Jonathan Poletti

I write about @SamAllberry, the Evangelical who posed as an anti-gay speaker to great acclaim. All along, he was having a romantic relationship. medium.com/belover/the-ev…

Here's a queer news story: the biggest anti-LGBT bigot in Evangelical America found with a boyfriend and fired from his church @ImmanuelNash. Sam Allberry never even believed what he was saying. It was a grift. @AttitudeMag @outmagazine @huffpostqueer

Here's a queer news story: the biggest anti-LGBT bigot in Evangelical America found with a boyfriend and fired from his church @ImmanuelNash. Sam Allberry never even believed what he was saying. It was a grift. @PinkNews @lgbtqnation @Queerty @gaytimes

My critique of the "love languages" as a Southern Baptist fiction continues to travel. medium.com/belover/the-lo…

@queennaurelia Vermeer was not painting a "beauty standard," whatever that is. The girl was likely 12 years old. thetimes.com/culture/art/ar…

Beauty standards have come full circle in 361 years.

Saint Catherine of Alexandria c.1540-70 attributed to Giampietrino, a north Italian painter of the Lombard school and Leonardo da Vinci's circle.

Pavel Popov - Adam and Eve. Paradise Lost

@JoeGayHistorian Lev 18:22 is made up in translation. The original means closer to: “And with a male you shall not lie the beds of a woman." It's meaning isn't known, as scholars often say. A 'bed' is often a temple in the Bible. medium.com/belover/leviti…

As a gay Christian I do believe that God made gay people, I’ve wrestled with Leviticus 18:22 & 20:13. My take: the text was written by ancient heterosexual men in a patriarchal culture (male heterosexual aversion to male homosexuality played a role), and it was deliberately separating Israel from pagan temple practices that included male shrine prostitution. Beyond that, the Holiness Code was about national survival in a high-mortality world—procreation mattered for covenant continuity. It upheld God’s creation order (male/female complementarity from Genesis 1–2), preserved honor-shame gender roles, and protected ritual purity so God’s presence could dwell among the people. Ancient authors didn’t have our modern concept of sexual orientation; they condemned specific male-male penetrative acts within Israel’s call to be visibly holy. Additionally, I see why male homosexuality can trend toward higher promiscuity: two men lack the “gatekeeper” dynamic straight men face with women. Data from CDC/NSFG studies back this—gay men report significantly more partners on average (often 2–6× higher lifetime medians). Scholars like Roy Baumeister (Sexual Economics Theory) explain it: male sex drives are higher and less selective without that counterbalance. Post-Stonewall culture and apps like Grindr amplified it, though many gay men form stable, monogamous bonds. This is why the David & Jonathan story resonates so deeply with us. Their soul-knitting love, covenant before God, loyal kisses and tears, and David’s line (“your love to me was more wonderful than that of women”) paint a beautiful picture of holy male commitment. It’s not explicitly sexual, but it models two men rejecting chaos and promiscuity, upholding covenant fidelity, and strengthening their nation—exactly the blessing I believe God honors. What draws me even more strongly to the Bible is Jesus Himself. He embraced, interacted with, and forgave sinners in ways that scandalized the Jewish leaders of His day. Jesus never once condemned homosexuality itself. It’s reasonable to assume that “gay” men of that era—already rejected by their society—would have flocked to His message of radical love and grace. I can picture them finding forgiveness and peace by casting aside promiscuity in exchange for a covenant relationship with another man rooted in faithful, holy love—just as the gospel calls all of us to transformation. Bottom line: Scripture legislates behavior for human flourishing in its ancient context. Orientation may be given, but we’re all called to faithfulness, self-control, and covenant love (Gal 5:22–23). David & Jonathan show that two men can love each other deeply, commit wholly, and be blessed. Jesus shows us how. Thoughtful faith means holding both the text and lived reality with honesty.

@jbillinson I think the movie suggested MJ replaced his father with another man who was very similar to him. Karma.

Michael Jackson’s lawyer has a weirdly large role in MICHAEL for no apparent reason, maybe other than the fact that he is a co-executor of the estate and a producer on the movie and cast Miles Teller to play himself … Ok, buddy. Sure.

Curiosa y muy moderna María Madgalena... Francesco Furini (ca. 1634)

@persianjewess It's common for Jews to say "Inshallah," from having spent time in Jerusalem.

Anne Hathaway talking to People Magazine: “I want to live a long, healthy life… Inshallah.” Inshallah? 🧐🤔 Anne is an American who was raised Roman Catholic.

@theoeides4 Milton really got around. academia.edu/85361758/Gnost…

New chapter coming out on the Platonism of Milton’s Paradise Lost. Reasonably confident this should, as the kids say, break the internet. 😉

@Cernovich A similar remark from Virginia Woolf: “The truth is people scarcely care for each other. They have this insane instinct for life. But they never become attached to anything outside themselves.”

Despair porn from Kenya. This mofo is harvesting white male angst for profit. Irony here is that he’s doing something productive for himself while so many allow themselves to be psy’oped.

@Real_Ed_McCray Uhh, I think it was the Dead Sea Scrolls.

Ever wonder why the Book of Enoch has become so mainstream in recent years when it was always a fringe document before that? How did that happen? The internet? It's just interesting how that's taken place.

@AllyJKiss The Carlsons must be related to Alexandra McNear. He's referring to the 1983 letter to her recently made public. nypost.com/2023/08/12/bar…

Tucker Carlson in an interview with his brother Buckley, reveals that Obama is gay and dated a distant cousin of theirs. 😧

Karl Barth had two wives medium.com/belover/the-mo…

@00110O00 The Genesis account with the Logos/Christ as Creator does have some suggestion of simulation theory.

Bible trivia: There's a different version of Genesis 1:1 in Christian and world history. It reads: "In the Son, God created heaven and earth." This Christological reading was widely identified as the standard early Christian belief. Then it "disappeared." academia.edu/144929321/_In_…

I did not know that the Three Wise Men were often portrayed unclothed in bed together. So snug.

@DaveSBrown516 Oh Lord, wait til you get to the Evangelicals.

@Belover I'm certain the core of S&M is Catholic.

Jesus is always so strangely naked.