Hello my friends,

With June being Pride Month, I receive a lot of questions about the Bible and passages that are often used against the LGBT community. So, I just wanted to share a few reflections for you here as well as recommend a few resources that might help you process any questions you might be having. I will be sharing two reflections in this piece. The first will be a reflection on God's use of a rainbow and the second will be on Sodom and Gomorrah. I pray you find them encouraging and helpful.

Recommended Resources:

-If you haven't yet read, "UnClobber: Expanded Edition with Study Guide: Rethinking Our Misuse of the Bible on Homosexuality," I would highly recommend that you do. UnClobber reexamines what the Bible says (and does not say) about homosexuality in such a way that sheds divine light on outdated and inaccurate assumptions and interpretations.

-With the Bible being the most translated collection of books in the entire world, it is critical to pay attention to changes made in those translations along the way. One of those important questions should be, "has the word homosexual always been in the Bible?" This article published in the United Methodist Insight sheds some really needed and interesting light on that question.

-I also found this article from Saint Hugh of Lincoln Episcopal Church to be challenging and insightful when it comes to untangling our interpretation of scripture from harmful interpretations we have been given towards the LGBTQ+ community. I encourage you to give it a read as well.

​-Hate Masquerading As Christian Love I wrote this a little less than three years ago now. I was processing some really difficult things that were happening in the world and here in Idaho in regards to the LGBT community. So I thought I would share this reflection with you here.

Why Fighting Over Rainbows Isn't Biblical.

Just the other day, someone sent me an angry message repeating rhetoric I have heard far too often. “The LGBTQ community hijacked the rainbow!”

We can quickly hear what this kind of phrase is implying, right? The word “hijack” is defined as: “the unlawful seizure (an aircraft, ship, or vehicle) in transit and force it to go to a different destination or use it for one’s own purposes.” This phrase is implying that the rainbow was “owned and operated” by someone else from whom the LGBTQ community supposedly “hijacked” it for its own purposes. I watch this debate explode onto the internet every June.

First, I can’t help but imagine what our culture would look like if that kind of passion and energy was directed towards wealthy authoritarians hijacking Jesus as a mascot for their greed, vanity, racism, misogyny, warmongering, disregarding the poor, and ravaging the planet for profit.

Second, the foundation of this debate is the same posture that seems to define every “culture war” issue. That the LGBT community needs to understand and observe the rainbow in a particular way rather than the ones who are making such demands.

I think that if those who are making the claim that the LGBT community “highjacked” the rainbow truly understood God’s intentions behind it in the Bible, they would realize that fighting over the rainbow directly contradicts its Biblical significance.

So who “owned” the rainbow first then?

Interestingly, rainbows play just as big a role, if not bigger, in other religions and mythologies in the world and throughout history. Many predating Abrahamic faiths not to mention Christianity.

The rainbow flag also first appeared historically as a symbol of peace as early as the 16th century and has been used by various movements to bring about reconciliation and cooperation.

In the 1990s, Archbishop Desmond Tutu and President Nelson Mandela described the newly democratic South Africa as a “rainbow nation”, alluding to its diversity and multiculturalism.

Rainbows also appeared on home windows worldwide during the lockdowns brought on by the covid-19 pandemic. People would paint them on their windows alongside messages of hope.

I first learned about “rainbow babies” during my ministry, which is a baby born to a mother after experiencing pregnancy loss.

Rainbows are also used to represent those with neurodiversity. I had a follower of mine tell me in a public comment that a random Christian man screamed at her because her neurodivergent son was wearing the neurodiversity rainbow on his shirt. He didn’t even stop to read the shirt.

Also, it should be noted that the rainbow flag used for the LGBT community is intentionally designed and unique. For example, the rainbow of nature has seven colors while the original pride rainbow has only six, each representing a particular meaning. Some pride flags have added more colors and the arrow, as other groups are being recognized by the movement. So in reality, the symbol of the natural rainbow isn’t even being used let alone “highjacked.” Rather, it is the creation of a symbol to represent a complex group of people within our society.

I could go on and on here, but my point is that the rainbow has been used as a symbol to represent numerous things to numerous people and groups. That is the way symbols work. To say that only one religious group has exclusive rights to the rainbow is not only to ignore history and the myriad of other groups who use the rainbow as a symbol, but it is to also severely lack in religious humility. Are we Christians going to appoint ourselves as gatekeepers over anyone who doesn’t use the rainbow to represent what we think they should?

My sad suspicion is though, the reason many are only getting mad at one group for how they use the rainbow actually says more about how they feel about that particular group than it ever will about how they feel about rainbows.

What about the Bible?

What really convicted me about all this fighting and hostility towards the LGBTQ community was how God actually used the rainbow in Genesis 9! Allow me to explain why.

Context

You see, in the ancient world, almost every civilization had a flood story in their creation account. From Egypt, to Babylon, to Mesopotamian, and many more, a flood narrative played a central role in their creation accounts. One of the most famous is the Epic of Gilgamesh, which predates the writing of the creation account in Genesis.

Given how almost all the ancient creation stories share a flood story, many speculate that some flood related event had actually occurred in the ancient world and these narratives were their way of trying to make sense of that event.

These other flood narratives would have been so familiar to Abraham and the generations after him. It would have been the stories they were raised with and the stories that shaped the way they saw the world around them.

In almost all the other ancient creation accounts, the “hero” either had to placate, manipulate, bribe, or defeat the god or gods in order to stop them from destroying all of humanity completely. Some even built a large boat to save all the animals as well. The gods in those narratives were violent and vengeful and it was up to the hero to stop them.

So, as Genesis is being written, two prevailing ideas are permeating the ancient world: 1) a global flood happened. 2) God or the gods had a role to play in causing it to happen.

Yet, what is so profound about the Genesis account is that while all the other gods are against humanity and have to be placated or manipulated or bribed, the God of Genesis partners with humanity, even makes a covenant with humanity and promises to never destroy life in such a violent way again.

It is a major departure from all the other flood accounts in the ancient world.

What was the sign of this covenant from God? God said, “I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life.” -Genesis 9:14-15

You will notice that God actually says this three times in this passage, showing the seriousness of this covenant. You will also notice how this is a sign made by God for God. It isn’t a covenant that humanity has responsibility to remember and cary out. No, humanity is the party who benefits from this covenant. Whenever the rainbow appears, God says, “I will remember my covenant between me and you.”

But here is where it gets really moving and profound. There isn’t a word for “rainbow” in the Hebrew language. In this passage, the Hebrew word is “קֶשֶׁת” which just means “bow.” It occurs over 70 times in the Hebrew Bible, all of which refer to bows, arrows, or archers. Some of the older English translations of the Bible, like the KJV, even use “bow” in Genesis 9 rather than “rainbow.”

God is setting down God’s bow in the clouds.

This profoundly paints the picture of God laying down God’s weapon against the world. God is disarming God’s self.

Not only that, but what shape do rainbows take? Think about how a rainbow looks when you see it in the sky. If it were an archer’s bow, where is the arrow pointing? It is no longer pointing towards the earth, but towards heaven. Not only is God laying down the weapon of destruction, but God is essentially saying, “I will take the destruction upon myself instead.”

We can see all sorts of symbolic connections here to Jesus, who is God incarnate, taking on all the destruction and harm of the world upon himself through the cross, establishing the “new covenant” (Luke 22:20) just as the God of Genesis had promised in this old covenant.

This context is always so deeply moving and convicting for me.

When we consider this context, it is easy to see how so much of the rage from Christians towards the LGBT community and its use of the rainbow is actually violating what God intended by the rainbow in the first place. God made the rainbow as a symbol of nonviolence. It is a symbol of peace. It is a symbol of solidarity with all humanity. It is a promise to handle things through a relationship of solidarity and love, rather than through wrath and destruction.

When we Christians act in hostile and vengeful ways towards the LGBT community, claiming the rainbow belongs only to us and “our God,” we are using the rainbow in the exact opposite way God intended. We are using it to try to control everyone else rather than ourselves. Ironically, this causes us to actually be the ones who are hijacking the rainbow for our own purposes.

May it not be so with us!

Instead, imagine if the intention behind why God made the rainbow in Genesis 9 was the posture we Christians took whenever we saw a rainbow in our culture. What a flood of peace that would be.

Sodom and Gomorrah​
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Sodom and Gomorrah has nothing to do with the LGBTQ community. It has everything to do with patriarchal power, exploitation, and greed.

As the Bible clearly tells us, Sodom and Gomorrah was about arrogance, greed, selfishness, disdain, and being inhospitable towards the poor and the needy (Ezekiel 16:49-50).

They also did detestable things, like men attempting to use sex as a weapon of violence and dominion against the strangers among them (Genesis 19; Jude 1:7). In the ancient world (as it is today) r@pe was a common tactic to dehumanize and demoralize people seen as inferior. It is not referring to individual sexual orientation or consensual same sex relationships or marriage.

Also, it is important to note, Jude 1:7-8 references sexual immorality and “pursuing other flesh.” Just before these verses, Jude is talking about angels who had abandoned their proper dwelling (verse 6) then goes right into discussing Sodom and Gomorrah, where men tried to r@pe two angels. Many scholars suggest that “pursuing other flesh” means intending to cross the divine boundary and have inappropriate relationships with angels.

Horrifically, Lot even offers his two daughters to be abused and worse by the raging mob. Yet we don’t hear this passage being used as calling attention to how men in positions of power dismiss and justify the mistreatment of women. Even those living within their own household. We only hear this passage used to condemn LGBTQ people.

As the narrative tells us, God was willing to spare the city of Sodom if as few as ten righteous people could be found, but that minimum number was not met as Abraham negotiated with God. While the text shows the city lacked ten righteous citizens, the New Testament explicitly describes Lot, Abraham’s nephew who lived there, as a "righteous man" who was deeply distressed by the lawlessness around him. Yet even he was willing to treat his daughters as expendable objects. Just as Abraham abused Hagar and treated her as an expendable object. Hence the horrific misuse of patriarchal power.

What is deeply ironic and troubling to me is that Sodom and Gomorrah is used by many as an example to suggest that our nation will come to the same ruin because of the LGBTQ community. Because they are “celebrating sin.” Yet it is never used as a warning to those who are arrogantly misusing Christianity as a justification to celebrate greedy, arrogant, and abusive people in power, hailing them as “God’s chosen leaders,” to gain dominance over our nation. It is never used as an urgent warning against mistreating the poor and the stranger among us.

In a time where those in the highest positions of power are arrogantly flaunting their wealth and status, all while having a history of abuse against women and children, while actively mistreating the poor and the immigrant through rhetoric and policies, while being hailed as “upholding Christian values” by many; it is tragically hypocritical to see Sodom and Gomorrah used as a condemnation of the LGBTQ community rather than a clear call for repentance for the kind of Christianity that celebrates arrogant, abusive, greedy, and violent people in power for the sake of political and religious dominance.

Instead of reading sodom and Gomorrah as a condemnation against the LGBTQ community, it would be wise for American Christianity to read it towards itself.

“Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy. They were haughty and did detestable things before me. Therefore I did away with them as you have seen.” -Ezekiel 16:49-50

Now I'd like to hear from you! Did you find this helpful? What thoughts came to your mind as you read? Feel free to respond to this email and share your thoughts with me. I look forward to reading them. A 30 Day Day Devotional: I wrote a daily devotional in hopes to provide a companion for people seeking to follow Jesus through the season of we are currently navigating together. You can find out more below: $20.00 Following Jesus In A World Obsessed With Empires: 30 Days of reclaiming the hope, compassion, and justice of Jesus. Today, our world can often feel overwhelmed by darkness, division, and despair. I created this 30-day devotional to... Read more Get it now! ​ Ways to support: If you'd like to support this project, you can do so through one-time-gift of any amount you feel is right. You can also subscribe through a $5/mo, $15/mo, or $25/mo. Several others have also asked for a recurring gift option that is different from the ones offered here, like this one. If you'd like me to set up a different option for you, please just send me an email with the word "support" in the subject line. As always, I really want to thank all of you for reading and for all the ways you support me and this project every single week. I'm thankful for the ways we are building this together and hope it creates a lasting, positive change in our world along the way! I sincerely appreciate you all, Ben Remember, you can now view this and all previous newsletters as well as invite friends to join through this link: https://benjamin-cremer.ck.page/profile.

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