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After we investigated the conduct of one of the more famous individuals based on his sexual conduct in my last article, I thought we can address some of the more commonly used arguments used by the insecure and maybe closeted Christians.
In most conversation with theists regarding alternative life styles, they also use the same old clobber verses. Let line them up and review.
Genesis 2:24
“Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and shall become united and cleave to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.”
This is amazing when people use these verses to point to homosexuality, however miss the fact that many people that is classified as righteous before God, like Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and many others, they all had many wives, yet the verse states man and wife, both singular.
Now, nowhere did it say a man will lie with many women. This means that all the biblical characters acted outside the norm set... thus being an abomination to God yet they were righteous before God... we won’t know if these relationship involved oral and anal sex between the couples and there was no exchange of money for those deeds... thus a sign of love...
If one quotes Lev 18:22 and Lev 20:13, remember, both those chapters talk about the priests’ actions in and around the temple, what people may and may not do around the temple, then people that use these verses list something that has no or little bearing on temple activities. These chapters cover the sexual relationships with a larger family set up. Further to that, the word “Sodomite” is used a couple of times in Old Testament. This is the same male and female temple prostitutes mentioned later in this article. See the following texts for “Sodomite” :Deuteronomy 23:17,18; 1 Kings 14:24; 1 Kings 15:12 and 1 Kings 22:46.
The word is best described here
http://lexiconcordance.com/hebrew/6945.html
Qadesh( {kaw-dashe’ } – male temple prostitute
These two verses are mentioning the practice of male temple prostitutes that the Canaanites introduced into the Israelite culture, there was no issue about the female prostitutes, only the male one. Also, remember when the Messiah prevented the people from stoning the adulterous woman.
Some say He wrote their sins in the ground, some say he draw a line and said” Those with no sin nay cast the first stone. They all turned around, walking away… Maybe the idea that people enjoyed those female prostitutes made them cautious to say they were without sin…
Many places in bible stated that there were prostitutes (females) that offered services... for money thus could not be accused of adultery... it isn’t critiqued as being wrong to have sex with another female but because it was harmful to the family and person seeking a prostitute...look at Jesus... He said “Sin no more"... meaning stop causing hurt to others as it is against the law to love...
The only conclusion I can reach those female prostitutes was acceptable in a sense to society and played a role but not men paying male prostitutes for sex...
The Hebrew word is “ Toevah”
“Feminine active participle of H8581; properly something disgusting (morally), that is, (as noun) an abhorrence; especially idolatry or (concretely) an idol
KJV Usage: abominable (custom, thing), abomination.
Brown-Driver-Briggs' Hebrew Definitions????? ??????
1. a disgusting thing, abomination, abominable
a. in ritual sense (of unclean food, idols, mixed marriages)
b. in ethical sense (of wickedness etc)"
http://studybible.info/strongs/H8441
Idol worship is acceptable in some customs/ nation but not for God; in some cultures certain foods are not right like in Islam. "idols” in RCC is acceptable but not in other denominations... also not ethical... doing the right thing at right time... that means different things to different people... some man/female couples like anal and or oral sex other don’t.
The most common thing most Christians do is refer to Sodom and Gomorrah and that the sin was homosexuality. This is in fact very untrue. The sin of those two cities and cities in general was unfriendliness towards strangers arriving in the city. This is visible many times in the scriptures. This was covered earlier in the article under the term “Sodomite”. Some connect the City Sodom to sodomy, however every Hebrew word for sodomy (used in Jewish law) that I have ever heard of is unrelated to the Hebrew name of the city Sodom.
Some also quote Deuteronomy 22:5…
“5 The woman shall not wear that which pertains to a man, neither shall a man put on a woman’s garment, for all that do so are an abomination to the Lord your God.”
Man’s garment . . . a woman’s cloak. Women were not to adopt the accoutrements of the male (e.g., carrying weapons), and men were not to dress as women. The symbols of gender difference were to be respected, and while such symbols vary over time and from culture to culture, the principle of gender distinction remains.
Corinth was the epicentre of idolatry in ancient Greece, so immoral that the name Corinth became synonymous with sexual idolatry. Almost 1500 years after events in Leviticus, Paul was forced to deal with the same kind of pagan idolatry in Corinth, as temple prostitutes got saved and joined the church, 1 Cor 6:9-10. Paul even coins a new Greek word, arsenokoitai, using the same words used in the Septuagint version of Lev 20:13 to describe the shrine prostitutes he personally witnessed in ancient Corinth. This gives one a different perspective on why a women” had to remain “silent” as mentioned in several instances in New Testament.
The Bible uses the rubric (a rubric is an authoritative rule) of Molech worship to describe pagan sexual practices which included worship of Ashtoreth, 2 Kings 23:5-10. There is nothing new under the sun. Human beings always struggle with idolatry. It was true in ancient Judaism and it was true in the early history of the Christian church"...
Here are the three references to “homosexuality” in the New Testament:
“Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God”. — 1 Corinthians 6:9-10
“We also know that the law is made not for the righteous but for lawbreakers and rebels, the ungodly and sinful, the unholy and irreligious, for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers, for the sexually immoral, for those practicing homosexuality, for slave traders and liars and perjurers—and for whatever else is contrary to the sound doctrine”. — 1 Timothy 1:9-10
“Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. In the same way, the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error”. —Romans 1:26-27
During the time in which the New Testament was written, the Roman conquerors of the region frequently and openly engaged in homosexual acts between themselves and younger soldiers. Such acts were also common between Roman men and their male slaves. These acts of non-consensual sex were considered normal and socially acceptable. They were, however, morally repulsive to Paul, as today they would be to everyone, gay and straight.
The universally acknowledged authoritative reference on matters of antiquity is the Oxford Classical Dictionary. Here is what the OCD (third edition revised, 2003) says in its section about homosexuality as practiced in the time of Paul:
“… the sexual penetration of male prostitutes or slaves by conventionally masculine elite men, who might purchase slaves expressly for that purpose, was not considered morally problematic.”
This is the societal context in which Paul wrote of homosexual acts, and it is this context that Christians must acknowledge when seeking to understand and interpret the three New Testament clobber passages. Yes, Paul condemned the same-sex sexual activity he saw around him—because it was coercive, without constraint, and between older men and young men. As a moral man, Paul was revolted by these acts, as, certainly, he would have been by the same acts had they been heterosexual in nature.
Roman 1 : 26-28; 31 " women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature;" natural relations refer an attraction like you and your partner's relation; "contrary to nature" refers to sex you pay for... because your partner does not ask you for money after sex... I hope so? The other portion refers to male prostitutes that also ask for money but goes one step further... having sex with same sex with no attraction to that person...
Jude 1:7 ESV
“Just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire”
Jude 1 :7 again refers to practices of sexual pleasures and idol worship in surrounding areas... look at gods of sexual pleasures and love in those nations..
Revelation 21:8 “8 But as for the cowards and the ignoble and the contemptible and the cravenly lacking in courage and the cowardly submissive, and as for the unbelieving and faithless, and as for the depraved and defiled with abominations, and as for murderers and the lewd and adulterous and the practicers of magic arts and the idolaters (those who give supreme devotion to anyone or anything other than God) and all liars (those who knowingly convey untruth by word or deed)—[all of these shall have] their part in the lake that blazes with fire and brimstone. This is the second death.”
I wonder if we can include false “healing churches” and prophets? ;)
Revelation 22.15?
“15 [But] without are the dogs and those who practice sorceries (magic arts) and impurity [the lewd, adulterers] and the murderers and idolaters and everyone who loves and deals in falsehood (untruth, error, deception, cheating).” Where do you see homosexuality? you have to add too much too make that true…
As theists, we generally start with the premise that God created sexuality and everything that goes with it. He created our sexual organs, along with the intense physical and emotional pleasures. Sex was His idea. Had He not wanted us to enjoy it he could have simply removed a few nerve endings and brain cells to tone things down a bit.
A Christian couple should approach sex from the basic viewpoint that God intended them to fully enjoy it and each other. This will eliminate many confused or guilty feelings and allow couples to relax and enjoy each other more.
Two Basic Scriptures Regarding Sex in Marriage
"Marriage is honorable among all, and the bed undefiled; but fornicators and adulterers God will judge." Hebrews 13:4 NKJV. I sincerely hope that we focus on the “all” as it is not defined as Genesis 2:24.
In general, the Bible is very pro-sex; within marriage. It does not describe it as dirty or something to be avoided, or only for procreation. It treats the subject as normal part of our lives and something that Christians need to deal with in a regular basis. Because it does not give many specifics, we assume that God leaves some discretion to the conscience of individual couple.
Here are a couple of Bible passages that any Christian should bear in mind whenever he or she is called upon (or at least emotionally compelled) to render a moral judgment:
Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. — Matthew 7:1-2
Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when you yourself fail to see the plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye. — Luke 6:41-42
Now, fellow theists, show me the errors and not your opinions and if needed condemn me to your “hell” and “satan”, but do remember that Jesus said, the lukewarm ones will be split out. Mixing the worship of God with that of supposed other gods might just make you a lukewarm henotheist.
