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Thursday, July 21, 2011

The Fruit of the Spirit

In Matthew 7:16-20 Jesus, in his famous Sermon on the Mount, says the following: 
"You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes, nor figs from thistles, are they? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit; but the bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. So then, you will know them by their fruits."
Paul elaborates on this in Galatians 5:22-23, "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law." As gay Christians we often point to the good fruit clearly present in loving, committed same-sex relationships as evidence of their holiness. I agree with this approach, but I'd like to take a different one. Instead of asking if our relationships produce good fruit, something which can often be subjective. Instead why not ask what kind of fruit the traditionalist approach to homosexuality has produced? Remember, Christ does not say that every good tree bears mostly good fruit, he says that, "[a] good tree cannot produce bad fruit." Period. End of story. So I offer up the testimonies below and ask, is this good fruit?





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