More about the Bible and Homosexuality

In a previous article, I talked about what the Bible says about homosexuality. Here, I will be going into further

detail about all the verses used to condemn homosexuality, and what they truly mean. None of this is to say that the

Bible supports homosexuality. The point is that we cannot definitely say it is against homosexuality either, so it it

therefore is not inherently wrong for Christians to support gay rights. Below is a list of the verses used to condemn

homosexuality and why they do not necessarily mean what they appear to mean.

1. Genesis 2:24: "Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and clings to his wife, and they become one

flesh."

This verse says nothing about homosexuality. It arguably indicates that men will leave their parents and get married

to a woman. However, that verse is says nothing about whether a man is required to do that. The other problem

with using that against sexuality is that that verse would technically apply to celibate men too. In other words, by the

logic of those who use that verse against homosexuality, men should not be allowed to be celibate, and all women

must get married. Yet, few if any Christians would argue that either of those things are required.

2. Genesis 19

I am not sharing exactly what this section of the Bible says as it is lengthy, but anybody who reads in should easily

be able to tell that it is about mob violence rather than a consensual committed relationships between adults who are

the same gender. For example, Genesis 19:4-11 says, in reference to Lot and the angels, "But before they lay down,

the men of the city, the men of Sodom, both young and old, all the people to the last man, surrounded the

house; and they called to Lot, 'Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us, so that we may

know them.' Lot went out of the door to the men, shut the door after him, and said, 'I beg you, my brothers, do not

act so wickedly. Look, I have two daughters who have not known a man; let me bring them out to you, and do to

them as you please; only do nothing to these men, for they have come under the shelter of my roof.' But they

replied, “Stand back!” And they said, 'This fellow came here as an alien, and he would play the judge! Now we will

deal worse with you than with them.' Then they pressed hard against the man Lot, and came near the door to break

it down. But the men inside reached out their hands and brought Lot into the house with them, and shut the

door. And they struck with blindness the men who were at the door of the house, both small and great, so that they

were unable to find the door." Based on that, the verse is quite clearly condemning an act of violence, not

homosexuality or anything else between adults in a committed loving relationship.

3. Leviticus 18:22: "You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination."

The first problem is that the world "male" may be a reference to a male child, in this context, and I have provided

evidence for that in the next thing on this list. The other problem is in the translation from the verses original Hebrew

text. The original Hebrew text of the verse reads "V'et-zachar lo tishkav mishkvei ishah to'evah hu:". "V'et-zachar"

means "And with male", which, in English, would be said as "And with a male". The next part, "lo tishkav", means

"not lie down". The following term, "mishkvei isha", translates to "bed woman", though in English, that would be said

as "woman's bed". The next part, "to'evah hu", means "abomination it". That would be reworded in English to "it is

an abomination". Therefore, the original Hebrew text most closely means "And with a male thou shalt not lie down in

a woman's bed; it is an abomination." Therefore, not only is the verse probably talking a specifically about male

children, but it seems to also be specifically condemning doing a pederastic act that is in a bed that belongs to a

woman.

4. Leviticus 20:13 "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."

In its original Hebrew text, this one says "V’ish asher yishkav et-zachar mishk’vei ishah to’evah asu shneihem mot

yumatu d’meihem bam." This verse is very similar to the previous one, except for two things. The first is that this

verse specifically start with "V'ish", which means "And man", which would be rephrased in English as "And a man".

It also uses the term "et-zachar", and that translates in English to "with male", which we would restate as "with a

male", meaning of the first phrase of the previous listed verse. Since the verse uses two distinct words that mean

"man" and "male", it is unlikely the verse is talking about two men and it is reasonable to therefore assume that the

verse is talking about a man and a male child in a pederastic relationship in a woman's bed. The other difference is

obviously that the last part of the verse seems to mandate the death penalty for people involved in this act, but that

is not very irrelevant because that part is not usually translated in a misleading way like the other part.

5. 1 Corinthians 6:9: "Do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived!

Fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, male prostitutes, sodomites,"

For this verse, I am going to refer to the text of the Codex Sinaiticus, which is the original New Testament that all

New Testaments are based off of. The original Greek text of the verse reads "Í ouk oídate óti ádikoi Theoú vasileían

ou klironomísousin? Mí planásthe: oúte pórnoi oúte eidololátrai oúte moichoí oúte malakoí oúte arsenokoítai..."

The English translation above, which is from the New Revised Standard Version, is a fairly accurate translation,

though still slightly misleading. Part of what is misleading about it is that the word "sodomites" in modern English is

generic reference to gay people and is not found in the Greek text of the verse. The word that "sodomites" is

translated from is "arsenokoítai", which means "liars with males". The "arseno" part means "male". The "koítai" part

of the word is a variant of the Greek word "keimai" which means "lie down". Most likely, it is a word coined by Paul in

reference to the sin described in the Leviticus verses I cited earlier. However, this time, it seems like what is being

condemned is anybody who lies with males (male children), whether in a woman's bed or not. Also, some Bibles

translate "arsenokoítai" as "homosexuals" or "practicing homosexuals". The reality though is that that cannot be

since "arsenokoítai" is about lying with males, and lesbians count as homosexual too. So most likely, that word is

referring to pederasty or something along those lines. Another moderately misleading thing in the verse is the word

term "male prostitutes". The Greek word that is translated from is "malakoí", which means "soft". The "oí" ending is

masculine and plural, so the word is clearly either about men or males. Given that meaning of "malakoí", and the fact

that it comes right before "arsenokoítai" in this verse, it is entirely possible that the word is referring to the male

children who are in relationships with the "arsenokoítai". Therefore, the "male prostitutes",which could also be

reworded as "catamites" could very well be an accurate translation of "malakoí". That said, the problem is that the

word could also simply be referring to men who are reckless with regards to being promiscuous with women or even

just men who are overly luxurious. There are other verses in the Bible where where that word is used, and it clearly

is being used in its adjective form (malaká) to describe fancy clothing. For example, Matthew 11:8 reads "What then

did you go out to see Someone dressed in soft robes? Look, those who wear soft robes are in royal palaces." Given

all this, it is certainly possible that "malakoí" is referring to people men who are overly self-indulgent and/or

unrestrained, whether that be with regards to being too promiscuous or being overly luxurious. So the word probably

either refers to catamites, cowardly men, or overly luxurious and/or undisciplined(self-indulgent)men. The one other

misleading thing about the verse is the word "fornicators" which is translated from the Greek word "pórnoi".

"Fornicators" refers in modern English to people who are engaged in premarital relationships, but it is misleading for

two reasons. The first one is that the word that it comes from is "porneía", which specifically means "prostitution" in Greek,not premarital relationships. The second is that although "pórnoi" relates to prostitution, it is plural and cannot be translated as "prostitutes" or "prostitution" as those are too generic, given the that "oi" is masculine and a

prostitute can be either a woman or a man. Hence, "gigolos" is probably the best way to translate "pórnoi". There

are other Bible verses, such as Matthew 19:9, that speak ill of the more generic "porneía", so that particular point is

primarily relevant to this specific verse.

6. 1 Timothy 1:10 "fornicators, sodomites, slave traders, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to the sound

teaching"

This one also used words related to "arsenokoítai" and "pórnoi", what was explained above is basically the same for

this verse. In Greek, the verse says "póroois, arsenokoítais, andrapodistaís, pséfstais, epiórkois, kaí eí ti éteron tí

ygiainoúsi didaskalía antíkeitai,". The word "arsenokoítais" most closely means "for those lying with males". The

"is" ending is dative in Greek, so in English, we would use words like "for" or "to" before such nouns. Same goes for the word "póroois", which, in English, most closely means "for gigolos".

In conclusion, the evidence seems to show that while the Bible does not speak well of homosexuality, it also

does not show that homosexuality is wrong, at least not in the generic sense of the word. Therefore, when

Christians say that homosexuality is not forbidden, they are correct, and it is not immoral for them to permit it. If the

Bible is silent on certain issue, it is a Christian is free to form their own opinion about the issue and decide for

themselves whether it's good or bad.