JENNIFER KNAPP
Jennifer Knapp, Christian music artist, recently came out publicly about being gay and in a long term same sex relationship. Check out her facebook page and you will find that another coming out has occurred as you read all the argumentative and condemning messages that so many Christians are posting there. There are Christians coming out as allies who aren’t so hateful (check out this post by Chad Holtz) but they seem to be in the minority.
FYI – I am straight, married, with two sons and Christian (although I prefer to use the label “follower of Christ” since the label “Christian” has so much negative baggage) and I have seriously studied scripture and found that there is not clear evidence (when you look at original language and historical context) that loving, monogamous same sex relationships are wrong. Without sufficient evidence I believe that it is unjust to condemn and oppress people in loving, monogamous same sex relationships. If Christians who believe these relationships are wrong continue to refuse to admit that their interpretation is only one interpretation and that there is a possibility that they are wrong they (imo) continue to look ungenerous, unkind, stubborn, unreasonable and lose credibility all the way around.
And one more thing … if they are right why is it that they are so obsessed with this particular sin and how do they justify trying to bully and intimidate others into agreeing with them and do they really think they are going to change someone’s mind by winning their argument and why aren’t they more concerned with being kind, loving, generous, compassionate, merciful, patient and humble. I could understand them getting a little riled up if they were actually standing up for some individual that was being mistreated or hurt but I don’t understand their passion about this issue and the way they treat others over it. It really seems that they care the most about convincing everyone they are right and forcing everyone to agree with them.
Oh, I almost forgot to mention … Knapp’s new album, Letting Go, will be released May 11. Check it out here. If you preorder from her site you get Evolving EP free. I already received mine and am loving it.
Perspectives on Arizona’s Immigration Law
Arizona Governor Jan Brewer recently signed into law the highly controversial senate bill 1070 which is considered to be the harshest anti-illegal immigrant law in the country. The bill makes it a crime under state law to be in the country illegally, empowers Arizona police to verify immigration status if there is reasonable suspicion, enacts harsher penalties on employers who knowingly employ illegal immigrants, and makes it a crime to transport, harbor, or shield illegal immigrants.
As you might have guessed there are two opposing Christian views of the bill. I thought Emily Patterson-Jackson wrote a well balanced post covering the two views. Check out her post here.
TransFORM
I’m headed to Washington, DC this week for the TransFORM: East Coast Gathering. I’m really excited about the guest speakers who will be there and the crazy part is the conference is completely free. Everyone working on this conference is donating their time and energies for free because they believe in the ideas that this conference supports. I think that is amazing and beautiful. I’m also really excited about the attendees – I know so many of them through facebook and twitter and now I will get to meet them face to face – in person. Check out the info on the conference here. Some of the main sessions will be live on the Ustream Channel online.
Grace Rules Weblog 