A Few Bible Stories

I'd like to tell you a few stories from the Bible.
You may think you know the Bible pretty well, and
you've surely heard these stories before, but you
probably haven't heard them quite like this.

There was a great multitude before Jesus, and they
had nothing to eat. Jesus called his disciples
and said to them, “I have compassion on the
multitude, for they have been with me for three
days, and have had nothing to eat. If I send them
away without feeding them, they will surely faint
on their way home.” And the disciples asked
Jesus, “But how can we feed them? We are in a
desert place, and where will we get enough bread?”
Jesus asked them, “How many loaves of bread do
you have?”, and the disciples said they had seven
loaves. He commanded the multitude to sit on the
ground, and he gave thanks, broke the loaves, and
gave them to his disciples to set before the
multitude. Jesus then took the few small fish
that they had, blessed them, and told the
disciples to set them also before the multitude,
which they did. Jesus then spoke to the crowd,
“You may all eat these loaves and fishes, except
any among you who are homosexuals; I will not feed
you.”

That doesn't sound quite right, does it? It
doesn't, because we know Jesus would never do
anything like that. OK, here's another Bible
story:

Jesus was walking into Jericho one day, and a
blind man sat by the side of the road begging.
Hearing the noise of the crowd, the blind man
asked what was happening, and was told that Jesus
of Nazareth was passing by. He called out,
“Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me.” The
crowd told him to keep quiet, saying that he
should not disturb Jesus. But the blind man
called out again, “Jesus, son of David, have mercy
on me.” Jesus stopped, and commanded that the man
be brought to him. When the blind man was brought
to Jesus, he asked him, “What would you like me to
do?” The blind man replied, “Lord, please restore
my sight.” Jesus said to him, “But you are a
homosexual, and I will not heal you.” And Jesus
walked on, leaving the blind man at the side of
the road.

Hmmm, that's not right either, is it? Let's try
one more story:

Early in the morning, Jesus walked down from the
Mount of Olives to the temple. A crowd gathered
before him, and he sat down and began to teach
them. A group of scribes and Pharisees brought in
two men, and brought them before Jesus, saying,
“Teacher, these men are homosexuals; indeed, we
caught them in the act, laying together as with a
woman. The law of Moses commands us to stone
them. What do you say?” And Jesus said to them,
“By all means, stone them.” Then he walked away.

That one doesn't sound quite right either, does
it? Why don't these stories sound right? Because
we know that Jesus would never have done anything
like that. Jesus fed all of the multitude, and
denied food to no one. Likewise, Jesus healed all
who asked to be healed. And when a woman who had
committed adultery was brought before him, he told
them, “He among you who is without sin, let him
cast the first stone.” When the crowd dispersed,
Jesus asked the woman, “Where are they? Does no
man condemn you?” She replied, “No, Lord, no man
condemns me.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I
condemn you. Go your way, and sin no more.”

A friend of mine, a Christian man, recently told
me that he did not support full rights for
homosexuals. He said he felt he should be able to
refuse to rent to homosexuals, for example. And
there have been groups of Christians lobbying for
laws denying homosexuals the same rights as the
rest of us.

I disagree with them. Jesus did not discriminate
against anyone. He fed everyone, he healed all
who asked, he refused to condemn the adulteress.
If they really had brought two homosexual men
before Jesus, would he have told the crowd to go
ahead and stone them? Of course not.

Is homosexuality a sin? Yes, it is. In the Old
Testament, the punishment for homosexuality is the
same as for adultery: stoning. But Jesus did not
have the adulteress stoned, and he would not have
had a homosexual stoned. He would have told the
crowd, “He among you who is without sin, let him
cast the first stone.”

Jesus loves everyone, and commands us to do the
same: “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.”
“Love your enemies, and pray for those that
persecute you.” Discrimination against any
person, or against any group of persons, is wrong
and cannot be Biblically justified. Although we
may disapprove of their behavior, we must love
them as all others, and we may not treat them
differently than anyone else.