Can anyone give the arguments he's trying to use. I don't have the time to spend an hour watching someone trying to twist the Bible into agreeing with them.
"Loving, same-sex relationships" are not addressed in the Bible, let alone condemned, he argued.
Vines distinguishes between lustful, casual homosexual behavior and loving, "natural" same-sex relationships, arguing that it is only the former behavior that the Bible speaks against.
Because, of course, we know that God only approves of "loving" marriages. (See Hosea)
So having many different conversations with fellow Christians about the issue, and also many different conversations with gay people about the issue, I feel that that was what was most influential to me – this amalgamation of experiences and studies rather than any other one work or experience.
Of course, this would be much more accurate information than what is contained in the Bible.
But by the 13th century, opposition to same-sex relationships became part of the understanding of natural law theory.
Which completely ignores the centuries of Old Testament opposition.
I think that once people have absorbed a societal prejudice, then they are more likely to read it back into the Bible, rather than allowing the Bible itself to direct the thinking on the subject.
Rationalizing is nothing new.
the Lutheran church, the Presbyterian Church, they are now accepting gay Christians in the clergy on the same footing as straight Christians.
http://www.elca.org/Who-We-Are/Our-Three-Expressions/Churchwide-Organization/Communication-Services/News/Resources/Stats.aspxFewer and fewer members every year...
So if homosexuality is a sin, what that would mean for me is that I would just be alone for the rest of my life. I come from a family, but I would never be able to form one of my own. It's different from straight Christians who just can't find the right partner. While I could find the right person to marry and fall in love with that person but then I would still have to walk away from that person that I care very deeply about, and that can happen over and over again. It will be an extremely destructive experience and way of living that is ultimately harmful to my dignity as a person and to the dignity of gay people.
The crux of his argument...with no Biblical evidence, of course. It's simply "undignified." (Good thing he isn't prideful or anything.) You know, in actually studying the Bible and asking for spiritual guidance into what God wants from me, I have never noticed anything that referred to my "dignity." In fact, over and over and over, I'm told to humble myself and act as a slave to the Lord. But maybe I read a different Bible. (Or maybe I actually read the Bible...)