Toby Johnson: Toby Johnson is the editor of White Crane: A Journal of Gay Men's Spirituality. This review was originally published in White Crane Journal (#45). It is reprinted with permission from www.whitecranejournal.com online.
Samuel Kader is pastor of Community Gospel Church in Dayton, Ohio. Trained in the ministry in MCC, he is adept in citing and explaining Scripture. He takes on a difficult challenge: to show that the Bible is not anti-gay in the knee-jerk way claimed by conventional religion. And he goes a step further. Interpreting the plethora of lines from Scripture about welcoming strangers and foreigners and the texts about eunuchs as messages to the Churches about gay people, Kader argues that true Biblical Christianity should welcome gay men and lesbians into the fold.
This book is easy to read, though the subject matter is pretty dense. Kader does an excellent job of explaining the issues involved in understanding what he says the Bible actually means. And he speaks with the voice of a legitimate Christian fundamentalism, taking the words of Scripture literally, piecing them together to arrive at a whole message. Finally, using a text from the Book of James about the Tabernacle of David, he reframes the very purpose of religion.
Kader contrasts the Temple of Moses, which originally held the Ark of the Covenant, with the tent set up by King David to house the Ark after its return from captivity by the Philistines. The Temple was rigidly legalistic and concerned with the priesthood, who alone could enter the Holy of Holies and view the Ark. The Tent of David, on the other hand, was open to everybody and was filled with singers praising God. The contrast then is between obedience to the Law and the hierarchies of religion and the joyful, open worship of God. Clearly gay and lesbian Christians would be welcome in the Tabernacle.
This is an elegant and simple little book about the true meaning of religion. If you're interested in the Bible, you'll enjoy Kader's discussion. On the other hand, if you're not, you might wonder what all the fuss is about. What difference does it make what anybody thought about anything thousands of years ago? They were wrong about most everything. They were probably wrong about God too.
Religion has a way of looking backwards. And so we can all look back to Jesus's good advice. But, you know, once you've heard his central teaching, “Love one another; treat each other the way you'd want to be treated,” you've heard about enough.
I think if Jesus were to return today, he'd much rather see people following his advice and actually behaving lovingly toward each other than reading the Bible and trying to figure out what its obscure stories are suppposed to be about. I think that kind of enlightenment beyond the content of religion is what the spiritual quest is really about. And what spiritual gay men and lesbians are seeking. And demonstrating by our lives.
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