Thursday, April 29, 2010

Jennifer Knapp on Larry King

Larry King had Jennifer Knapp on his show recently to talk about the interaction of her faith and her sexuality (I'm imbedding Part 1, there are 3 more parts you should check out)



Here are some of Jennifer's best quotes from the interview:

"I've had experience with denominations that openly accept the rich diversity of the types of believers     within their communities"

"We are somewhat at the handicap of our interpretations of a sacred text"

"Any time we read a book or we read any kind of word that it becomes the interpretation of our life's experience"

"It doesn't make the truth any less truth or love any less love"

"I recognize that love is a choice; my sexuality I'm not so sure about"

"I feel blessed to be able to be fully who I am"

"Do not use my name as a substitute for the word 'homosexuality'"

At one point, when conversing with pastor Bob Botsford, who (not maliciously, but very smugly) condemns Knapp to her face, she asks why, if her being gay is a sin, and no sin is worse than any other, are they sitting there having this conversation? Why is she not in the other chair condemning him for some "equal" sin? (Jennifer was so gracious and respectful, and yet didn't back off in telling him to leave her alone. We could all learn a lot from her reaction.)

Larry ended by having Ted Haggard on, and I was really blown away at how gracious Haggard was toward both Jennifer Knapp and Bob Botsford. Haggard is clearly still steeped in the Evangelical community, but his perspective seems so much broader than when he was the pastor of a mega-church. He seems much more comfortable with the messiness of life while following Jesus.

In the split screen, Botsford seemed extremely uncomfortable with what Haggard said. The depth of God's grace often makes us uncomfortable, and Botsford seems to be very uncomfortable with people who are OK with not knowing the answer to every question because they trust in grace.

Many thanks to Larry King for providing such an engaging and insightful hour of conversation!

1 comment:

Diane said...

This comment is pretty late, and probably a dollar short, but I (like Ms. Knapp) was struck by what Pastor Ted had to say. And, frankly, quite surprised that I agreed w/ anything he said.