Jesus Both Gay and Married
theJesus and Judas by WIkimedia Commons
As I post the work of Bernard Starr I would like to ad as the publisher, that I am a non believer of traditional religion and beliefs. I have my own base on experience and study. I started my teen age years by entering a Bible Institute or Seminary. Life at of 13 entering into the seminary for three years for studying the Bible. It was interesting work both as a student and as a worker. Being that my mom could not afford the money for the books and study they were nice enough to allowed me to do work there in exchange. I came to deeply love everyone there. I learn so much from printing to making books to always being in company of people that knew more than I. AS time went on doubts that I had about contradictions that I and the others in my class found in the Bible grew to the point I could not ignore. I could not put it under the rug. When we asked for answers always we were told “We can not expect to know everything but one day everything will be revealed to us” That of coarse does not answer the questions of why One Gospel or one book says the opposite of the other.
Contrary to people that have not read the bible (the whole book) they put together in their minds that the bible are words from god that he sent somehow down here and that is it. You cannot change what it says.
You know you can’t swim and walk at the same time. We however understood that the bible was written by many authors and they had their own point of view and the audience and the years change. That is why even today I and many people that have study as much or much more than me understand that there is no contradiction in being gay and Jesus or god the father. That is if you take the whole bible. Not a piece here or a piece there to proof your point. We as a matter of fact were taught how to fight people with other believes by throwing verses and then saying "you see what god is saying to you.”
I don’t agree or disagree with the material Im posting but Im doing it so because there are many gay people, mainly young people that are conflicted. They want to follow the religion of their parents but then they come to the gay part (which is very small) and is like an enormous gate that you can’t penetrate. If I was giving advice I would say stay away from religion, it is the cause of wars and mayhem in mankind. But that doesn’t always work because some people feel that they need religion in their minds. If I were to spend time with anyone I'm sure I could make a good point but I can’t talk to everyone. So I give you Mr. Bernard Starr, I think is interesting that does not apply to me. Hope fully not to you either.But just in case you want to follow Jesus and you are gay :)smile of love (Adam)
We know little about Jesus' personal life. The four canonical Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) provide few details -- and they say nothing about his life between adolescence and early adulthood. We are introduced to Jesus at his birth in the manger in Bethlehem. We next meet him at age 12 at the Jerusalem temple where he is skillfully debating the Jewish scholars during the Passover celebration. Jesus then disappears for 18 years. He resurfaces at age 30 at the River Jordan, where he is baptized by John the Baptist. The Gospels then track his ministry over the next three years, culminating in his crucifixion.
Because there are so many gaps in Jesus' biography it is not surprising that pundits can spin almost any story about his personal life with shreds of "evidence" to support their views. But questions persist: Was Jesus celibate (Church doctrine)? Did he have a romantic relationship with Mary Magdalene (some alternative Gnostic Gospels)? Was he married (Jesus says "my wife" in a papyrus fragment)? Did he father a child with Mary Magdalene? (Magdalene researcher Margaret Starbird and Dan Brown, in his novel, "The Da Vinci Code")? Finally -- and most provocatively -- was Jesus gay? This possibility generated a media storm when popular radio host Don Imus ("Imus in the Morning") suggested it to his national audience on April 3.
To support his speculation, Imus cited the close relationship between Jesus and Judas depicted in the Gospel of Judas, an alternative Gospel dating to the third century that has recently surfaced. In contrast to the usual "turncoat" image of Judas, this Gospel depicts him as Jesus' closest, most trusted and most spiritual disciple. Jesuit priest James Martin disputes the gay claim. He insists there is nothing in the Gospel of Judas to suggest a homosexual relationship.
But Anglican priest Paul Oestreicher found another reason to believe that Jesus was gay. In a 2012 Good Friday sermon he preached that Jesus' close relationship with his disciple John -- the only disciple who fearlessly showed up at the crucifixion -- suggested that Jesus was probably gay. Oestreicher added that John's commitment to care for Jesus' mother, Mary, after the crucifixion was further evidence of his homosexual relationship with Jesus.Theologian Morton Smith cited a controversial second century "full" version of the Gospel of Mark ("The Secret Gospel of Mark") which refers to Jesus spending the night with a man "clothed only in linen cloth upon his naked body." Other scholars and commentators have also speculated that Jesus was gay.
However, when we examine these assertions in the context of first-century Judaism, they appear questionable. If Jesus were gay, given the severe taboo in Judaism against homosexuality (Leviticus 18:22, "it is abomination"), he surely would have married -- and would have displayed it publicly, even if just to cover up homosexuality -- the "beard," as it was called in later -- and contemporary -- homophobic societies, in which gays married or conspicuously dated heterosexually to avoid being ostracized.
NBA basketball player Jason Collins just created a media sensation as the first currently active male professional athlete to "come out." Others are expected to follow, but many still feel that gay exposure will pose a threat to their safety and livelihood -- and those fears may be justified. Former Green Bay Packers football player LeRoy Butler had his scheduled $8,500 church speech canceled for merely tweeting congratulations to Jason Collins for his bold action. The Wisconsin church offered to reinstate Butler's engagement, "if I removed the tweet, and apologize and ask god forgiveness." He declined. So it should not be surprising that in first-century Judaism gay cover-up would be fiercely pursued. If there was even a hint of homosexuality in Jesus' persona or behavior, it's doubtful that he would have attracted a following -- and he might have been stoned to death long before the crucifixion: "If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death" (Liviticus 20:13). The same goes for his disciples, whose sexuality has also invited lively debate.
As for marriage, we only know for sure that Peter was married. In the Gospels of Matthew (8:14-15), Mark (1:29-30) and Luke (4:38-39), Jesus visits and heals Peter's mother-in-law: "When Jesus came into Peter's house, he saw Peter's mother-in-law lying in bed with a fever"(Matthew 8:14; similar in Mark and Luke). But what about the other disciples and Jesus? Some early church officials believed that most of the disciples were married. Unfortunately, the Gospels do not help us with explicit narrative, as they do with Peter.
It's puzzling that three Gospels inform us that Peter was married but offer nothing about the marital status of the others, or Jesus. Wouldn't they know that telling us about Peter begs the question about the others? And if they were not married, wouldn't the Gospel writers feel compelled to offer an explanation, since young Jewish men -- particularly rabbis and holy men -- were always married? There was nothing sacred about celibacy in Judaism. On the contrary, the Torah prescribes, "And you, be you fruitful, and multiply; bring forth abundantly in the earth, and multiply therein" (Genesis 9:7) -- and that means everyone. More unusual, if not scandalous, would be a band of unmarried tradesmen who were well into adulthood when recruited as Jesus' disciples. More likely, in writing for a first-century audience, the Gospel authors would assume that their readers would know that the disciples were married, and probably Jesus as well. No exposition would have been necessary. Otherwise, if they wanted to cover up that the other disciples were not married they wouldn't have casually leaked that Peter was married -- opening a can of worms, which persists only because we are reading with present-day eyes not first-century ones.
So was Jesus gay? Not likely. But if he were, should Christians worry? No, says Father Ostreicher: "Whether Jesus was gay or straight in no way affects who he was and what he means for the world today.”
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