Have Christians been misreading the Bible?

The Supreme Court’s Hobby Lobby decision to let corporations impose religious beliefs on employees has gay rights groups worried. They’re worried companies will be free to cite their belief in the Bible as a reason to fire gay employees who go public by getting married.
But suppose it turns out the Bible says no such thing.

“And I love Jesus, but that doesn’t mean I need to hate myself,” says Matthew Vines. He’s the author of the Amazon best seller “God and the Gay Christian.”

He quit Harvard to spend two years researching the Bible’s passages on homosexuality. All six of them. His 2012 presentation on YouTube is approaching three-quarters of a million views.

Here’s his take on a quote from the Apostle Paul, “It is better to marry than to burn with passion, he (Paul) says. So if the remedy against sin for straight Christians is marriage, why should the remedy for gay Christians be the same?”

He also points out that any Bible translation using the word “homosexual” cannot be considered literal – for one simple reason.

“Neither Greek, the language of the New Testament, nor Hebrew, the language of the Old Testament, had a word that means or corresponds to the English word for gay,”
says Vines.

Politico reports that Vines arguments have some evangelical Christians re-thinking their opposition to gay marriage.

So this issue may go away on its own.

At the very least, maybe the next time the Supreme Court gets a corporate religious freedom case, instead of just accepting the claim that it’s in the Bible – the justices might ask the company, ‘Where, exactly?’