when he first came out, he joined many LGBTQ groups

it was popular, then and maybe still now to claim that homosexuality is a sin.

there were LBQTG activists who would deny that, because it was important to themselves in their own mind that they be pure and innocent,

antihomosexuality and proslavery is most definitely in the bible

he doesn't believe in slavery as something a good christian would do

and his version of the Lutheran church that he was brought up in, which joined the ELCA acknoledged adultery as a sin

but unlike the Roman Catholics decided that it was ok to be a christian (albeit a flawed one) if you divorced

the Lutheran church that believed in slavery, the Misouri Synod, said since slavery is in the bible and the bible

should be taken literally (and it still floors SeaChange to hear an African American say she believes literally in the Bible)

that is still a matter of loving kindness and christianity to keep slaves.

it pissed them off that members of the ELCA acted as missionaries and taught the word of God to their slaves.

because they felt the need to be as good and innocent as the driven snow.

it was one thing for them to keep a slave who was a pagan and another feeling entirely to keep one who was christian

he isn't saying that human rights for homosexuals is wrong or immoral.

but innocence is not a factor here.

is there a cost to fucking men? Yes, there is, just like there's a cost of smoking and being obese. There's a deadly disease out there

and it's hard to catch, and yet....

the damn thing is not stomped out yet.

being gay may be ok, but it's not innocent.

being obese may be ok, but it's not innocent

slavery and adultery are bad things.

there are lots of things we do which we know aren't the perfect thing to do. For me, an example is going on a jet plane.

we try to balance some of those things in our consciences.

but it gets more interesting when one gets to deciding or knowing that something is evil, and choosing to do it anyway. That's where the

cost you mention really tells.

at least from a spiritual point of view I mean. One is doing something for which there will be spiritual consequences, if one believes in

that kind of karma, which I do.

personally, I don't really see how fucking men in a non-abusive context is evil.

at the danger of pridefulness, I think that if one has thought carefully about the consequences and taken the sensible precautions, then

sometimes, just sometimes, some of the things which appear to come under a blanket ban in the bible may be moral to do.

for example that there are marriages which it is really in everyone's interest to dissolve.

also that he's no expert in the bible.

wondres also whether one can really expect spiritual guidance such as was given in the bible to be as valid for us now as it was then.

because we have changed such a lot in our consciousness. This argument though is a slippery slope.

not read what the bible says about slavery. Do you really think it's pro-slavery? I would prefer to believe that Christians were

encouraged to look after those they were responsible for, including spiritually.

recalls something about if you beat a slave really harshly and he survives, then he's yours.

missed this plurk before, and wonders what SeaChange is doing these days.