Auckland church billboard asks if Jesus was gay
Wellington, Dec. 17 (ANI)
Auckland's St Matthew-in-the-City church has once again sparked controversy with a contentious billboard.
Jesus may have been progressive in more ways than one, a new billboard in Auckland said.
The St Matthew in the City billboard, which is released every Christmas, has this year depicted baby Jesus in his crib surrounded by a halo of rainbow colours.
"It's Christmas," the billboard reads, adding: "It's time for Jesus to come out."
More importantly the billboard was meant to ask whether Jesus' desires in the bedroom would make a difference for those of faith.
"Would it make a difference if he was gay? Would that change the picture for you? Would it mean what we revere about him changes?" the billboard reads.
According to stuff.co.nz, Reverend Glynn Cardy said the sign was about trying to lift the humanity of Jesus.
"The fact is we don't know what his sexual orientation was," he said.
While some conservative Christians might point to the more absolutist parts of the Old Testament as proof of the Messiah's sexual preferences, Cardy said that homosexuality was not even a word until the 19th century, the report said.
"Any mention of it would therefore have been a mistranslation," he said.