It always drives me a bit crazy when I hear people “quoting” the Bible especially when it’s obvious that they know little about what they are quoting. It gets worse when people try to use the Bible to justify their persecution of homosexuals.
To put things in perspective… did you know that the Bible contains more than 31,000 verses? There are less than a dozen verses that say anything about a sexual act between men. Looking at simply the numbers of verses , it’s clear that the Bible was much more concerned about other things… oh like… gluttony, greed, economic condition, and treatment of fellow human beings.
There are only nine biblical passages that are invoked by people who wish to justify their persecution of homosexuals. The verses are:
- Deuteronomy 23:17
- I Kings 14:24
- I Kings 22:46
- II Kings 23:7
- Leviticus 18:19-23
- Leviticus: 20:10-16
- Romans 1:26-2:1
- I Corinthians 6:9-11
- I Timothy 1:10
The Deuteronomy and Kings passages simply forbid prostitution by both men and women. What more can be said?
The Leviticus passages are part of the Holiness Code. This code prohibits eating raw meat (Sushi anyone?), planting 2 different kinds of seeds in the same field (Whoops, there goes crop rotation and many of our gardens), wearing garments that are made from 2 different kinds of yarns (Guess I need to get rid of my silk and cashmere sweater), tattoos (Ok…a lot of people in this day are going to hell), adultery (How many people are guilty of this?), sexual intercourse during menstruation (Medical science tells us this is entirely normal and completely healthy.), and homosexual acts. The point here is we focus on one taboo and say that the others are excusable? Many of us need to drop our self-righteous pretensions if we’re to use these passages as justification for persecution. If you accept one rule as “God’s law,” don’t you have to accept them all?
The last 3 references are the most cited. All these references originate from St. Paul. He was concerned with homosexuality because it was one of the behaviors that represented sensuality and something that was contrary to his spiritual idealism. Lust and sensuality in anyone was considered abnormal and a sin by his ideology. To say that homosexual lust and sensuality is different than heterosexual lust and sensuality is not logical and makes no sense. For St. Paul anyone who put their interest ahead of God was condemned and that condemnation falls equally on everyone — not just homosexuals.
Passages in the Bible have been used by advocates of slavery; they have been used to keep white churches white; the Bible has been used to justify sexism and to keep women quiet; it has been used to justify things that many of us would consider as wicked and evil but it has also been used as an inspiration to liberate many people including blacks and women. It includes metaphors of redemption, renewal, inclusion and love which belong to and are applied to everyone and not just the exclusive domain of the religious right.
Nowadays, it is going on conversations about homosexuality; some are against it and some on behalf of it. The right answer we can find from the word of God (the Bible).
The Lord Jesus is the Messiah, Redeemer from sins and the Saviour. Jesus’ must fulfilled the whole law of God and believed all what the Old Testament taught, that He could be the Saviour. He did fulfill and believe all the law. In the Old Testament were commandments, which teach that homosexuality is a sin. Because the Lord Jesus had to believe all commandments of the Old Testament, so He also believed that homosexuality is a sin. The Bible teaches that homosexuality was a sin in the order of the Old Covenant and is valid in the order of the New Covenant. Like this way Jesus also believed that homosexuality is a sin, and He also condemned homosexuality by this way.
For the sake of sodomites’ abomination acts, God destroyed Sodom as Ezekiel 16:49,50 shows for us. Ezekiel uses 16:50 Hebrew word towebah, which is the same Hebrew word in Lev 18:22 (and Lev 20:13) that describes homosexuality as abomination. It is very clear that in Ezekiel 16:50, abomination means homosexuality acts as the reason for destroying of Sodom. Sodomites pride, fulness of bread, and abundance of idleness and hardened hearts towards poor and needy were sins, but destruction came for the sake of homosexuality, and the New Testament confirms this:
Jude1:7 Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.
Apostle Paul wrote very clearly that homosexuality (men having sex with other men; women having sex with other women) is a sin. Ro 1:27 is word error, which is in Greek plane, which means error, to deceive, deceit, one led astray from the right way, error which shows itself in action, a wrong mode of acting. In this place, the Bible in the New Testament shows very clearly that same-gender sex is a sin and aberration from the right way. Apostle Paul taught very clearly that homosexuality is unnatural sin.
Many scientists believe that homosexuality is congenital, a matter and orientation that can’t be changed as heterosexual. Paradoxical is that many scientists don’t believe in God of the Bible, and they proclaim that God of the Bible is not existed. Nevertheless, God of the Bible is capable of change homosexuals individuals to be as heterosexuals.
Arsenos means male and koiten means bed. Lev 18:22 and 20:13 teach that a man cannot lie (sexual act) with another man as he lies with a woman. The origin of the word arsenokoites means homosexual activity and homosexual. Lev 18:22 and 20:13 prove very clearly that arsenos koitenmeans homosexuality sex, because the Jews scribes translated words’ arsenos koiten to describe men who have sex with another men (homosexuality), which is a sin and against the will of God. Apostle Paul didn’t make up the word arsenokoites, but it was already as the concept in the Old Testament, where it meant homosexuality.
It is very clear that the words’ arsenos koiten meant homosexuality (man who had sex with another man) to Jews of the Old Covenant era. In the same way arsenokoites meant homosexuality (man who had sex with another man) to Jesus’ disciples in the New Covenant era.
Jewish philosopher Philo lived in the same time as Jesus Christ and Philo has said that arsenokoites meant shrine prostitute (male temple prostitute), and not homosexual. Some people have made from this a conclusion that the word arsenokoites meant a male temple prostitute. Philo’s interpretation was totally wrong, because the Bible proves this undisputedly and shows that Philo erred.
Lev 18:22 and Lev 20:13 doesn’t use temple prostitute word, but words in which is denied that a man can’t lie sexually with another man. Always when the Bible speaks for temple prostitutes, so the Bible uses words gedeshah and gadesh. If Lev 18:22 and Lev 20:13 told for temple prostitutes, so verses would mention them, but there isn’t, because in those verses, the Bible forbids homosexuality. It is very clear and undisputable in the light of the testimony of the Bible, that arsenokoites means homosexuality.
According to words of the Lord Jesus, Jesus’ disciples can judge righteous judgement. If somebody is stealing, living in adultery or is lying, so we have the right to say sin as a sin. According to the Bible, homosexuality is a sin and so Jesus’ disciples have the right to say what the Bible teaches. Jesus’ disciple has a right to say that living in sins lead people to eternal damnation. Jesus’ disciple doesn’t judge to damnation, but tells that God shall judge sin maker to hell.
God loves also gay-people, but not sinful act of homosexuality, and therefore, God calls gay-people repentance and receives salvation by believing in the Lord Jesus. In other words, God loves sinners, but not sins. The gospel and its changing power is meant also for gay-people, because the Lord Jesus can set you free you from your sins.
I don’t condemn homosexuals, but love them by the love of God. The love of God also holds on from the truth, and therefore, I must say that homosexuality is a sin, it is not condemning, but telling the truth. God has authority to judge, not a man. God judges in His word homosexuality as a sin. I can tell about judgements that what God does, and I don’t condemn, but tell who judge.
I don’t support discrimination of homosexuals, because they are valuable as my neighbors. However, homosexuality is a sin. It is possible to integrate from homosexuality and get rid of it. The Lord Jesus can save and give freedom to you. I recommend for you to read the Bible, because there God teaches for natural sexuality and salvation by believing in the Lord Jesus.
Reference: http://koti.phnet.fi/petripaavola/homosexual.html
To say that Sodom and Gomorrah is about homosexual sex is a statement that has about as much worth as suggesting that the story of Jonah and the whale is story about fishing. Overall I find your analysis to be far too simplistic and it makes the rest of your long treatise of little more value than a rant or a flame.
I stand beside Mark.
Here’s my impression.
Have you ever played the game, “telephone”? Let’s see what happens when you stick 30-90 years between translations of the Bible, you get the same end result that you’d get if you stuck 10 3rd graders in a room and asked them to ‘telephone’ a sentence to each other. The end result is a cluster-fuck of words that make ZERO sense. In my opinion, we’re lucky to even have a Bible that makes sense on a conscious level!
The only thing that makes Biblical translation even less reliable is the fact that they’re not just re-writing it for current grammatical changes, but they’re also completely translating it from language to language. It’s as if some of those 3rd graders spoke French, Japanese and then Bosnian. Do you really expect it to be completely accurate? Do you really think that all the nitty-gritty in the Bible is 100%, T’s crossed and I’s dotted? After reading it 3 times (yes, I said three times I have read the entire Bible, and the 3rd time I skipped ‘Numbers’), and looking at all the subtle inconsistencies, I’d have to say, no. The Bible was translated during times of war, or times of very intense fear of all things “different”, and because of that concept, it was most likely spun to fit the incredibly backwards thought process that drove the Catholic Church. Ah the Catholic Church.
Jesus taught peace, and respect, and loving your neighbor as yourself. I find it hard to believe that he said things condemning homosexuality so exactly, that you find it justified to strike down those that are just so simply different. I don’t find myself sexually oriented in the same way a homosexual is, but then again, I don’t take that into account when thinking of the afterlife, and how full of sin my life is.
We all have our closet of secrets, but to consider homosexuality a skeleton residing in many of those closets is just so naive. I think Brian, from Family Guy, said it best. “That’s very Christian of you, ‘Believe what I say, or I’ll hurt you’”. Hurting isn’t just physical, it’s also psychological. And to be professing that being gay is a sin, you are judging from your own mouth. I leave the judgement to HE who is in charge, and embrace the differences that make our lives so much richer.
The nice thing about your comment is that it’s based on this funny little link.
http://koti.phnet.fi/petripaavola/homosexual.html
It’s just the ramblings of some old guy.
I think we have enough Old guys telling us what to do in Washington, I’m not going to sit here and listen to one telling me that most of my friends are sinners for professing love to someone of the same sex.
My suggestion for anyone interested in understanding the REAL teachings of Jesus: read the Bible, and take it with a large grain of salt. It’s guidelines to live a healthy and loving life, not laws to rule by.
Hope all is well Mark, and that we can have coffee soon.
Much love to you my friend.
So true, Cameron. the Bible was passed down word of mouth for years. It doesn’t mean that it’s wrong, I think the basic ideas are there but it should be read for it’s general sense of the treatment of others, respect, and love.
There are many passages in the Bible and only an incredible few that supposedly deal with homosexuality. No matter which passage you read it truly needs to be taken with a sense and an awareness of change in culture and society. Even the term, homosexual, was invented in the 1800′s. Long after the bible had been penned. Between the translations, changes in culture, fear of difference there is a lot of room for error in interpretation.
The RationalWiki ( http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/List_of_actions_prohibited_by_the_Bible ) has a list of prohibitions found in the Bible. Yet some people choose to focus solely on homosexuality and ignore all the other prohibitions. If these people are truly as “Christian” as they claim; they would be working hard for laws that prevent eating of fat or wearing clothing made of more than one fiber. Overall, the intense focus on homosexuality along with the ignorance of other prohibitions makes no sense and speaks volumes of the ignorance of the person who chooses to focus on 9 versus of more than 31,000.