This is the debate about homosexuality in a nutshell:
SIDE ONE - The Bible is clearly against homosexual behavior. God loves the sinner but hates the sin.
1. Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed because it had become so homosexual.
2. Leviticus 18 and 20 are clear moral laws forbidding homosexuality, calling it an abomination and condemning it by demanding the death penalty.
3. Jude emphasizes that Sodom was destroyed because of homosexuality (which he calls "going after other flesh").
4. There are lists of sins in the New Testament that keep people from the kingdom of God and even send them to hell, one sin mentioned in those lists is homosexual behavior.
5. Romans chapter one clearly reveals homosexuality as the most obvious result of sin that begins with idolatry.
SIDE TWO - The Bible is not against normal homosexual behavior, but against homosexual rape or using homosexuality for worship of other gods.
1. The sin of Sodom and Gomorrah is violence against the visitor, not homosexuality. Ezekiel is the only writer in the Bible who clearly names the sin of Sodom, and he does not say homosexuality, but says the sin is economic injustice and lack of care for the poor.
2. Leviticus 18 and 20 are against temple prostitution and not against normal homosexual behavior. Secondly, the Law is not for us today - we cannot pick and choose what verses we want to use from the Law, or else sex with one's wife during her time of the month would be an abomination, and children who are too rebellious should be killed. These and other laws are laws that most Christians do not care to resurrect, so why do we want to make a big deal about one law in Leviticus 18 and 20?
3. When Jude talks about Sodom and "going after other flesh," he is getting his information from books he quoted - one being the Book of Enoch, where angels have sex with women. "Going after other flesh" is not homosexuality, but trying to have sex with angels.
4. When it comes to the lists found in Paul's writings and in Revelation, the New Testament translators have mistranslated the words in question, assuming from their own prejudices that the words refer to homosexual practices. In reality the words are closer in meaning to temple prostitutes, or any type of sexual behavior (heterosexual or homosexual) that goes too far.
5. Romans 1 is set in the context of idolatry, so the type of homosexual behavior addressed is temple prostitution which is wrong. Regular homosexual behavior is not in question. Even if Paul were speaking about regular homosexual practices, the bottom line is it is against nature. Well, he also said that nature teaches us that it is a shame for a man to have long hair, and that a woman's glory is her hair. What was natural to Paul is cultural and not universal.
6. Jesus never said anything against homosexuality. In fact, when he talked about Sodom and Gomorrah, he used the story as an illustration to emphasize the wrath of God against villages that rejected him or his disciples. This illustration emphasizes the evils of inhospitality. From this the conclusion is confirmed that Sodom's sin was not homosexuality, but poor treatment of visitors.
MY CONCLUSIONS
1. I looked at Sodom and Gomorrah and how the story was interpreted by other writers in the Bible. None of them focused on homosexuality, but on the sins of their own day. For example, although Isaiah used the story to emphasize the seriousness of God's wrath, Isaiah ignored Sodom and Gomorrah's intent to violently rape 2 men, and focused on the economic injustices of his day. It was those economic injustices that result in the wrath of God-a Sodom and Gomorrah, fire and brimstone wrath of God.
Ezekiel was the only one to mention the sins of Sodom and Gomorrah - economic injustice and carelessness of the upper classes.
As I studied Sodom and Gomorrah's legacy, I learned that there were plenty of other sins far worse than those of Sodom and Gomorrah's - sins such as breaking the covenant that God had with his people, idolatry, rejecting the Gospel or rejecting Christ.
2. I believe that Leviticus 18 and 20 were not only temple prostitution, but any type of homosexual behavior. However, that being said, I am concerned with the fact that too many Christians cherry pick Old Testament moral laws. Because we are under a new covenant, and because the Old Testament Laws are so chosen, I do not hold Leviticus as the ultimate authority on the matter. I do believe that Christians must be led by scripture (primarily the New Testament) and by the Spirit of God.
3. Having studied the book of Enoch and seeing how much it influenced some of the biblical writers, I am quite sure that "other flesh" in Jude was referring to men seeking sex with angels.
4. I am left undecided about word studies in the New Testament. Without a doubt I believe that we have read our own biases (both sides) into words that are ambiguous. The ambiguity comes from this large gap we have between culture and time. We don't know what nuances some words took on when they were used among the common people of the day.
5. I think Romans 1 speaks against any type of homosexual behavior as well as other sins in a list of sins that result from idolatry. I think Paul emphasized homosexuality because the type practiced in his day (that included having sex with 12 year old boys) was the most obvious of sins in his day. The list of sins that Paul includes with homosexuality in chapter one include sins that we think almost nothing about, such as gossip, disobience to parents, and quarreling.
I believe:
1. The Bible says that a homosexual act is a sin.
2. There are many sins that are worse than homosexual practices.
3. Some of those bigger sins, such as economic injustice, are ignored or even justified by many in today's Christian communities (contrary to scripture.
I believe:
1. Among openly gays, there are some awesome people and some jerks. Its like every other grouping of humans.
2. Even though Paul says homosexuality is against nature, there are many who grow up with feelings for the same sex. For some people, these feelings are taught or learned, and some are born with attraction for the same sex. I cannot prove this, but neither can it be proved otherwise.
I believe:
1. Some of the people who will have the biggest struggles are those who have strong feelings for members of the same sex, whether or not it was learned or from birth.
2. Many who struggle with homosexuality the most; hate it the most, and preach against it the most.
I believe:
1. This issue will not disappear or calm down, but will have to be discussed in more and more churches and denominations. Divorce was not accepted in churches in the past, but now seems quite commonly accepted. I am not saying that it will ever be accepted practice in the churches, but I do wonder, as more and more people in the churches and in our families are discovered to be gay, will we see more acceptance of homosexuality?
2. As Christians, we will have to ask ourselves deeper questions about why we have chosen homosexuality as the ultimate of sins and have ignored larger and more lethal sins that are clearly stated in the bible.
Finally, I believe:
1. As I learn more from scripture and ancient times, I may just change my mind in some areas of this study.
2. I have tried to be fair with both sides of this issue, but probably have erred on one side or another in my attempt to discover, not what I think about this, but what the Bible says about homosexuality. The opinions I have mentioned are my flawed attempt to understand what the Bible does say.
If I had written the Bible:
1. If it were up to me, I would condone and accept homosexuality as normal human passion that is not a sin.
2. Homosexual relationships should be like hetersexual relationships where sex is confined to a vow of committment such as marriage in the Christian churches.
3. All rape of any type would be forbidden.
4. Temple prostitution would be outlawed.
But then, I didn't write the Bible, so its not up to me.
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