Yes, Chris Bryant, Jesus really did address the subject of homosexuality, no matter how much you might want to twist the issue.
After the Church of England recently set down an edict that forbid same-sex couples to marry but that each individual would receive “God’s blessing,” Bryant, a homosexual and a former Anglican minister, addressed the House of Commons and refuted that Jesus ever taught on the subject.
“Is there any biblical teaching that says this is wrong? Any? Really?” Bryant said in this recent video. “Did Jesus say a single word about same-sex relationships or marriage? I don’t think He did.
“He said a great deal about love. The God of Love and St. Paul said in Christ there was neither male or female, nor Jew or Greek, and I think he probably would have also said neither gay or straight.”
In response to a question about divorce, Jesus said in Matthew 19:4-6 (MEV): “He answered, ‘Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning made them male and female,’ and said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh?’ So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore, what God has joined together, let no man put asunder.”
Clearly, Jesus spoke of a man and a woman being joined as one in marriage. But it is easy to see how that can be misconstrued, considering the problem of gender identity in today’s culture.
Bryant says the Church of England, while having the best intentions, is operating under hypocrisy with its latest mandate about same-sex marriage.
“Imagine if you have gone to church your whole life and devoted your life to, and this is the place where you can’t get married,” Bryant said. “That is terribly painful. And I think there is still a cruelty in what the bishops have brought forward. … I know they are trying to square everything off, but in the end, there is an hypocrisy that would bless the individuals but not the relationship. You can have a celebration, a blessing, but you can’t be married. You can’t refer to your significant other.”
Ben John, affiliated with Wilberforce Academy, a one-week Christian program for young professionals run by Christian Concern, wrote an opinion piece disagreeing with Bryant’s statement in Parliament.
In his op-ed, John said that in Matthew 19, Jesus clearly “roots the nature and institution of marriage in creation. Marriage is marriage because it is the complementarity of a man and a woman.”
John also quoted Matthew 15:18-19, which reads: “But those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and they defile the man. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, sexual immorality, thefts, false witness and blasphemies.”
In this passage, the author explained, “sexual immorality” is translated from the Greek word “porneia,” which is also referenced by Jesus in Matthew 5:32, 19:9 and Mark 7:21. The term is the origin of the word “pornography,” he wrote, adding that while it might seem unclear to modern listeners, those who heard Jesus speak would have understood the reference to Leviticus 18, which lists various sinful sexual acts, including incest, adultery, bestiality and homosexual acts.
Even liberal scholars who disagree with their message, John wrote, acknowledge that the Bible does condemn homosexuality. John said in the article, quoting Diarmaid MacCulloch: “Despite much well-intentioned theological fancy footwork to the contrary, it is difficult to see the Bible as expressing anything else but disapproval of homosexual activity.”
John wrote, “Therefore, those who continue in unrepentant sexual immorality do not truly love Jesus, the author wrote, adding that Bryant should be encouraged to repent and receive God’s love and grace through forgiveness.” {eoa}
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Shawn A. Akers is the online editor at Charisma Media.
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