LGBTQ Religion

The article is behind us. Letters have been written and sent. Ozark Christian College representatives have sent out their canned replies. Jonah has withdrawn from the spotlight. Things are getting back to normal , and no concessions on this issue have been made at all. What I personally heard from OCC was this: “My heart is heavy to hear of the pain you’ve endured.... I certainly believe you are created by God, made in His image, worthy of dignity and respect, and wholeheartedly loved by God.... This morning I am praying [for you].” – Matt Proctor, OCC President I’m worthy of respect, but I’m not worthy to enroll in a biblical studies or biblical languages program. I am created in God’s image, but in me that image is apparently marred (by my “personal choices” or “sin”) in some more damaging way than straight people experience. I’m worthy of dignity, but OCC’s administration intentionally caused me to feel that I was “sinful” and advised me to receive counseling to get past my se...

Katie Schmid gave me the following to post on the blog in her name. Anyone who would like to add their “testimony” to the blog is welcome to send it to me by email and mark whether or not they want their name included. Thank you, Katie, for giving us your story! ❤ I wish there was an easy way to say this. I loved the bible. I clung to it, the way a drowning person clings to driftwood. Because to me, that’s exactly what it was. The words in that book were the only life I’d ever known, for 30 years. I spent 9/10ths of my life thus far defined by it. I begged God for the forgiveness of my sins. Sins like “lusting after” both men and women. Like the whispers in my mind and in my dreams saying I should be a girl. Like stealing my sister’s clothes to carefully wash them and put them secretly back in her drawer. I grew up absolutely convinced I was under perpetual demonic attack and at constant risk of hell. I spent every single day in deep gratitude for what I thought Jesus did...

Though a common epithet for homosexuals in modern usage, the term “sodomite” in the King James Version of the Bible means neither “a resident of Sodom” nor “a homosexual” (in the modern way of thinking). Yet, if it doesn’t mean this, what does the term mean? The term “sodomite” appears six times in the Bible: at Deuteronomy 23:17 ;  1 Kings 14:24 ; 15:12 ; 22:46 ;  23:7 ; and Job 36:14 . These verses do not tell us much about who the “sodomites” were or what they were guilty of. We are simply told that they were in the land of Israel and that certain Judahite kings (such as Asa) did what they could to get rid of them. And [Asa] took away the sodomites out of the land, and removed all the idols that his fathers had made. ( 1 Kings 15:12 , kjv ) These verses from the kjv have been used to create that  pejorative term which we all know, but the term actually translates the word קָדֵשׁ kadesh [ qāḏēš ] from the root  קד״שׁ kuf-dalet-shin that is the basis f...

We would like to extend a wide invitation to join our writers. If you have a religious background and have struggled with the ideas of LGBTQIA+ inclusion; whether you still identify as religious or not; if you have ideas on these issues to which you would like to give voice (interpretative commentary on the what is accepted as Holy Writ by whichever religion); if you feel like no one has expressed before how you feel... let us know! We want to have a plurality of voices here on the blog. A few notes: If you want to use Hebrew or Greek, you can use the tags <span class='hebrew'>...</span> for Hebrew and <span class='greek'>...</span> for Greek. For instance, if I write ἀγάπη, I will surround it as <gr>ἀγάπη</gr> and get ἀγάπη (stylized). When you quote from the Bible or other book, use <quote> instead of the normal <blockquote> . After you write, please revise and try to clean up any typos you have and keep the s...

In response to the recent flurry of activity regarding the question of OCC’s admissions policy toward LGBT students, they have uploaded a post to their blog  (accessed today) in which they state their current position on the issue.