What is you opinion on Elton John's views about Jesus?

We’ll never know if he was gay or not. There’s a 50% chance he’s right.

But Jesus can’t be gay, he had relations with Mary Magdalene and has a descendant living among us somewhere. Da Vinci Code and all that jazz…

Well, his disciples were all men.

sigh

It is extremely unlikely that Jesus was gay. I do understand why gay people wish that he was gay and try to sell the product. It’s still tedious.

No I’m not angered, its a human saying another human who died eons ago could be gay…...why would I be angry? I have other shit to worry about.

I don’t care what Elton John thinks.

I think Jesus was a very happy person.

Until the flogging started.

Not angered at all. Why would it make any difference either way?

@Factotum Why? I think there is probably no way to know.

I regard this statement of his to be quite similar to the Beatles saying they were greater than Jesus Christ.

Obviously he knows how a controversial statement like this will generate a lot of publicity. Doesn’t matter if it’s positive publicity or negative publicity——- as long as they spell his name correctly :D

He knows what he’s doing. It’s not really that high on my outrage meter.

Elton John isn’t good enough to suckle on Jesus’s holy salty possibly gay balls… so no, I don’t care.

It is unlikely he would have been tolerated if he were known to be gay. The Old Testament is, obviously, not gay-friendly. If we go on a strictly genetic roll of the dice then Jesus would have maybe a 3% chance to have been gay.

And there is zero evidence that Jesus was gay.

btw, it wouldn’t bother me if he was and I don’t much care if Elton John wants to believe he was.

I don’t care what Elton John thinks. I don’t care if Jesus was gay or not. I do know for a fact that Elton only said it to stir up controversy and keep his elderly ass in the headlines.

Maybe that’s why he really made the song Rocket Man….....ba dum chh!

@Factotum I guess I just meant that he could have been gay and never acted on it, and no one would have known. Or, the men around him, the men who later wrote his story, for all we know they duth protest too much, and the Christian Bible being seemingly anti-gay is them covering themselves up – WITCH. I am just rambling ignore me. I have no idea if the Christian bible really even is anti-gay or if some bible thumpers have just twiste dthe words around to suit them.

Elton John can think whatever he wants about Jesus. It isn’t the most far fetched thing I have heard anyone believe regarding him.

Elton John may be a raving gay, but Jesus had a girlfriend, or have you forgotten :Mary Magdalene?
Here is what Elton really thought about Jesus,
Son of Levon, Jesus was sent to the finest schools in town.
Jesus helps blow up balloons all day and sits on the porch swing watching them fly.
Jesus wants to fly to Venus and leave his pop far behind.

@JLeslie The Bible says, ‘Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination’. There’s other stuff as well, but that is the most concise. Personally I don’t much care whichkind lies with whatkind but those that hold the Bible as the Word of the Lord have reason to believe that men having sex with other men is sinful and hateful to God.

I disagree, if in the old testament God said being gay is a sin like stealing, lying etc; then why would God make the messiah gay?

@Factotum Proof that the Bible is in fact not completely the word of god.

@ChaosCross God didn’t make anybody gay. It is a choice.

@davidbetterman It is a choice.

No, it’s not. I would know, trust me.

You chose to be gay, did you not? Or do you believe that your life was predetermined?

@davidbetterman

False dichotomy. The two are not mutually exclusive. We have free will, but there are things about us that we did not choose.

LOL…So be it.

Elton knows what he’s doing here.
I’m not sure I even believe in Jesus, but if he did happen to exist and he happened to be gay, c’est la vie

I think it’s cute.

We know very little about Jesus the man, let alone about his sex life but that is not the point. Like all of us, Elton John is entitled to at least one folly and this one is at least harmless. If some enraged fundamentalist tries to kill him, it will be one more proof, if proof were needed, that the Christian church is very sick.

I believe in freedom of religion and freedom of speech, and all the comes with both of those things. He can believe what he wants, I can believe what I want. I notice there is an undercurrent at times of intolerance toward people with different faiths and views. It should not be so. I respect his right to believe that and say that. I want to keep my right to believe and say otherwise. The two go hand in hand. We can’t forfeit one person’s rights without sacrificing our own. This means cohabitating the planet with people with diverse ideas and beliefs. If we haven’t learned how yet, it’s time to try.

If Jesus was gay, but never acted on those feeling, wouldn’t the Christians be ok with that? Isn’t it the sexual act they are freaking out about?

@davidbetterman There has been scientific research that has shown there is a gene that does indeed make us gay.

@Trance24 I’m sure.

@JLeslie

In theory yes. In actuality not really. In most cases what they say versus what they actually do are two different things altogether.

They preach the official line about hate the sin but love the sinner and all that crap. In reality just the thought of being within ten feet of a gay person makes them inwardly squirm.

If someone claims that they’ve been “saved” from that they’d just better not have too many gay mannerisms or God help them.

There are a few exceptions to what I’ve described, but too few to make much difference.

At best, gay people are tolerated. But nobody is actively interested in developing a real and genuine friendship with them. They are still regarded ( even if politely) as ” them”.

As I said, there are a few who are not like that, but too damn few IMHO.

BTW

Just to clarify an important point here. My comments above are made in reference to the types of church groups who preach against the sinfulness of gays. That’s what you were asking about.

There are more open minded churches which accep gays with full equality and actually treat them like people. My comments were not directed at churches like that.

Unfortunately, the narrow minded haters are the ones who get all the publicity so many people assume that all Christians are alike. As with anything else, stereotyping is not such a great idea.

I stopped caring about what Elton John had to say after Rock of the Westies.

Besides, Elton has probably done more for humanity than many of the so-called Christians he’s offended, so he’s probably entitled to perceive Jesus any damn way that suits him.

@DominicX There is a distinction between being gay – being inclined or desirous of sex with one’s same gender – and acting on those inclinations or desires.

My understanding of theology is that God is relatively cool with sinful thoughts as compared to sinful actions.

I am not interested in defending this position as it isn’t mine, nor am I in favor of gay people remaining celibate.

@Factotum

Yes there is. Even the Catholic church makes this distinction in that they believe it’s wrong to engage in gay sex (they’re “called to celibacy”) but that they “did not choose their homosexual condition”.

So, of course there’s a difference and of course you can choose to act on your feelings, but it’s the ridiculous claim that you choose to have the feelings in the first place that pisses me off. It trivializes everything about being homosexual.

I think the most important part about Jesus is that he reminded us that we make ourselves very unhappy when we hate other people. This reminder might save us from living a miserable life. Jesus the gentle savior so to speak.

People who hate gays live a miserable life. Elton John might be a victim of this. If he speculates about Jesus being gay (or bisexual) so be it. I think we can live with this, but I also think there isn’t real evidence pointing in this direction otherwise we would hear about this from scholars instead of Elton John.

@DominicX I agree with you.

@DominicX Being homosexual is trivial. Just as being heterosexual is trivial.

@Buttonstc Can I assume you are excluding the Catholics? They are just full of gay priests, and most people know I think. At least my Catholic friends and family members (by marriage) realize it now. So, I am saying they accept, like, and admire their priests usually, so as long as they assume he is celibate they seem fine. Many times you can tell they are gay if you have decent gaydar.

All of my Catholic friends support gay marriage. I think they see it as a civil rights issue, and also a, “why should I care what someone else does if it does not hurt anyone.”

I realize you mentioned that there are of course Christians who accept gay people.

“I think they see it as a civil rights issue”
It should not be a “civil rights issue”.

Religion is not about “civil rights” it is about following the doctrine that dictates how to follow the faith. The “faith” being priority over anything else and anyone. If a religious organizations doctrine is interpreted to show homosexual behavior being wrong.
You follow the word or be damned to hell.

That is why people killing the infidel or blow themselves up.

Hi @ChazMaz :). But I am talking about secular law, not religious. The people I know seem to be able to separate the two. Catholics are more accepting that he world is diverse with many religious beliefs. Maybe if it is their own child that is gay they wouldn’t be accepting, although my Catholic friends overall are accepting of their gay children, I can only think of one man I know who was not, but he is in his 70’s now and from South America, although my inlaws accept my brother-in-law, their son, and they are Mexican, but it is bazaar for them I think, unnexpeted. Just like all of my Catholic friends are against prayer in school; but most Christian, non-Catholics, seem to think that it will cure all of the woes in our country.

@JLeslie

Your assumption is correct that I wasn’t including Catholics in my remarks. I was referring primarily to the ultra fundamentalist types who have more different doctrinal designations than can be counted.

They aren’t as open about their prejudices as that nutbar Phelps. They couch it in more acceptable language. But when the chips are down, they aren’t fond of any whom they classify as “them”.

They are also the ignoramuses who keep talking about how being gay is a choice. I’ve gotten into some heated discussions with these types both in person and online. But I’ve pretty much given up as it’s like banging your head against the wall.

At least the Catholics have given this enough serious thought to realize that ones orientation is not a choice and they make a clear distinction between desires and actions.

I’m willing to give them props for that but their whole celibacy deal is pretty impractical and not well thought out at all. But that’s just my personal viewpoint on it.

@Buttonstc I have heard many reasons for the celibacy thing. From what I understand the church used to allow married Priests, but it was expensive to take care of their families. I do have a Catholic friend who can’t make sense of the churches message to procreate, and then does not want their priests to follow it. I have heard Jews in the past say that it seems counterintuitive to not want to pass on the genes of some of the most learned and intelligent men in the religion.

Knowing what I know about the Catholic church, specifically the priesthood, I don’t know if they would be happy to have a bunch of heterosexuals with wives running around. I have no idea how many priests actually are gay, but I know there are gay priests who kind of have “boyfriends” and the church is like a sanctuary in some ways. I would think this is true in the past more than now; now that society is more accepting of gay people. It might be part of the reason it is more difficult now to attract men to the priesthood, gay men don’t need to hide any more.

I can email you a link to a very informative site on all things Catholic written by a former nun who has done excellent research if you’re that interested.

Historically, the celibacy rule was instituted for financial reasons, but not exactly the theory you proposed.

Back in the Middle ages the priesthood was much more a power position than necessarily primarily a spiritual one. The sons of nobleman, the ones with the education to be able to read and write were the ones who entered the priesthood.

These were also the ones who would be inheriting their father’s lands. So if the priest was married, all that valuable property went to his sons instead of the church.

But if they had to be celibate, all that land was eventually inherited by the church.

This is also why history is rife with priests (and even Popes) having mistresses and fathering tons of kids apparently with little consequences imposed by the church.

Since any children born were illegitimate, they had no inheritance rights since the father (priest or Pope) was officially “celibate”.

If they tossed out those who violated celibacy that would also mean giving up the land.

So everyone got what they wanted and it was all cloaked in lovely high-falutin spiritual sounding language. Everybody was happy. Except for the women and kids.

Obviously that’s no longer the case in modern times but after all this spiritual sounding justification ( for what amounts to a glorified land and power grab) there just isn’t a graceful way to back out of it. That’s why it makes no LOGICAL sense now. It’s original reason detre no longer exists.

But to be completely fair, I should also add that there were then and there are now exceptions to this.

There were and are those who have been absolutely faithful to their vows of celibacy. They bought into the supposed spiritual basis and for them it became real.

Unfortunately there were and are too few of them. But they do exist.

There is also a HUGE difference between someone voluntarily CHOOSING celibacy for spiritual reasons and having it IMPOSED UPON them as the Catholic church does with gay people. A HUGE difference.