reinterpreting the bibles view of homosexuality

I found this little article in a Jehovah’s Witness magazine that was left in the laundry room of my apartment complex; it in no way at all expresses mine, nor totjo’s views or opinions. I am posting it to stem discussion and to further knowledge and understanding. Occasionally I will interject my thoughts and will make every effort to clarify that they are my thoughts and not part of the article or anyone else’s thoughts.

Is Homosexuality Ever Justifiable?
The practice of homosexuality continues to gain acceptance in many lands. A group in one church in the United States is calling for a reinterpretation of what the Bible says about homosexuality in light of “contemporary wisdom.” A pastor in Brazil who recently entered into a same sex marriage also encouraged “taking a fresh look at the Bible,” so as to allow for his church’s contemporary view.

On the other hand, those who do not approve of homosexual acts are often tagged as homophobic or prejudiced. What does the Bible really say about homosexuality?

ok first interjection: the bible should be reinterpreted, the more it’s done the more could be understood. They should take into consideration the time period, social setting, and lack of intelligence that was abundant centuries ago…if you read a good book only once you won’t remember everything that you liked in it…if you read the same book some time later you’ll find something else you like in it...you’ll find something new each time until eventually you have the whole thing memorized.

Contemporary wisdom is still wisdom.

What does the Bible Say?
The Bible does not promote prejudice against people. However, its view of homosexual acts is clear.
”You must not lie down with a male the same as you lie down with a woman. It is a detestable thing.”-Leviticus 18:22.

As part of the Mosaic Law, this prohibition was one of many moral laws given specifically to the nation of Israel. Even so, the commandment expresses God’s view of homosexual acts, whether by Jews or non-Jews, when it says: “It is a detestable thing.” The nations around Israel practiced homosexuality, incest, adultery, and other acts prohibited by the Law. Therefore, God viewed those nations as unclean. (Leviticus 18:24,25) Did the Bible’s viewpoint change during the Christian era? Consider the following scripture: ”God gave them up to disgraceful sexual appetites, for both their females changed the natural use of themselves into one contrary to nature; and likewise even the males left the natural use of the female and became violently inflamed in their lust toward one another, males with males, working what is obscene.”- Roman 1:26,27

Why does the Bible describe homosexual acts as unnatural and obscene? Because they involve sexual activity that was not intended by our Creator. Homosexual acts cannot produce offspring. The Bible compares homosexual activity to the sexual relations that angels, who came to be known as demons, had with women before the Deluge of Noah’s day. (Genesis 6:4; 19:4,5; Jude:6,7) God views both acts as unnatural.

interjection 2: homosexuality is unnatural? Please, it’s been proven time and again that it is in fact a common occurrence in nature. The bottlenose dolphin, for example, engages in homosexual sex as a way of establishing bonds and status within the pod, I’ve also seen dogs do this, and recently there were some monkeys doing so. Humans are born with no gender identity(we don’t identify as male/female at an internal level), we develop it through nature and nurture…meaning we’re born with a natural tendency(that we discover at an early age through self exploration) that is influenced but not controlled(ideally) by the environment we’re raised in…Ok I’ll give them the fact that it does not produce offspring….considering that the world is overpopulated as it is more breeding is not necessary…it’s a bit arrogant to think that their laws apply to all people, pushing their views on everyone and robbing people of choice…

Factors That Justify Homosexuality?
Some may wonder, “would genetics, environment, or traumatic life experiences, such as sexual abuse, justify one’s giving in to homosexual desires?” No, they would not. Consider this example: a person may have what some scientists consider to be hereditary tendencies toward alcohol abuse, or he may have been raised in a family where alcohol abuse was commonplace. Certainly most people would be empathetic toward a person in such circumstances. All the same, by no means would he be encouraged to continue abusing alcohol or to give up his fight against alcohol abuse just because he may have been born with the tendency or he was raised in such an environment.

Likewise, while the Bible does not condemn those who struggle with homosexual tendencies, it in no way condones giving in to those tendencies, whether they are the results of genetics or they stem from some other source.(Romans 7:21-25; 1 Corinthians 9:27) Instead, the Bible offers practical assistance and encouragement to help individuals to win the fight against homosexual practices.

ah, they try comparing homosexuality to alcoholism?...really…sorry but I come from a family of alcoholics…grandparents, and parents…I was raised around alcohol abuse…yet I seldom ever drink, and the same goes for my cousins and siblings…as children we thought alcohol abuse was normal and yet we went against the “norm”…alcoholism and homosexuality are nothing alike…alcoholism(in my view) is not natural…it’s a behavior of choice not of nature, my siblings and cousins chose not to be alcoholics…homosexuality is natural(for many life forms) as is bisexuality yet only homosexuality is condemned …homosexuals are not “giving in” to tendencies, they’re embracing their nature…to resist one’s own nature would be living a lie and would bring nothing but suffering and misery…of course like with most Christian views, if it brings pleasure or joy then it must be a sin…

What Is God’s Will for People With Homosexual Desires?

The Bible assures us that God’s will is that “all sorts of men should be saved and come to an accurate knowledge of truth.”(1 Timothy 2:4) Though the Bible disapproves of homosexual acts, it does not encourage hatred of homosexuals.

God’s view of homosexuality cannot be watered down. At 1 Corinthians 6:9,10, the Bible clearly states that “men who lie with men” are included in those who “will not inherit God’s kingdom.” But verse 11 adds the comforting thought: “ and yet that is what some of you were. But you have washed clean, but you have been sanctified, but you have been declared righteous in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and with the spirit or our God.”

Clearly, those who sincerely desired to worship God on his terms were warmly welcomed into the early Christian congregation. The same is true today for all honest hearted ones who seek God’s approval- not by reinterpreting the Bible- but by bringing their lives into harmony with it.

an accurate knowledge of truth… that would require a collection of facts, not an outdated manner of thinking…in science you create a theory, write a hypothesis, and conduct the experiment, then you take the “truths” you learned from the experiment and adjust your theory and rewrite your hypothesis and conduct another experiment, you continue redoing the cycle until you prove the theory to be truth…they want to take the theory and declare it as truth regardless of the facts contrary to it, and their reluctant to even consider re-evaluating it…

Knowledge, understanding, and wisdom…these are the truths that I believe and accept.

Again I’ll reiterate…this article does not reflect mine nor totjo’s views, my views are expressed in the interjections and are not part of the article(which came from the January 2012 issue of Awake!, a Jehovah’s witness magazine) … and again this is not to start an “us vs. them” debate or anti Christian argument , it is to stem conversation leading to knowledge, understanding, and wisdom.

"God" to me is more of a presence than a singular being, so I obviously disagree with the old-school Christian belief that homosexuality is "wrong." Moreover, I feel that the Bible deals more in metaphors and general guidelines than in absolutes. I do not feel that all things within the Bible should be taken literally. There are plenty of strange "rules;" don't throw a pigskin around, don't have sex with a woman when she's on her period, etc. However, there are no huge social divides over those obscure commandments.

Don't misunderstand, I realize that the Bible inspires hope and has lain a strong moral structure for many individuals, and I think this is wonderful. However, to be brutally honest, this discrimination against people of a certain sexuality is archaic in nature and at the end of the day, who are we to judge?

Comparing homosexuality to alcoholism is completely ridiculous - alcoholics can learn not to be dependent on alcohol and can live a happy life without it, if they manage to kick the addiction. Homosexuals, however, apparently have a choice between only indulging in heterosexual relationships or never having any kind of romantic interactions at all - neither of which are likely to lead to them leading happy and fulfilled lives.

People who have this kind of view have usually taken one or two verses from the Bible wildly out of context and have ignored the 31,000 or so other verses. Jesus says nothing whatsoever about homosexuality at any point and so the few verses that do mention it have basically been written by randomers who are just preaching their personal view. Leviticus is the book mainly used to condemn homosexual acts, but in the English Anglican tradition absolutely no-one takes any notice of what it says in Leviticus because if you actually read the whole thing it's basically a massive list of completely ridiculous rules that no-one can stick to in this day and age.

Suffice to say, it really annoys me when people like Jehovah's Witnesses twist the words of the Bible to spout propaganda like this! Let's not even get on to the Westboro Baptists...

If we get into analyzing the opinions of the Chiristian Holy Book, which open to interpretation by anyone based on their own views, we can assume that unless the words are printed in red (i.e. words that Jesus, the guy that Christianity based their religion on, said), then it is just an opinion of the writer or how they interpreted the words that "God inspired them to write". ( I write this in quotations to emphasize that this is the the common view, not that I am saying it is false.. per se.)

Here's what Jesus says about homosexuality.

see that? he is pretty silent on the topic.

He gave exactly 2 commandments for his people to follow. These are: Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind. Love your neighbor as yourself. That's it. He boiled down the 10 commandments of the Old Covenant to 2, and most Christians, or those who call themselves such, can't even follow them.

Now, I'm not, nor do I claim to be Christian, or an absolute authority on the subject. But I've read the book. Most of it is archaic laws, parables, outdated thinking. Perhaps if we all quit worrying about what such-and-such are doing behind closed doors, and whether the entire sanctity of the marriage union would be comprimised by letting same-sex couples marry, then the world might be a better, more Christ-like place. He did hang out with all those people that many of his current followers despise and belittle. Just saying.

If we accept the bible at the same value as modern Christians do the use of it to justify such vehemence against homosexuality is disengenious at best and outright hypocritical at worst.

Christans make quite a lot of deal out of the Old Testament law being "for knowledge" as Christ freed them from the law. So use of Leviticus as a basis for what is permissable is out unless they're saying Christ freed them from all laws EXCEPT the ones they liked.

Even if we accept this notion, Eunuchs are not subject to the law as specified just a few versus prior and Eunuchs in the Talmud are three groups. The most highly culturally valued Eunuchs who had not had any sort of castration and did not procreate either by devotion or by birth impotence. In either case these are not the popular view of the castrati which is a seperate word in Hebrew and Greek who were classifications of slaves.

Finally In the New Testament, every statement against homosexuality is attributed to Paul specifically and no one else. More specifically a man we know to have become antitehtical to Roman culture on becoming Christian and so his rejection of homosexuality is more likely to be a rejection of Roman culture than a specific edict, especially in the light that it goes unechoed by other figures in Christianity at the time.

I thought this was very relevant and quite hilarious. I looked up every one of these bible verses just to make sure it was accurate. Funny how some people tend to overlook some parts over others.

One thing that I have always found interesting is how many modern Christians site how Jesus freed them from the Old Testament. This, in my opinion, is merely because the church wishes to separate itself from Judaism. And my reason for this is stated in Mathew 5:17. Which there are as many translations of this sentence as there are translations of the bible. But in short, Jesus said:

“Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill.”
King James

“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.”
New International version

“Don't misunderstand why I have come. I did not come to abolish the law of Moses or the writings of the prophets. No, I came to accomplish their purpose.”
New living Translation

I have read more than one translation of The Bible in my life. I was raised Christian and it was mandatory in my household. But no were in the whole thing did I see were anyone was suppose to disregard the original Abrahamic teachings and form a church to their own desire and design with whatever man deemed important.

It is not my intent to upset or offend, I have been Christian all my life, I just found certain inconsistencies that I find “interesting.”

As a Christian, I've often struggled with this problem and been angry about how many Christians rightly claim that Jesus abolished the old laws, but wrongly keep the ones they like. To be completely honest, there's not too much of a moral argument to be made against homosexuality from a Christian view, unless one accepts the old laws.

On the other hand, I am personally opposed to homosexuality because the unhealthiness of it is very, very obvious and needs no explaining. That doesn't mean I dislike homosexuals or want to criminalize their behavior. It just means that I recognize the obvious fact that homosexual behavior is mentally and physically unhealthy.

It is no "fact" that homosexuality is mentally OR physically unhealthy. I respect your opinion, but you should present it as such: JUST an opinion.

Star Forge wrote: On the other hand, I am personally opposed to homosexuality because the unhealthiness of it is very, very obvious and needs no explaining. That doesn't mean I dislike homosexuals or want to criminalize their behavior. It just means that I recognize the obvious fact that homosexual behavior is mentally and physically unhealthy.

Could you explain that a little further?