What does the bible say about homosexual behavior

What Does the Bible Say About Homosexuality?

A portion of David’s first letter. Image from Canyonwalker Connections.

Editor&#;s Note: All verses cited are from the English Standard Version (ESV) of the Bible.

People often cite certain passages in the Bible to speak out against homosexuality. These passages are described as clobber passages because &#;people will &#;clobber&#; people over the head with them,&#; said junior Julia Clark, Religion major and administrative officer of Crossroads.

However, others offer different interpretations of these &#;clobber passages,&#; arguing that they do not have anything to do with homosexuality. Some scholars question even the use of the word “homosexual” in the Bible and argue that it is not an accurate or true translation.

In , David, a young, gay seminary student, wrote a letter to Luther Weigle, head of the Revised Typical Version (RSV) biblical translation committee and dean of Yale Divinity School, challenging the introduction of the word “homosexual” in the Bible, such as in 1 Corinthians and 1 Timothy

Weigle wrote back adm

What the New Testament Says about Homosexuality

The Fourth R Volume May-June

Mainline Christian denominations in this country are bitterly divided over the question of homosexuality. For this reason it is crucial to ask what light, if any, the New Testament sheds on this controversial issue. Most people apparently take for granted that the Unused Testament expresses formidable opposition to homosexuality, but this simply is not the case. The six propositions that trail, considered cumulatively, head to the final word that the Fresh Testament does not provide any straightforward guidance for comprehending and making decisions about homosexuality in the modern earth.

Proposition 1: Strictly speaking, the Brand-new Testament says nothing at all about homosexuality.

‍There is not a single Greek word or term 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 new 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 phone the “shellfish objection.” Keith Sharpe puts it this way: “Until Christian fundamentalists boycott shellfish restaurants, halt wearing poly-cotton T-shirts, and stone to death their wayward offspring, there is no obligation to hear to their diatribes about homosexuality being a sin” (The Gay Gospels, 21).

In other words, if we can disregard rules fancy the ban on eating shellfish in Leviticus , then we should be allowed to disobey other prohibitions from the Aged Testament. But this argument confuses the Old Testament’s temporary ceremonial laws with its permanent moral laws.

Here’s an analogy to facilitate 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 enjoy mom’s handholding rule. The rea

This article is part of the Tough Passages series.

Listen to the Passage

Read the Passage

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 organic relations for those that are contrary to nature; ²⁷and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion 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 style of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are occupied of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips,³⁰slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, dis