This is the eighth and final video in a series that challenges the assumption that the Bible condemns gay and lesbian relationships.   Notes from the lectures can be found under the video clips.

1. What is the Bible?

1. Inspired

2. Multiple viewpoints - the truth is complex

1. Paul – saved by grace through faith, not works (nothing we can do to earn God’s love.)

2. James – faith without works is dead

3. Shows a development of thought over time

1. God is warrior -> God is love

2. No afterlife -> resurrection

4. Goal is to enter the conversation -- allow the Spirit to shape you as you wrestle with the text.

5. How do you know what texts are true?

1. test against the sweep of scripture - the central themes

2. we reject slavery, even though it is supported in the Bible, because it contradicts what we consider to be central to the message of the Bible

6. Themes

1. All people created in God’s image

2. God is love

3. Love God, love neighbor, love enemy (have no enemies)

4. Do not judge - we can’t handle knowledge of good and evil

5. Forgive and be forgiven

6. Do not fear - resurrection

7. Bias toward poor, outcast

8. Kingdom of Heaven is at hand - live it - communion with God and all people.

2. Of the 31,000 verses in the Bible, there are five that refer to problematic behavior that could, if stretched, be used to condemn same-sex relationships.  Five.

3. Ministry of Jesus: Jesus said that the two most important commandments were that we love God and love one another.  He rebuked the Pharisees who rigidly defined standards of holiness and then shunned those who did not meet these standards.  Jesus embraced those who were outcast and marginalized, to the shock of the religious authorities.  For Jesus, compassion was more important than purity.

4. Experience of the early Church: In Acts 10-15, the Bible shows us how a religious community can come to a new understanding of who is welcome in the church.  The earliest Christians were Jews who thought Jesus only came for the Jews.  Peter, the leader of the early Church, was amazed when he discovered through a vision that God wanted gentiles to be included.  Many of the early Christians strongly opposed the inclusion of these people they considered spiritually unclean.  Acts 10-15 shows this struggle and models for us how a community can come to a new understanding of the breadth of God’s inclusive love.   Becoming more inclusive is biblical.  

5. Themes of the Gospel

6. Widening circle of inclusion in our own time