Does Christs-Bride affirm or deny gay marriage?Christs-Bride. I attended Pensacola Bible Institute, an ultra-conservative Bible school for street preachers, from 1976-78. The Founder of PBI, Dr. Peter Ruckman, is vociferously anti-gay. He is fond of name-calling from the pulpit and hurls epithets like fag, fairie, homo, bull dyke, Frisco fairy, queer and sissy boys to demean gay people. This gets really weird in a tin-foil hat way.
Dr. Ruckman taught that in heaven, all Christians would become exact replicas of Christ, therefore all of us would become 33 year old Jewish males. He then taught that this all-male bride of Christ will literally marry Christ in heaven and physically consummate the marriage. Remember he taught this in the late 1970s. I don't know if he still teaches this stuff but Dr. Ruckman was careful never to put this teaching in print although it used to be available on tape cassette. I mention it here because I've never forgotten this strange, false doctrine. On the subject of Christs-Bride, Dr. Ruckman taught that God will transform all Christians to be exact replicas of Christ, so that everyone who gets saved in the church age, young and old, male AND female, will become 33 year old men because according to Dr. Ruckman, that's how old Jesus was when He died. These men will then marry Christ and physically consummate the marriage, according to Dr. Ruckman.
This strange belief did not come from the "homos" and "bull dykes" Dr. Ruckman takes such pleasure in attacking. This odd belief was taught by the anti-gay pastor at Bible Baptist Church in Pensacola, Florida. I and many others regard Dr. Ruckman's teaching about Christs-Bride as really strange (and that's being charitable). But the standard teaching about Christs-Bride from anti-gay Christians and the oddball musings of anti-gay Dr. Ruckman about Christ's bride raises interesting questions.
I have wondered, as you may have wondered:
Remember, Bride and Groom typology is one of the strongest supporting arguments for Complementarian theory. They argue that the example of Adam and Eve (the first opposite sex marriage on earth) pictures, through typology, the relationship Christ will have with His bride, the church. "For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. Naturally that raises interesting questions.
Please understand. I am not questioning the truth of the Bible. I AM questioning why anti-gay Christians get away with using the Bible against gays and lesbians. When you think about it, the Christs-Bride teaching just doesn't make sense, the way they use it to exclude gays and lesbians. I believe the bride of Christ as used by Paul is more metaphor than literal.My advice is simple. Keep believing the Bible but don't accept everything anti-gay religious nuts tell you it means. God gave you a brain and a mind. Use them to read and study and research the Bible on your own. You will be surprised at what you discover.
God does not intend gay people to spend their lives alone and lonely even though that's what Focus on the Family and Exodus and Desert Stream would have you believe. Their "love" is not mediated through the prism of Matthew 7:12 or Matthew 22:36-40. They would never be satisfied to be treated the way they treat gay people. I believe God knows the longing of our hearts because He made us. God's loving care for Adam, in providing the orientation compatible help meet that Adam needed, Genesis 2:18, encourages me to believe that God is faithful to provide gays with the orientation compatible help meet that we need. The help meet God provides us will be same sex instead of opposite sex. Many of you have already learned this foundational truth.
We learn better and deeper lessons about God and His awesome love for us in the furnace of affliction. Mountaintops are the place for rejoicing. Life's greatest lessons are learned down in the valley where God's grace is made perfect in our weakness. God teaches us, not by immediately taking away everything that causes pain and distress but by giving us grace to lean on Him in our need. Weeping may endure for a night but joy comes in the morning. Helpful Links Dealing With Gay MarriageEqual rights for gays and lesbians are NOT special rights. You've read about Christs-Bride. Click Here to return to GayChristian101.com Home Page. Civil Unions and Same Sex Marriage God also blesses marriages different from the Adam and Eve model Let’s talk about marriage in the Bible Do you know where complementarity originated? The Romans may have encouraged gay relationships in first century Rome. Five strong analogies in the Bible which support same sex marriage. Family values in the Bible are different than what you’ve been taught. Read about the most famous gay couple in the Bible - Jonathan and David.
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