tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29680163.post6764258383732071629..comments2024-02-28T12:04:11.837-08:00Comments on Jesus in Love Blog: Modern gay martyr: Matthew ShepardKittredge Cherryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02617858676733169316noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29680163.post-36506368343741800872009-11-16T03:37:21.573-08:002009-11-16T03:37:21.573-08:00It's really touchy post. I feel like you have ...It's really touchy post. I feel like you have given a real meaning of love here. Great article I must say.gay cruiseshttp://www.cruiselinefans.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29680163.post-13217003597897817682009-10-19T14:49:17.401-07:002009-10-19T14:49:17.401-07:00Thanks, LX and Trudie. I value the chance to defi...Thanks, LX and Trudie. I value the chance to define what it means to be a saint or a martyr. Trudie, I share your viewpoint and I couldn’t have said it better myself.<br /><br />Here’s a dictionary definition of saint:<br />1.a. Christianity A person officially recognized, especially by canonization, as being entitled to public veneration and capable of interceding for people on earth.<br />b. A person who has died and gone to heaven.<br />c. A member of any of various religious groups, especially a Latter-Day Saint.<br />2. An extremely virtuous person.<br /><br />In the New Testament, St. Paul used the word for every member of the Christian community, a practice continued by Rev. Troy Perry, found of Metropolitan Community Churches. one of my memories from working with Rev. Troy Perry was that whenever he wrote a letter to the membership of UFMCC, he address it as "Dear Saints." We always got back some responses from people protesting, "I'm not a saint!" But to Troy, we are all saints. <br /><br />Obviously I’m not sticking to officially recognized saints in this GLBT saints series. The series exists to address the problem of churches not officially recognizing the gifts of GLBT people of faith. I am leaning more toward saints as virtuous people, members of a religious group or people who died and went to heaven (and nobody can prove who did or didn’t go to heaven). <br /><br />Neither saints or martyrs are limited to the Christian faith, although that is a common usage. I do hope to add people of other faiths to the GLBT saints series in the future.<br /><br />So, LX, I like your last line, “I'd hope that he is in heaven! which is really what it means to be a saint.”Kittredge Cherryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02617858676733169316noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29680163.post-72886275917488038522009-10-15T10:57:35.955-07:002009-10-15T10:57:35.955-07:00Back to something Kitt reminded me of very recentl...Back to something Kitt reminded me of very recently -- the term "saint" applies to all of us, living or dead, who are believers in and followers of Jesus. As is so beautifully illustrated over and over again in "Jesus in Love", the concept that God's heart is open to all of us all the time is enough to make the term "saint" applicable. I believe it can be said that if Matthew was living openly and honestly as a gay man, accepting the possible risks of witnessing to the reality of his own persona as a beloved child of God, and this openness and honest is indeed what led to the vicious murder, then the term martyr applies absolutely. By the way, LX, my dictionary does not limit martyrdom only to believers in Jesus. It says, and I quote, "a person who is put to death for refusing to renounce a faith or belief". I believe the faith Matthew refused to renounce was the faith that his sexual identity is beloved of God, and I believe his killers put him to death for that. I think that far from being used losely, the terms Martyr and Saint are ABSOLUTELY applicable here!Trudiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17866513608442388870noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29680163.post-73742222099742154532009-10-13T19:13:14.652-07:002009-10-13T19:13:14.652-07:00Careful using the terms Martyr and Saint loosely!
...Careful using the terms Martyr and Saint loosely!<br /><br />When we say Martyr, we mean someone who has died for a cause. When we are talking about 'saint' Martyrs we mean those who died for their faith in J.C., Matthew Shepard is a Martyr against violence and for social justice... but I don't think we can call him a saint on the basis of his death.<br /><br />That said; I'd hope that he is in heaven! which is really what it means to be a saint.LXhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12404156832624935733noreply@blogger.com