What does the text of the bible say about homosexuality? For centuries the answer to that question was simple: The bible condemns same-sex intercourse. Over the last few decades however, pro-homosexual commentators have been reinterpreting the relevant biblical passages, gathering evidence against this widely recognized reality. ... Based on the knowledge of Middle-eastern lifestyle, pro-homosexual commentators will say that the mob either wanted to spread their hospitality or interrogate the strangers to make sure they weren’t spies. ... Perhaps, the sin of Sodom is not that of homosexual behavior, but that of inhospitality. ... This understanding has been used by critics to further suggest that the bible is clearly portraying acts of homosexual behavior. ... 38:1-11, male homosexual acts, or male masturbation, was considered parallel to abortion or murder.
Romans 1:26-27 is another passage that may be considered when reflecting on homosexuality in the bible. This seams to be the most extensive reference to same-sex intercourse in the Bible. It also provides the only indication of female homosexual behavior. ... The pro-homosexual argument is followed up with the assumption that most people would agree with Paul’s disapproval of such behaviors in the same way that any heterosexual behavior involving cultic sex, prostitution, or sexual abuse of minors would be condemned. ... It was general knowledge that homosexual behavior was a deliberate choice against his or her natural desire for the opposite sex. ... The New Oxford Annotated Bible uses the translation as “male prostitutes, and sodomites”. ... In the bible, the word malakoi has been translated as a description of weakness or effeminate. ... The pro-homosexual debater will state that this list of vices, containing sexual sins describe inappropriate kinds of sexual behavior including both homosexual and heterosexual acts. The point of this defense is to argue that the evils listed involve activities that are destructive to others or to oneself and that homosexual behavior as known today does not fit within this category. ... Pro-homosexual commentators will argue that there is in fact no mention of the condition of homosexuality as it applies today at all. Others will say that this opinion is blind to the many obvious references to same-sex intercourse portrayed as an abomination in the bible.
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