I have never heard of this teaching at all.
by Lisa
(Caribbean)
Truth is sometimes shocking
Rick Brentlinger Answers -
This email conversation with Lisa, who is shocked by this website, began
here and continues below.
Lisa writes: Hi Rick, I relayed
your answer to my pastor who is an excellent teacher of the Bible. He had 2 replies which are:
- I would ask him plainly. How does 1 Sam 18:21; 20:30 and Matthew 8:5-10 and Luke 7:1-10 support any form of homosexuality. His interpretation is appalling. There is no way that the Hebrew or Greek can support this.
- Let him know that no proficient greek or hebrew scholar will ever agree with him. -Pastor Gary
I do agree with my pastor and my understanding of the Bible.
I have never heard of this teaching at all and that is because it isn't true to the Word of God.
The Lord loves all people and can transform them. Salvation isn't just a ticket to heaven and live however we feel. I am a single person waiting on God's choice of a husband and believe that as a Christian must see my life as a living sacrifice, which is pleasing to God.
Nowhere in Scripture does God endorse homosexuality at all. The scripture you gave in no way said David and Jonathon were sexually involved. Even our physical design shows that men and women are designed for one another sexually - two men that have sexual relationship as with 2 women cannot procreate.
Why would God have designed that - nowhere in all creation is this the case. As with every aspect of the Fall, brokeness has caused deep wounds within people leading some to feel attracted to someone of the same sex. God can change that - again he loves all people and expects their lives to align with his. Let go of this campaign and embrace the truth of the Word before it is too late - God will judge false teaching expremely harshly, since he has elevated His Word above even His Name. - In Christ, Lisa
Rick responds: Hi Lisa - I think your art work is beautiful. God has blessed you with awesome talent, which you have honed with hard work. Bravo to you!
I have already provided answers to most of your Pastor's questions about 1 Samuel 18:21, 20:30, Matthew 8:5-10 and Luke 7:1-10 on my website and/or
in my book so no need to repeat the information here.
Its interesting that your Pastor regards my interpretation as appalling. It is a bit scary that he believes "There is no way that the Hebrew or Greek can support this."
I cite some of the greatest Greek and Hebrew scholars of the twentieth and twenty first centuries to support the viewpoints expressed on my website. Concerning Jonathan and David, I cite a very anti-gay Greek scholar, who by the way, lived in the 4th century A.D., St. John Chrysostom.
I think part of the problem is that this is new information to you and your pastor (you admitted as much) and many Christians have difficulty accepting anything that differs from what they've always believed. You're following what you believe is the traditional Christian teaching instead of the written scriptures, in context.
Almost everything modern Christians believe about homosexuals is based on false interpretations of scripture. And frankly, most Christians for the last two thousand years have not believed about "the clobber passages," what you believe about the clobber passages, as I point out time after time on my website.
I quote the writings of many conservative, fundamentalist Christians - men like John Calvin, Matthew Henry, John Wesley and more, who did not interpret the clobber passages the way you and your pastor apparently interpret them.
I agree that God judges false teaching but I am not the one who is engaged in false teaching. You have not bothered to study the Bible in depth on the issue of homosexuality yet you feel so confident in your lack of knowledge that you deign to accuse me of false teaching.
Asserting that my teaching "isn't true to the Word of God," asserting your factually unsupported and unprovable opinion that homosexuality springs from brokenness due to the Fall and then summing up your views by warning me that God will judge me harshly for teaching false doctrine betrays a self-righteousness I have often observed in Christians who oppose gays and lesbians.
My prayer is that you will begin to take seriously your spiritual responsibility to know what you're talking about before you attempt to correct your lesbian sisters and gay brothers on Biblical matters.
Your brother in Christ, Rick Brentlinger