Uuuh... guys, have you ever thought about this affirmative argument?
First of all, I'd like to say that I wrote this post using Google Translate, so some phrases may sound strange because I wrote them using the meaning in my native language.
This argument just popped into my head after watching the documentary about the 1946 mistranslation that put the word "homosexuals" in the Bible. In that documentary, the filmmaker has a father who is a conservative pastor, and although he is kind enough to still talk to his lesbian daughter and listen to the points of affirmative Christians, he still thinks homosexual relationships are a sin. There's a scene where he participates in an affirmative lecture where he asks the following question: "If homosexual relationships are not a sin and can be accepted by God, can you offer me a positive example on the subject in the Bible?". The answer, in the end, was clearly no, and he considered that he had won the argument.
I hold a "conservative theology," although I am on the A-side. I follow the moral rules derived from the Council of Jerusalem (Acts 15) and believe that every Christian should follow them, just as I believe in and affirm the Apostles' Creed and the Nicene Creed (and in the case of my denomination, I also follow the Lutheran tradition present in the Book of Concord). I believe I understand the more conservative side of the issue; being a Christian means having a moral code to follow and, above all, detesting one's own body and obeying God. As the apostles Paul and Peter said, we should not abuse the payment for our sins and our freedom in Christ to sin more (Galatians 5:13, 1 Peter 2:16), but we should use this freedom to serve our neighbor and, above all, God.
Some abuse church tradition simply to be ignorant and hateful towards minorities; others are merely ignorant but do not wish evil, and find themselves torn between obeying God and loving their LGBT neighbor. When one fears God and desires to please Him, conflicts like this are daily occurrences. This leads me to ask: does God's law have exceptions? The answer must be, without a doubt, yes, and we cannot argue against it.
I study Law, and I can say that the cold letter of a code means nothing when there is no interpretation of what is written and no established doctrine/jurisprudence on the law that encompasses all types of social situations where that law will be applied. No law will ever be absolute; even the most fundamental principles of a constitution can contradict each other and must be resolved by the proportionality of the legal goods that each one addresses. I believe many here recognize the one theological argument for the existence of God with law: that humanity is born with established legal/moral principles (in Law we call this Natural Law) and therefore a superior being must be the one responsible for delivering this law to us. This leads to the conclusion that God – omniscient and master of all kinds of science – understanding that every rule has its exception – also created exceptions in his law.
The Jewish law, as interpreted fundamentally by the Jews of Jesus' time, did not please God. Humans tried to follow the law to the letter, resulting in oppression, because they did not understand that God's law was given not to punish, but to organize and sanctify the lives of his people ("The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath" - Matthew 2:27).
I'm not going to get into the discussion of how Jesus, for example, didn't follow the literal interpretation of the Sabbath that the Jews understand as not practicing any act on that day. The issue of homosexuals and the church is about the recognition of same-sex marriages so that same-sex relationships are not considered fornication. And since homosexuals are not addressed in the Bible, this leads us to look for some exception regarding marriage in the law, something that the religious fanatics described in the Bible would reject, but which was accepted by God. And we have an entire book in the Bible that talks about an illegal marriage: Ruth.
Many of you are tired of reading about Leviticus and the verse that condemns sex between men with the death penalty, but that's not the only prohibition in the book. We can highlight other prohibitions, such as: incest, bestiality, and... marrying/affiliating with foreigners.
Yes, God commands us to treat foreigners (those who travel generally seeking a better life and are vulnerable because they are far from their homeland) as ourselves (Leviticus 19:34), but in the context of the people of Israel 2000 years ago, God also forbids marriages with other peoples of the land of Canaan (Exodus 34:15-16). And because of this passage, many Jewish denominations still believe that conversion to Judaism is not possible; instead, you must be "born into the religion," and for that, you must have a Jewish MOTHER (this is serious, you can research it). Well, there was a famine in the land of Israel, and Elimelech and Naomi and their sons had to sojourn in the "pagan" land of Moab. The sons of this couple SINNED (in the eyes of legalistic religious people) by marrying women from another people with other gods, and you should know the story.
Ruth did not possess a Jewish bloodline to pass on; she simply made a promise verbally: "Your people will be my people, and your God my God."
Did this transform his Moabite blood into Jewish blood? No. Did that make her a daughter of God and permissible to marry Boaz? Many proud and conservative rabbis would say no. In ancient times (and frankly, this eugenicist thinking persists to this day), the people of Israel were considered the children of God, and the other nations merely animals (this is even cited by Jesus: Matthew 15:22-26). I imagine many doubted the legality of Ruth's marriage, but greater than the observance of the law is the acceptance of God, and Ruth gave birth to Obed, Obed gave birth to Jesse, and Jesse gave birth to David, and from the house of David came our savior.
God is not a cruel person, He never was; He accepted Ruth despite her being an outcast in Israelite society. An "illegal marriage" between a Jew and a Moabite woman was holy; I don't see why an "illegal marriage" between two people of the same sex can't be, ultimately, both are seemingly forbidden, but one became holy through Ruth's intention to draw closer to God. We should stop listening to the religious opinions of false Christians on the internet and try to be closer to God with all our hearts, and we will be made holy.