What does the original hebrew bible say about homosexuality
The Bible on Homosexual Behavior
One way to argue against these passages is to make what I call the “shellfish objection.” Keith Sharpe puts it this way: “Until Christian fundamentalists boycott shellfish restaurants, stop wearing poly-cotton T-shirts, and stone to death their wayward offspring, there is no obligation to listen to their diatribes about homosexuality being a sin” (The Gay Gospels, 21).
In other words, if we can disregard rules like the ban on eating shellfish in Leviticus , then we should be allowed to disobey other prohibitions from the Old Testament. But this argument confuses the Aged Testament’s temporary ceremonial laws with its permanent moral laws.
Here’s an analogy to help understand this distinction.
I remember 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 contain to follow only the latter rule, since the former is no longer needed to defend me. In fact, it would now do me more hurt than good.
Old Testament ritual/ceremonial laws were like mom’s handholding dictate. The rea
What the Bible Says, or Doesn&#;t Say, About Homosexuality
Download the entire paper by the Rev. Dr. Lisa W. DavisonDownload
Within Christian circles, the debate about homosexuality has been at the forefront over the past few decades. It is not that this issue was unheard of until recently, but that it was not the focus of so much attention. Much like the civil rights movement and the women’s movement, there was no difficulty as long as those in the GLBT community kept their place within a heterosexist religious system. Only when GLBT persons began to ask for equal rights did the church form it such a hot topic.
The fodder for many of the arguments against homosexuality has been a handful of biblical texts, which have been interpreted historically by modern scholars as condemning of intimate relationships between two persons of the matching sex. In fact, some of the more modern translations of the bible contributed to the church’s anti-gay teachings (e.g., the New Revised Standard Version translation of 1 Cor and 1 Tim used the word, “sodomites,” to translate a Greek synonyms that had no e
Lost in Translation: Alternative Meaning in Leviticus
Most traditional English translations interpret Leviticus as a divine condemnation of erotic, same-sex relationships. However, careful philological, literary analysis of the original Hebrew shows another interpretation: a divine condemnation of same-sex rape. The original Hebrew is more ambiguous than the traditional English translation. Instead of practicing the principle of lectio difficilior probabilitor, “the more difficult reading and more likely reading,” modern translators dispel ambiguity by making the translation as simple as possible.[1] However, the translators’ attempts to clarify the Hebrew text presents a reading that is not only harmful, but incongruent to the context of Leviticus. This essay focuses on three main points in K. Renato Ling’s literary analysis of Lev. that provides a holistic interpretation. First, the addition of propositions within Lev. by English translators alters the verse’s meaning. Second, the reoccurrence of the rare Hebrew word miškevēwithin Gen. presents a philological nuance that i
Does the Greek word "arsenokoitai" really refer to homosexuality?
That word is an unusual word. It’s a new word; we don’t comprehend of any other instances of the word until Paul coins the word in 1 Corinthians 6 and 1 Timothy 1. It’s a compound word: “arsen” means man and “koite” or “koitas” or “koitai”—depending on a verb or a noun—means bed. It’s men who bed with other men.
It’s quite clear that Paul has coined this synonyms from Leviticus 18 and Even if you don’t know any Greek, you could find online or pull up the Greek transliteration of these two verses. Look at the Septuagint, which is the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible, and then just look at the Greek for the necessary passage in Leviticus 18 and Leviticus 20 and you'll see there (and in fact the words are right next to each other in Leviticus 20) this synonyms for man (“arsen”) and the word for bed (“koitai” or “koite”).
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