Conclusion

By Gary Konecky

All during this project I have tried to be faithful to our ancient texts and teachings. I am not a prophet and I never tried to speak on behalf of G-d. I hope and pray that my understandings and my explanations are in accordance with G-d’s will. I have tried to educate, so that by better understanding what G-d wants from us, we can all better do His will. I hope that in all of this I have been successful.

Before I conclude this series, there is one lesson that I have learned (during the years of research that I have invested in this project) that I have not yet mentioned. When I started this project, I hoped to write something that would not only be helpful but definitive. What I have learned is that in the matter of religious study there is always something new to be learned and that this work cannot be and will never be definitive, for the wisdom of G-d is greater than anything I could hope to understand in my lifetime. This is an offering to G-d and you; may it be acceptable to both G-d and you.

To conclude this series, I want to start with a Mishnah (Sanhedrin 4:5), which states: "Only one man was created, in order to teach the lesson that if one destroys a single person, the Scripture imputes it to him as if he had destroyed the whole population of the world. And if he saves the life of a single person, the Scripture imputes it to him as though he had saved the entire world." (Note 1)

My reason for my writing this lengthy series can be summed up in two names, Mathew Shepard and Bryce Faulkner. Mathew Shepard was murdered in a savage hate crime because he was gay. Bryce Faulkner was a promising young man with his entire future ahead of him, complete with a loving and devoted boyfriend, Travis Swanson. During 2009, Mr. Faulkner’s family forced him into conversion therapy. No one has seen him since, and his family has repeatedly shut down any attempts to find him or publicize his disappearance (Note 2). Tragically, while I was researching and writing this series, numerous children were harassed and bullied into committing suicide to escape the torment inflicted upon them over the issue of their perceived sexual orientation. As if the death of Mathew Shepard and the disappearance of Bryce Faulkner were not reason enough, these suicides point to why this series is so important. Sadly, my words can do nothing to bring these precious children back to life.

My goal in writing this series is that maybe, just maybe, I can save someone from the fate of Mathew Shepard, or from the fate of Bryce Faulkner, or from the fate of being bullied into suicide; for if I accomplish that it will be as if I saved the entire world. And so I turn back to the beginning of this series and I ask; what does G-d want from us? The answer we are told in Micah 6:8 is that “…what the L-rd demands of you; but to do justice, to love loving-kindness, and to walk discreetly with your G-d.” I hope and pray that this series will promote justice, encourage loving-kindness, and that maybe some of us (especially those who were chased away from G-d by the bigots that taught us that G-d hates us) will finally be able to walk humbly with G-d. After much study and analysis, I hope we have learned that G-d does not hate gays and lesbians and that homosexual sex sexual activity in a loving relationship is not a sin.

"What I have learned while working on this project is that the greatest sin of all is the sin of murdering someone’s hope, of telling someone in need of a helping hand that they have no recourse, that even G-d does not love them, and that to say such things is to murder someone. For to kill someone’s hope is to take away the very last and most important possession they have; it is to kill a part of them; it is to kill a part (and maybe all) of their reason for living; it is to murder their soul in cold blood, in a cruelly, calculated, premeditated murder. This sin of murder is committed day in and day out by those who hate, by those who preach hate, and among its victims are the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered and intersexed community. To those who preach hate, to those who preach quarreling, to those who directly or indirectly condone violence as justified by the word of G-d, I again quote from a Mishnah (Sanhedrin 4:5): "A single man only was created in order to keep one man from saying to another: My forefather was greater than yours; to exclude pride of ancestry; to prevent families from quarrelling, and men from assaulting and robbing one another, by virtue of the knowledge that they are all of one stock." (Note 3) May G-d grant us the strength to not only protect ourselves from these murderous attacks; attacks on our bodies, attacks on our hope, and attacks on our very souls. In addition, may G-d give us the strength, the wisdom, and the tools to show our love, compassion and kindness to our fellow brothers and sisters.

May G-d grant all of us peace.

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Note 2: http://www.truthwinsout.org/blog/2009/07/3612/