Sunday, December 14, 2008
Which parts of Leviticus are you willing to set aside? The one about executing adulterers? The one about not eating pork?
I’ll give you a few minutes. Flip through the chapter if it’s nearby.
Like most Christians, Eddie Dwyer hadn’t given either commandment that much weight. But for most of his life he didn’t question one implication in Leviticus — the one about a man sleeping with a man. And like most Christians he’d been raised to think of God’s destruction of Sodom in Genesis as a statement against such behavior.
Dwyer came to Baylor University in the 1940s to research and teach about the Bible. Who would have thought it would lead him to believe it was used wrongly to justify hatred against homosexuals?
Actually, he didn’t really start looking until late in life, when on a certain bright Easter Sunday his son, Paul, told his parents he was gay.
Dwyer’s role in our community came to mind recently to read of other people of faith refusing to accept the status-quo stigmatization of homosexuals.
Leaders of eight Episcopal dioceses say they will seek to overturn their national General Convention’s ban on ordaining any more gay or lesbian priests, imposed after the election of a gay priest in 2003.
It’s one thing to discuss an inclusive approach regarding church heirarchy. It’s another to back off from ingrained prejudices in a more personal way — say, hanging out with lepers, or being kind to strangers and aliens.
Baylor’s code of sexual misconduct has pronounced homosexuality as “one of several misuses of God’s gift,” alongside sexual assault and incest. That’s a sad, accusatory leap if, as Dwyer came to assert vehemently, sexual orientation is not a choice but something inherent in an individual. It’s also a slap in the faces of people whose expressions of love harm no one.
If in fact love is the antidote to hate and fear, people who find and express love are very much part of the solution to what ails mankind. They are not the ailment.
In grappling with such issues, Dwyer, who died in 2004, wrote a booklet titled The Bible and homosexuality: Life beyond tradition.
Though one would expect someone who’d experienced an epiphany through his son to dispense with the Old Testament and focus on the Golden Rule of the New Testament, Dwyer did not.
Designed as it was “to cope with primitive culture,” Dwyer wrote that Leviticus in all its legalism helped establish a moral framework for Israel. However, he wrote, “it has now been transcended by the new way of life ushered in by Christ.” That was Dwyer’s way of saying that one embraces a too-legalistic approach to the Old Testament at risk of ignoring the essence of Christ’s message.
To the passage by Paul that refers to homosexual conduct as among several “dishonorable passions,” Dwyer asserts that were Paul presented with mounting evidence that homosexuality is not a choice, and not even an aberration as it occurs in as much as 10 percent of the population, the apostle would temper words that were sculpted by lack of information.
“I am convinced God does not judge a person on the ground of his or her inborn nature,” wrote Dwyer. “God measures an individual by the kind of person he or she is and by the quality of the life that person lives.”
As for Dwyer’s own life, after coming to grips with suspicions with which he and his wife, Velma, struggled, and which Paul could not share with them for many years, he and she became activists for the type of care and understanding society owes these people among us.
A few years ago the local gay and lesbian community established a center at 507 Jefferson Ave. They named it the Eddie and Velma Community Center.
Not only had Paul Dwyer come out of the closet, but his parents had come out as his greatest allies and advocates, without leaving the Good Book behind.
John Young’s column appears Thursday and Sunday. E-mail: jyoung@wacotrib.com.
Comments
By Love Child
Dec 25, 2008 1:53 AM | Link to this
The bible also says DO NOT JUDGE ONE ANOTHER. Love your neighbor as yourself.
By sammy
Dec 24, 2008 11:38 PM | Link to this
Daniel, for someone not trying to lecture, you're doing a fine job of it.
"I just don't understand how you can be such an expert on people you have never met.... That's all...I believe a closed mind is a sign of a closed heart!!!!"
We've never met and yet you assume that I have a closed mind and heart. You are convicted by your own words!
We haven't met, and yet your writing reveals much. A mind as apparently open as yours is a sign of a hole in the head. Just a assumption as I don't really know you. By the way, Merry Christmas to you, too.
By Daniel
Dec 24, 2008 8:51 PM | Link to this
Sammy....... Are you even reading what others are commenting? I am not lecturing you at all. I just don't understand how you can be such an expert on people you have never met.... That's all...I really don't care how you feel because you will never understand any more than you allow yourself to. I believe a closed mind is a sign of a closed heart!!!!
By sammy
Dec 24, 2008 4:50 AM | Link to this
One LAST time, for Daniel. I am not a judge but a citizen with a well-informed opinion, to which I'm entitled. You aren't a judge, either, so don't. The Dwyers are not deity and therefore are not final authorities on the subject, nor are they judges. They don't really know how they, their son, or any other of us sinners will be judged on reckoning day, nor do you. Don't presume to lecture me as to how I should "feel" towards homosexuals and their aberrant lifestyle. You're supporting the minority opinion, not me, and by doing so you're enabling their sinning by condoning it and encouraging others to accept their lifestyle.
By Daniel
Dec 22, 2008 8:57 AM | Link to this
It really upsets me to read all of this. My friends, Dee Dee, Paul, Velma, and their family are the most incredible people. I believe if all of you "JUDGES" would sit a while with Velma Dwyer and listen, you would be changed people for the better. It's not about what you believe to be right or wrong, you are not the judge of that, it is, however, how you live YOUR life that matters.
By Yashar
Dec 18, 2008 11:56 AM | Link to this
Dee Dee, so you think because God is a God of love that He loves sin? You need some consistency in your thinking about God and His inspired word. Why would He teach against the practice of homosexuality then turn around and declare this sin is okay because He loves the sinner? Is this the God that you believe in?
It is true that Jesus Christ died for all the sins of His people, but He didn't give His life to save sinners to allow them to continue in sins. Homosexuality is sin! God's inspired word tells us to turn from our wicked and sinful ways and pray and seek His face. (Read all of 2 Chronicles 7:14)
By yashar
Dec 18, 2008 11:38 AM | Link to this
It has always been puzzleing to me that queer people now want to advertise their ignorance and walking contagion to disease. And, of course, John Young is just the ignoramus to help 'ignorance' along life's journey.
Homosexual men are easy to spot by their feminine actions and sissy sounding voices. Whether they are born with some quirk of abnormal nature or whether they just like to be 'queer' people is immaterial because there is a God and His inspired word. Plenty of scriptures from His Bible (not the bibles that man has attempted to revise and reverse)that condemn homosexuality.
The Psalmist David said in 5:8, "Ps 5:8 Lead me, O LORD, in thy righteousness because of mine enemies; make thy way straight before my face." Homosexuality and Lesbianism is okay in the eyes of queer people, but never are they able to prove this deviate practice is "righteousness" in the sight of God Almighty. Homosexuality and lesbianism will never be accepted by most people, regardless of laws that are or may be passed to protect ignorance.
By sammy
Dec 18, 2008 5:34 AM | Link to this
To comatose teenager: Woe is me. I'm at such a disadvantage debating a learned professor of history, biology, zoology, anthropology, psychology, sociology, animal science, and the Bible.
You were speaking of practically everyone KNOWING a homosexual, not being a friend or family member. But that's not what you originally claimed. Yeah, for a fact I knew (not used in the biblical sense) and worked with several out-of-the-closet homosexuals and a few I was suspicious about. And they were nice guys, and gal, and I treated them as such, believe it or not. Golden Rule! But no, they weren't friends and I have no family members in that category.
My reasons for opposing and disapproving of that lifestyle are perfectly valid whatever your opinion of them, which is of no import. You can't imagine how little stock I put in your opinion; clue--it's a negative number.
Perhaps you should watch fewer gay shows on HBO and take more cold showers. Have you always been a bully or just since your parents bought you a computer where you can skulk behind the anonymity of your keyboard and monitor while disparaging and mocking your betters, until your momma tells you to go to bed?
"[R]etaliate however you see fit." So now you're the victim of MY brutishness. I wondered how long you'd take to assert the victim status. That seems to be the fallback position for liberals. Pun intended.
http://www.student.northpark.edu/pemente/docs/GayDebate.htm This web article is pretty informative, even though 25 years old, and I can live with every word including the last paragraph which is rather condemning of my own sinfulness. Read it. You might actually learn something new that you don't already know. Silly me! You, like John Young and the Wiz of Oz, see all and know all. Never mind about the article. Your mind is closed and you don't want to be confused with facts. Sayonara for now.
By coma kid
Dec 17, 2008 10:21 PM | Link to this
my, my, Sammy. you seem upset. let's take this one line at a time.
"Practically everyone is a family member or friend of a homosexual? Boy, do you lead a sheltered life."
estimates vary considerably, but conservative numbers suggest that 1-3% of the US population is homosexual. do you know at least 100 people? boom. you know a gay person. here's a link if you wish to check a source.
http://psychology.ucdavis.edu/rainbow/html/facts_mental_health.html
Now, as for your impressive list of reasons.
1. "immoral." really? who decides what's moral?
2. "biblically admonished against." oh, right, the bible decides what's moral. so i guess i'll see you later at Red Lobster, as we are morally obligated to protest the consumption of shellfish, in all its delicious forms. look, the old testament is a little wacky at times. but the new testament, now that's a book. and its main point is one of tolerance and compassion. you must not have read that far.
3. "unclean; unsanitary." are you counting these as two different reasons? hmmm. let's just put it this way. i don't care if you're straight, bi, curious, gay, or whatever... if sex isn't dirty, than you're not doing it right. clearly, sammy, your parents and you haven't had "the talk."
4. "STDs, HIV, AIDS, etc." riiiiiiiight. because straight folk don't get them bugs.
5. "repulsive aesthetically." really? that's your good and valid 5th reason? pfffft. go watch some HBO. gay people are beautiful. and better dressed than us straight boys, for sure.
6. "unnatural." ha. if god designed us, he designed us to be loving, considerate people, and what's it to you how that love is expressed? and if nature "designed" us, well, there's a lot of homosexuality in nature too (to say nothing of human history), regardless of whether or not it fits your design criteria.
in sum, sammy, your list of reasons is way lame. but i'll gladly answer your question.
"Are you suggesting that I should feel empathy (or sympathy or pity) for homosexuals? Whatever for?"
yes, sammy. unequivocally. sympathy, because they don't have the same legal rights as we do, because they've been discriminated against, isolated, picked on, and sometimes killed for their sexual orientation. and empathy because they are our brothers and sisters, our fellow human beings. i'm surprised i have to explain this to you. what bible did you read?
anyway, that's all the time i'm willing to devote to your ignorant, hateful ranting. retaliate however you see fit.
By the poster formerly known as Sammy
Dec 17, 2008 3:30 AM | Link to this
Practically everyone is a family member or friend of a homosexual? Boy, do you lead a sheltered life, ck. Clueless squared, that's you. Since you can't complete a sentence without name-calling and other insults, methinks you have chosen your blog name well. Brave souls such as yourself get your juvenile jollies by anonymously berating and insulting other posters. So far, you and others have called me several forgettable names and questioned my morality, integrity, and motives for having an opinion other than your own. Who are the real bigots on this blog? That's what is known as a rhetorical question as the answer is already obvious. Thanks for furnishing iron-clad proof of what I contended in my initial post.
Question 1-Nothing, not in a million years!! What about you?
Question 2-Immoral; biblically admonished against, both OT & NT; unclean; unsanitary; potentially unhealthy for both individual and society (ie STDs, HIV, AIDS, etc.) resulting in morbidity and potential early mortality for both the guilty and the innocent; repulsive aesthetically; unnatural, whether you believe in evolutionary or intelligent creation ("unnatural" defined as use of the body for purposes not intended by either nature or God--in this case, using body orifices as penile receptacles & semen depositories that weren't designed for such use); shall I go on or stop with 7?) Next time, ck, don't ask stupid questions if you don't want blunt and truthful answers.
Since you raised the issue, ck, answer MY question. Are you suggesting that I should feel empathy (or sympathy or pity) for homosexuals? Whatever for? Aren't you the one who tried to convince me, or yourself, that their sexual conduct is, to use your words, "perfectly natural," which by your reasoning would mean that they're perfectly normal by all human and Godly standards?
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