In a recent social media post, Rev. Andrew Stehlik of Rutgers Presbyterian Church, NYC, disputed the idea of biblical family values. He says that the Bible has multiple examples of nonmonogamous and same-sex couples. He is part of an extreme left-wing denomination and is active in many social causes. In response, many commentators on social media voiced their objection to Stehlik’s lecture.
“When I came to America, I came as someone educated in theology and anthropology from Europe. It was a European education, and I was completely ignorant and unprepared for the local evangelical and cultural-political discourse,” he arrogantly began. ” And then I heard some very loud politicians, preachers, and cultural experts, if you wish, talking about biblical family values. Well, I must admit, I was mystified. What do they mean by biblical family values?”
“Because I know that in the Bible, there are a plurality of those models and values, variety of family models. In the Bible, for instance, you would probably know if you open the Hebrew scripture, you will know that polygamy is definitely more common than monogamy, certainly in the Hebrew Bible,” Stehlik argued. ” Just remember patriarchs and their multiple wives.”
“Furthermore, patrilocal marriages might be the most common. Patrilocal means simply that the wife joins the family of her husband, patrilocal,” he continued. “But there are also prominent matrilocal marriages. For instance, Moses joins the family of his father-in-law, and even when marriage is first instituted in the book of Genesis, the first book of the Bible we read. ‘Therefore, a man will leave his father and his mother and will be joined to his wife.'”
“That’s patrilocal marriage. To broaden our spectrum, even further beyond marriage, I can mention children from the slave surrogate mothers, for instance. Without that kind of arrangement, there will be not 12 tribes of Israel,
but only eight,” the New York-based pastor added, ” There were even SAME GENDER family households, and again, one is right there in front of our eyes, Naomi and Ruth.”
While the pastor is clearly politically motivated, it should come as no shock given his congregation. “Driven by the progressive values of Rutgers Presbyterian Church, the Peace and Social Justice Network organizes community forums on pressing issues, conducts a number of letter writing campaigns each year, and leads the Rutgers community in local and global demonstrations—look for our banner at the next Pride parade or climate march!” the website reads.
“We adamantly reject any notion that laws, courts, and judges should have power over the bodily autonomy of women. It is no one’s right to limit and control a woman’s personal and medical reproductive decisions,” they said in another statement. ” As people of faith, we refuse and must actively resist any attempts to use religion as a pretext for undermining and destroying fundamental human rights.”
Watch His Rant Here:
Advent Cringe Season is here!
Why do libs have such a hard time distinguishing between the Bible’s descriptions of marriage vs. its prescriptions for marriage? pic.twitter.com/3Ty8RbiDse
— Woke Preacher Clips (@WokePreacherTV) December 9, 2024
“He’s all over the place, but I spit out my drink when I heard “Naomi and Ruth are a same-gender household,” one user humorously reacted. Another said, “In the Bible” doesn’t automatically mean “endorsed by God”. Polygamy, for example, is practiced by all of the OT kings, but is never cited as a valid practice AND runs in contradiction to the Marriage Mandate in Genesis 2!”
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