Does the bible say anything about homosexuality
What does the Bible tell about homosexuality?
Answer
In some people’s minds, being homosexual is as much outside one’s control as the tint of your skin and your height. On the other hand, the Bible clearly and consistently declares that homosexual activity is a sin (Genesis –13; Leviticus ; ; Romans –27; 1 Corinthians ; 1 Timothy ). God created marriage and sexual relationships to be between one man and one woman: “At the commencing the Creator ‘made them male and female,’ and said, ‘For this reason a man will exit his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’” (Matthew –5). Anything outside of God’s intent and design is sin. The Bible teaches that Christians are to inhabit for God, deny themselves, pick up their cross, and follow Him (Matthew ), including with their sexuality. This disconnect between what the Bible says and what some people feel leads to much controversy, debate, and even hostility.
When examining what the Bible says about homosexuality, it is important to distinguish between homosexual behaviorand homosexual inclinationsor attractions. It is the difference between active sin and the passive cond
The Bible on Homosexual Behavior
One way to argue against these passages is to make what I notify the “shellfish objection.” Keith Sharpe puts it this way: “Until Christian fundamentalists boycott shellfish restaurants, block wearing poly-cotton T-shirts, and stone to death their wayward offspring, there is no obligation to attend to their diatribes about homosexuality being a sin” (The Gay Gospels, 21).
In other words, if we can disregard rules prefer the ban on eating shellfish in Leviticus , then we should be allowed to disobey other prohibitions from the Ancient Testament. But this argument confuses the Old Testament’s temporary ceremonial laws with its permanent moral laws.
Here’s an analogy to support understand this distinction.
I recall two rules my mom gave me when I was young: hold her hand when I cross the street and don’t drink what’s under the sink. Today, I hold to follow only the latter rule, since the former is no longer needed to protect me. In fact, it would now do me more harm than good.
Old Testament ritual/ceremonial laws were prefer mom’s handholding rule. The reason they forbade the Israelites from using certain fabrics or foods, or interacting with bodily flui
Has 'Homosexual' Always Been in the Bible?
Reprinted with permission from The Forge Online
The word “arsenokoitai” shows up in two different verses in the bible, but it was not translated to represent “homosexual” until
We got to perch down with Ed Oxford at his home in Long Beach, California and talk about this interrogate.
You hold been part of a research team that is seeking to understand how the decision was made to put the pos homosexual in the bible. Is that true?
Ed: Yes. It first showed up in the RSV translation. So before figuring out why they decided to use that word in the RSV translation (which is outlined in my upcoming guide with Kathy Baldock, Forging a Sacred Weapon: How the Bible Became Anti-Gay) I wanted to spot how other cultures and translations treated the identical verses when they were translated during the Reformation years ago. So I started collecting old Bibles in French, German, Irish, Gaelic, Czechoslovakian, Polish… you name it. Now I’ve got most European major languages that I’ve composed over time. Anyway, I had a German friend reach back to town and I asked if he could help me with some passages in
BBC News
Confused how two groups of church-goers can own such conflicting views about whether it's OK to be gay?
Both sides of the debate about homosexuality in the church, which threatens to split the worldwide Anglican church, grip their views sincerely and after much study. So how can their views be so contradictory?
The Bible makes very scant mentions of homosexuality - lesbianism isn't mentioned at all in the Aged Testament - and as the examples below present, interpretations of the verses that do exist differ hugely.
Following each of the verses below is a brief illustration of what a hardline pro- and anti-gay position might be. (Most Christians maintain views somewhere in between these two stances.)
An illustration of the division can be seen by what either side might say about the friendship in the Old Testament between David and Jonathan. One verse reads: "I grieve for you, Jonathan my brother; dear and delightful you were to me; your love for me was wonderful, surpassing the love of women."
| PRO-GAY A pro-gay position might be that this is a clear indication that King David had a gay relationship, and to pretend otherwise is innocent. | ANTI-GAY
. |