After posting my blog entry “Jesus and Homosexuality” I received a correspondence from a Harry H. McCall, a self-proclaimed ex-reverend, on June 4, 2012. He referred me to his blog “Debunking Christianity.” His post was entitled Jesus the Homosexual: Evidence From the Gospels.
His blog was not a tit-for-tat response to my article, but was an article he wrote and published at the same time I uploaded my post. I am responding to the content of his blog post since he sent it to me for my comments. I always promote honest and courteous discourse, seeking the truth with charity and honesty. I hope I have accomplished that in my response below. I am strongly against the gay lifestyle and the practice of homosexuality, yes; but I also hope that my response is not angry or antagonistic.
The Jewish Jesus of History
I am writing this in a few free hours I have in Jerusalem. A busy day starts tomorrow but I thought I would respond in the few hours I have available. As I write I am looking out at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre where Jesus was crucified, died and was buried before rising from the dead. My wife and I joined the Mass in the Tomb at 5:30 AM.
To my right I see the top of Mount Zion where Jesus celebrated the Last Supper. I am writing this in context — not only the context of Scripture and history, but the context of the land of Israel where I spend a large part of my time. (I will pray for McCall while here.)
You may rightfully say, “You don’t take this guy seriously so why take the time to respond to his post on claiming Jesus was a homosexual?” The reason is simple. Homosexuality is becoming more and more accepted in our country. Catholics, other Christians, Jews, Muslims and who condemn the homosexual lifestyle will find themselves ostracized as it becomes more recognized.
We will be called bigots and old fashioned. Clever arguments will be crafted that may sound reasonable at first (just read the combox on McCall’s blog post to see how gullible many people are). As with McCall’s blog, they will often twist the Bible around like a rubber nose and even contend that Jesus himself was homosexual.
So, you may say, “That is stupid and I disagree.” Good, but why do you disagree? When they marshall Scripture verses against you, will you be prepared to respond? That is why I am refuting this otherwise foolish and waste-of-time article. We who are not caught up in the gay life or the support thereof, need to know what we know and why.
I have no doubt that McCall does not accept the Bible as the inspired word of God, nor does he really care about what it says or why. His website is called Debunking Christianity which is what he has set out to do.
He is homosexual and that is how he finds his identity, and it is his driving motivation—to eliminate biblical arguments against homosexuality; rather to twist the Bible like a rubber nose to suit his purposes. Any discussion of Scripture by McCall is simply to twist it to fit his agenda and to confuse those who try to read it honestly.
It is certainly not my objective to attack homosexuals or the gay lifestyle. However, it is being forced down my throat (no pun intended). It is being forced down America’s throat. I hope to engage the conversation in a rational, reasoned, cordial and biblical way.
I decided the best way to respond to his attempt to paint Jesus as a homosexual was to address his claims paragraph by paragraph. I decided to give him the benefit of the doubt whenever possible, but to be exacting and uncompromising when necessary.
To read my full biblical refutation, click HERE.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
A huge ‘thank you,” Steven Ray, for taking the time to compose a cogent response to Mr. McCall’s ‘Jesus must have been gay’ article, especially while in Israel. It’s easy to dismiss such fluff, but distressing to see the gullible finding such shallow ‘scholarship’ convincing. I find the Protestant ‘bible-only’ position harder going than the Church’s reliance on the ‘three-legged stool’ of Sacred Tradition, Scripture, and Magisterium. Many of those eagerly agreeing with Mr. McCall, will know nothing of the strength of Catholicism vs. Protestant Christianity. In my house, my Muslim husband is always trying to ‘debunk Christianity’ but for altogether different reasons. He knows nothing of the difference between Catholic and Protestant Christianity. He always argues as if the proof for Christianity were Bible Only. The Church existed 350 years before the Bible was canonized. That’s a long time. The gospels were used in the liturgy. The Early Church Fathers shed light on what Early Christians really believed. Their historicity is no doubt. Check it out.
Hi Steve. I was reading another blog, I dont remember which, but an author stated that he did not like the word gay, to be used. He stated that the “good as you”, tag was, well, really another attack on us. The word certainly does not mean happy when used in their context. Anyone can certainly see the situation of Lot, and the same hate spoken by the intolerant… “we will do worse to you”… as present, yet again.