GAY TRUTH

Hollywood stars often confront conservative politicians for holding to traditional morality - but they seldom give those conservatives a chance to respond. On Friday, the actress Ellen Page questioned Senator and Republican presidential hopeful Ted Cruz about his policies for " LGBT people being fired for just strictly being gay or trans[gender]." "We're seeing Bible-believing Christians being persecuted for living according to their faith,"Cruz replied, citing the case of Dick and Betty Odgaard, the Iowa couple who lost their business for refusing to participate in a same-sex "wedding" ceremony. "We're a country that respects pluralism and diversity, and there is this liberal intolerance that says that anyone who follows a Biblical teaching...must be persecuted, must be fined, must be driven out of business." Page then cited homosexuals being jailed in the past in some states. Cruz responded that America is far from an

The Destruction Of Sodom And Gomorrah, a painting by John Martin (painter), died 1854, thus 100 years. (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) QUESTIONS REGARDING homosexuality and the Bible are most frequently asked for good reason: They are most important.  Some of these questions also touch on how homosexuality is treated in traditional Jewish and Christian literature and in ancient Greek and Roman law codes. Page references accompanying each answer point to relevant passages in this volume. Each question is answered from the two perspectives in this controversy . The revisionist answers are taken from writings of key defenders of this view. Their positions are represented as fairly as possible in this brief format. For differentiation, the two sides are identified as The Revisionist Answer (or Claim) and The Biblical Answer . At one point the Jewish response is noted. This format is used with the awareness that some revisionists also argue that they hold the biblical position. It sho

Sodom and Gomorrha, Alte Pinakothek, Room 23 (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) To understand how the destruction of Sodom was interpreted later, we must turn to Ezekiel ’s reference. According to the revisionist view, Ezekiel 16 lists the sins of Sodom categorically and finds them less serious than the sexual sins of Jerusalem . Revisionists point to verses 48–49. There, they say, we find that Sodom’s sins were pride, gluttony, idleness, and neglect (or, according to Edwards, oppression) of the poor and needy.68 The passage does not mention homosexuality. However, Boswell and Bailey and others interpret these two verses incorrectly because they fail to consider their context, especially verse 50.69 In the passage, Ezekiel compares Jerusalem with her two sisters, the elder Samaria and the younger Sodom. He finds that Jerusalem, is worse than either of the others (note 16:47–52). Sodom obviously is a figurative term here, probably a reference to Judah as a whole.70 Ezekiel 16:2 sets forth

Choir in Ethiopian Orthodox Church, Brisbane, Australia (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) One of those named, Archbishop Berhaneyesus Demerew Souraphiel, of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia , is the head of a small but historically significant minority branch of Catholicism , the head of the Ethiopian Catholic Church . Archbishop Souraphiel is the patriarch of the Ge’ez Rite of the Church, which represents Catholic Christians in some of the most embattled places in the world, including Eritrea, Jerusalem, and Somalia, where Christians are regularly targeted by Islamic extremist militias. Both male and female same-sex sexual activity is illegal in Ethiopia and punishable with one to fifteen years in prison. Archbishop Souraphiel was a signatory to a letter, also signed by the heads of the Ethiopian Orthodox and Anglican Churches, to ask for a constitutional prohibition on homosexual activity. At a conference in 2008, Catholic and Protestant churches formed a national task force called the Ethiopia

King Hezekiah on a 17th century painting by unknown artist in the choir of Sankta Maria kyrka in Åhus, Sweden. (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) “And Hezekiah prayed before the LORD, and said, O LORD God of Israel , which dwellest between the cherubims, thou art the God, even thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; thou hast made heaven and earth.” ( 2 Kings 19:15 ) Good King Hezekiah was in what seemed a hopeless situation. The mighty armies of the Assyrian empire had been sweeping through the surrounding countries in an orgy of destruction and plunder, and now were at the gates of Jerusalem , demanding its surrender. Grossly outnumbered, the choice seemed either to capitulate or die! But there was one other choice—Hezekiah could pray! The blasphemous Rabshakeh gloated that none of the gods of the other nations had been able to save them from the Assyrians . . . but that was beside the point. These other gods were mere personifications of natural processes, possibly energized