugged, battered and as masculine as John Wayne dipped in testosterone and rolled in gladiator sweat, Jesus minced around as effeminate as camp could be. In modern society he would be called a bit of a limp wrist, in his time he was practically a full blown girl.
He rejected the established code of masculine valour. He frowned on the violent nature of men’s role that was the accepted norm of the time. If he was alive today, he would be called a queer.
He was a Rabbi, but refused to marry. Now for a Jewish male this was peculiar at best, for a rabbi it would be unheard of. You had to be married to be a rabbi so it was doubtful he ever could be a Rabbi. To be in his 20’s and not married was just screaming their was something “different” about him.
Jesus had plenty of opportunity to have sex with women, he was flocked by them, but he always avoided it. If a modern man did the same, we would assume he was gay.
He spent the majority of his time hanging around with people of ill repute, such as prostitutes, former thieves, sodomites and all manner of other lowly sinners. In this day and age Jesus would be looked at as being a tad peculiar at best, especially with his close connection with sinners and sodomites.
He was physically intimate with other men. He surrounded himself with other men of a similar disposition as his. There are accounts in the bible where they place their heads in each others lap whilst dining. Now today in a more tolerant society this would be deemed a “bit gay”. Back then it was probably very nearly a crime punishable by stoning.
Jesus and his chums often were seen to kiss each other
Jesus’s "groupies" competed, each claiming to love Jesus the most, often declaring their love for him quite openly.
John 13:25 tells of John lying with his head on Jesus’s breast. Straight men don’t do that, at least not in our culture, and it would have been unheard of in their day and culture.
Ok, so that is my opinion based on nothing but what I can see for myself in the bible.
So now for some “evidence”.
In 1958 a Scholar from the University of Columbia, named Morton Smith discovered a fragment of manuscript in Mar Saba Monastery in Jerusalem which was, according to local scholars and records, excised and edit out of the original Gospel of Mark.
The passage read: "The youth, looking upon him (Jesus), loved him and beseeched that he might remain with him ... they went into the house of the youth ... And after six days, Jesus instructed him and, in the evening, the youth came to him wearing a linen cloth over his naked body. And he remained with him that night, for Jesus taught him the mystery of the Kingdom of God."
This passage would fill the gap in Mark 10:46 which has Jesus and his chums making a journey to Jericho and then as soon as they got there, they left again. There seems to be a whole episode in Jericho that vanished with in one sentence. Later on Jesus was caught in a park with a naked young man dressed, or rather undressed, in the same manner as the one mentioned in the missing text. See Mark 14:51-52.
During the Last Supper before Jesus' execution, the authors/editors of the Gospel of John describes how the "beloved" disciple laid himself on Jesus' inner tunic – which to us is another word for his undergarments. See John 13:25 and 21:20.
There is a story recorded in Matthew 8:5-13 and Luke 7:1-10. where a Roman centurion came to Jesus and asked him to heal his Servant. Seems innocent enough, but the ancient Greek word for Servant was “pai”, which also happens to be the same word used for same sex partner (the Greek had no qualms about homosexuality) so the Centurion would have asked Jesus to come heal his boyfriend. You have to remember that Roman soldiers of the time were not permitted to marry and it was not unheard of for Centurions and higher ranking soldiers to have young (often teenage) male servants that were also used to satisfy sexual needs. This may sound shocking now, but the culture of the time was different and these things were, if not exactly acceptable, were known and tolerated. So the Roman could have been asking Jesus to heal his lover.
Matthew 19:11-12 has a statement from Jesus about “Eunuchs”, which announces “Not everyone can accept this teaching, but only those to whom it is given. For there are eunuchs who have been so from birth, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by others, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. Let anyone accept this who can” Again this may sound a relatively harmless statement about eunuchs, but let’s examine the use of the term eunuch. The latter part of the statement speaks of those who made themselves eunuchs, which means those who forego marriage and children to better serve God, such as nuns and priests. Jesus also mentions the made into eunuchs, which was a common practice of the time. The unusual one is the one where Jesus speaks of those who were born Eunuchs. Medical the chances of being born a eunuch (with a penis but no testicles) is extremely slim, but consider other literature of the time that uses the term “Born Eunuchs” as a veiled euphemism for homosexuality.
In the ancient world, including ancient Jewish culture (as reflected in the Talmud), “natural” or “born” eunuchs were not associated with missing testicles. Rather, they were associated with stereotypically effeminate characteristics and behaviours such as that of homosexual desires.
The bible does not denounce same sex relationships, in Ruth 1:14 the same Hebrew word is used to describe Ruth’s love for Naomi, as used to describe Adams love for Eve e.g. as a partner or lover. In II Samuel 1:26 David declares that he loved Jonathan more than any woman. This is just one of several Bible passages that describe and celebrate an intense love between these two men that went well beyond friendship
Although there is no mention of Jesus being directly homosexual in a physical sense, there is no proof that Jesus was heterosexual in a physical sense, either. He never claimed to be heterosexual. He never denounced homosexuals either. There is no Biblical evidence that Jesus ever had sex with anybody, though in his times, celibacy was considered abnormal and a little queer!
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