... Interpretation of The Bible has played a very large role in the widespread discrimination and degradation of homosexuals in America. Considering how great the consequences on the gay community, one should be quite certain that The Bible does in fact condemn homosexuality before one condemns it and perpetuates such a negative atmosphere. So, is The Bible really against it? By examining the major passages used to condemn homosexuals, both by looking at their meaning in the culture in which they were written and by paying attention to the specific words employed in the original Hebrew and Greek, it becomes clear that The Bible in fact is not. ... Now, this story has so widely been used against homosexuality that the term ‘sodomite’ has come to refer to someone who engages in anal or oral sex, and there have even been laws against ‘sodomy. ... It’s used some 943 times in the Old Testament, and only about 10 of those times does it refer to sex (Helmniak, 1994). Here it would make sense to interpret yada as meaning “to find out about” or “to investigate” instead of “to have sex with. ... So, let us look to other references in the Bible about the “sin of Sodom” to see how the Bible itself interprets the story. Ezekiel 16:49-50 says,"Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy. ... " This passage has no reference to homosexuality, but rather gives the reason for the city’s destruction as pride and withholding food from the needy when those in Sodom had more than enough. In Matthew 10:14-15, after telling his disciples to go out and bring God’s word to various cities, Jesus himself says that for any city that will not receive them, “It shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorra in the day of judgment than for that city” (Matthew 10:14-15). ... Christians interpreted the story the same way until about the 11th century, when St. Peter Damian, an Italian ascetic, first said the story dealt with homosexuality (Robinson, 2001a). Perhaps most important of all is once again that Jesus himself said the story to be about inhospitality, and considering how closely Jesus’ teachings are followed in Christianity, this should be all the evidence that is necessary to say the story doesn’t have to do with homosexuality. ... are proof that they were destroyed for homosexuality is like saying that a condemned man cursing his guards on the way to his execution is being executed for cursing the guards” (Robinson, 2001a). Finally, even if the Sodomites really did want to homosexually rape the angels, understand that this story has no bearing on loving, consensual homosexual relationships. When The Bible tells us it is wrong to for a man to rape a woman, is it wrong because that would be heterosexual sex, a terrible sin? ... Likewise, merely saying that homosexual rape is wrong tells us nothing about other homosexual acts.
Next, and perhaps the most widely used passage in condemning homosexuality, we have Leviticus 18:22, “Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind; it is an abomination” (Leviticus 18:22).
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