I received an email this week from a young man named Matthew Vines who wanted to share a video with our Covenant Network community.  Matthew took a leave from his college studies (Harvard University) and spent the last two years researching the biblical texts that have been used by the Christian church to condemn homosexuality.  He immersed himself in scholarship and research, studying ancient languages in order to better understand texts and manuscripts. He also studied biblical scholars from a variety of perspectives and has pulled this information together in a sensitive and insightful hour- long lecture which he videotaped and posted on YouTube.

Matthew undertook this long process in order to be able to share a concise and accessible response with other LGBT people who may be encountering the mindset and beliefs that homosexuality is condemned by Holy Scripture. When Matthew researched resources to help him have conversations with friends who had very long-held beliefs about the traditional interpretation of Scripture, Matthew felt that most of the resources were either too esoteric and academic, or too personal and emotional.

“I wanted to give other gay Christians an empowering resource in case they encountered resistance from their Christian communities concerning scriptural texts,”  Matthew said.

Matthew remains optimistic that “Christianity can overcome this, if we’re able to make careful strong arguments that hold the highest view of the authority of Scripture.”  I hope you get a chance to listen to his remarks.

Nancy Enderle, Interim Executive Director