Charlotte, NC Baptist Church Centers Eunuchs During Pentecost
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Charlotte, NC Baptist Church Centers Eunuchs During Pentecost
Pastor infers that "eunuchs" and everything queer must be centered in Abrahamic faiths per Acts & Isaiah
Earlier this May of 2023, Reverend Dr. Benjamin Boswell of Myers Park Baptist Church in Charlotte North Carolina gave a Sermon titled “Spiritual Inclusivity”. A clip of this bizarre “sermon” was posted by Twitter account @Troonytoons, who was baffled by Boswells demands that the Church must not only include but center and venerate; Eunuchs, Queer, and Nonbinary individuals as a part of the religious community. Boswell’s Sermon was a Pentecostal Sermon, which per custom narrates how Christianity came to be a World Religion.
The full transcript of Boswell’s Ridiculous sermon is available as a read along piece.
Martyrdom & Proselyting: The Actual Themes of Pentecost
For those who are not familiar, Pentecost is an event that occurs in the Book of Acts as a continuation of the Gospel of Luke featuring the Acts of the Apostles after the resurrection. Below is provided a basic synopsis of the text:
Acts 1: 3- 9 Jesus appeared to his apostles for 40 days after the crucifixion and commanded them to not leave Jerusalem as they would be receiving the Holy Ghost before he ascended to heaven in a cloud.
Acts 2: 1-13 Pentecost happened to coincide with the Jewish festival of Shavuot in early summer when Jews from all over the world gathered in Jerusalem to celebrate, including the disciples. Then a mighty wind filled the house in which they gathered and split their tongues on fire & sat on each of them to fill them with the Holy Ghost.
And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. (Acts 2:4)
Jews who had travelled from different parts of the world were surprised to see that these Galileans could speak to them in their dialects, and they were in awe.
This was the Apostle’s call to travel and proselyte worldwide.
Acts 3-28 these verses cover the individual journeys of the apostles, their travels up to their deaths which they accepted bravely and willingly.
The motifs portrayed in the Book of Acts are clear cut it is meant to be a text that displays the Apostles openly coming to terms with martyrdom and that it is a direct consequence of proselyting. These themes followed Christianity as it became one of the world’s biggest religions into the modern day.
It is evident that Rev. Dr. Boswell has not only deviated from the original themes of Pentecost as he did not mention them even once, but he is cherry-picking through the Old & New Testament to find examples that would authenticate his personal beliefs and fixations: disdain towards conservatives, Kimberle Crenshaw's Theory of Intersectionality, and Eunuchs /Trans People being God’s Chosen over Jesus Christ.
Boswell chose to focus his sermon on (Acts 8: 26-40) which tells the tale of Phillip and the Ethiopian Eunuch who according to Bosswell is Transgender, Nonbinary, and constantly referred to as “they/them” throughout his dissertation (9:00 -18:0 Min). The entirety of the Gospels is taken out of context, and it is clear that Boswell is brazenly amending scripture to validate a postmodernist oppression olympics hierarchy with castratos at the center.
Rev Bosswell does so much more than misinterpret the themes of Pentecost
This sermon is a direct reflection of his lack of biblical knowledge from not understanding the historical context, etymology, and Mosaic law. His teachings are misaligned with what is considered to be canonical in both Christian and Jewish faiths.
Historical Context: Martyrdom in Christianity
During their lifetimes the apostles were martyred for saying that Jesus was the Son of God, which was treason as that was a title reserved exclusively for the Roman Emperor. Which is why the Roman Empire reacted by inflicting capital punishment on Early Christians.
In addition, the Jewish people under Roman captivity were waiting for the Messiah to free them from their captors and approached this new religion with precaution, as they too were subject to Roman law.
Rabbis and many Jews did not embrace Christianity after their ancestors had survived the Babylonian Captivity; after all, they had been punished for the worshiping false idols ranging from the Golden Ram in Exodus, the Baals in Kings, and for forsaking their covenant with Hashem in Isaiah. All of these factors led Paul formerly known as Saul to also persecute the early Christians, and why Modern-day Christians find Paul’s conversion to Christianity a compelling story that is often featured on Pentecost, as he too resigned himself to martyrdom after having partaken in persecuting other proselytes.
Bosswell did not mention the persecution of Christians at all in his sermon.
(סָרִ֖יס) & εὐνοῦχος : an Etymology of the word Eunuch
It is evident that Boswell does not understand the Etymology of the word Eunuch and its uses throughout the bible, which is understandable as most Christians are not taught Hebrew or Greek. Fortunately, Dr. Alaric Naudé has written an excellent article detailing the Etymology of Biblical Eunuchs, with an emphasis on why they are not Trans or Queer. Our current bibles are translations for a modern audience with a different culture.
The word that we see translated as Eunuch happens to be “saris” (סָרִ֖יס) in Hebrew or (εὐνοῦχος) pronounced “eunuchos” in Greek and it doesn’t always refer to a castrated man but is often used as a title. Context is of utmost importance specifically because Mosaic Law strictly bans eunuchs from converting to Judaism and any form of self-mutilation.
He that is wounded in the stones, or hath his privy member cut off, shall not enter into the congregation of the LORD - Deuteronomy 23:1
Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor print any marks upon you: I am the LORD – Leviticus 19:28
This is because the Messiah is prophesized to be descended from the Jewish line of the tribe of Judah and eunuchs cannot contribute to his bloodline and thus are not permitted to proselyte.
Our Ethiopian “Eunuch” is a proselyte
This is not the case for this Ethiopian “Eunuch” in Acts. He is simply Queen Candace’s treasurer. He was traveling to Jerusalem to worship because he was Jewish; he was just a Eunuch (εὐνοῦχος) by Title, particularly since castration has never been a job requirement for treasurers.
Both the Strong’s Greek Dictionary & Bible hub’s Interlinear Function also explicitly state that the sex of the Eunuch is male and that he used “he/him” pronouns & not “they/them” as those do not exist in Greek, Hebrew, Aramaic or Ethiopian as they are all gendered languages. He wasn’t Trans, Queer, or Nonbinary, just a regular guy.
(Acts 28 Translation from Strongs Greek Dictionary Courtesy of Dr. Alaric Naudé)
Rev. Boswell butchers the Book of Isaiah
This is not the extent of Boswell’s folly, around the 15-minute mark of his sermon he makes a ridiculous claim that eunuchs must not be rejected and that God & Jesus were searching for a Eunuch, which was prophesized supposedly prophesized in Isaiah:
“The EUNUCH had been excluded, rejected, and humiliated. By the religious community to which they desperately desire to belong. But exclusion, rejection and humiliation are not the end of the story. Are they?” NO, they're not the end of the story because God was searching for the EUNUCH! God was sending Philip to the EUNUCH! And the EUNUCH was already searching for God, reading the prophet Isaiah.
Isaiah speaks of one who would come to be rejected and humiliated for our sakes so that none of us would ever have to be rejected or humiliated again. Someone who came and took on all the rejection and humiliation of the Empire could dole out and live to tell the story.
Jesus was waiting for the EUNUCH in the pages of Isaiah, to free the EUNUCH from shame to embrace them as a beloved child of God. And there was also a promise in Isaiah a promise the EUNUCH would soon discover just a few chapters from where they were already reading a promise that one day God would tear down all the walls and smash all the boundaries and overturn all the laws that excluded and rejected and humiliated EUNUCHS, God would even overturn God's own law for their INCLUSION. – “Spiritual Inclusivity” Sermon: Reverend Dr. Benjamin Boswell,
It is clear that Boswell hasn’t read either text in a long time. As previously stated, the court official was not castrated and the verse that he was reading to Phillip on his way to Jerusalem in Acts 8:32 is Isaiah 53:7 but in past tense, it is not Isaiah 56 which does mention eunuchs.
He was led as a sheep to the slaughter,
like a lamb before the shearer.
He didn't open his mouth.
In his humiliation, he couldn't judge.
His life was taken from the earth – Queen Candace’s Treasurer, ACTS 8:32
This verse about a suffering servant that is mentioned many times throughout the later chapters of Isaiah, who is believed to be Jesus Christ from a Christian perspective. The “Eunuch” is simply inquiring “about which prophet Isaiah is referring to” and Phillip spoke to him about Jesus. They encountered a body of water and he asked to be baptized. It is a story about a regular man who is not castrated converting to Christianity not about gender identity or “inclusivity” ……. essentially Bosswell is inferring that “Eunuchs” are God’s Chosen
Which leads us to a Jewish Interpretation of Isaiah 53 & 56
There has been a lot of contention throughout centuries in between Christians & Jews in regards to Isaiah 53 as Jews do not accept Jesus as their Messiah and have a different interpretation of the text.
Rabbi Tovia Singer from Outreach Judaism interprets this same verse about the Suffering Servant as referring to the entire nation of Israel, as the text is said to have predicted the Babylonian Exile of the people of Judah after they had sinned against God. He notes that the entirety of the book must be read rather than taking verses out of context and goes through many verses discussing the suffering servant in a lecture given in Manila. Rabbi Singer does not mention Eunuchs in any of his lectures at all but chooses to focus on the Jewish people learning from the sins of their ancestors and upholding their covenant with God.
As a Matter of Fact, Eunuchs are Seldom Mentioned in Isaiah
The first chapters of Isaiah detail the initial damnation of the Jewish people as a prelude to the Babylonian exile. Isaiah declared that the Jewish people would be oppressed by neighboring kingdoms, their vineyards would not yield, their women would be bald, the men would die in war, and that God would shave the hair of their feet (which is an ancient euphemism for manscaping). The Manscaped Lawnmower TM did not exist in biblical times, but sugaring, tweezers and flint razors were the tools of ancient “downstairs” grooming, ……which is one way to obtain “Prophesized Eunuchs.”
In fact, Eunuchs are not even mentioned in Isaiah until chapter 56.
After numerous chapters detailing damnation and the end of the captivity the rise of a Utopia by the name of Zion or New Jerusalem is prophesized, once the servants choose to uphold their covenant, and this includes rules for Gentiles being allowed to convert so they can enter Zion, including eunuchs, but only if they keep the Sabbaths. But that is the context, they are not special, or “god’s chosen”; the sole criterion from the text is that the Kingdom of God will come if the Jewish people keep their covenant with Hashem.
Eunuchs were a product of their time
Eunuchs have little to no theological importance in Christianity or Judaism. Castration is explicitly banned by Mosaic Law and the only downstairs snip that is explicitly condoned throughout the Torah is circumcision, including for gentiles!
Awake, awake; put on thy strength, O Zion; put on thy beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city: for henceforth there shall no more come into thee the uncircumcised and the unclean- Isaiah 52:1
…… which is unfortunate.
It is important to remember that Ancient Eunuchs were castrated in order to guard harems, a horrendous irreparable mutilation that would be the etiology of multiple medical problems such as incontinence and obesity. The general consensus in modern times is that castration is a cruel and barbaric practice, most men like their testicles, losing a testicle for medical reasons is seen as unfortunate and it is distasteful to refer to those men as eunuchs. Wanting to remove one’s sex organ was even previously referred to as Skoptic Syndrome — until it was recently removed from the DSM V in favor of de-stigmatizing it as a form of Gender Dysphoria.
Normal people do not fixate on eunuchs; it is something that is reserved for nutcases like Tom W. Johnson & Richard Wasserslug who spend their time writing ridiculous articles on how the Islamic state would benefit from having Eunuchs.
Churches should not center castration in rhe modern day. It is not something that pastors should do. They should focus on teaching religious texts and be conscientious of not blurring the lines between separation of church & state. Not to mention that advocating for it is an insult to the very faith he claims to profess.
Charlotte, NC Baptist Church Centers Eunuchs During Pentecost
He's definitely in the castration cult and trying to justify it theologically.
I'd sooner memorize a dictionary than load a single brain cell with anything of a theological nature. Religion and theology are a bottomless rabbit hole populated by mad hatters.