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Jonathan and David may have had sexual relations, Kristof says. "Theologians point out that that the Bible is big enough to encompass gay relationships and tolerance—as well as episodic condemnations of gays."

Kristof then says Jesus never condemned homosexuality. Paul did, he writes, but maybe only gay sex and not lesbian sex. "In any case, do we really want to make Paul our lawgiver? Will we enforce Paul's instruction that women veil themselves and keep their hair long?"

Because the Bible is so ambiguous, we should just allow gays to marry, he says. "Or there's another solution. Paul disapproves of marriage except for the sex-obsessed, saying that it is best 'to remain unmarried as I am.' So if we're going to cherry-pick biblical phrases and ignore the central message of love, then perhaps we should just ban marriage altogether?"

Kristof is the one cherry-picking biblical phrases. His column reads as if his researching the Bible's take on homosexuality amounted to reading liberal theologians, who would agree with his own views, and reading the passages they referred to. It shows the potential danger of jumping into the Bible outside any tradition of interpretation.

Weblog agrees that the Bible's central message is love, but God's love doesn't allow people to do whatever makes them feel good. Because of his love, God disciplines and punishes.

Kristof's forays into the Bible do little to deepen anyone's understanding of the Bible's take on homosexuality or conservative Christian concerns over same-sex marriage. Kristof cites no theologically conservative scholars. Not only are evangelicals anti-intellectuals who think Jesus spoke English, they don't even know what their own Bible says, according to Kristof. Or, they only chose texts to justify homophobia while wearing polyester-and-cotton t-shirts. Hypocrites.

Weblog thinks Kristof should keep reading his Bible, meet some evangelicals, and get acquainted with a wider spectrum of biblical scholarship.

Suggest links and stories by sending e-mail to weblog@christianitytoday.com

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October (Web-only) 2004, Vol. 48