Re: It seems to me...

"And, as Christians, the Bible tells you that sex outside of marriage is not tolerated so you could not live your 'lives with integrity' if you were sexually active." That will be news to a Christian friend of mine, who just told me last night that he was moving in with a female friend of his (bedroom and all). It would also be news to a Christian gay friend of mine who is in a life partnership. For that matter, it would also be news to a former priest of mine – by no means a raving liberal – who told my husband and me in premarital counselling that the Church will sometimes accept nonmarital relationships for pastoral reasons. I think there's a difference between disagreeing with the traditional interpretation of the Bible and saying, "I am a Christian but damn God. I'm going to do what I want to do." I'm afraid that the mainstream discussion within the Church over nonmarital relationships is a great deal more divisive than you suggest; two Christian denominations presently accept same-sex unions, and a number of other denominations are deeply divided on the issue. Nor has the Church ever been in complete agreement over how to interpret the Bible on sexual issues. For two thousand years, the Eastern Church has believed that remarriage after widowhood is sinful, while the Western Church has disagreed. I do think that there is a core of Christian consensus on sexual matters, but you won't find absolute agreement on a code of sexual conduct for Christians. Heather [E-mail]   [Home Page]