Page 16

GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE

December 18, 1992

IF YOU KNEW HOW EASY IT IS TO SHIP THAT BELATED GIFT, MAYBE NEXT TIME IT WON'T BE.

Foam Loose-Fill Recycling Center

Can't seem to get that gift there on time? At Mail Boxes Etc., we'll do it for you. MBE will give you a choice of carriers, and help you decide which one is best for your gift. Come in today. Don't be late!

UPS Authorized Shipping Outlet

EMBE

MAIL BOXES ETC.

Stop by our convenient Westgate Location during the holiday season!!

RIVER SQUARE 19645 Detroit Rd. Rocky River, OH 44116 Phone: (216) 333-4810

Fax: (216) 333-4812 Hours: Mon-Fri 9:am 6:pm Sat 9:am 2:pm

PACKAGING

SHIPPING

Franchises Independently Owned & Operated

OVERNIGHT

PACKING SUPPLIES

1992 Mail Boxes Etc.

Please Support The Chronicle Advertisers

Citizen Action

NETWORK

Citizen Action is looking for educated,

articulate, progressive men and women interested in working to fight Toxic Pollution and Toxic Waste in Ohio, and Consumer Issues including Utility and Insurance Reform. Pay starts at $225.00 per week.

Call 479-7492 for interview.

MOORE and ASSOCIATES

a psychological practice

6611 Rockside Road Suite 215 Independence, Ohio 44131

26250 Euclid Avenue

Suite 329 Euclid, Ohio 44132

Douglas J. Moore, Ph.D.

216-524-7772

MOORE and ASSOCIATES has lesbian and gay therapists providing individual, group, family and couples therapy. Groups include the following:

CONTINUALLY COMING OUT For information, call Peggy Keating, M.A., L.S.W.

DEVELOPING RELATIONSHIPS For information, call Steve Whitehouse, M.Ed.

What the Bible really says about gays and lesbians

by Kenneth L. Cuthbertson, Ph.D.

If you have been struggling with questions about your sexual orientation, and about your faith in God, these may be the most important words you can hear.

God does not hate you. God does not hate gay male and lesbian people. God is not going to punish anyone for being gay, or for having sex with someone because they are the same gender as you.

There is a lot of prejudice in the world, and religious people are often as guilty as anyone else, especially when sex is part of what is being discussed. This message is intended to help you if you are being challenged by what some people claim the Bible says about homosexuality, and if you find it troubling.

First of all you need to realize that different people use the Bible differently. There's a story told about a certain man, or woman, who went every morning and opened the Bible to see what guidance it had for them that day. One day it opened to the verse, "And Judas went out and hanged himself." This person couldn't see what that had to do with their life, so they tried again. This time it said, "Go and do likewise." The story shows how easy it is to misuse the Bible.

According to the Gospels, Jesus thought the religious leaders of his time, and their followers, were misusing the Bible. These "Pharisees" were a group that sincerely loved God and the Bible, and they worked very hard to obey all that was commanded in the Bible. They worked so hard that they came up with over 600 rules that people were supposed to obey! They were very concerned with being "pure" and didn't like that Jesus hung around with the "wrong sort" of people. When one of them finally asked Jesus what the most important commandment was, Jesus said, "You are to love God with all of your heart, soul, mind, and strength... and you are to love your neighbor as you love yourself. On this hangs all the law and the prophets." While the Pharisees were concerned with keeping "pure," Jesus was concerned with bringing people together with God, and with one another, in love.

The same belief is found in the writings of Paul, a leader who became prominent in the years after Jesus' resurrection. Paul described himself as having been a "superPharisee." He claimed to have kept all of the 600-plus laws, and more (Philippians 3:4-6). But Paul's dramatic conversion to

Christianity brought him to an entirely new understanding of God's love and of the Bible. He dealt a lot with Jewish Christians who still felt the need and desire to keep their old laws and customs, and with nonJewish converts--the "gentiles"--who had never had any of these rules. According to Paul, keeping or not keeping the old rules wasn't important. What was important was loving one another (Romans 13:8-10).

This doesn't mean that Jesus and Paul had no standards of behavior. They still expected people to keep basic rules like not killing, not stealing, not lying, and so on. Rules like these are necessary to enable people to live together in peace and harmony. What they didn't want were rules that divided people unnecessarily, or caused people to look down on one another. In one of the most famous parts of the Bible, the "Sermon on the Mount," Jesus says: "Do not judge [others], so that you may not be judged. For with the judgement you make you will be judged..." (Matthew 7:1-2).

Nowadays people still want to use the Bible as a book of rules, much like the people did in the days of Jesus and Paul. This is especially true in matters dealing with sex. But the real lesson of the Gospel is that what makes sex moral is not a question of "purity," it's a question of love and respect. Having said that, you may be asking: "But what about verses from the Bible that seem to say that homosexuality is wrong?" Let's begin by looking at the Old Testament.

The story of creation (Genesis 1-3):

Some people, like to say that God made Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve. That's true, and we'd be in trouble if there were no people who wanted to have children! But as we shall see, the Bible itself also praises love between men (David and Jonathan), and between women (Ruth and Naomi). Genesis tells about humanity in general, but what is said there doesn't even apply to every person in the Bible. If it did, Jesus himself would have sinned by never marrying.

The story of Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 19):

This famous story tells how a crowd of men gathered outside the house of Lot, a Continued on next page

Salon Et Cetera

Hair Skin Nails

21067 Center Ridge Road Rocky River Road, Ohio 44116 331-5040

Meeting Your Individual Needs

Bring in this ad for a 20% discount.

Hairdresser wanted to join our professional staff.

MASSAGE THERAPY

I feel good today.

Health of the mind and body go hand in hand. It's hard to be centered when your shoulders are tense, or your back is in pain, or you just feel exhausted. Call us to find out the benefits massage therapy can offer you in...

Stress Management Health/Fitness Neck/Shoulder / Back Pain Relief

Call Richard Desmone at the North Shore Massotherapy Clinic

226-1948

•

Convenient Warren Rd/Detroit Rd. location 1392 Warren Rd., Suite 11 Lakewood, Ohio 44107

Liscensed by the Ohio Medical Board