REAL STORIES/REAL PEOPLE: ¨Being Gay and Mormon are hard to balance¨

What does the Bible say about homosexuality?

By Brittny Goodsell Jones

Thursday, November 20, 2008 1:59 AM CST

When Brian Cook was in junior high, he was dragged around the auditorium theater stage with a rope around his neck for being different. People who watched didn’t stop this action. At that moment in his life, Cook had such a low opinion of himself that it didn’t matter what was done to him, he said, because it was still attention of some kind.


Looking back, he said a normal person would not have let that happen. Junior high and high school were tough times, he said, because he didn’t have many friends.

“It’s not that I didn’t want them, mind you, I just didn’t have many,” he said.

Although he was involved in school activities such as music and drama, there were few people who made him feel comfortable with who he was.


Cook didn’t fully realize in junior high why he was different. Today he knows. He is gay. Now he understands why he stood out so much and why he was ridiculed by his peers.


On Tuesday, Cook attended a documentary at Utah State University showing the controversy surrounding religion and gays. The presentation was for Diversity Week at the university.


Cook, a USU student, is an active member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints — an organization that supports Proposition 8, a recently passed California law that states marriage is only legal between a man and woman. For Cook, who goes to church and participates in LDS lifestyle and standards, being gay and being Mormon is hard to balance.

Attending the “For the Bible Tells Me So” movie presentation opened his eyes, Cook said.


The documentary, released in 2007, talks about the fear of homophobia throughout America, particularly in religious groups. The movie also explores the historical context of scriptures that condemn homosexuality and talks about several scriptures that discuss gender orientation. Drawing on experiences of religious families with gay or lesbian children, the movie sends a message to viewers that the condemning of homosexuality is damaging to all.


The Rev. Lawrence C. Keene, from Disciples of Christ, said, “When someone says to me, ‘This is what the Bible says,’ my response to them is ‘No, that’s what the Bible reads.’ It is the struggle to understand context and language and culture and customs that helps us understand the meaning or what it is saying.”


Using the term “abomination,” the documentary states, might not be translated the same in 2008 as it was in ancient times. The original definition wasn’t “sin” but was “against custom.” In this context, verses from the Bible that condemn homosexuality change traditional religious meaning by stating that homosexuality is against custom.

Keene also said, “When the term abomination is used in the Hebrew Bible, it is always used to address a ritual wrong. It never is used to refer to something innately immoral. Eating pork was not innately immoral for a Jew, but it was an abomination because it was a violation of a ritual requirement.”

Later, the documentary gives examples from the Bible that show it is an abomination to eat shrimp, to wear linen and wool together and to combine seeds for planting.

Cook said learning about the historical context helps him understand why scripture verses about homosexuality include the word abomination. The documentary, which was nominated for an award at the Sundance Film Festival in 2007, also looks at the definition of “natural” and “unnatural,” citing Bible verses that say homosexuality is unnatural.

Centuries ago, “natural” meant “customary” and “unnatural” meant “uncustomary.” Looking through this lens, Cook said things make more sense to him now.

Using a clip from the television drama “West Wing” that starred Martin Sheen, the documentary emphasizes the importance of historical context. In one scene, Sheen’s character comments on a woman who said homosexuality is an abomination. She quotes scriptures to back up her point.

Sheen’s character then asks her, “I’m interested in selling my youngest daughter into slavery as sanctioned in Exodus 21:7 ... what would a good price for her be?”

He then quotes another scripture from the Bible saying, “My chief of staff insists on working on the Sabbath. Exodus 35:2 clearly says he should be put to death. Am I morally obligated to kill him myself or should I call the cops?”

The Bible has been misused toward groups and minorities for many centuries, according to the documentary.


Archbishop Desmond Tutu, a Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, said, “I can’t, for the life of me, imagine that God would say, ‘I will punish you because you are black — you should have been white. I will punish you because you are a woman — you should have been a man. I punish you because you are homosexual — you ought to have been heterosexual.’
I can’t, for the life of me, believe that is how God sees things.


Chase Skidmore, a member of USU’s student activities group, helped set up the documentary presentation. Skidmore said Diversity Week needs to represent the colors and ethnicities of different people but should include things such as economic status, language and gender orientation to be true to the word “diversity.”

This is the first year USU’s Gay and Lesbian Student Resource Center has been included in Diversity Week. ASUSU viewed the documentary before showing it to USU students.


Before Cook went on a two-year LDS mission, he said he fell into a deep depression and almost committed suicide because he didn’t think he could “fix” his homosexuality “problem.” Now he’s a different person, he said, because he’s happier accepting who he is. Being open about his homosexuality makes him happy, especially after being able to tell his family and friends.


The next step is his religion. Cook said he doesn’t know what will happen in terms of acceptance there. He has a great love for his religion, he said. But it’s not easy to be Mormon and be gay.


“It’s been recently that I’ve made the decision to not reject myself,” Cook said. “I don’t intend on lying. If it gets me removed (from my religion) it happens. It doesn’t make me happy, mind you, it’s a sad thought.”



read the whole article, click here:

What the Bible does say, read it all, click here:

Thanks to Brian Cook
Thanks to The Reverend Jerry Maneker
Thanks to Brittny Goodsell Jones
Thanks to Christian GLBT Rights (at the side bar)
Thanks to Archbishop Desmond Tutu
Thanks to Chase Skidmore
Thanks to Reverend Lawrence C. Keene
Thanks to Flickr Photosharing

Note: Please visit Reverend Göran Koch-Swahne and find your way to understanding accurate and authentic Scriptural translations instead of relying on prejudice and fear/hatedriven ¨selective¨ Bible interpretations used by some Churches, click here:The Blog is in Swedish and ENGLISH, can be found at the right sidebar, and you can post questions/comments in English or contact him directly by e-mail (which is available in his profile).