So, after my lengthy post (read the receding post), my protagonist continued to ask:
“I kindly invite you Bob G+ to provide sufficient detail on the particular forms of same-sex behavior that you believe are not forbidden by God.”
I thought and wrote and thought some more in an attempt to come up with a new way of presenting the “material” that just might make a dent in his armor. I decided to ask how he thought I would respond. You can read his responses (posts #125 & #126).
Here is how I finally responded:
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Truth Unites…Truth Divides –
You wrote: “My hope and prayer, as you meet and are led by the Holy Spirit in prayer and in His Word, is that you are led by intellectual honesty and spiritual integrity…”
This part of your sentence is exactly what I have done over the past 30 years. And that searching, seeking, praying, studying, discerning, listening, humbling myself, wrestling, more studying, more praying, has lead me with all integrity and intellectual honesty to conclude that Scripture, rightly divided and rightly understood in proper context and intent, does not say what anti-inclusion folks want/demand it to say. Scripture does not condemn all forms of gay relationships.
Now, if you can’t accept that this is where the Spirit of God has lead me (and an increasing numbers of people in all Christian communities), I can’t help it – as you alluded to in your second post directly above, my judge is my Savior (thankfully), and in His providence and grace I commend my soul, my future, my hope, my salvation, my joy, my sorrow, my life. In Him I live and move and have my being.

To answer your inquiry directly, I believe that those gay people who have not been given the gift of celibacy and who find themselves constitutionally homosexual, may inter into an intentional, faithful, mutual, loving, life-long relationship with someone of the same-sex. The same standards that rest with heterosexuals rest with homosexuals – the standards of what constitutes the foundation of all “Eros” relationships, the examples of relationships in Scripture should be expected of all.
I find in Scripture that the overwhelming norm is heterosexual relationships – monogamy and polygamy. Scripture does not deal with mutual, faithful, life-long gay relationships, despite what others try to force Scripture to say. The anti-relationship arguments are made from a point silence. Yes, I know the arguments, and I don’t find them intellectually honest or consistent.
What Scripture stipulates, aside from the Levitical Code, is its condemnation is abusive relationships (rape – Sodom, etc.), heterosexuals who engage in homosexual behavior (Sodom, Romans, prisons, conveniently “getting one’s rocks off”, etc.), the worship of created things rather than the Creator (idolatry leading to distortion of reality).
Most intellectually honest scholars, on both sides of the argument, and others will admit that certain Greek words used by Paul are ambiguous at best and we really don’t know the actual intent of Paul and the meaning of the specific word – which will greatly affect the interpretive outcome. Most people will come down on one side or another and defend that side (Gagnon does, for example, even though he gets a bit dogmatic at times), but most will still admit that the case is still open. Some people will become fundamentallistically wedded to a specific definition and allow non other. Again, that is their problem with integrity and intellectual honesty.
With respect to the Anglican troubles in which we find ourselves, these differences do not necessitate for me a rejection of you, your opinion, your faith. The impression many people are left with, and at times it is more than just an impression, is that these differences do necessitate a rejection of me, my opinion, and my life. Sadly, those who demand such a rejection are determined to force an Anglican split.
The continued insistence by “reasserters” that all those who call for a reconsideration of the Tradition and what Scripture ACTUALLY does and doesn’t say are rejecting the authority of Scripture and are weak in their scholarship is not intellectually honest. Sure there are people who wage their battles against “conservatives” (Spongians), just as there are “God hates fags” “conservatives” who wage their war against “liberals.” But, nether group represents the majority within either camp.
Holy Week is upon is. In this time we experience the Passion of our Savior and come to realize the profoundly confounding realization of God’s transformative power and His utter love for His Creation. We are lifted out of the mire, lifted out of our ignorance, lifted out of our sinful inclinations, and delivered into the very Kingdom God has prepared for His people – what joy, what freedom, what peace, what Good News! Even in our distress, our troubles, even in our “dark nights of the soul,” He is there.