Christian same-sex unions

I did not do any background research on this article, but I've read stuff like this before and I have little reason to doubt it's validity. Fuel for discussion regardless. I'm going to bed now, then getting up early to leave for a little vacation, so I won't be contributing to this discussion. Still, post your thoughts. When Same-Sex Marriage Was A ChristianRite - Blog - Jinxi Boo

__________________
"When work seems overwhelming, remember that you are going to die"
Strangely enough this motivates me.

The problem is that modern scholars and activists read homosexuality into practically every historical same-sex friendship. It also doesn't take into consideration the fact that androphiles were not regarded highly in Greece at any point. The Greeks had a high regard for (heterosexual) marriage. They did widely practice pederasty but once boys became men they were separated and began families (and the boy would find his own boy). It is highly unlikely that the Christians who were fighting against practices such as this would also embrace them and marry gay couples, which the Greeks did not even do. It's useful as a propaganda piece but it's ahistorical. Blood brothers are not gay lovers.

Professor Boswell's work is above reproach. I highly recommend his book to anybody interested in the history of the topic.

__________________

To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

I really can't see how men CHOOSING to do that which goes against God's word is proof of anything other than man having disobeyed for a long time.

I wish there were more to the picture than what they give... It may be what they say or it may be something else- there wasn't enough reference material to track down much validity.It's quite possible that it is what it says it is (but I doubt it)- there were many sins and abominations that were entering the church even before the apostles were killed (almost everything in the bible after the Gospels are instructions to various parts of the church on what they needed to do to repent and etc... and some of the stuff that they were called to repent of was really nasty)...Once the apostles were dead there wasn't anyone of the same authority to defend Christ's gospel.Considering how persecutive the church became to anyone that didn't accept the same things it did, I also doubt that such a union (supposing it is as the article says it is) was widely known or accepted.

__________________
Possible cause of no response:

A) You are or may be, baiting, want argument, trolling, flaming, already been answered, lack respect, lacking decent reason, using strawmen, or have a reputation that precedes you.

or

B) I may have missed your post, don't have enough info, busy elsewhere, am absent, may agree with your post, not interested, and/or looking at sources.

Nothing is above reproach but the Word of GOD. I would agree that there is little historic proof that Greeks embraced homosexual marriage and we have no 2000 year old Greeks to ask. We do have 2000 year old Christian text on the subject. It is far more logical to imagine that the Greeks were well acquainted with what happened to Sodom and Gomorrah. They would want to push even Zeus

Upon what grounds do you imagine the Greeks would know of Sodom and Gomorrah? Is it mentioned in any of their mythology or are you just pulling it right out of thin air?

__________________
Proverbs 25:21
If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat; if he is thirsty, give him water to drink.

Exodus 23:5
If you see the donkey of someone who hates you fallen down under its load, do not leave it there; be sure you help him with it.

It's been years since I read Boswell's book, and my opinion of his conclusions has suffered somewhat as I realize that not all of his assumptions were well founded.

Still I remember an appendix in which he offers translations of the evolution of the standard service for "brotherhood" rites and of some of the earliest church wedding services, and it is clear that the form of the one one derives directly from the form of the other, merely substituting the names of Biblical and saintly married couples instead of paired male saints.

Although that makes it suggestive, by itself it does nothing to prove that a service for "Uniting Two Men" was, in effect, a same-sex marriage. It is just as plausible that the same-sex ceremony was used as the model for religious wedding ceremonies to focus the couple on the fact that marriage is more than just a sex license, but that the couple should be friends, even soul-mates on all levels: spiritual, social, intellectual, emotional, etc., just like the Jonathan and David, or Sergius and Bacchus.

They have Atlantis being destroyed by the gods. I'm sure they heard other stories as well.

I remember that that picture was recently displayed in the Byzantine Art exhibition somewhere in London a few years back. I think the article has taken it way out of context."Icon of Sts. Sergius & Bacchus the Romans, martyrs for Christ (late 3rd c.)Feast: Oct. 7From the Prolog From Ochrid: These holy and wonderful martyrs and heroes of the Christian Faith were at first noblemen at the court of Emperor Maximian. The emperor himself esteemed them greatly because of their courage, wisdom and fidelity. But when the emperor heard that his two noblemen were Christians, his love for them turned into rage. Once, when there was a great sacrificial offering to idols, the emperor demanded that Sergius and Bacchus offer sacrifices with him, but they openly refused to obey the emperor in this. Beside himself with rage, the emperor commanded that their military garments, rings and emblems be stripped from them and that they be dressed in women's clothing. He then placed iron hoops around their necks and paraded them through the streets of the city of Rome, to be mocked by everyone. Afterward, he sent them to Antiochus, his deputy in Asia, for torture. Antiochus had risen to his position with Sergius and Bacchus's help, as they had at one time recommended him to the emperor. When Antiochus implored them to deny Christ and save themselves from dishonorable suffering and death, these saints replied: ``Both honor and dishonor, both life and death-all are the same to him who seeks the Heavenly Kingdom.'' Antiochus cast Sergius into prison and ordered that Bacchus be tortured first. His minions took turns beating the holy Bacchus until his whole body was broken. Bacchus's holy soul departed his broken and bloodied body, and in the hands of angels was borne to the Lord. St. Bacchus suffered in the town of Barbalissos. Then St. Sergius was led out and shod in iron shoes with inward-protruding nails. He was driven, on foot, to the town of Rozapha, in Syria, and was beheaded there with the sword. His soul went to Paradise where, together with his friend Bacchus, he received a crown of immortal glory from Christ, his King and Lord. These two wondrous knights of the Christian Faith suffered in about the year 303. Holy Martyrs Sergius and Bacchus, pray to God for us!Icon is an ancient encaustic from St. Katherine's, Mt. Sinai."http://www.allmercifulsavior.com/icons/Icons-Sergius.htmSaints are usually pictured together when they are martyred together, there is no suggestion given of a romantic relationship.

__________________
Last night I played a blank tape at full blast. The mime next door went nuts.
-- Steven Wright