I went to another lecture at Vandy this past Sunday night (confusingly enough, they too have a Furman Hall), this time on what the Bible says about homosexuality. The evening consisted of a showing of the film Fish Out of Water and was followed by comments from and questions from Vanderbilt professor Dr. Amy-Jill Levine (who also happens to be a famous New Testament scholar whose work I read in several classes at Furman).
If you want to know more about the documentary, check out the link above, or watch the trailer on YouTube. It discusses the seven Bible verses most commonly used against homosexuality, and and has clips of interviews with people on both sides of the debate. This is obviously a controversial subject, and it's undoubtedly a biased film. These things aside, I personally enjoyed seeing it (perhaps because I agree with the side toward which it leaned) and I've been thinking about it on and off since Sunday.
I know this is a touchy subject with a whole lot of people, but one of the comments that Dr. Levine said stuck out to me: "The Bible should help us ask the right questions. It's not an answer book." Now, I do think that there are some answers to be found in the Bible. But I also think there's something to be said for challenging things and asking questions. As Dr. Levine also commented (forgive my paraphrasing): the people on both sides of this argument are just trying to live out their lives the way that they believe God wants them to.
I think I enjoyed seeing this film partly because I've never really known specifics about the arguments on either side of this debate. And whichever of those sides you fall on, I think it's worth seeing.
Love,
Allison
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