Bible verse on gay people
But for many LGBTQ Christians, the Bible can feel like the enemy. In the Book of Leviticus homosexuality is called an “abomination” (; ). And although Jesus never explicitly condemns homosexuality, thought he could have (he is hard on divorce, for example), St. Paul does (1 Cor ). The few biblical verses that address homosexuality are used against LGBTQ people over and over: in the political sphere; by religious leaders; on social media; in one-on-one encounters; and, perhaps worst of all, in homilies and sermons in the very churches where LGBTQ people seek to encounter a loving God.
By the same token, the Bible proscribes many laws, moral codes and ethical guidelines that modern-day Christians ignore, don’t follow or have rejected completely. For example, even though they honor the Old Testament, Christians don’t stone people who function on the Sabbath (Ex. ). We don’t sell people into slavery (Ex. ). And if someone curses God, we don’t execute them (Lev. ). In the New Testament, St. Paul told slaves to be faithful to their masters (Eph. ). He also said that women should be silent
What Does the Bible Say About Homosexuality?
What Does The Bible Utter About Homosexuality?
Introduction
For the last two decades, Pew Research Center has reported that one of the most enduring ethical issues across Christian traditions is sexual diversity. For many Christians, one of the most frequently first-asked questions on this topic is, “What does the Bible say about attraction to someone of the identical sex?”
Although its unlikely that the biblical authors had any notion of sexual orientation (for example, the term homosexual wasn't even coined until the delayed 19th century) for many people of faith, the Bible is looked to for timeless guidance on what it means to honor God with our lives; and this most certainly includes our sexuality.
Before we can vault into how it is that Christians can maintain the authority of the Bible and also affirm sexual diversity, it might be helpful if we started with a terse but clear overview of some of the assumptions informing many Christian approaches to understanding the Bible.
What is the Bible?
For Christians to whom the Bible
The Bible and matching sex relationships: A review article
Tim Keller,
Vines, Matthew, God and the Queer Christian: The Biblical Case in Sustain of Same Sex Relationships, Convergent Books,
Wilson, Ken,A Letter to My Congregation, David Crum Media,
The relationship of homosexuality to Christianity is one of the main topics of discussion in our culture today. In the descend of last year I wrote a review of books by Wesley Hill and Sam Allberry that take the historic Christian view, in Hill’s words: “that homosexuality was not God’s authentic creative intention for humanity and therefore that homosexual rehearse goes against God’s express will for all human beings, especially those who trust in Christ.”
There are a number of other books that grab the opposite view, namely that the Bible either allows for or supports same sex relationships. Over the last year or so I (and other pastors at Redeemer) have been regularly asked for responses to their arguments. The two most read volumes taking this position come across to be those by Matthew Vines and Ken Wilson. The review of these
Leviticus
“You shall not falsehood with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination.”[1] It is not a surprise that this verse seems to say that homosexual male sex is forbidden in the eyes of God. The dominant view of western Christianity forbids same-sex relations. This verse is one of the clobber passages that people cite from the Bible to condemn homosexuality. This essay first looks at the various ways the verse is translated into the English Bible and then explores some of the strategies used to create an affirming meaning of what this corridor means for the LGBTQ community. More specifically, it presents the interpretation of K. Renato Lings in which Lev. refers to male-on-male incest.
While Lev. is used to condemn homosexuality, we must realize that the term “homosexuality” was only recently coined in the English language. So did this term remain in ancient Israel? Charles D. Myers, Jr. confirms that none of the prophets in the Hebrew Bible mention homosexuality.[2] He also contends that in ancient Israel same-sex relations were viewed as an ancient Near East difficulty. The anc