Whether one is gay or lesbian, or a member of the religious right, very few topics polarize the two groups as homosexuality and the Bible. A number of church traditions condemn homosexuality as being against the will of God as presented in the Bible. However, what does the Bible really say about homosexuality? Does it apply to Christianity, Judaism or both?
Gay and lesbian Christians have strong arguments both from their personal conviction and based in the scarcity of criticism in the Bible. The Bible, including the Holy Books of the Torah, say very little about homosexuality. Instead, the few scant versus have been given lips service by conservatives enough to drive a wedge between Christianity and GLBT persons.
What Does the Bible Say About Homosexuality
In the Old Testament, the collection of laws known as the Levitican code, mentions homosexuality along with commands against shaving, wearing blended fabrics and the “sin” of letting women have any place in the church or education of children. Michale Piazza in his book, Homosexuality and Christianity, Hope for Peace and Justice Publishing, 1981, compares the acts of homosexuality against the other sins of the code and shows the disproportionate attention homosexuality receives compared to the other codes.
In the story of Sodom, Piazza goes on to identify the true sin of Sodom to be the act of rape or having sex with persons for money. The actual status of sexual orientation is not addressed. Had it been true that the story of Sodom referred to the entire population of Sodom, then the city would have died out from the inability to reproduce.
A More Realistic View of Christianity and Homosexuality
The tenants of Christianity are based upon God’s love for the world to the point of the sacrifice of the prophet Jesus, God’s son according to Biblical references. Because of the importance of Christ in the Christian theological position, one has to wonder why the ministry of Christ never addressed the issue of homosexuality. Rather, Christ spent his ministry on speaking of love, forgiveness and living with a lack of judgment. Christ command that all come to the Father through Him, seems to apply to all persons according to the New Testament texts.
The New Testament does contain two verses from the apostle Paul. Romans 1:18-32 has been taken as the strongest New Testament rejection of homosexuality according to Piazza. However, Piazza emphasizes the versus true meaning referred again to homosexual prostitution and the “unnatural love” for persons of the same sex. Leaping forward to gain footing, the sexual orientation has been declassified as any type of abnormality by all accepted schools of thought in medicine and psychiatry. Thus, if homosexuality exists as a biological based nature, the sin Paul was referring to was going against the natural homosexual orientation of some persons. In this school of thought, Paul was condemning those who were living false lives with men or women against their natural sexual orientation.
Gay and lesbians are being welcomed to Christian churches with more and more fervor. This may be in order to increase congregation size, but, hopefully, it is also an admission of past sins against persons created by the church. As gay and lesbian spirituality rises, it’s important to validate the Christian faith as welcoming of persons of all sexual orientations. As Christ says in Matthew, let them come as little children to me.
Reece Manley - Reece W. Manley, DD,M.Ed.MPM, works in a number of fields using his extensive experience and educational background in human development, ...
