The Indianapolis Star on March 30, 2000,
published an article by Michael Paulsson of the Boston Globe, "Reform Rabbis Support Same-Sex Rites." Paulson went on the
discuss the resolution just passed by the Central Conference of American Rabbis (CCAR).
The resolution basically gives a blessing to those Rabbis who want to perform ceremonies
for same-gender couples. Paulsson further writes:
"After the vote, the 500 Reform rabbis spontaneously broke
into song, chanting in Hebrew a prayer that Jews recite to thank God for allowing them to
experience a special moment."
I consider it, however, a very tragic
moment in Jewish history. It parallels the time when Israel, immediately after the
Exodus, violated the commands God gave to Moses. They made a golden calf and bowed
down to worship it. They literally started dancing and having a party! (Exodus 32:
1-8, 19)
The Jewish Bible explicitly condemns
homosexuality. Moses, unlike these rabbis, believed God's explicit final
word on this subject. He wrote: "Do not lie with a man as one lies with a
woman; that is detestable. Do not have sexual relations with an animal and defile yourself
with it." (Leviticus 18: 22,23)
Why couldn't the rabbis' next resolution, then,
be an endorsement of sex with animals? (The same passage that condemns homosexuality also
condemns sex with animals)! If the Bible is rejected as a divinely inspired authoritative
guide for what is right and wrong, then possibly these same rabbis might conclude that
incest is "worthy of affirmation through appropriate Jewish ritual" (the precise
language used in the resolution).
I find it appalling that the rabbis had the
chutzpah to actually think that God might endorse or be pleased with such an abominable
resolution. I ask, "Why even call a same-gender ceremony a Jewish
ritual?" Why not just call it a secular ceremony. Based on this
resolution, I assume that being Jewish now must have hothing to do with the Bible, God, or
absolute truth. Why? -- because the divine commands in the Jewish Bible have been
rejected!
Obviously, any organization or couple has the
freedom to make up some so-called same-gender ceremony, but wouldn't it be
better to leave out all religious language? I believe God's sacred name has been
blasphemed when used in such a ceremony. Do the rabbis really think that by somehow using
His name in their made-up ritual, that God is forced to acknowledge "kiddushim"
in such an unholy union?
Saul (Paul), a first century rabbi who was a
follower of Jesus the Messiah, also condemned homosexuality. He writes in the New
Testament:
"Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts.
Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men
also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another.
Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for
their perversion." (Rom. 1: 26,27)
Both the Old & New Testaments are in
agreement: Homosexuality is a sin!
Waving the magic wand of a rabbinic resolution
can not change God's previously expressed mind about homosexuality.
Therefore, my resolution is: to exhort any rabbi that endorsed
the CCAR resolution, and admonish him or her to repent, turn back to God, and obey The
Lord, rather than man-made rules.
