For The Bible Told Me So movie Extra Credit

Desmond Tutu said something along the lines of I can’t image God saying you were black, you should have been white, you were female you should have been male, and you were homosexual, you were heterosexual.  This quote really struck me. I find it to be true and very insightful.

The movie For the Bible Told Me So tells stories of people who have struggled to deal with their children’s homosexuality; some people have handled it better than others.  These people are all Christians, though they come from different denominations. Many of them are or were fundamentalist Christian or are very conservative. Another discussion from the movie was the discussion around literal interpretations of the Bible. First of all, this is quite impractical we do not sell our daughters anymore; we do not think that stoning is an acceptable punishment anymore, things change. Also as one theologian commented how different people interpret the Bible is affected by their social standing, literal interpretations can be very different for many people. Also, it is important to recognize historical and cultural contexts of specific texts. For instance many words have different meanings in English then in Hebrew. One example of this is the word abomination, it did not typically mean bad but abnormal.

 There was one story that was very fascinating. The mother had been a very conservative Christian and believed that homosexuality was an abomination against God. Her daughter informed her that she was a lesbian, and she shamed her daughter. After not talking with her daughter for several months she tried to make up with her but her daughter informed her that she did not want to forgive her mother, the daughter later committed suicide. After her daughter’s death, the mother began to read and understand homosexuality. She used her daughter’s death as a catalyst to begin to see the need for homosexual rights. She reported feeling blessed because now she has many gay and lesbian sons and daughters, and that she can do for them what she wasn’t able to do for her daughter. Stories like this dishearten me. It is necessary to correct systems of oppression. A parent’s job is to love their children unconditionally no matter what. Children and young people should not be afraid to be who they are and to freely express themselves.

I was also interested in some of the science that was discussed in the film. The movie argues that we do not know why people are gay just as we do not know why they are heterosexual. Science and genetic research suggests that homosexuality is probably genetic. It also suggests that the more boys a women has the more likely she is to have a gay boy. This is potentially because a women’s body sees the male baby as a danger to herself and attacks it with anti-bodies. The more boys she has the more successful her body is at feminizing the boy, thus the more likely he is to be gay.

The movie For the Bible Tells Me So is very interesting.  It examines people of many different Christian backgrounds and how they were taught to deal with homosexuality and how they have realized that was wrong, mainly because of their children. 

post for 2/27

This week we read the book of Ruth from a bisexual point of view. Celia Duncan, discussed the idea, that for her Ruth and Naomi were in a committed lesbian relationship and when Ruth meet and married Boaz, the three of them created a committed Bisexual relationship (they were committed and loved each other). I can see where Duncan might be coming from, Ruth was certainly committed to Naomi, and bisexuals and lesbians and perhaps gays should question the heterosexual reading of this text, as well as other texts found in the Bible. However, I take some issue with Ruth and Naomi being in a sexual relationship. Isn’t it possible Ruth just felt deeply connected to Naomi, or perhaps deeply in love wither husband. Maybe Ruth loved the Israeli life style and wanted to continue living it, just like when in modern society when one person in a relationship converts for the other person. The first person loves their partner so much that they want to convert. Also, isn’t possible that Ruth felt a specific duty towards Naomi? As we have already discussed, ancient times were highly patriarchal and women were essentially sold to their husbands, perhaps Ruth felt as if she owed Naomi her life. Whatever it may be I hardly find Ruth to be sexually attracted to Naomi. I do understand however that Ruth held some form of deep commitment to her mother in law.

Ruth and Naomi’s relationship also made me think about love. Personally, I believe that there are many types of love. You can love your mom (or in this case mother in law) and your husband (or in this case your Boaz) at the same time. The love that you have for these people is perhaps not romantic at all, perhaps it is entirely different. I personally do not know anyone that has a romantic sexual type of love with their own mother. I also do not know anyone that loves their partner in the same way they love their mom. A person can love many people, in many ways it is not always romantic. I believe that Ruth loved both Naomi and Boaz at the same time, I am just not sure that either relationship was really romantic (yes Ruth had sexual relations with Boaz, but I do not think that that counts as romantic love that is simply sex).

So, there are many different types of love. A person will experience many different types of love in their lifetime, and all of them are beautiful and wonderful in their own special way. It is important to embrace the loving relationships that we find ourselves in and it is important to love and allow ourselves to be loved. Love, is also important for all types of people, whether they find romantic love with people of the same gender as them or they do not.

PS tell someone that you love them today J

post for 2/20

                This week we discussed Baily’s article “Turned White as Snow”. This article discusses the Isiah passage that says “Though your sins be but crimson, they shall be turned white as snow.  Baily argues that this has become racialized, but was never really meant as a racial suggestion. Baily also argues that it has been used as a racially motivated text, where white is the symbol pf purity, and thus being white skinned is also a symbol of purity. This article brings up a few interesting points for me.

                The first point is that red symbolizes life in many cultures, while white symbolizes death. It would be interesting to read this passage coming from a culture that viewed red as god, and white as bad or deathly. Some of these cultures include Native American cultures, as well as Chinese cultures. We have already discussed how these cultures read the Bible in different ways than the dominate white culture, but it would be interesting to understand some different readings of this specific verse.

                The next point is white is the color of light. As in, whenever the phenomenon of light is represented on paper there is white. Jesus Christ is known as the light of the world, so maybe white in liturgical settings represents the phenomena of light.  Also, white is literally the absence of color. When we see white it is because there is no pigmentation for our eyes to see. Therefore, white, perhaps represents the idea that Jesus washes anew and it like sinners are blank slates.

                Next, another idea Baily discusses is the idea of liturgical colors.  He points out that lent and advent are darker colors, usually purple, while Easter and Christmas are white. He also points out that the liturgical color for hope week is a lighter color. He argues that it is all because of white supremacists. However, this confuses me a bit because no one identifies as purple or pink. I do not understand how this is racially motivated. Purple is also the color of royalty and wealth, so I do not believe that this is racially motivated. I believe the purple is more to symbolize Jesus’ seat and closeness to God.

                We read a very interesting article this week about translating the original Hebrew into English. Baily argues that the Isiah passage that says that sins will be turned will as snow is not a blessing, rather a curse.  This comes from the context of Isiah, as well as properly translating the Hebrew word IM to if rather than though. When we do this, we see that Isiah is more of a curse than a blessing. Baily also argues that it was not intended to be racially motivated but was made racial by white supremacists. I believe that it is important to educate people about this concern. It is very interesting to think about, I never knew that this was an issue, or the context from Isiah.

post for 2/13/15

                This week we finished Reading the Bible from the Margins written by De La Torre.  In the last chapters he discusses the idea that Jesus was not a white man. De La Torre argues that Jesus should be represented more accurately, that is not a white man, but an Arabic man. De La Torre also argues that Jesus should be represented as many different races. He also argues that it is important to represent Jesus as many different races. Jesus came to save everyone not just the white man.

                De La Torre also argues that the “traditional” version of Jesus has been used to subject many people. This is an important reason why Jesus should be represented by many different races. For instance, white Jesus was used to subject Amerindians. The Amerindians culture was stolen from them and they were forced to pray to and worship white Jesus and thus worship the white man.  White Jesus was also used to force and reinforce slavery. Again, Africans had their culture stolen from them; they too were forced to worship white Jesus and thus the white man. This allowed the white man to maintain a system of power and maintain a hold power over other peoples.  It is important to represent Jesus as being a part of many different oppressed peoples. Jesus came to liberate all types of people and it is important to represent him as liberating different types of people.

                We also examined several different versions of Jesus. I think it is cool that there are so many different representations of Jesus. I believe that it is important to recognize other people’s perspectives. It is important to represent Jesus as all types of people, so that all types of people know that they are part of the kingdom of Christ.  We also listened to a news clip.  The conversation was about Santa and a suggestion that Santa should be replaced by a penguin.  The anchor than said that Jesus was white and so was Santa. However neither Jesus nor Santa were white men. St. Nicholas was originally a Turkish man and Jesus was probably darker.  The anchor said that you cannot just change things just because they make you uncomfortable. However, white people just changed Jesus and Santa to match themselves, and because the darker versions made them uncomfortable.

                It is important to represent Jesus as standing with the oppressed. Jesus stands with the oppressed, and comes as a liberating force. Jesus liberates all people and it important that all people can identify Jesus as standing with them. 

post for 2/6/2015

                This week we discussed liberation theory in more depth. Liberation theory is the idea that Jesus came to liberate the oppressed. Jesus himself was oppressed, and in fact the whole bible tells a story of liberating the oppressed.  This started from Moses and the Israelites were slaves and who were liberated by God.

                Therefore the Bible is a call to stand with the oppressed.  It is a call to oppose any oppression.  Christians must stand in solidarity with the oppressed.  In our culture there is still much oppression, and it is almost never focused on Christians.  Some Christians believe that they are oppressed, and there are places in the world where Christians are oppressed or even just the religious are oppressed, but the US is not one of them.  Christians can see themselves in almost every aspect of our culture. They can see themselves in the leadership of our government, in the leadership of our media; and Christians can find themselves in pop culture. Christians are in fact free to express their faith.

                Christians, especially white Christians however must stand in solidarity with those who are oppressed.  Who is oppressed than?  In the book Reading the Bible from the Margins De La Torre argues that the oppressed are those who are not at the center of society.  In the US this includes blacks, non-Christians, women, the disabled, the homosexual and the poor. Because, Jesus fought to alleviate oppression, so too must Christians.

                There are many ways that Christians can fight to alleviate oppression.  Christians should stand with Black folk in Ferguson, and fight oppression in other places against blacks.  Christians should fight to end the wage gap, or other forms of discrimination against women.  Christians should fight for legislation allowing for homosexual marriage.  Christians should not allow the disabled to be discriminated against.  Christians should do everything they can to alleviate systems that cause poverty.

                Liberation theory is all quite mind blowing.  I had never really thought of how oppressed Jesus was. I never really examined how I am part of the center, I am white and I am Christian. I do believe that Christians should alleviate oppression.  I had just never thought of how burdened Jesus Christ must have been.  De LA Torre also discusses how, in different languages, we get different perspectives. Specifically, he discusses the Spanish Bible. In Spanish, they have many different words for you and for love. The words that they use are affected by who they are talking to. The Spanish often use the informal words when referring to God. This gives a very different perspective to Spanish readers then English readers have.  I never knew that before, and find it to be very fascinating.

                I believe that Christians should alleviate forms of oppression. The more I read liberation theory, the more I agree with it.