The statement was so remarkable I had to read it several times before I was sure my eyes were not deceiving me. It turns out the author meant exactly what he wrote, namely that, “Only once in the recorded life of Jesus does he lay upon the human a requirement.”
Yes, this is the stated opinion of Jonathan, writing on Medium.com. He quotes the words of Jesus, in John 13:34, “I give you a new commandment, to love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.” And he notes that Jesus reaffirmed this in John 15:12: “My commandment is this — to love one another just as I have loved you.”
Writes Jonathan, “The ‘commandment’ is singular. That means there’s one.”
He finds affirmation for this position in the writings of Paul (Galatians 5:6) and John (1 John 3:11, 3:23, 4:7, 4:11, 4:12; cf. 2 Jn 6), adding his own (quite bizarre) interpretations to a number of biblical texts along the way.
His thesis, described in the title and subtitle of his article (which is quite long, running more than 4,000 words), is simply this: “Jesus❤️Gays. Let’s go through the Bible’s references and realize: Christianity was simply wrong.”
But rather than rehashing what the Bible says about homosexual practice, let’s focus on the impossibly wrong claims made by Jonathan, going from the small to the large.
He mocks the idea that “Jesus, anywhere, tells anyone to hate.”
In reality, the whole Bible encourages us to hate evil.
See, for example, Psalm 97:10, “O you who love the LORD, hate evil!” Or note Amos 5:15, “Hate evil, and love good, and establish justice in the gate; it may be that the LORD, the God of hosts, will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.” In the words of Paul in Romans 12:9, “Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good.” (These are a few examples among many.)
As for Jesus never teaching us to hate, He did say these controversial words: “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple” (Luke 14:25).
We can certainly debate exactly what He meant by “hate.” But we cannot debate that He said these words (i.e., if we believe His words were faithfully transmitted by His disciples).
So much for Jonathan’s accuracy. But we’re just getting started.
He writes, “New Testament theology doesn’t prompt humans to follow patterns of gendered behavior. ‘Do not conform to the pattern of this world,’ Paul says in Romans 12:2 — gender would also be part of that.”
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SOURCE: Christian Post, Michael Brown
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