Reclaiming the Gospel
In this interview with the Rev. Dr. Jerry Maneker, Professor Emeritus of Sociology at California State University, Chico, the gauntlet is laid bare for all of those who call themselves Christian.
The time to speak up is NOW! The time to reclaim the truth of the Gospel is NOW!
All decent people, particularly Christians, must confront the perversion of the only Gospel to be found in Christianity: the Gospel of grace (God's unmerited favor to us), faith (trusting God over and above seen circumstances), love, peace, reconciliation, and inclusiveness. There is no other Gospel in Christianity! We must fight against the false gospel of legalism, perfectionism, and exclusion that is promulgated by the modern day Pharisees in our midst who are attempting to hijack the terms "conservative" and "evangelical," just as they are trying to hijack the term "Christianity" itself.
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If we don't confront them, we are culpable in their sins! ("Illegal immigrants," or another vulnerable minority group is now waiting in the wings for the haters' full venom to be expressed when they don't perceive there to be as much mileage to be gained by condemning and oppressing LGBT people as they thought.) It is important to remember, as I've written before, every single drop of blood shed by LGBT people, either through suicide, bashing, and/or murder is on the hands of homophobic clergy and their followers, and this message must be hammered home as loudly and as often, in as many venues as possible, for Christianity to have the credibility that it deserves.
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And it's high time that that fact was recognized and proclaimed as loudly and as vociferously as possibe, both for the well-being of God's LGBT children, for the well-being of other vulnerable people and minority groups, and for the well-being of Christianity itself!
posted by RedStateExile @ 09:57
7 comments
7 Comments:
Callie,
Check out my discussion with Jerry on his blog (under the Vatican-related topic) about whether or not Lesbian status is changeable. We sure needed a woman's input on that one . . . two guys discussing the nature of Lesbianism isn't exactly the kind of discussion that produces enlightenment!
Callie: He's got that right!
Callie,
I also posted this comment on Jerry Maneker's blog. I'm posting it here because I wanted you and your partner to read it as soon as possible:
"You're a LESBIAN! Don't deny it! You fully understand the concept of essential orientation. Any woman who thought that her sexual orientation depended on who she had sex with at any given time couldn't possibly be a Lesbian. It's the concept of the importance of self-knowledge that comes up so often in the Gnostic Gospels. The texts say that some of us will recognize the fullness (androgyny) within ourselves, and others of us will be in denial about it. This certainly describes how Gay people experience sexual orientation.
Jerry, you asked me yesterday about the lineage of Lesbians and Gay men. I didn't answer immediately because I was trying to think of a good way to summarize what I've been reading. Let me put it in purely clinical terms: The Secret Book of John indicates that there's a recessive gene passed from generation to generation through sperm that, when joined to a certain kind of ovum, produces an LGBT child. This genetic code first appeared in Seth, the first son of Adam (Gnostic scripture claims that neither Cain nor Able were fathered by Adam). Therefore, in theory, all LGBT people can trace their ancestry to Seth. The Gnostics referred to Lesbians and Gay men as "the unshakeable generation," "the priestly order," "free men" (Gay man), "virgins" (Lesbians) and "attendants of the Holy Wedding Chamber" (the etymological meaning of the word "eunuchs"). Beings who possess the fullness (homosexual people) are thought to defile themselves by sexual contact with those who lack the fullness (heterosexual people). For that reason, we are lacking heterosexual desire. The texts indicate this is according to God's will. I find this concept akin to Jewish kosher law, where certain kinds of foods are kept separate."
For anyone stopping by that have no idea what is going on here, there's a wonderful discussion going on over at http://christianlgbtrights.blogspot.com/2006/09/stuffed-animal-who-hosts-excellent.html#links.
Check it out...join in here or there.
Callie!
I'm posting another comment from Jerry's blog here for you to see. Tell all the Lesbians you know about this amazing Gnostic scripture.
"I've just come across an astounding revelation while re-reading the Gnostic Egyptian Gospel. This Gospel teaches that Adam's son Seth was a manifestation of Jesus Christ, and that through Seth's sperm the people known as the 'unshakeable' or 'incorruptible' generation came into being. I'd previously theorized that this generation includes Lesbians and Gay men, as you know. Well, check out this passage from the Egyptian Gospel. The words in parentheses are my additions:
'Then the great angel Hormos came to prepare the seed (sperm) of great Seth, through the Holy Spirit in a Holy body conceived by the Word, by means of virgins of the defiled sowing of seed (human sexual intercourse) in this (earthly) realm. Great Seth came with his seed (sperm) and he sowed it in the realms brought into being here below (Earth), whose number is the number of Sodom (homosexual human beings). Some say that Sodom is the pastureland of great Seth . . . this is the source of the seed of life eternal (immortality), which belongs to those who endure through knowledge of where they came from (awareness of one's androgynous status) . . . this is the great incorruptible generation . . .'
Another passage reads:
'The Father approved of the great incorruptible, immovable generation of great mighty people of great Seth, so that he might sow repentance in the realms that had been produced, and through repentance the deficiency (of humankind) might become full.'
Do you interpret this passage as I do? Although everything I've read thus far pointed to this, I couldn't believe it would ever be stated so explicitly. I checked an annotation pertaining to the Sodom reference. This is what the editor, Marvin Meyer, wrote:
'Here and in other Gnostic texts . . . Sodom and Gomorrah can be considered to be locales inhabited by Gnostics who are persecuted by the ruler(s) of this world.'
So this is no longer a matter of conjecture . . . it's a fact that at least some Gnostic Christians thought of LGBT people as blessed beings connected to Heaven, and to the Christ; and this belief parallels the beliefs of the some of the ancient Native American nations. Jerry, you MUST obtain Marvin Meyer's book, THE GNOSTIC GOSPELS OF JESUS, if you don't have a copy already!"
Callie,
One more post for you copied from Jerry Maneker's comment section.
"Jerry and Callie,
There's something else I should tell you both about Gnostic scripture. The Gnostics believed that humanity is descended from two different lineages, one purely human and one a hybrid of human and demon. Soon after God established the recessive androgynous gene within mankind, demons impregnated human women for the specific purpose of corrupting the androgynous gene. The gene they left us with is called the 'corruptible spirit' in the Secret Book of John. The two lineages have long since intermingled, so that all of us carry genes for both androgyny and the corruption of androgyny. I would guess that these genes lay very close to each other on the genetic helix.
When sperm connects with a certain kind of human ovum (the mirrored Wedding Chamber that Gnostics wrote about), a battle begins on the cellular level. Those children in whom the male or female power (androgyny) expresses itself strongly become Gay. Those children in whom the corruptible spirit expresses itself strongly become bisexual. The androgynous gene is so powerful, its influence can never be completely overcome. However, if the idea is to make androgynous beings defile themselves with unandrogynous beings, all that's necessary is to establish heterosexual attraction within them. So this, according to my interpretation of Gnostic scripture, is how Lesbians, Gay men and bisexual men and women are born. Admittedly, I haven't yet figured out how transgendered people fit into this scheme.
It's perfectly clear to me that these teachings, which confer a Divine status on the souls of Gay people, were anathema to the early church orthodoxy, and they still are. The Vatican has been actively suppressing them for centuries. Since I started writing about Gnostic scripture, I've had several contacts from people trying to convince me that it's heretical. I will never be convinced of that now that I know the truth. The large presence of Gay people in the Christian church, the unbelievable virulence of opposition to them, the 'ex-Gay' ministries, the symbolism of Matthew Shephard being crucified . . . it all makes sense to me now. Christianity, the faith that has conquered the Western World, and that is dear to us all, turns on a central theme of homosexuality!
I have something else to share with you. There has, for a long time, been a suspicion in my mind that Jesus Christ's most beloved disciple was Gay. I couldn't find scriptural support for that suspicion until I found a reference to that disciple as "a person of light." People of light is another way the Gnostics referred to Lesbians and Gay men. Now, many people refer to the Apostle John as the Beloved Disciple, and the Christ did love him. He is probably the one the Savior told, "Son, behold your mother" as He was expiring on the cross. Nevertheless, Gnostic scripture makes clear who His most beloved disciple was. It was Mary of Magdala!
In the Gospel of Phillip, the Messiah calls her 'a person of light.' Mary Magdalene was probably a Lesbian. If so, she is the spiritual mother of all Gay women. The Christ's affection for her was not, as many have claimed, the affection of one lover for another, but of a father for his daughter. She was one of the 'children' (another Gnostic euphamism for Gay people), and with her skills of prophecy, a most gifted one. In the Gospel of Mary Magdalene, Jesus Christ tells her and the other disciples: 'Be of good courage, and if you are discouraged, be encouraged in the presence of the diversity of forms of nature.' That scripture has always cried out to me as a Gay man. I now believe it was indeed meant for me, and for you, Callie, as well as for those disciples who were of homosexual orientation."
I have nothing productive to add to the conversation other than to praise all of you for your wonderful posts! Where would I go to read more on this Secret Book of John?
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