Leaders of some churches are now recognizing that the LGBT community has every right to worship and expect God’s love and grace right along beside everyone else. Wikipedia lists approximately 44 denominations that accept LGBT members with no qualms, among them are Catholics, Baptists, Methodists, Episcopalians, Mennonites, Lutheran and Anglican. You might be surprised that the world of the Bible is not a straight, two-gendered world. Before you start screaming at me and maybe give yourself an aneurysm, have you actually read the Bible?
In Genesis, before the flood, it was a common story that Angels would take human form to have sex with women to produce babies. Are Angels male or female, both or neither? God created Angels sexless, and apparently, they chose for themselves which to be when they took human form.
Eunuchs which by their nature are genderless are also widely spoken of in the Bible, it stating that some were that way from birth.
King David, to whom both Joseph and Mary could trace their lineage had a close personal relationship with Jonathon, the son of his predecessor King Saul. Scripture speaks in glowing terms of Jonathan and David’s loving intimacy, making a covenant of God, exchanging clothing, embracing, weeping together, hugging, and kissing each other.
An Episcopal church in Portland recently made all its bathrooms gender-neutral and church leaders now wear name tags with their preferred pronouns. They are trying to make a more welcoming environment for queer Christians, in line with the Bible’s complex take on gender and relationships.
Do you think churches should welcome and accept all people inside to worship, or are you still of the mind that certain people should be excluded from God’s great love and grace based on the outdated teachings of the straight, white patriarchy?
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