There are many people out there that believe the Bible was written by men under the direction of God and therefor contains absolutely no errors whatsoever. Whatever the Bible says is true and above all earthly contradiction. The Bible even makes that claim for itself if you hear the words in the right way. I honestly don't know if this thinking is correct or not. But even giving God the benefit of the doubt that he could have men write down his exact thoughts and concepts, I know that it was groups of men that put these writings together into a book and that it's groups of men who attempt to explain to us what God wrote. And there is one thing I know about that. Groups of men, or even one single man or woman is NOT infallible in how they tell us what God's Word means. You might say, well Marcia Ellen, isn't God powerful enough that he can insure that men don't twist his words? Yes, I believe he is. But I also believe he doesn't do that. He warns us it's going to happen so that tells me all I need to know about any man's interpretation of God's Word.
There are over 31,000 verses in the Bible. The exact amount depends on which version you are reading. Of those verses, only about 7 deal with apparent homosexual behavior. There is only 1 verse, though not the same verse, where translation of scripture uses the actual term "homosexual" in English and that can be found in the New International Version, The New Living Translation, The English Standard Version, Contemporary English Version, and the New International Reader's Version. You will not find the word "homosexual" in the New American Standard Bible, The Message, The Amplified Bible, The King James Bible, The New King James Bible, The 21st Century King James Bible, or The American Standard Version. The two Greek terms that some versions translate as "homosexual" in 1 Corinthians 6:9 refer to the passive and active partners in consensual homosexual acts, not homosexuality as we know it today. More on this later though.
The verse most often used to condemn gays to hell, to justify calling them an abomination, abhorrent, faggots, vile, disgusting, and evil, or to liken sex between them to bestiality, necrophilia, pedophilia, bigamy, and incest is found in Leviticus 18:22 and 20:13 and they read:
Lev 18:22 " 'Do not lie with a man as one lies with a woman; that is detestable.
Lev 20:13 " 'If a man lies with a man as one lies with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable. They must be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads.
The second reason these laws don't apply to homosexuality as we know it today is the simple fact that such homosexuality was unknown in those early Biblical times. It wasn't until the late 19th century that human sexual orientation was studied or even discussed. The term "homosexual" wasn't even coined until that time, so certainly it wasn't being discussed in the Bible. But if not, than what was God speaking about in Leviticus?
God was giving his law to HETEROSEXUAL Jews. If you look at the context of chapter 18, it becomes obvious that all these sexual laws apply to heterosexual people, not homosexuals. You can't single out one law and say it applies to a different group of people than the rest, especially when that group wasn't even known to exist. Remember, God is a god of order.
This agrees with the description of the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah. They were heterosexuals that practiced sexual immorality with both men and women, which was a common practice among pagans of the world at that time, especially in their temples. Heterosexual men had sex with pretty much whomever they wanted to. Might made right. But the people of Sodom weren't homosexual (the knowledge of which didn't exist), they had wives and children, like in any other town. In fact, some of them were engaged to marry Lot's daughters.
Later, after Jesus' time, Jude looks back, does mention sexual immorality (obviously referring to heterosexuals) and perversion and then identifies the actual sin of Sodom and Gomorrah:
Jude 1:8 In the very same way, these dreamers pollute their own bodies, reject authority and slander celestial beings.
This brings us to the text in Paul's first letter to the Corinthians, which reads:
1Cor:9 Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders 10nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.
Now, this again sounds like it makes homosexuality wrong. But we have to remember that homosexuality as we know it today was unknown to Paul and to the Greek Corinthians that Paul was writing to. Therefor, Paul had to be speaking about something else. The Greek words he used, translate literally as, "the passive and active partners in consensual homosexual acts" and this gives us a hint.
Paul was well traveled and knew completely the habits of the pagan Greeks and Romans. The Greeks offered their male children (heterosexual, of course) good educations. Part of growing up in Greece involved quite elaborate rules concerning athletics; who trained and performed in the nude, and sex with male teachers. A young man (erastes) might seek out a boy in athletic training (eromenos) and their relationship might or might not grow into something more than a teacher/student relationship. Anyway, this is the type of male to male sex that was being discussed in Corinthians. Paul was telling the heterosexual male members of the Corinthian church not to practice this as Christians. Note he goes on to talk about prostitution, another sexually immoral practice common to the Greeks.
The other text often pointed to is in Paul's letter to the Romans, which reads:
Rom 1:26 Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones.27 In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion.
The context of this scripture goes a long way in explaining what Paul is speaking about. Remember, he's addressing members of the new Church in Rome and he opens with a speech about pagan life in Rome. In ancient Rome, sex held many options. Things were pretty much open as long as you did them with slaves and not other citizens. Male and female slaves were kept for sexual purposes by Romans who could afford them. A Roman woman thought nothing of going to the forum and purchasing sex from a prostitute. Since this was the case, it's understandable that Paul opened his letter to the Romans by reminding them where they came from.
That sums it up. I hope I covered your favorite homophobic Bible verse. If not, drop me an email and I'll be happy to do so. The Bible has a lot to offer if you're trying to learn what God has to say and not trying to match his Word to your beliefs. Anyone can do that. That's why we have a gazillion religions today. Everyone has THE TRUTH. Most people will be happy to tell you why they're going to heaven and you're going to hell. Don't bet the house on it.
Read and study for yourself - inside and outside the Bible. History remarkably underscores much of what the Bible contains, but often in different ways than us modern people understand. But it's there for you to find out, if you're willing to take the time. But hey, I'm just a 29 year old dyke who enjoys the Bible and History. What do I know?
Do I expect any of you right wingers to believe any of this? I can't say. There are times God softens a heart here and there so it could certainly happen. But if you didn't know the whole story, you will if you read the links give in this study. Then when you and God have a chat about it someday, oneday, you'll be able to say, "Yeah, I heard about that."
Facts are funny things. They often change depending on whose mouth they leap out of.
