Adam Ericksen, who leads an Oregon United Church Of Christ, defended Episcopal Bishop Budde on social media. The pastor, who is seen in a rainbow collar and Antifa t-shirt, said that her remarks to President Trump were representative of the Bible. He pivoted to discussing the presence of transgender people in the bible and how the church should react.
“We saw this message of service and mercy on full display this last week as another woman, Bishop Marianne Budde, preached at the National Prayer Breakfast,” Erikson mistakenly said the lecture occurred at the National Prayer Breakfast, when, in fact, the event took place at the national cathedral. “like Peter’s mother-in-law, Bishop buddy is an example of a woman who gets it.”
“The backlash that she has received is largely an example of a bunch of men who are clueless, stupid idiots, and worse than the disciples in the gospels, they are clueless in a way that is destructive to the message of Christ,” he added. ” And like Simon’s mother-in-law, at the prayer breakfast, Bishop Buddy did one of the most Christian things that anybody could possibly do.”
“She asked the President to show mercy to vulnerable people, specifically to our transgender siblings and to undocumented immigrants, our undocumented siblings. She appealed to the biblical message that all people are sacred and created in the image of God, and worthy of mercy and compassion,” the progressive pastor added. ” Bishop buddy preached from deep Christian values that all Christians should share.”
“There is nothing in the Bible that is against our transgender siblings. In fact, when the Bible gets close to saying anything about being transgender. It is actually very positive,” he controversially explained. ” The closest the Bible comes is in parts where Jesus says that some men have become eunuchs by cutting off their … organs. Jesus never says that people who do this go against the realm of God.”
“In fact, Jesus outrightly says that these eunuchs cut off their … organs for the betterment of the kingdom of God. After the resurrection, a disciple named Philip meets an Ethiopian eunuch in Acts chapter eight, the Ethiopian had his… organ cut off. The eunuch was reading a passage of scripture and asked Philip about it. After Philip led him in a little bit of a Bible study, the eunuch wanted to be baptized into the church.
“The eunuch didn’t fit perfectly into the patriarchal gender categories of the ancient Roman Empire; he was seen as another gender. He was neither male nor female, but to Philip, those categories of male and female no longer mattered when it came to acceptance into the church,” Erikson went on. “That’s because the church is always welcoming new people into the church, people who have been scapegoated by religious organizations.”
Watch Pastor Eriksons Sermon Here:
Here’s wider context: “Philip included this genderqueer eunuch into a church [Acts 8:26-39], and Philip included this genderqueer eunuch as a genderqueer eunuch.
The genderqueer eunuch didn’t have to change anything about themselves in order to be in the church.
And so the New… pic.twitter.com/Wdr98OFgm8
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“The church is to stop that scapegoating and welcome anyone into it. So, Philip included this genderqueer eunuch in a church,” Eriksen preached. “Philip included this genderqueer eunuch as a genderqueer eunuch; the genderqueer eunuch didn’t have to change anything about themselves in order to be in the church. And so the New Testament is not scandalized by anyone who transforms their body.” He concluded, “And so Christians today should never be scandalized by our transgender siblings for transforming their bodies.”
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