James Talarico

Sure, sure.

And again—

Again, I'm not a rabbi, so I hesitate to be able to speak with authority on the Jewish scriptures.

But, you know, this was a people who had found freedom from slavery in Egypt.

And they were trying to be able to set themselves apart from the Jews.

that domination that they knew in Egypt.

They wanted a completely new world where God was in charge, not some Pharaoh, not some emperor.

So this was a radical community they were trying to build.

And so they put rules in place to remind themselves that while it may only take a few weeks to get out of an empire, it takes a lifetime to get the empire out of you.

So we now, 2,000, 3,000 years later in terms of the Jewish scriptures, we're now reading it with modern eyes, trying to interpret what they mean and then apply it to our modern context.

One, I think that's sloppy theology.

Two, I think it's disrespectful to the Jewish people.

Three, it's a misunderstanding of Christianity because the whole idea of Jesus's movement was that he was simplifying the law, right?

He simplified it into two commandments, love God and love neighbor.

Those are the only two commandments that we Christians should keep our focus on.

And Jesus regularly got into conflicts with the religious authorities, right?

Jesus is always getting in trouble with the church of his time because he is rejecting legalism, right?

and embracing the spirit of the law, which is loving your neighbor as yourself.

And so in our modern context, that should mean loving our gay neighbors as ourselves.

And so to me, you know, when I'm looking at the teachings of Jesus, I think it's very clear how we should treat those who are different, those who are left out, those who are on the edges.