The Bible and Homosexuality
November 18, 2003
In commenting on “this post about Episcopalians”:http://www.thudfactor.com/archives/002927.php, one commenter says both Old and New Testaments are anti-homosexuality. He concludes, “maybe it’s time we all realize that Jesus’ compassion for sinners didn’t make Him tolerant of sin itself, and realize that homosexuality is sin, and is wrong.”
Which led me to ponder: where in the Bible is there discussion of homosexuality? I could have prayed to God for guidance, but instead I decided to pray to Google. Google reminded me of the great Religious Tolerance site, which has an “excellent and extended discussion of this very topic”:http://www.religioustolerance.org/hom_bibl.htm.
What our commenter fails to recognize is that not all Christians:
# Believe in the innerancy of the Bible, or…
# Believe in fundamentalist interpretation of the Bible, or…
# Believe that forcing others to behave a certain way is compatible with Christ’s message.
The take-home message of the Religious Tolerance suite of essays is that there’s a great deal of wiggle-room here for Mr. Humphreys. The conservatives interpret things one way, the liberals another, and until God decides to drop in on the Daily Show and sort it all out Himself, everyone is going to have to go with their own best guess.
Which is why we have different denominations and religions anyway. If our commenter thinks homosexuality is a sin, then he doesn’t have to be an Episcopalian. And if I think it’s a sin to preach hatred of those who are biologically determined to be attracted to members of the same sex (and I do), then I don’t have to be a Southern Baptist. And if anyone thinks pondering what God thinks about the issue makes as much sense as wondering if pink unicorns watch reruns of _Dallas_ (Mac, I’m looking at you), well, they’re free not to go to church at all. That’s the marvel of freedom of religion.
Shame it’s so out of fashion these days.
Posted in Archived Unsorted
content rss
November 19th, 2003 at 7:15 am
I always chuckle at people who throw the Levitican Code in your face as evidence that homosexuality is a sin. I don’t see us putting people to death for cursing their parents around here, but hey, what do I know.
In the new testament, it’s a lot more murky. Homosexuality is referred to as a consequence of sinning, but not as a sin itself. And nowhere does Jesus say that homosexuals are sinners.
There’s also debate over the translation of certain words in the passages that relate to homosexuality, indicating that in the original text, the terms being used dealt with male prostitutes and their older male customers.
Anyway. I’m a straight Christian, but I don’t go to church primarily because of this issue. I haven’t a church yet that was open-minded about homosexuality and accepted it. Well, not counting Unitarian Universalist churches.
November 19th, 2003 at 10:11 am
Do pink unicorns watch Dallas reruns? *grin*
November 21st, 2003 at 9:03 pm
According to my college logic teacher, ‘all pink unicorns watch dallas reruns’ would be a completely and unabashedly true statement…