Originally Posted by
SwiftGTiRacer
I normally don't get that involoved into these conversations but i see alot of people bringing up the bible when it comes to homosexuality so i figured this would help:
The Bible contains only four verses about same gender sexual relations: two in Leviticus and two in the New Testament. Leviticus says that "you shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination" (Lev 18:22), and "if a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination; they shall be put to death; their blood is upon them" (Lev 20:13). The same scripture says that cursing your mother and father is also punishable by death (Lev 20:9) as is sex with the wife of a neighbor (Lev 20:10), one's father's wife (Lev 20:11), daughter-in-law (Lev 20:12), both a woman and her mother (20:14), or an animal (Lev 20:15-16). Other acts, punishable by exile, according to Leviticus are seeing family members naked and having sex during menstruation (Lev 20:17-21).
In the New Testament, the opening passages of Romans condemn pagan practices. It then denounces sex with someone of the same gender: "For this reason God gave them up to degrading passions. Their women exchanged natural intercourse for unnatural" (Rom 1:26), "and in the same way, also the men, giving up natural intercourse with women, were consumed with passion for one another. Men committed shameless acts with men and received in their own persons the due penalty for their error" (Rom 1:27). In addition, verses in 1 Corinthians (6:9-10) and 1 Timothy (1:10) equate "fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, male prostitutes, sodomites" with other sinners such as the "greedy, drunkards, revilers, robbers" (1 Cor 6:9-10). But, these two books never offer definitions for these terms.
It is, at best, inaccurate to use scripture to condemn committed, consensual same-gender sexual relationships. The fact that only four verses explicitly address this issue implies that this subject was of relatively little importance to the authors. In contrast, there are more than ten prohibitions in Leviticus against sexual relations during menses and 17 verses on how to make a grain offering. The Hebrew Bible also condemns eating fat (Lev 3:17), touching the bedding of a menstruating woman (Lev 15:20), and cursing one's parents (Lev 20:9, Deut 21:18-21).
Most modern theologians believe that these passages about men having sex with men actually related to the rejection of nearby foreign cults (Lev 20:22-23). Such cults practiced sacred prostitution--often using male prostitutes--during religious observances. Prostitution was an accepted part of urban society during biblical times (see 1 Kings 22:38, Isa 23:16, Prov 7:12, and 9:14); cultic prostitution (or prostitution as part of religious practice) was, however, clearly condemned. Deuteronomy and Numbers contain several prohibitions against such prostitution (Deut 23:18 and Num 25:1-3) but none on same-gender relations. Many theologians believe that Leviticus refers only to the use of male sacred prostitutes, a practice not completely eradicated in the Temple until the reforms of Josiah (1Kings 15:12 22:45; 2Kings 23:7)4
Interestingly, there are several little quoted passages in the Bible that acknowledge sexual contact and love between men. For example, Abraham asks his servant to swear an oath by putting "your hand under my thigh" (Gen 24:2). David, speaking of Jonathan, wrote: "...greatly beloved were you to me, your love to me was wonderful, passing the love of women" (2 Sam 1:26). Indeed, Jonathan and David seem to fall in love at first sight: "...when David had finished speaking to Saul, the soul of Jonathan was bound to the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul" (1 Sam 18:1). And later, "Saul's son Jonathan took great delight in David" ( 1 Sam 19:1).
Swifty
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