★★★★★ 0/5

Compass: “For the Bible tells me so”

Just what exactly does the Bible say about being gay and has it been taken out of context?

13
Leave a comment

It must be Mardi Gras week, even Compass is looking at gay themes this Sunday, in conjunction with religion in the USA.

“For the Bible tells me so” is a 90 minute film made in 2007 looking at interpretations of references of homosexuality in the Bible. There are various theological opinions on select use of language and interviews with a number of families, with several parents who were forced to question the unconditional love of their children when they learned they were same-sex attracted.

Among them are the parents of the first openly gay Episcopal Bishop in the US, Gene Robinson, whose 2003 consecration triggered deep divisions within the Anglican Communion world-wide.

It also includes perspectives from anti-gay Christian ministers.

This airs 9:55pm Sunday on ABC1.

13 Responses

  1. ‘Interpretation this, interpretation that’.

    That’s good old Abrahamic religion for you. I don’t think this doco will cover any new ground; it’ll be a circular debate at the very least.

    Now, say if it were to focus on Eastern religions then maybe I would tune in.

  3. @JulieS: I think Jaon’s point is that there are many rules in both the OT and NT proscribing how we should behave, and that different groups and individuals ignore or modify/explain away some of those rules, generally the harsher ones.

    You claim that the obvious ones that Jaon listed only apply to the Israelites in OT times but where in The Bible does it say this? Furthermore, for a lot of people those “rules” actually still apply now – just look at the controversy over the ordination of women in various churches, and orthodox Jews consider a menstruating woman to be unclean.

    I have a number of Christian friends and acquaintances from Eastern Orthodox thru Roman Catholic to the more New Agey type non-denominational Christian. They all have different interpretations about what to conveniently ignore and not all of them agree with their own stated faith.

    My question to you is where in either testament are you given permission to ignore bits that don’t like? What’s to stop you from ignoring more of it such as Christ rising up or even being the Holy Spirit made flesh? You can’t have it both ways.

  4. i believe you can still be a good catholic and still disagree with some of the churches teaching, you can be for gay rights and still be good catholic, many people try to hind behind their faith making it seem as if have no choice but to follow the bible but at the end of the day it is still up to you to decide what you are for and against.

  5. JulieS says; “You also seem to be believing what is convenient for you and ignoring the rest of it.” I’m sorry, but who are we talking about again?

    Btw, when is Compass going to finally air Richard Dawkins’ three parter, ‘The Genius Of Charles Darwin’?

  7. V – Nope. I was making the point that Jaon has chosen to believe certain things that are said in the bible and has chosen to ignore the rest i.e. taking things out of context. The things Jaon said applied to the Israelites in Old Testament times – most of which don’t apply now. e.g. no-one is put to death if they curse their mother or father (Leviticus 20:9). I guess I should have been more clearer.

  9. Jaon – I suggest you should read the bible (especially the New Testament) a bit more before passing judgement. You also seem to be believing what is convenient for you and ignoring the rest of it.

    Different denominations have different stances on homosexuality, so it will interesting to see how various people dealt with the issue.

  10. But the bible is also against women having authority over men (teachers,policewomen etc etc) Shaving your sideburns, menstruating women having contact with anyone, including their children, and the list goes on and on. They advise you to sell your children into slavery for the right price.

    Bible believers seem to only believe the bits that are convenient to them and ignore the ones they don’t choose to obey.

    Hypocrites.

  11. It’ll be interesting to see how they justify homosexuality in a religion that is inherently anti-gay. Conversely, it’ll also be interesting to see how they try to justify the anti-gay position. I’m also looking forward to some possible flip-flopping/back-pedalling on the Bible.

Leave a Reply