Christian and an Ally | Why Being Gay is Okay ✓

What Did Jesus Say?

We have analyzed quotes from two books in the Old Testament and three in the New Testament. We have heard the argument for traditional marriage and why it doesn't make sense to prohibit same-sex couples from marrying. But what amazes me is that not once do I hear Christians ask what Jesus said on the matter. After all, much of our doctrine revolves around Jesus's teachings. So let's take a look, shall we? What did Jesus say?

The answer to that question is nothing. Jesus said absolutely nothing at all about being gay.

I can already hear people yelling angrily in the distance, so let's delve deeper into this. Anti-gay Christians have two big issues with this statement, and the first is the simple fact that there were a lot of things that Jesus did not speak about. They also argue that just because he didn't mention something doesn't mean it isn't important, and I agree. For example, Jesus did not speak about abortion, rape, or infanticide. These topics are important, and yet the Gospel writers did not record his words on these subjects.

Notice the deliberate wording of my last sentence: "the Gospel writers did not record his words on these subjects." Just because we have no record of him speaking about these things does not mean that he didn't speak of them. However, this does make it more difficult to discern what his thoughts were on the subject, if any.

Anti-gay Christians continue their argument by saying that Jesus didn't have to speak against homosexuality because there was "no reason to say what everyone agreed upon." However, this argument does not hold water; in fact, it leaks like a sieve. If one argues that "everyone agreed" that homosexuality was wrong and so Jesus didn't have to talk about it, what about rape? Jesus didn't talk about rape, but from the dozens of Bible passages that describe people being raped, it becomes clear that rape was not something that "everyone agreed upon."

Then anti-gay Christians change their tune slightly. "Okay," they say, "maybe it wasn't a topic that 'everyone agreed upon,' but it was still a topic that the Old Testament spoke out against, so there was no reason for Jesus to repeat it." But once again, this argument is fatally flawed. The Old Testament also spoke out against murder and adultery, but Jesus has a lot to say on those subjects. If Jesus had "no reason" to repeat the teachings on homosexuality, then why did he need to talk about murder and adultery? Or, to put it differently, if Jesus felt as though he had to repeat the Scriptures about murder and adultery, why didn't he feel the need to repeat the passages on homosexuality?

The bottom line is that because Jesus doesn't speak about homosexuality, we cannot know for sure what his position would be, although we can hazard a guess. This ties into the second problem that anti-gay Christians have with this argument, which I will delve into next.

The second issue is related to the idea of traditional marriage, as we spoke about in the last chapter. "Sure, maybe he didn't say something specifically about being gay," they say, "but Jesus did speak about marriage and divorce. What about Matthew 19:3-6 and Mark 10:2-9? Don't those passages show that Jesus held the traditional view of marriage?" Well, let's take a look.

In Matthew 19:3-6, the book says:

❝Some Pharisees came and tried to trap [Jesus] with this question: "Should a man be allowed to divorce his wife for just any reason?"

"Haven't you read the Scriptures?" Jesus replied. "They record that from the beginning 'God made them male and female.'" And he said, "'This explains why a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one.' Since they are no longer two but one, let no one split apart what God has joined together."

"Then why did Moses say in the law that a man could give his wife a written notice of divorce and send her away?" they asked.

Jesus replied, "Moses permitted divorce only as a concession to your hard hearts, but it was not what God had originally intended. And I tell you this, whoever divorces his wife and marries someone else commits adultery — unless his wife has been unfaithful."❞

Similarly, in Mark 10:2-9, Jesus uses the same explanation as above. But what these passages prove is that Jesus was against divorce and believed that divorce was "not what God had originally intended," not that he was against being gay. Once again, we are trying to project our modern culture onto a culture that is much different than ours. The concept of same-sex marriage did not exist in the form that we think of it until relatively recently.

Besides, remember that the Pharisee asked his question about a man divorcing his wife. Can you imagine how strange it would have been if Jesus had answered his question by talking about same-sex marriage? Jesus answered the question in exactly the right way, as he always did. The Pharisee asked about a man divorcing his wife, so Jesus answered about a man divorcing his wife. God meets you where you are, and Jesus did just this, by answering questions with parables and metaphors that they would understand as early first century Jews and Gentiles. All this passage does is confirm that Jesus strongly disapproved of divorce.

Another important point to be made is that Jesus answered the Pharisees' questions by quoting the Jewish Torah. People forget that Jesus of Nazareth was a Jew in addition to being the Son of God. Especially when he was being questioned by religious leaders of the day, Jesus quoted the Torah and gave his interpretation of it. In this case, he quoted Genesis 1:27, 2:24, and 5:2. Even if he wanted to discuss same-sex marriage, he couldn't have by quoting the Torah, and once again, it wouldn't have made sense to the Pharisees. Why would we assume that Jesus was speaking out against same-sex marriage when he quoted Genesis, when it was not even a concept during his lifetime? We don't expect him to discuss cell phones, rock and roll, or the Internet, so why this?

The bottom line is that Jesus is largely silent on being gay, as is most of the Bible. As modern-day Christians, we cannot continue to use the Bible to justify ill-founded hatred of human beings who are not exactly like us. Jesus was vocal in condemning self-righteousness, judgment, and hypocrisy, and he was equally vocal in stressing the importance of loving each other. After all, it is Jesus who said that the two greatest commandments are to love God and love your neighbor as yourself, and that they are the fulfillment of the Law. (Matthew 22:37-40, Mark 12:29-31, Luke 10:26-27, Matthew 7:12)

One more note: I have noticed that most of the disagreement in the comments has come from how we as Christians interpret the Bible, so the next few chapters will about the concept of biblical inerrancy, defining what it is and giving readers a glimpse of both sides of the debate.