What does the bible say about homosexuality verses
What the New Testament Says about Homosexuality
The Fourth R Volume May-June
Mainline Christian denominations in this state are bitterly divided over the question of homosexuality. For this reason it is important to demand what light, if any, the New Testament sheds on this controversial issue. Most people apparently presume that the New Testament expresses strong opposition to homosexuality, but this simply is not the case. The six propositions that follow, considered cumulatively, conduct to the conclusion that the New Testament does not provide any straight guidance for understanding and making judgments about homosexuality in the modern society.
Proposition 1: Strictly speaking, the New Testament says nothing at all about homosexuality.
There is not a single Greek word or phrase in the entire New Testament that should be translated into English as “homosexual” or “homosexuality.” In fact, the very notion of “homosexuality”—like that of “heterosexuality,” “bisexuality,” and even “sexual orientation”—is essentially a modern concept that would simply have been unintelligible to
The Bible on Homosexual Behavior
One way to argue against these passages is to make what I name the “shellfish objection.” Keith Sharpe puts it this way: “Until Christian fundamentalists boycott shellfish restaurants, end wearing poly-cotton T-shirts, and stone to death their wayward offspring, there is no obligation to pay attention to their diatribes about homosexuality being a sin” (The Gay Gospels, 21).
In other words, if we can disregard rules appreciate the ban on eating shellfish in Leviticus , then we should be allowed to disobey other prohibitions from the Senior Testament. But this argument confuses the Old Testament’s temporary ceremonial laws with its permanent moral laws.
Here’s an analogy to aid understand this distinction.
I recall two rules my mom gave me when I was young: hold her hand when I cross the street and don’t drink what’s under the sink. Today, I hold to follow only the latter rule, since the former is no longer needed to protect me. In fact, it would now do me more harm than good.
Old Testament ritual/ceremonial laws were appreciate mom’s handholding rule. The rea
What does the Bible teach about same-sex practice?
The Bible defines marriage in Genesis as a union between one gentleman and one gal. Jesus Christ upholds this definition of marriage in Matthew , as does the Apostle Paul in Ephesians Any and all sexual activity which takes place outside of this context is treated as sinful, what Jesus calls ‘sexual immorality’ in Mark
Further to this, same-sex exercise is specifically highlighted as sinful a number of times in Scripture. In God’s Law, for example, condemnations of same-sex practice are given in Leviticus and Further references are made in the New Testament. For example, in Romans , amid echoes to the Genesis creation account, both male and female same-sex train are treated as sinful. Further references to the sinfulness of same-sex perform can be seen in 1 Corinthians and 1 Timothy
The Scriptures are, therefore, consistent in their prohibition of same-sex sexual outing, across different periods of salvation history and within alternative cultural settings. Although the Scriptures are clear on sexual ethics, they also
This article is part of the Tough Passages series.
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24Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, 25because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.
26For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; 27and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with fire for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.
28And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done.29They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips,30slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of sinister, dis