Debate on Jesus

Press, 2 November 1984, Page 12

Debate on Jesus

Sir,—Argument from omission is always unreliable and I would recommend to Paul Maling (October 31) that he refrain from it. Jesus never condemned drug abuse, smuggling, rape, or many other heinous activities either, but few would see him as condoning them as a result. And it is hardly valid to draw a distinction between Christ and Paul on the issue of homosexuality. Your correspondent provides the answer in his statement that “the Hebrews totally condemned, it.” Jesus, being a Jew (I suppose strictly we should say half Jew), dealing with Jews, would have no need to condemn the practice; Paul, travelling and teaching as he did throughout the Mediterranean region, Would, and did. — Yours, etc.,

TREVOR NICHOLLS. November 1, 1984.

Sir, — Bruce Hills (October 30) writes "Genuine Christians would know that it would have been impossible for Jesus to have been a homosexual.” Your correspondent’s choice of words is unfortunate. They imply that there are such people as “spurious” Christians and that Bruce Hills is the sole judge of who is which. To write that it is “impossible” for Christ to have been a homosexual is pushing Christian propaganda beyond acceptable limits. All the supposed knowledge “genuine” Christians allegedly possess regarding Jesus must necessarily be confined to a mere three and a half years of his adult life. Whether Christ was a homosexual is immaterial, and indeed, unanswerable, even by the most dedicated “genuine” Christian. The pertinent ; point is, that some of the most atrocious crimes of inhumanity to man have been committed in his name. Now that can be proven, by unbiased, crossreferenced research. — Yours, etc.,

ARTHUR MAY. October 30, 1984.

Sir,—Paul Maling’s identification of Christ’s universal love with homosexual activity is a misunderstanding. It is one thing to say Jesus loved all sinners, including sexual sinners of all kinds, and quite another to say he expressed this by joining their ranks. We are told that “He was tempted in every way that we are, yet without sin.” (Hebrews HI, 15). Jesus did not ask the adulterous woman whether she was in .love with her partner. He forgave her and told her to stop sinning. Judaism -excluded all sexual activity outside marriage, regardless of the emotions involved, and Jesus invariably supported the moral principles of Judaism. Christian love and its relation to sexual morality is a ,

serious, deep and much-studied subject. To equate “love in deed and truth” with mere abandonment to the emotions does not do justice to the matter. — Yours, etc.,

MARNIE BARRELL. October 31, 1984.

Sir,—Referring to Bruce Hills’ arguments (October 30), a Christian, more than anyone, I would have thought, would be happy to consider any of the scanty evidence about Jesus and have it made public. The evidence of Jesus’s homosexuality is inconclusive, to say the least, and I understand that “Jesus — the Evidence” presents it as such. But even if the evidence were conclusive, this would be no reason to suppress it. — Yours, etc.,

P. OAKLEY, Darfield. October 31, 1984.