QUESTIONS FROM "THE BOX"

  "The Box" resides outside the church office and is available to you to submit comments or questions to the Open and Affirming Ministry Study Team.  The Team will endeavor to address all questions submitted, either in an educational program, on the website, or in materials prepared or distributed by the Team for use in the ONA education process.  Thank you for your submitted questions. 

Below are those questions submitted through November 2011.

1.  If we adopt Open and Affirming, will our ministers do anything differently?

2.  If we adopt Open and Affirming, will our ministers marry gay couples?

3. Define "Affirming"-does it mean loved as a child of God or agreeing with the homosexual lifestyle or both?

4. How do you interpret Leviticus 20:13?  "If a man lies with a man as one lies with a woman, both of them has done what is detestable.  They must be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads."  If the answer is Jesus never condemned the gay lifestyle, remember that he never spoke of incest or sex with animals, but we still honor that.  It is also forbidden in Leviticus 20.  However, Jesus did say that the punishment did NOT have to be carried out as he said "He who is without sin can cast the first stone" when the woman was found to have committed adultery and they were supposed to stone her to death (John 8:3-11).  However, he did say to the woman "go now and leave your life of sin" after everyone left.

 

COMMENTS FROM "THE BOX"

"The Box" resides outside the church office and is available to you to submit comments or questions to the Open and Affirming Ministry Study Team.  The Team will endeavor to address all questions submitted, either in an educational program, on the website, or in materials prepared or distributed by the Team for use in the ONA education process.  Thank you for your submitted comments.

Below are those comments submitted through November 2011.

1.  Thank you to the Open and Affirming Ministry Study Team for your efforts on behalf of this initiative.   Better late than never!

2.   All too often, people who are uncomfortable with accepting gay people and granting them the love and attention that Jesus would wish us to share are happy to find passages in the Bible that seem to relieve them of any responsibility for following the real wishes of Jesus.  Ignore those passages that are inconsistent with life in this century as we do those in support of slavery.  We should not only welcome all who wish to attend our church, but we should actively proclaim our love for our fellow man by issuing a formal invitation.  There are still too many people (some in First Church) who believe that being gay is a choice for many. 

  •  Talk with a gay person and find out what he/she has suffered through life and understand why no sane person would see such a lifestyle.
  • In the legal action last year in San Francisco regarding the ban on same sex marriage, an expert witness said that 95 percent of the gay men in his study stated that they had no choice.  The true understanding of sexual orientation is not realized until later in life; so younger people are often confused about their sexuality.

3.     Since we have been discussing the subject in one form or another for about 15 years, let us set a one-year target for "education".  Let us start by having some discussion in every church document.