Bible verses on Homosexuality

Like you said, you were raised Southern Baptist. From what I know (and, like you, not meaning to sound offensive) Southern Baptist is very strict. Most religious practitioners that I know say they are one religion or another...but usually that's just in name. They go to church to celebrate holidays, maybe a sevice every now and then, but that's about it. That being said, most people do not exactly follow what the bible says, much less KNOW what it says hahah. Personally I'm an agnostic atheist.

Disregarding that, I think that most bible verses, while it's easy to see what they're trying to say, it's easy to intentionally interpret them another way. Like with the quote you just gave, the way I see it, no gay man lies with another gay man the way he would with a women...it is physiologically impossible as men do not have vaginas; therefore, no man can lie with another man the way he would with a women, technically speaking

 

I say Leviticus sucks. It shouldn't be in the bible if most of the things on it are really stupid. I grew up in a catholic home and I'm a catholic myself but, man, how can those things remain on the bible? Stone your child to dead if he disobeys? Men who shave their bears are abominable? Most of the stuff in it are now outdated (there are about 3 pages on purifying surfaces that came in contact with eighter semen or period blood, or describing how someone with leprosy should dress and humilliate himself in order to get redemption.) Come on, the only thing the church uses from that book is the gay thing and that's just stupid and unfair. God made straight and gay people, the church can't (or shouldn't) just go around telling people god hates us or thinks less of us.

And here's something quite beautiful on the bible:

John 3:16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Child, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but have eternal life".

 

Read the whole chapter of Leviticus 18, write a list of every offensive behavior in there and follow those precepts for a week. If you can do it, then start at Genesis 1 and start another list through Malachi, and if you can follow that culture, every behavior considered offensive by the ancient Hebrews, for a year, go ahead, live your life by Leviticus 18:22. Don't forget to worship the snake on the pole and make sure your sisters sleep in a tent four days a month.

 

I have had the same ordeal as you, except that i'm Catholic. This is the way I look at it:
None of the 10 commandments deal with homosexuality
Jesus never talks of homosexuality in his ministry
Everything i've read says that Leviticus was written with these "holy codes" as standards for priests some 2,000 years ago. The book also makes statements saying not to wear two different cloths at the same time, and not to plant two different crops in the same field. I have a close relationship with God, and take what I feel through Him and through the words of his son Jesus Christ over the words of laws written down by humans, who are capable of making errors. Hope this gives you a new outlook on it!

 

Try this forum: http://emptyclosets.com/forum/support-advice/57127-gay-christians.html and read the last post by Fintan. Well researched.

 

ben, you're going to find support for homophobia in the bible quite thin, yet many who claim to be christians will love to use it as such. how much does the big JC talk about it? none. How often does he talk about not being a douche bag and loving your neighbor? quite a bit.

the bible has been used to justify everything from slavery to child abuse. those who use it to justify homophobia just like gay people and probably havent even read the whole bible.

btw, ask them to explain the relationship between king david and jonathan.

 

There isn't one right reading of the Bible. For one thing, it isn't a single text, it's a collection of writings in three languages spanning several centuries and multiple cultures. And it reflects the biases of those languages, times, and cultures. The Bible is littered with not just factual contradictions, but thematic ones.

For example, the book of Jonah makes it clear that the people of God are not limited to the Israelites. The books of Ezra and Nehemiah, on the other hand, imply that God's people are limited solely to the Israelites. There's actually a theory among biblical scholars that Jonah is a response to Ezra and Nehemiah.

Similarly, the book of Isaiah presents God as a distant, ruling figure, transcendent and beyond human understanding. At least one biblical scholar has interpreted Job as being an attack on that view, showing that such a distant God is of little use to his worshipers.

Finally, the passion narrative (crucifixion story) of Mark shows Jesus as uncertain about what will happen to him, and afraid. Luke shows Jesus calm and collected, ready and willing and unafraid.

Anyway, in order to sort through these contradictions of theme, people who read the Bible for devotional purposes have developed the idea of a hermeneutical core ("hermeneutics" is the study of the interpretation of difficult texts). For example, many feminists use Paul's line in Galatians 3 that in Christ there is "neither male nor female" as their hermeneutical core. Using that verse, they can interpret even the most difficult and sexist passages in the Bible in a new way that allows for a more gender egalitarian vision of the Kingdom of God.

For many Christians, especially Protestants, their hermeneutical core is the teachings of Jesus as recorded in the Gospels, especially the Sermon on the Mount (or Plain if you prefer Luke). This is a core that emphasizes love, doing to others what you would have them do to you, forgiveness, and compassion.

 

I recommend you watch the documentary "For the Bible Tells Me So".
It's great, I was raised catholic and it helped me out a lot.

 

I think of it as people misinterpreting it originally, and now it's just become popular to use it as a guise to discriminate against people that they don't understand.

I am still a Christian, and I really hope things change soon... it's just insane the way other Christians treat us.

 

I personally look at it this way --

Why give a damn about what a book written ages ago by a bunch of, well, cave dwellers, may or may not have to say about YOU being happy in the here and now? If you find happiness and love in the embrace of another, CHERISH it. Hold it dear. The real, true happiness of the love of another living being is so incredibly hard to find these days, especially with all the hatred and suffering and destruction (caused in no small part by strict interpretations of religious scriptures, I might add!!!), that to find someone that you love AND loves you Is absolutely *NOT* to be thrown asunder because some ancient roll of toilet paper said so!!

If others use that book, or anything else, to disrespect and hate you and the one you happen to love, then to Hades with them. Christ was supposedly some big dude on love - I don't buy it, and I definitely don't see his followers acting on it by-in-large, but if YOU love someone and that someone loves YOU, THAT is what is important in your life. Please, don't let an ancient book of hatred get in the way of that.

And if your god doesn't like that, send it MY way. Ill be happy to explain the situation to it in terms clearly understood by all.

 

Here's a video that Maverick posted ages ago, that's about a response to the Leviticus verse:

Youtube Video

 

Yup.

---------- Post added 19th Feb 2012 at 11:37 PM ----------

Also I think if God wants us to love everyone equally and such why isn't it okay for me to fall in love with a girl... Anyway...

 

I know this was a typo, but I just couldn't leave it alone! I too think it would be abominable to shave my bear - and dangerous!! :roflmao:

Then I thought about it more deeply. In this community where bears are members too, do some like to be shaved? Then again, isn't their hairiness part of what makes them bears in the first place? So maybe it is abominable. Now I'm confused! :dry:

Maybe the legand of the abominable snowman has its roots in the bible.

"And while he slept, Izakeraiah took the blade and shaved Ephramilijah who upon waking beheld his shorn nakedness. Rage and Satan overtook his soul and he slew Izakeraiah in his own slumber with the very blade of his desecration. Realizing his deed, Ephramilijah fled to the mountains where he lived in caves to guard against the bitter cold. As punishment, Yahweh declared that he would never die, but live eternally unseen by mankind, yet heard by them wailing in despair. Yahweh in his infinite mercy, made the hair upon Ephramilijah's regrow to cover his body tenfold." (Rhubarb 213:17)

Most versions of the bible leave out the next part of the verse, but I'll include it here. "And yeti always felt bad about killing Izakeraiah." :eusa_doh:

I'm sorry if I've offended anyone here. If my mother-in-law is right, the devil made me do it. :goodevil:

I know it's a very serious post and I've struggled with my Catholic upbringing too. I thought I would just lighten it up for a minute.

55bna

 

Leviticus also says you don't eat shellfish, or wear mixed fabrics. And as for other passages that are "against" the gays, one should probably interpret them perhaps more appropriately. Because while it says "as one does with womankind" that doesn't even say sex, it says lie. So really we've all sinned if we had sleepovers when we were young. Another thing it could be interpreted as, although gruesome, is a literal "as with womankind" in other words, castrating a man and turning their genitals into a vagina. So really I think this is taken as too much of an interpretation rather than what it could actually mean.

The one about Sodom and Gomorrah could also be interpreted not as gay men who were destroyed, but those who were guilty of the sin of greed.

The Bible is always open to interpretation and it's up to you what you believe and what you don't.

 

The Bible does not condemn homosexuality, it condemns straight people having sex with other straight people from the same gender.

Back in Biblical times, people did not believe that a man could love another man or that a man could have genuine sexual feelings towards another man.
Therefore, they could not have condemned homosexuality, as we enlightened people on this forum understand it today, because they did not know that it existed. They did, however, know that men had sex with other men but they believed this to be nothing more than a bunch of evil perverts defying society or something.

For more information see this link > http://emptyclosets.com/forum/blogs/robert/4479-homosexuality-lecture.html
I highly recommend sitting through the whole lecture. Its all very interesting.

 

I think the Leviticus verse is really about the ancient idea that men are superior to women. Men sexually dominated women so if a guy sexually dominates another guy, it's degrading that guy to woman status and that's what the verse is really about. It's not talking about two guys who are in love and both want to have sex. As Bi to Canada said, it's also not possible for a guy to "lie with a man as one lies with a woman" anyway, so obviously it can't be taken literally as the anti-gay people pretend. I'd also suggest, "For the Bible Tells Me So" and this great Soulforce video Soulforce » How Can I Be Sure God Loves Me?. It's about 20 mins long and makes perfect sense to me. There's a lot of good information on that site as well.

Nothing in the Bible condemns homosexuality any more than it condemns heterosexuality. Does a verse condemning adultery mean that all sex between men and women is wrong? No, but that's the type of argument anti-gay types have been very good at making against us. Any verse that mentions 2 guys having sexual contact of some sort is labeled anti-gay, when they were really meant to forbid rape, lust, and idol worship. That's my opinion on it. Good luck to you on your journey. Don't stop asking questions and know that the love you feel for guys is good and God-pleasing. (*hug*)

 

I grew up Christian, and while I'm an agnostic now, I researched the issue of homosexuality and the Bible because I knew it'd be a problem for my more traditional friends and family.

Interestingly, when I was uninformed on the topic, I felt I had an ultimatum on my hands: choose between my sexual orientation and my faith. But the more I researched, the more I came to reconcile the two. In fact, my current skepticism over God and religion has little to do with homosexuality at all, and more about the existence of anything supernatural in the first place (I tend to be a practical naturalist).

I agree that "The Bible Tells Me So" is a wonderful documentary. I'd add a few helpful books: Hate Thy Neighbor by Linda J. Patterson (as an agnostic, she is very common sense and objective), The Children Are Free by Jeff Miner and John Tyler Connoley (two LGBT affirming theologians), and The Bible, Christianity, & Homosexuality by Justin R. Cannon (a detailed, yet concise, analysis of the relevant texts and how they've been distorted via translation and prejudice).

In short, I find no basis within the Bible to condemn loving, egalitarian same-sex relationships. All the infamous "clobber passages" refer to abusive, exploitative, and unhealthy relationships, such as temple prostitution, gang rape, and pederasty. Plus, we have to keep in mind that the Biblical authors are from archaic societies with relationship and sexual ethics vastly different from our own, and therefore we must take their words with a grain of salt. For example, they endorsed polygamy, treated women as property, and said adulterers should be publicly stoned. In my view, all theological disputes within the Christian church should be analyzed through the lens of Christ, who is the central core of the faith. Jesus was not recorded making any statements on homosexuality...you'd think if it were as terrible as today's social conservatives imply, he would have made sure the Biblical authors took down his opinion. In fact, rather than being judgmental and condemning, Jesus strongly emphasized that loving God and neighbor with all of your being is the most important commandment.

Also, most Christians believe we are moral beings created in God's image; I've always felt if that is the case, we should be able to sense the ethical foundation for commandments. We can see why murder, rape, stealing, etc. are wrong, because they have negative, harmful consequences that prevent people from achieving their full potential. I just don't see that with homosexuality. Any romantic relationship can be healthy or unhealthy, regardless of whether the couple is straight or gay. You can't generalize.

I think so many Christians are misguided on this topic for two reasons. First, we have a natural tendency to be suspicious of those who are "different"; overcoming prejudice is a constant battle (this applies to secular people as well as religious, but religious people have a harder time because they feel they must honor ancient texts over reason and progress). Second, we tend to research an issue closely only if it affects us. Most people aren't gay, so they are content to accept the superficial views of their preacher or parents; they don't take the time to research hermeneutics or historical context or linguistics, and they become uninformed and close-minded. Hence, the persistent hostility between Christians and the LGBT community. Fortunately, the stigmas about homosexuality are slowly falling away and our culture is becoming a more accepting place for minorities. This trend applies to Christians, too. Younger Christians are far more tolerant, I've found, than older generations. Many of them have no objections to gay people or their relationships. And even if they don't agree with your "lifestyle" (I despise that word), most don't actively berate or condemn you the way their predecessors did. We're progressing evermore toward a live-and-let-live society, where people are judged on their merits and their actions instead of their identities, and thank God for that. :icon_wink

 

I met an amazing author today who has written a popular book on gay Biblical interpretation. I don't have the time to go into much right now, but there are lots of people who interpret the Bible not only in a non anti-gay way, but in a pro-Gay way. Exploring the language and context of the Bible is a beautiful thing, and we can be led down all sorts of exciting pro-Gay paths, from the pretty common 'God loves us all' kinds of arguments to the more controversial ones which argue that Jesus was in a homosexual relationship with the beloved disciple. Do read around the issue via Google scholar, if you'd like to get into a few academic papers. You're bound to find some interesting perspectives!

 

I'll add that Jesus healed the "servant" of the centurion. It's interesting to learn the meaning of the Greek words and how some have been mistranslated in our English Bibles.
The Roman Centurion - Bible Abuse Directed at Homosexuals

This link discusses another mis-translation that the anti-gay folks like to hit us with.
Corinthians and Timothy - Bible Abuse Directed at Homosexuals

There are more links at the top of the page and it seems interesting from what I've read so far.