Proverbs 18:13
| “He that answers a matter before he hears it, it is folly and shame unto him.” |
Did you know?
* Of 32,000 verses in the Bible, only five directly mention homosexuality.
* The Qur’an only directly mentions homosexuality once.
* Leviticus, the book of the Bible which supposedly stipulates death for homosexuality, if you look at the history of the time, you will see it has to do with worship of false gods and idolatry.
* The Biblical Jesus does not condemn homosexuality.
* The destruction of the Biblical city of Sodom was due to their mistreatment of strangers, the poor, and each other in some instances.
* The Bible never condemns same sex marriage.
* The Biblical David and Jonathan had a formal same-sex union.
* ‘Traditional marriage’ in the Bible includes polygamy.
* No known sacred text forbids same sex marriage.
* Very few sacred texts even mention homosexuality.
* Hindu and other far eastern sacred texts do not condemn homosexuality.
* Homosexuality is not unnatural; it is practiced by hundreds of species of animals.
The Bible
There are about half a dozen direct references to what we today term homosexuality in the Tanach and NT, and a few others which are relevant but not direct. Two of the most negative passages are found in the book of Leviticus, alongside a mass of ancient Jewish food and incest taboos, purification rituals and medical protocols. In the New Testament, there are several instances in the Epistles where Paul belittles homosexuality. At no point in the Gospel does Jesus condemn homosexuality.
Another point to note is that there was no word for homosexuality, in the sense that we now use the term, in ancient Hebrew or Greek. The text of the Tanach and NT periphrasis these scriptures to try to describe what they are trying to get across to us.
Romans 1:26-27 states, 26 For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: 1:27 And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompense of their error which was meet.
If you notice through this text, it is focused much on the topic of idolatry with much of it pointing towards temple harlotry, not homosexuality (idolatry and sex acts, not orientation). This is spiritual harlotry just as much as physical, as they are doing these things in worship to false gods. This is also the only place in scripture that could possibly state anything against two women. With that, we need to understand that there is more than just one action that is said to be against nature so we will go through some.
Things that could be termed against nature:
- Idolatrous Sex which is referenced in a book called Testament of Naphtali which was written about 200 years before Paul’s writings. This book indicates that “against nature” means sexual idolatry or sex with angels (Genesis and Enoch). In the Testament of Naphtali 3:3-5, there is a connection between the Genesis 3 account of angels having sex with humans and the Sodom story of men trying to rape men and angels. This is most likely what Paul was referencing in the Romans 1 account men trying to have sex with men unto a false god. Perhaps these temple priests in Paul’s time were indeed representatives of the false god, making it into a change of nature’s order sex is to be between humans, not men or women and animals, not men or women and angels, and not men or women to false gods in any combination.
- The common understanding of sexual identity in Paul’s time, this could also be referring to how women ought to be passive and men active, yet in the case of Rome’s idolatrous atmosphere, the temple prostitute women would sleep with many men which would put them as being “active” – against nature and the consecrated eunuch men used as temple prostitutes unto false gods like Molech were passive as many men would have anal sex with them against nature (physical and spiritual idolatry). So against nature would be referring to women and men exchanging their passive/active roles which very well was a rule or way of the past.
- There is also, the heterosexuals that are forced by society to practice homosexual acts, often to desensitize, control or humble. Sometimes it is combined with the practice of the occult, witchcraft or idolatry as well. The Didache (First Christian Handbook) states regarding sexual sins: “You shall not commit adultery; you shall not commit pederasty (sex with boys).” – Didache (c. 80-140, E), 7.377 . In Hitler’s book, “The Pink Swastika, Lively exposes what secret homosexual activists don’t want you to know about Nazi Germany: that although the Nazis did persecute homosexuals, the homosexuals the Nazis persecuted were almost exclusively the effeminate members of the gay community in Germany, and that much of the mistreatment was administered by masculine homosexuals who despised effeminacy in all its forms.” – Truth about homosexuality and Nazi Party. Homosexuals were thrown in concentration camps, while those who were forced into homosexuality become male predators burning with lust and desiring to control and abuse men and boys. Occultism was heavy through the Nazi Party as well as Hitler’s Youth.
- The conservative 21st Century view that refers to homosexuality does not however, fit with the early fathers that I have read. They thought it was anal and idolatrous sex, and as mentioned above, the Testament of Naphtali and other readings from this time, do not agree with 21st Century conservative ideals.
**I will put a link to the book of Naphtali in the links below for you to do your own reading through this book.**
Conservative Christians seem to be misidentifying the root of the problem and minimizing spiritual sin along with elaborating on the physical aspects of it. The two main causes to this error in modern Christian thinking is two old heresies: Gnosticism and Marcionism. Gnostics teach that the physical is evil and spiritual is good, and Marcions reject Old Testament claiming it is a different god, while they accept the New Testament. We seem to be completely blind to spiritual harlotry today. For example, the word adultery is “unlawful intercourse with another man’s wife”. That is not it’s only meaning though, it is also “unlawful intercourse with a false god”, which is why God speaks in Revelation of the whore of Babylon, she is not a person, but a false religion that deceives God’s people. Religion in and of itself is the beguilement of God’s people, do you not remember the one time Jesus got furious in the Bible in John 2, it was at the Pharisees, the very men that were responsible for religious laws of men. They made rules around God’s commandments and deceived the people even then.
Idolatry and spiritual harlotry are one in the same, and they are rampant through the churches these days, from prosperity preachers, teachings of other false religions making it to heaven, making the focus us and not God, along with many other issues and heresies.
The King James Version
King James I, who commissioned the King James Version translation, was undoubtedly homosexual. It was whispered that “Elizabeth was King: Now James is Queen.”
James I was responsible for reaffirming the Buggery Act of 1533, which criminalized sodomy in the UK. However, James I had several well-documented homosexual relationships. Although he had eight children with his wife, Anne of Denmark, they eventually decided to live apart. In 1607 he met Robert Carr, then age 17, at a joust, and had an on-going relationship with him for nearly a decade, which ended in a messy breakup. In 1614, he started a relationship with George Villiers, a commoner, eventually making him Duke of Buckingham in 1623. In 1624, James wrote Villiers a letter in which he asked “whether you loved me now…better than at the time I shall never forget at Farham, where the bed’s head could not be found between the master and his dog.”
Tanach
In the beginning…
Some esoteric Jewish traditions hold that God is hermaphroditic in nature, and that Adam was originally an hermaphrodite. This is based on a reading of Genesis 1:27: “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.” This theme is developed with great detail in the Kabbalah; For instance see this passage from the Kabbalah Unveiled. Rabbi Samuel-bar-Nachman is quoted by Carpenter as saying “Adam, when God created him, was a man-woman (androgyne)”. Maimonides (ibid.) is quoted likewise: “Adam and Eve were created together, conjoined by their backs.” This is similar to the androgyne mentioned in Plato’s Symposium.
The Sin of Sodom
Now let’s talk about the story of the destruction of the city of Sodom, (Genesis 18:16-19:29; Jasher 18:11-19:53).
First lets point out Deut. 23:17-18 (link below to reference more on this verse) “There shall be no whore of the daughters of Israel, nor a sodomite of the sons of Israel.” Here the word whore meant “female prostitute”, and sodomite meant “male temple prostitute”. You can see here gadesh and kedeshah meanings:
Word: YCW
Pronounce: kaw-dashe’
Strong: H6945
Orig: from 6942; a (quasi) sacred person, i.e. (technically) a (male) devotee (by prostitution) to licentious idolatry:– sodomite, unclean. H6942
Use: TWOT-1990c Noun Masculine
Grk Strong: G1863G4203G4204G5055
- male temple prostitute
Word: DYCW
Pronounce: ked-ay-shaw’
Strong: H6948
Orig: feminine of 6945; a female devotee (i.e. prostitute):–harlot, whore. H6945
Use: TWOT 1990c Noun Feminine
Grk Strong:
1) female temple prostitute, harlot
(Check out 1 Kings 14:22-24, 15:22, 22:46, and 2 Kings 23:7)
Genesis 19
1 And in the evening there came two [a]Angels to Sodom: and Lot sat at the gate of Sodom, and Lot saw them, and rose up to meet them, and he bowed himself with his face to the ground.2 And he said, See my lords, I pray you turn in now into your servant’s house, and tarry all night, and wash your feet, and ye shall rise up early and go your ways. Who said, Nay, but we will abide in the street all night. 3 Then [b]he pressed upon them earnestly (Why do you think Lot bid them to not stay in the streets? He was trying to protect them from what is spoken of in Jasher they raped travelers, starved them, stole from them, and etc. every kind of cruelty you could imagine.), and they turned in to him, and came to his house, and he made them a feast, and did bake unleavened bread, and they [c]did eat.
[They raped their own women and swapped them off several times a year. The sin of Sodom was not homosexuality by any means. There were a great many things these people did against other people.]
Genesis 19:4-11 19:4 But before they lay down, the men of the city, [even] the men of Sodom, compassed the house round, both old and young, all the people from every quarter: 19:5 And they called unto Lot, and said unto him, Where [are] the men which came in to thee this night? Bring them out unto us, that we may know them. 19:6 And Lot went out at the door unto them, and shut the door after him, 19:7 And said, I pray you, brethren, do not so wickedly. 19:8 Behold now, I have two daughters which have not known man; let me, I pray you, bring them out unto you, and do ye to them as [is] good in your eyes: only unto these men do nothing; for therefore came they under the shadow of my roof. 19:9 And they said, Stand back. And they said [again], This one [fellow] came in to sojourn, and he has become a judge: now will we deal worse with thee, than with them. And they pressed sore upon the man, [even] Lot, and came near to break the door. 19:10 But the men put forth their hand, and pulled Lot into the house to them, and shut to the door. 19:11 And they smote the men that [were] at the door of the house with blindness, both small and great: so that they wearied themselves to find the door.
These men wanted to forcefully rape the visitors, of Sodom. It would be classified as gay sex, but homosexuals do not go around gang raping visitors. These verses as well as many others do no state that. They where trying to gang rape people (well technically angels which is an abomination). Lot offered them his daughters, because they were human at the very least, as well as in those times, the protection you were to have over the guests of your house was held to a high responsibility. Near Eastern hospitality, to this day, implies a responsibility to protect guests under one’s roof. The fact that Lot was ready to make a huge sacrifice by offering up his virgin daughters to the mob instead of his guests underlines this.
You can check out these verses to get even more of an idea and I’ll post a couple below. (Deut. 29:23, 32:32; Wis. 19:14-17; Isa. 3:9, 13:19; Jer. 23:14, 49:18, 50:40; Lam. 4:6; Ezek. 16:46-48; Amos 4:11; Zeph. 2:9; Matt. 10:15; Luke 17:29; Rom. 9:29)
Jude 7 Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication (They have changed the meanings of the words over the centuries the 17th century meaning of fornication or porneia in English meant idolatry and prostitution, it has been changed.), and going after strange flesh (Idolatry or going after another species of flesh. Sodom was completely ungodly they were cruel people and they tried to rape angels which is the reference to strange flesh non-human flesh (aka not gay)), are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.
2 Peter 2 6 and having reduced [the] cities of Sodom and Gomorrha (S&G completely rebelled against God’s will. If someone came into those cities, they would beat them and laugh at them, rob them, chain them in the city square and watch them starve to death, and not to mention going after strange flesh (angels). They raped and did all these things to travelers, the poor, and even to some of their own people. In fact Lot’s daughter got killed by a Sodomite, because she felt compassion for a beggar that they chained up to allow him to starve and die because she fed him. (Jasher 18:11 – 19:53)) to ashes, condemned [them] with an overthrow, setting [them as] an example to those that should [afterwards] live an ungodly life;
Sodom is described as a ‘wicked’ place not a place where homosexual acts are done. In an often ignored part of the story, Lot’s daughters have incest with him by getting him intoxicated, (Gen 19:31), they were said to have done this, to repopulate the country; a similar motif is found in the story of Noah. As in other Biblical narratives, even the heroes end up committing horrendous sins, driven by circumstances. But many ignore the entire context of the story in the rush to justify their own bigotry (ignorance is not bliss).
The sin of the city of Sodom was originally considered to be the violation of the rights of Lot’s guests. Defining the ‘sin of Sodom’ to be male homosexuality was a later interpretation, which was made by medieval Jewish and Christian writers, as a reaction to Pagan acceptance of homosexuality.
There is abundant Haggadah, ancient Jewish folklore, which tells of the cruelty of Sodom to strangers, and their mistreatment of the poor and homeless. Among other stories (i.e. Jasher spoken of earlier), travelers are given gold but not food; when they starve to death, everything is stolen including the gold and the clothes off their backs, and their bodies are left to rot. We talked about Lots’s daughter, but there was also another woman who assisted a poor man and was smeared with honey and left to be stung to death by bees. Some of these stories are suffused with dark comedic twists. A poor man is assaulted and robbed. Eliezar, a servant of Abraham, is hit on the head when he intervenes. A judge rules that he must pay his assailant for medical treatment! (Bleeding was considered a surgical procedure). Eliezar then hits the judge on the head, drawing blood, and tells the judge to pay his fine.
More References: Ginzburg’s Legends of the Jews and Polano’s The Talmud: Selections, for many more stories along the same lines. After reading these, you will want the Lord to rain down fire and brimstone on the cities as well.
There are also numerous Biblical passages warning about mistreating strangers, (with the story of Lot being implied), for instance this one in the NT: “Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.” [Heb. 13:2]
Between the original concept of a violation of the law of hospitality and the medieval focus on a particular sexual act, there is an intermediate stage where Sodom was criticized for other reasons entirely. Where Sodom is mentioned in later books of the Tanach and in the New Testament, it is used as an example of a city, which was corrupted by luxury, lacking in values such as charity and humility. Nowhere is this made clearer than in Ezekiel 16:49-50, where Ezekiel, speaking for ‘the Lord God’, enumerates the sins of Sodom:
Ezekiel 16:49 – 50
[This is several different translations all together as I have added the different terms in parenthesis. Notice not one mentions homosexuality.] Behold, this was the iniquity (guilt/sin) of you sister Sodom; pride (arrogance), fullness of bread (excess of food), and prosperous ease (abundance of idleness) was in her and in her daughters; neither did she strengthen (aid) the hand of the poor and needy. And they were haughty, and committed abomination before me: therefore I took them away as I saw good.
Jasher 18:11-19:53
http://www.scriptural-truth.com/PDF_Apocrypha/Jasher.pdf
You can find this here as this is a lot to read, so you will need to research this on your own.
I wanted to give two references from the accepted Canon to Jasher, as there are many people out there that refuse to read the books that are not considered accepted Canon, but remember also, it was the Pharisees that removed them.
“Is not this written in the Book of Jasher?”–Joshua, x. 13.
“Behold it is written in the Book of Jasher.”–II Samuel, i. 18
Note that in this context ‘abomination’ means human sacrifice and idol worship not homosexuality. The primary sin of Sodom, by this account, was that their society was materialistic, greedy, and uncharitable. Social and economic justice is a thread that runs through the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament alike, and it is not difficult to extrapolate this to modern struggles for equality, such as those of LGBT people. “When government and religious institutions and their leaders perpetuate oppression, it would not be farfetched to say that they are committing the actual sin of Sodom.” ~John Hare
Leviticus
The book of Leviticus was likely composed during the Babylonian exile, from 550 to 500 BC. Leviticus speaks about ritual purity and proscribed behavior. It is traditionally attributed to Moses and it is part of the Pentateuch (Pen-ta-toock) which is the first five books of the Bible.
Wellhausen, in his Prolegomena to the History of Ancient Israel, presented evidence that there were four separate authors of the Tanach (Old Testament). The Levitical laws were added to the text of the Bible at a very late date, by an author high in the religious hierarchy, a priest (hence the ‘P’) which is why the modern scholars believe P was the writer of Leviticus. These are the legalisms that Jesus is constantly deprecating in the New Testament, and the Talmudic Rabbis are always picking apart. Given the force of divine law by fiat, they ruled every aspect of daily life. Once the ancient Jewish ritual complex was destroyed, many of these laws simply became impossible to follow. Others were fossilized prohibitions from the time when Jews were striving to preserve their cultural identity in a sea of paganism.
Leviticus 18:22 and Leviticus 20:13 are the two Bible verses which are most often cited as support for scriptural condemnation of homosexuality as an Old Testament Commandment, but it is in the context of idolatrous male homosexual acts in worship to Molech as temple prostitutes used for worshiping the false god. Idolatrous sex of any form is condemned, and it is possible the early church fathers thought that anal sex was considered the same. This does not mean that two men cannot have a close relationship like David and Jonathan did.
Now, this could be referring to the common homosexual activity of men having sex with other men yet, there is some odd wording surrounding the passage in chapter 18 & 20, making it appear potentially to be saying men cannot have sex with men in religious related situations. I believe it is likely focused on gay temple prostitution unto Molech, but could also refer to anal sex in general if you reference the early church fathers and possibly Romans 1. Now, some may argue that this passage only applies to that time period, to distance themselves from the culture around them, but God used many of the stories in the Bible as parables for us today, to reach out to us as well so you can’t disregard the old testament you just need to research the times, the history to better understand some things and how they termed them or referred to them. It is very likely that God maybe ok with male same sex platonic relationships, but we cannot simply conclude that God is ok with same-sex unions, where the men are having sexually anal active together. I believe men can be potentially born gay due to Jesus comments on “natural born eunuchs” (which I will talk about more below) and the usage of the word in Jesus time. However, I am concerned that anal sex is a sin, because of a few scriptures and some health statistics allude to its harmful nature (See this link below the video: 1.). It should be pointed out; it does not mention women lying with women. Assuming God is logical in his method of writing, we can see in Leviticus 18, that “men lying with beast” and “women lying with beast” are both sins, which indicates his style of talking about men and women individually in this section of scripture.
There is a condemnation of both male and female cross-dressing in Deuteronomy 22:5 as ‘an abomination’. This “law” doesn’t seem viable, as we were not born with clothes and were clothes really ever an issue with God? Even so, no particular punishment is ever specified for do this. The same chapter specifies harsh punishments for other transgressions like death by stoning of non-virgin brides [Deu 22:13-21], likewise both participants in an act of adultery [Deu. 22:22], and some instances of premarital intercourse [Deu. 22:23].
The Jews were in conflict with Pagans who also resided in ancient Palestine. There was a lot of pressure for Jews to adopt various practices of the Pagans, to become just another religion stirred in with all the false religions. So they developed scriptural precepts (words) which prohibited certain specific Pagan beliefs and practices. Pagan religions of the ancient Near East had male priests who, to honor a Goddess figure, mimicked women. You can read The Syrian Goddess to see more about the belief system of those times, I’ll provide a link below. The priests, called Kedeshim in the Tanach, cross-dressed, took on economic and social roles normally associated with females and in some cases they would even castrated themselves. They also engaged in sexual acts as part of their religious ceremonies, which were similar to Tantric practices, again this is idolatrous sexual worship of false gods.
In 1 Kings 14:24 (listed above), it states ‘there were also sodomites in the land, and they did according to all the abominations of the nations which the LORD cast out before the children of Israel.’ Abomination here should be translated ‘idolatry.’ Using these mistranslated verses to condemn homosexuality in general is misleading.
The rules against males cross-dressing and having sex with other men were based on opposition to the priesthood. It was generalized to the behavior, and the fact that it was a spiritual act to a false god has seemed to have been, forgotten. Homosexuality in Leviticus was used for hundreds of years as a tool for the persecution of gays, and has been quoted in legal reasoning, debates, and many forms of verbal and physical attacks upon gays even today.
The book of Leviticus contains many harsh commandments and regulations, and much of it does not meet contemporary standards of justice and human rights. Jesus said that the law should consist of two rules, namely love for God and love for one’s neighbor; this is very conflicting against all the Levitical laws.
David and Jonathan
There is a very bold description of a same-sex relationship in the Bible, the story of David and Jonathan, in 1 Samuel 18:1-5, 1 Samuel 19:1-7, 1 Samuel 20:30-42, 2 Samuel 1:25-6. While their bond is not described as sexual, it is difficult to characterize it as purely one of friendship as it states that David’s love for Jonathan surpassed the love of a woman. Their souls are described as ‘knit together’. David and Jonathan ‘made a covenant, because David said he loved Jonathan as his own soul.’ The word covenant is significant, because in the Tanach this word always implies a formal legal agreement. To mark this covenant, Jonathan literally gives David the clothes off of his back, as well as other gifts such as weapons. Jonathan successfully intercedes with Saul to spare David’s life. At their last meeting, 1 Samuel 20:41, they are described as kissing one another and weeping together. David’s lamenting for Jonathan and he states as I said above, that his love for him surpasses the love of women. 2 Samuel 1:18-27 is known as ‘the Bow,’ and it is one of the most beloved passages in the Hebrew Bible.
1 Samuel 18:1-4; 20:3-4, 20:41 and 2 Samuel 1:25-26 18:1 And it came to pass, when he had made an end of speaking unto Saul, that the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul. 18:2 And Saul took him that day, and would let him go no more home to his father’s house. 18:3 Then Jonathan and David made a covenant, because he loved him as his own soul. 18:4 And Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that [was] upon him, and gave it to David, and his garments, even to his sword, and to his bow, and to his girdle.
20: 3And David answered Jonathan, and said, Thy father knows surely that I have found grace in thy sight, and he said, Let not Jonathan know this, lest he refuse his consent: but as the Lord lives and thy soul lives, as I said, the space is filled up between me and death. 4And Jonathan said to David, What does thy soul desire, and what shall I do for thee. 41And when the lad went in, then David arose from the argab, and fell upon his face, and did obeisance to him three times, and they kissed each other, and wept for each other, for a great while. 42And Jonathan said to David, Go in peace, and as we have both sworn in the name of the Lord, saying, The Lord shall be witness between me and thee, and between my seed and thy seed for ever— even so let it be.
2 Samuel 1:25How are the mighty fallen in the midst of the battle! O Jonathan, even the slain ones upon thy high places! 26I am grieved for thee, my brother Jonathan; thou wast very lovely to me; thy love to me was wonderful beyond the love of women.
Looking at these scriptures at face value, especially 20:41and 2 Samuel 1:26, you would think it’s possible you are reading about two men who are in love. Reading these scriptures I cannot assume they are in a sexual relationship nor can I assume they are not, as we are not given all the details of their relationship. This does not give enough detail to say for certain that they were in an actual relationship, but how many guys can say that their love for another guy surpasses that of a woman?
So, knowing that God said David was a man after His own heart and David being in a relationship in some form with Jonathan, that would cause them to make a covenant together and their love be more than the love either of them shared for a woman, that God does not see two men in love being as sinful. What is still to question is the anal sexual relations between men because of the way the early church fathers spoke of it, the possible disease or health risk from it. Although, much of what is spoken of against it in the Bible and other books surrounding the accepted canon that have been removed to hide the truth of so many things, it seems to be idolatrous or sexually immorality driving descriptions are those of men having sex with men in worship to false gods. Idolatry today seems to have been put on the back burner and other so called sins pulled forward and made as a bold expression using words like homosexuality instead of the actual term that was stated to begin with.
New Testament
The Gospels
In the four Gospels, Jesus is portrayed throughout with a message of love and tolerance. Not once does he condemn homosexuals, demand that they be put to death, yet many of His so called modern followers persecute and cause much strife in the gay community in so many different ways.
Side Note: Growing up in this kind of atmosphere and people telling me I’m going to hell, I’m wrong, I need to be fixed, saying that I’m an abomination and threatening to kill me with a gun in my face was not and is not an easy thing to deal with. I, to this day get ugly looks, get yelled at that God hates gays, that I’m going to hell, that I need to be prayed for (I’ll take all the prayers I can get to help me stay strong in the Lord and be able to withstand all the hate), and many other things. Thing is if people would get to know me they would see and realize that God alone sustains me in so many ways and has since I was young. What I do today is not something that I have just always loved doing; it takes a lot of prayer for God to keep me focused and motivated. I’m not one who likes to read or research, and this has become a huge part of my life because of God, not because of me.
The first thing that pops into my head when people speak or show hate towards me, is what Jesus said in Acts 9 and Acts 22:7-8: 1But Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest2and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. 3Now as he went on his way, he approached Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven shone around him.4And falling to the ground he heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?”5And he said, “Who are you, Lord?” And he said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.
When we breathe hate towards others, we are persecuting Jesus Himself according to these verses. Be mindful when you speak hate towards others, as you could very well be persecuting the very one you claim to love.
These things are a profound departure from the rest of the text. For instance, in Matthew 22:37, Jesus is quoted as saying:
22:37 …You shall love the Lord thy God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. 22:38 This is the first and great commandment. 22:39 And the second is like unto it, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. 22:40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
John 13:34, he is additionally quoted as saying: 13:34 A new commandment I give unto you, That you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. 13:35 By this shall all men know that you are my disciples, if you have love one to another.
So Jesus turning around and saying ‘He Hate Gays’ would be a bit out of character. The Byzantine Emperor Constantine, put in place discriminatory laws against homosexuals, and then proceeded to use those laws to blackmail and marginalize rivals. You can read Secret History of Procopius, e.g.Chapter XVI, p. 163.
Gay Marriage in the Bible
The Tanach
Actually this is kind of a trick topic. There is no mention of gay marriage in the Bible except, the account of the ‘covenant’ of David and Jonathan. For the vast majority of Christians and Jews including those that believe in Biblical inerrancy, just because something isn’tmentioned in the Bible doesn’t necessarily mean that it is sinful or forbidden. The Bible is a smorgasbord for those who need just one out-of-context quote to justify their personal views on marriage. Depending on which pinhole you look through, the Bible can be cited as approving or forbidding polygamy, monogamy, divorce, and lifelong celibacy. So it is no wonder that there are quotes that can be manipulated in the same way to condemn gay marriage. This is why I have stated multiple times in my blog that there are many mistranslations of the truth. The devil has had plenty of time to sink his ugly teeth in and lead God’s people astray with all the translations of the Bible today, this should be very apparent. Sadly many people believe that in every instance, God steps in and strikes down those who would try to corrupt it and lead us astray. God warns us many times, that we must overcome the world, He warns us that the devil is the father of lies, we have a warning from Jesus about the scribes and Pharisees with His anger towards them in John 2 (these are the ones who have removed many of the books from the accepted canon), and He warns us that we will be deceived if we are not diligently seeking after Him.
Genesis 2:23-4: 2:23 And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. 2:24 Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.
This passage has mystical overtones which literalists are apt to completely miss or ignore. It implies that Adam was at one time united with Eve in the same body, and the reason that people seek companionship is because they are searching for their missing half. This is similar to Plato’s theory of the androgyne. Also, both in the Tanach and the NT, marriage is used as a metaphor for the union of the soul with God.
In the Tanach, marriage practices such as bigamy, polygamy, ability to have concubines, arranged and Levitical marriages are described as normal, as in fact they were at the time. All of these types of marriage are today either illegal in most western countries or considered highly unusual, much more so than monogamous same sex unions.
- In Genesis 16 Sarah, Abraham’s wife, encourages Abraham to impregnate her handmaid, Hagar which is where Ishmael came from. At the time Sari was barren and they did not trust in the promises of God as they should have. Later (Genesis 25) Abraham takes another wife, Keturah, who is described as a concubine.
- In Genesis 29 Jacob marries the sisters Rachel and Leah, after their father Laban tricks him, Laban was also his maternal uncle. Jacob has two sons by Bilhah, Rachel’s handmaid, two sons by Zilpah, Leah’s handmaid, then two sons by Leah, and then Rachel bears Joseph.
- Six wives of David are named in 2 Sam. 3:2.
- Solomon is said to have seven hundred wives and three hundred concubines. However, the Talmud (Tractate Sanhedrin) states that a king may have no more than eighteen wives.
Out of all of these examples, only marrying two sisters is explicitly forbidden in Leviticus 18; but it is permitted to marry a deceased wife’s sister.
The New Testament
In at least one passage in the NT, marriage is defined as monogamous.
Mark 10:2-12) 10:2 And the Pharisees came to him, and asked him, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife? Tempting him.10:3 And he answered and said unto them, What did Moses command you? 10:4 And they said, Moses suffered to write a bill of divorcement, and to put her away. 10:5 And Jesus answered and said unto them, For the hardness of your heart he wrote you this precept. 10:6 But from the beginning of the creation God made them male and female. 10:7 For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and cleave to his wife; 10:8 And they twain shall be one flesh: so then they are no more twain, but one flesh. 10:9 What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder. 10:10 And in the house his disciples asked him again of the same matter. 10:11 And he said unto them, Whosoever shall put away his wife, and marry another, commits adultery against her. 10:12 And if a woman shall put away her husband, and be married to another, she commits adultery.
If you take this at face value, it says that remarriage after divorce is equivalent to adultery. The passage 10:6-9 is just a restatement of the passage from Genesis, leading up to the conclusion ‘let no man put asunder’. In 10:10-12, Jesus explains the concept again, just in case we missed the point the first time around.
1 Timothy 4:1-5: 4:1 Now the Spirit speaks expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; 4:2 Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron; 4:3 Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth 4:4 For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving: 4:5 For it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.
Here Paul disapproves of the prohibition of marriage, as well as the practice refraining from meats. This is probably a reference to a Gnostic group; Paul was against the Gnostics, which is likely why he condemned it. A few Gnostics and early Christians were opposed to marriage period, which would include monogamous and heterosexual marriage. Marriage was considered a sin by some of the early Church fathers, and the only way into the kingdom of heaven was to be the lifelong mortification of the flesh. This passage by Paul from the Epistles weighs in against this concept. On the other hand, some Gnostics and early Christians practiced group marriage or what today is termed as polygamy which is also considered to be against the law now days.
The sanctioned form of marriage in Judaism and Christianity has continued to evolve over the centuries. Policies on divorce have varied widely. There was a celebration or observance for same sex unions in one branch of the Eastern Orthodox Church. During the Middle Ages and well into the renaissance, the majority of European marriages were ‘common-law,’ and had no religious sanction: church weddings were far too expensive for most people (still are today). Mormons originally practiced polygamy, although most of them ceased that as a condition for Utah statehood. Today, same sex unions are consecrated in some liberal Jewish and Christian denominations.
Society has changed the definition of marriage widely, and religion has followed by sanctioning it. Some interpret the passages above to imply condemnation of gay marriage, or to justify their prejudices against LGBT people.
1 Corinthians 6:9 6:9 Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind. 1:10 nor whoremongers, nor them that defile themselves with mankind, nor men stealers, nor liars, nor perjured persons, and if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine;
1 Timothy 1:10 references the term “effeminate” or mal-ak-os’ 3120 means either a male prostitute, or a boy slave used for gay sex, or a male who submits himself to unnatural lewdness. If you take the root meaning of the Greek word it is: “male bedder”. A lot of words in the Greek New Testament are derived from doctrines and scriptures in the Old Testament; it appears to be an illusion to Leviticus 18 and 20.
However, Leviticus 18 and 20 also seem to have some odd wording surrounding them, which brings about some circumstantial evidence that it may be focusing more so on the practice of male temple prostitution (idolatry). So, to me, this one is a little difficult to know if it is referring to all sexually active two men. I believe it is referring to male temple prostitutes and maybe those who enslave men to use for sex. I do not believe it is referring to men who have a love or close friendship with another man, otherwise King David would not have been a servant of God, due to his strong love for Jonathan. We cannot conclude that anyone who is not “straight” is going to Hell.
Eunuchs
Matthew 19:10-12 10 His disciples say unto him, If the case of the man be so with [his] wife, it is not good to marry. 19:11 But he said unto them, All [men] cannot receive this saying, save [they] to whom it is given. 19:12 For there are some eunuchs, which were so born from [their] mother’s womb: and there are some eunuchs, which were made eunuchs of men: and there be eunuchs, which have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven’s sake. He that is able to receive [it], let him receive [it].
Note this scripture; it is said that a “eunuch” that was “born from mother’s womb” is what we would today call a “homosexual”. A eunuch according to the Greek is one who abstains from marriage, or one who is castrated, or one who serves to protect women in harems, etc. And the one definition from the Greek that homosexuals are referring to is “1c) one naturally incapacitated”. So the debate would be, are they born without penis/testicles, or is it referring to them born naturally disposed to not want women (hence wanting men). It could mean a man who just doesn’t want to get married to a woman or a celibate man who has love for a man. It is though very possible they were what is now termed gay, as most eunuchs in Jesus’ time were gay, as can be seen in the usage of the word in various other Greek writings of that time. You would assume then, if they do not want to marry a woman, they would want a man, which may or may not be the case. I guess, the point is, you can’t assume gay male anal sex (as stated above) is ok because of this passage, but we can say that Jesus is saying some are born gay. So, it is likely Jesus was referring to gay men when he spoke of naturally born eunuchs. The problem is there just isn’t a lot of data in the Bible to make strong declarations either way other than the lack of stating any bold facts as God does with so many other things. Again, just because something isn’tmentioned in the Bible doesn’t necessarily mean that it is sinful or forbidden.
References:
Deuteronomy 23:17 – http://www.godrules.net/para/deu/paralleldeu23-17.htm
Testament of Naphtali – http://www.sacred-texts.com/bib/fbe/fbe287.htm
Meaning of Eunuch – http://www.well.com/user/aquarius/thesis.htmThe Syrian Goddess – http://www.sacred-texts.com/cla/luc/tsg/index.htm
Seeking Truth 