Homosexual bible verses
Leviticus
“You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination.”[1] It is not a surprise that this verse seems to say that gay male sex is forbidden in the eyes of God. The dominant view of western Christianity forbids lgbtq+ relations. This verse is one of the clobber passages that people cite from the Bible to condemn homosexuality. This essay first looks at the various ways the verse is translated into the English Bible and then explores some of the strategies used to create an affirming interpretation of what this passage means for the LGBTQ community. More specifically, it presents the interpretation of K. Renato Lings in which Lev. refers to male-on-male incest.
While Lev. is used to condemn homosexuality, we must realize that the word “homosexuality” was only recently coined in the English language. So did this term exist in ancient Israel? Charles D. Myers, Jr. confirms that none of the prophets in the Hebrew Bible mention homosexuality.[2] He also contends that in ancient Israel same-sex relations were viewed as an ancient Near East issue. The anc
What Does the Bible Say About Homosexuality?
What Does The Bible Speak About Homosexuality?
Introduction
For the last two decades, Pew Explore Center has reported that one of the most enduring ethical issues across Christian traditions is sexual diversity. For many Christians, one of the most frequently first-asked questions on this topic is, “What does the Bible tell about attraction to someone of the same sex?”
Although its unlikely that the biblical authors had any notion of sexual orientation (for example, the phrase homosexual wasn't even coined until the late 19th century) for many people of faith, the Bible is looked to for timeless guidance on what it means to honor God with our lives; and this most certainly includes our sexuality.
Before we can jump into how it is that Christians can maintain the authority of the Bible and also affirm sexual diversity, it might be helpful if we started with a brief but clear overview of some of the assumptions informing many Christian approaches to understanding the Bible.
What is the Bible?
For Christians to whom the Bible
The Church of England issued pastoral guidance from the House of Bishops to its clergy on January 23, following the legal introduction of heterosexual civil partnerships in While the guidance concerns heterosexual civil partners, the document has, controversially, been used by the church to reiterate its position on sexual relationships outside of heterosexual marriage. It states that “sexual relationships outside heterosexual marriage are regarded as falling short of God’s purpose for human beings”.
This is squarely in line with the church’s official position on homosexuality, which is that it is “incompatible with scripture”. We have seen recent attempts by liberal members to get the church to take a more inclusive approach towards gender and sexuality, but these have been rebuffed by conservatives. In October , four bishops from the diocese of Oxford published guidance designed “to urge local clergy and congregations in order to endorse LGBTQ+ people and their families, and to understand from the insights of LGTBQ+ people about existence church together”.
Several months later, mor
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 innate 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 behavior of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are entire of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips,30slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, dis