Story Time Jesus

Christ came to save people from sin, not leave them in it. He would never have endorsed the idea that gay people are fine.

I'm not really sure what the meme is trying to convey.

Ok, you and xenocles appear somewhat baffled; I'm not sure why, most people I show it to seem to understand right away.

What the meme comments on is how easy it would have been for Jesus - or, more specifically, the Gospel's accounts of Jesus' words - to put the issue to rest. With but a sentence, the Bible could have directly and explicitly addressed whether homosexuality is indeed a sin or not, which would have avoided an enormous amount of contention and debate in the two thousand years that followed. Without it, we have been forced to cite other passages of the Bible - for example, projecting from the wording of Jesus' views on adultery and remarriage; or citing from the legal system of a desert nomad nation; or building from the letters of St Paul, who comes with his own list of issues.

Given the importance that the subject has taken since Jesus' time, it seems a glaring omission that the Gospel wouldn't take the time to give homosexuality a direct and explicit thumbs up or down. (I know! Please wait.)

There are a couple of reasons this could be. It COULD be that Jesus quite literally never breathed a word on the subject, that the idea of a same-sex marriage was just that fantastic that it would make little sense to address it. Most people, though, would agree that this is unlikely: among other things, Jesus was known to dine and socialize with "sinners" - the marginalized of society, your thieves, your hookers, what have you - so it seems most unlikely that in all his Ministry, nobody took the time to ask "hey, since we're on the subject of sin, what's the deal with gay people"?

So the other possibility is that he did say it, but it was never written down when the Bible was authored, edited, and compiled - which started about fifty years later and wasn't really finalized until the emperor Constantine - plenty of time for the openly homophobic Roman Empire to shoehorn their politics into the editing process.

I KNOW that you are certain that the Bible DOES specifically and directly classify homosexuality as a sin - but it IS a point of contention in the wider Christian community (I KNOW! Ok, we all know where you stand - but it's an ongoing debate. Don't take that up with me, write to the holdouts in the Christian churches who disagree with you about it) and the meme uses this to give people a thinker as to why it's not more easily settled.

People find it clever and funny, snarky but not arrogant. It's a meme. What else do you want?

Ohhhhhhh okay now I get what you were going for (I think). Thanks for taking the time to explain. It's hard to fit that much in a meme.

It is - and that's why we're the true literary geniuses of our modern world!

I don't know about "geniuses." But making good memes that communicate things clearly is not always easy. Some of them take a lot of thought!

It might be "genii" or something - I dunno.

To the extent that Jesus didn't comment on the issue (He did by omission, affirming that marriage was for a man and a woman), it's more likely than not that He did not comment because it was not an issue. The matter was well settled among the Jews, and it was not until evangelizing the Greeks and Romans that it had to be talked about again.

Again, maybe! You might be right - Jesus had a lot of important stuff to talk about - the Roman occupation, peacemaking, anti-s**t shaming (it's in there)...

But they did HAVE homosexuals in Roman Judea - we know this, because they wrote gay poetry and several Roman authors wrote endlessly about how gay Romans were destroying their empire. And as we know now you'll find homosexuals living in literally every society whether it's tolerated or not. The fact is that Jesus almost certainly met gay people during the course of his Ministry. So it's quite possible that he simply had more important things to talk about - but wouldn't it be strange not to give just one remark about it in all that time? (possibly working it into his comments of remarriage notwithstanding. Again, don't take it up with me, take it up with your brothers of faith who don't find that conclusive.)

THAT'S the sentiment that the meme tries to capture. Just that.

Oh, I see. You're approaching Jesus as if He were merely an historical figure. There's always going to be a disconnect that way, I'm afraid.

And for the record, there is nothing wrong with desiring your own gender. As with all sin, it's not about how you feel, it's about what you will. So in a real (but limited) sense, gay people are fine - or at least, they can be.

Alright, there we go. Communication reached.

Yeah, I really can't help it if you missed the entire point. That is not my problem.

I would say that your apparent inability to communicate is in fact mostly your problem. But again, none of my business.

I think the meme gives its small succinct commentary just fine, and given that your comment suggests that no further communication is required on my part, I don't see what the issue is. Anyone who'd like me to elaborate has only to ask.

It's not obvious. The meme is a joke. Both are bad.