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Posted by Rev. Dawna Lockhart
February 24, 2015 -
#GLBTTQ
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1,130 views
I was born into a Christian home. However, I grew up in a small town where the majority of my fellow Christians used the Bible to justify hate. The remnants of the Old South used the Bible to justofy racism. Nearly everyone I knew used the Bible to justify hatred of gays and lesbians. As a teenager, I saw a Hindu doctor shunned and pushed out of the community for being "a Godless Heathen". For a time, I was my friend's "token girlfriend" because he was gay and feared being beaten up in the name of God. So, I decided that I did not want to be Christian anymore. I did not want to ne associated with such hatred.
As an adult, I explored many world religions. I now consider myself a Universalist in that I find Truth in many sources. I find guidance in the Bible and in the Vedas. I am not Christian but do find peace in the teachings of Jesus.
That said, gay marriage has gotten a lot of press in Alabama lately. For the record, I support people marrying whom they choose regardless of gender identification. During one heated online debate over the subject, I came up with an argument a bit off the cuff. I then posted it to a group here to get opionions. Alas, the post was truncated by the system. So, I am bringing it to my blog for comments and critique.
The first argument I heard opposing gay marriage is that homosexuality is against nature and an abomination before God. So, I applied a bit of science to test that theory.
Given that God put the laws of nature (biology, physics, etc.) in place to govern the way the universe works, is homosexuality against the laws of nature and therefore an aboniation before God? This one takes a bit of a journey to amswer.
At the time the Old Testament was written, a human was lucky to reach age 30. Diseases decimated populations. It was necessary to reproduce in great numbers in order to maintain and grow the population. Thus, homosexuality threatened the ssurvival of the population as homosexuals don't generally procreate. In modern times, we live longer as we have discovered how to prevent and treat diseases. It is no longer necessary to reproduce in great numbers.
In the animal kingdom governed by natural laws, when a population has abundant resources and room to grow or is threatened and in decline, we find more female offspring are born. A single male can fertilize many females and be a progenitor of the population. However, when a population has reached the limits of available resources, we find that more males are born than females, and homosexual behaviors are noted more frequently in both genders. Males will mount other males in many species as part of estlishing dominance within the population. When the population is outgrowing its resources, these behaviors are observed more often along with females mounting other females.
The answer to the question is no. Homosexuality is not against the laws of nature and therefore is not an abomonation before God. Given how and when homosexuality occurs in the animal kingdom, it could be God's way of telling us we are over breeding and over consuming our resources.
The other argument against gay marriage is, "God made Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve." It is written that God made Eve from a rib of Adam. That means Eve was created with Adam's DNA including the Y chromosome .
In modern times, we have encountered and documemted pseudo hermaphrodites with both XX and XY genotypes. We have documentesld XYY super male syndrome where the presenting male produces excessive amounts of testosterone and has a violent temper. We have documented individuals with the XXY genotype that present as males with female features and XXY genotypes that present as females with masculine features. We have also documented genotype males and females that present with the phenotype of the opposite gender.
Given Eve was essentially a clone of Adam and had his genotype but presented as female, we could easily say Eve was Steve. Eve was genetically transgendered.
God does not make mistakes. God made individuals who do not fit inside the gender binary. Who are we to condemn that which God has made?
