"Never let other people define your reality or put you into bondage to their ways of thinking." The Reverend Dr. Jerry S. Maneker, Professor Emeritus of Sociology at California State University, Chico.
"A Church that doesn't provoke any crisis, a gospel that doesn't unsettle, a word of God that doesn't get under anyone's skin, a word of God that doesn't touch the real sin of society in which it is being proclaimed, what gospel is that?¨Archbishop Oscar Romero (1917-1980)
By Dr. Jerry Maneker
¨It has always seemed remarkable to me how the Gospel of Jesus, the God Who preached and lived a life of unconditional love; Who told us that the only Commandments we were to live out are the love of God and the love of others, and we are to never judge or condemn anyone, could be perverted in such a way that many professing Christians see no contradiction between proclaiming themselves to be Christians on the one hand, and then advocating and preaching discrimination against Gay people, and historically other minority groups, on the other.
What could be the roots of this clear disconnect between the Gospel of grace and love on the one hand and the vituperation of many professing Christians directed against our LGBT sisters and brothers on the other hand? After wrestling with this problem for many years, I wrote an article entitled, "The Illusion of Certainty," which is an updated revision that is currently appearing in my weekly newspaper column entitled, "Christianity and Society," that appears in the newspaper, The Sacramento Valley Mirror.
Taken from ¨A Christian Voice For Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Rights,¨ click here and read the entire updated revision.
¨...So, to those who lack sufficient emotional/sexual intactness, a gay male poses a threat to the definition of "manhood" as culturally defined; a lesbian poses a threat to the definition of "womanhood" as culturally defined, despite the fact that gay men can be "masculine" and lesbians can be "feminine" in regard to culturally approved gender performance, but not in the imaginations of homophobes (many, if not most, of whom are heteronormative and misogynistic) who need to see sexuality, gender performance, themselves, and most things that impact their lives in terms of dualities that are largely, if not solely, defined as being appropriate by the culture, and by religious sources that, unfortunately, all too often largely take their cues from the culture in which they are enmeshed, and which erroneously and tragically depart from the reality of human existence...¨
Read the entire ¨Illusion of Certainty¨ by The Reverend Dr. Jerry Maneker, click here.
Thanks to The Sacramento Valley Mirror
Thanks to A Christian Voice For Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Rights (at the side bar)
Thanks to Dr. Jerry Maneker
Thanks to Flickr Photosharing
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3 comments:
I found this very informative: thanks.
To come to this blog is both edifying and sanctifying.
Love to you Leonardo, this is God's work indeed.
Love one another. Is it that hard? I guess for many it is, for others it is not.
I think this says it all ¨lacking sufficient emotional/sexual intactness¨...I´ve always known this but when formed into a sentence...wow!
¨So, to those who lack sufficient emotional/sexual intactness, a gay male poses a threat to the definition of "manhood" as culturally defined; a lesbian poses a threat to the definition of "womanhood" as culturally defined, despite the fact that gay men can be "masculine" and lesbians can be "feminine" in regard to culturally approved gender performance, but not in the imaginations of homophobes (many, if not most, of whom are heteronormative and misogynistic) who need to see sexuality, gender performance, themselves, and most things that impact their lives in terms of dualities that are largely, if not solely, defined as being appropriate by the culture, and by religious sources that, unfortunately, all too often largely take their cues from the culture in which they are enmeshed, and which erroneously and tragically depart from the reality of human existence...¨ JM
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