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Homosexuality and the
Bible |
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How do YOU read the Bible? |
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Everyone of us reads the Bible in our own way. We will
either take the literal approach, examining only the
words and how they translate to our language; the critical
approach, studying not only the language, but the original
audience, the identity of the write in relationship to the
audience, and how the the audience understood the text; or the
Sociocultural approach, which acknowledges that much of
the Bible reflects the dominant culture of the day and may
misrepresent ignored or marginalized people. This
approach invites us to ask questions like, "How does this
speak to my experience?, Who's invisible here?, What's not
being said, Who is powerless?, Who benefits? What are the
economic implications of a law or custom? Why is something so
important in early Hebrew or Christian communities?" At MCC
of the Spirit, we believe the Bible is the inspired Word of
God, and as such, claim it in its entirety to teach us how to
live. We also now that communities of faith have long
disagreed on what the Bible says about many
issues....homosexuality is only one more. The Bible is
our instruction and we believe the bible does not condemn
those who are gay, lesbian, bi-sexual or transgendered! |
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Old Testament |
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In the Story of Sodom in Genesis 19, a group of
men surround Lot's house and demand that the visitors (or
angels) come out that they might "know (yadah, a Hebrew word
that can mean sexual intercourse) them. In essence they
want to rape them in order to show their social and cultural
dominance over them. The story is one of rape and
inhospitality. In other Biblical texts (Ezekiel 16:49
and Luke 17:28-29) Sodom's sin is identified as failure to
help the poor and lack of hospitality of foreigners. |
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Leviticus 18:22 and 20:13 are part of the
Holiness Code in the book of Leviticus (Chapters 17-26).
This code spelled out ways the Hebrew people would act
differently than those who lived around them. There are
many other prohibitions as well...you could not plant two
kinds of seed in the same field or wear different fabrics at
the same time (Leviticus 19:19). Why do we pick one or two
verses and say they apply while others do not? Jesus
Christ came to fulfill the law. And Jesus said that the
greatest commandment is to love unconditionally! |
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New Testament |
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In Romans 1:26-27, Paul writes about that is
"natural" versus what is "unnatural". Remember, Paul is
writing to a particular audience at a particular time.
Know the Holiness Code, they would have known that Paul was
encouraging them once again to be distinct, and was holding a
model of dominance and submission that the people would
understand to demonstrate the need for the saving grace of
Jesus Christ. The most natural thing in the world is for
those who are gay, lesbian, bi-sexual, or transgendered is to
accept ourselves as God created us! And the most natural thing
in the world is for heterosexuals to accept themselves as God
created them! |
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I Corinthians 6:9-10 and I Timothy 1:9-11
are parts of a list of sins. The fact that if you look
at different translations of the Bible, you will see very
different words used in the list, should give you some clue to
the difficulty of knowing to what Paul might have been
referring. If you return to the Greek works (aresenokoitai
and malakoi) they are found no where else in the Bible.
If you look at them in Greek culture, they may refer to male
prositutes or the practice of pederasty (men using boys for
sexual favors). People of faith would stand against
these practices today. |
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Is there anything the Bible condemns? |
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Some accuse us of standing for nothing then, when it comes to
sexuality. The Bible condemns those sexual practices
where sexuality occurs apart from relationship and where
someone is used as a sexual object. Prostitution is
condemned not because sex is wrong or evil, but because
someone is used as a sexual object. Pederasty would be
condemned because it is a power relationship and again a
person is being used as a sexual object. |
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Acts 10 tells the story of peter and Cornelius.
Peter dreamed one night of being offered non-Kosher food.
And in his dream, he affirmed 3 times that he would not eat
it! God's response was, "What God has made clean, you must not
call profane." Shortly afterward Peter was called to the house
of Cornelius. There Peter witnessed the Holy Spirit
falling on gentiles and Peter was moved to baptize them,
allowing the Spirit to move him beyond his own
close-mindedness. Can we do less? |
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Suggested Readings |
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The following are
highly recommended for those wishing to carefully study issues
of homosexuality as related to the Christian Church:
Boswell, John.
Christianity, social tolerance, and homosexuality: gay
people in Western Europe from the beginning of the Christian
era to the fourteenth century. Chicago: University of
Chicago Press, 1980.
Countryman, Louis
William. Gifted by Otherness: Gay and Lesbian
Christians in the Church. Morehouse Publishing, 2001.
Goss , Robert E and
Mona West, ed. Take Back the Word. Pilgrim Press,
2000.
Hanks, Tom. God
So Loved the Third World. Wipf & Stock Publishers, 2001.
Helminiak, Daniel
A. What the Bible Really Says about Homosexuality. San
Francisco: Alamo Square Press, 2000.
Horner, Tom.
Jonathan Loved David: Homosexuality in Biblical Times.
Philadelphia: Westminster Press.
McNeill, John J.
(1988) The Church and the Homosexual. Boston: Beacon
Press. Orig. pub. 1976.
Mollenkott,
Virginia & Letha Scanzoni. Is the Homosexual My Neighbor?
San Francisco: Harper, 1978.
Scroggs, Robin.
The New Testament and Homosexuality. Philadelphia,
Fortress Press, 1983. |
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