THE BIBLE ON HOMOSEXUALITY

One thing that separates Church of the Painted Sky and Painted Sky Christian Ministries from other ministries is our acceptance and celebration of people of different sexual orientations. Many Christians believe homosexuality to be sinful, and worthy of condemnation. To dispel this myth, we offer the following information.

(For a more thorough discussion of this topic, see our small group Bible study resource

on this topic at: http://www.oocities.org/micah_royal/BibleHS1.html)

Leviticus 18:22 Do not lie with a man as one lies with a woman; that is detestable.

Leviticus 20:13 If a man lies with a man as one lies with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable. They must be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads.

These passages seem pretty straightforward. Focus for a moment on the word detestable The original texts use the term to’eba, which means abomination. However, to’eba doesn’t mean sin. Wearing mixed fabric clothing and eating “unclean” meat were also referred to as to’eba. To’eba is a cultural taboo; something a culture of people deems unclean, wrong, or impure. Nothing suggests that these are sin in God's eyes.

1 Corinthians 6:9 Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.

1 Timothy 1:9 We also know that law is made not for the righteous but for lawbreakers and rebels, the ungodly and sinful, the unholy and irreligious; for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers, for adulterers and perverts, for slave traders and liars and perjurers...

When these passages are read in their original languages of Greek and Hebrew, two terms are used. Malakoi means "soft" or "weak.” Many think it means effeminate, but nothing in the original texts support this. Though there isn't conclusive evidence that malakoi referes to pederasty, romantic love of an older man for a young boy, malakoi was used in first century C.E. to describe pederasty. Consequently, its use makes a lot of sense in reference to a call boy.

Arsenokoitai is a combination of two words meaning "male" and sexual intercourse," but the nature of this sexual activity is unknown.

As recently as the twelfth century, lists of verses about homosexuality didn't list either of these passages. They may be taken to refer to male sexual activity such as prostitution, or pederasty, but whether homosexuality is included can’t be proven. What we know is condemned are exploitive sexual acts.

Romans 1:26-27 Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion.

This passage describes events of a fertility ritual celebrated in honor of pagan gods. The belief was that the gods were appeased by sex. The more sex the people had, the happier they believed the gods would be. It wasn’t just sex between people of the same gender, but people having sex with essentially anything and everything they could in an effort to please the gods.

When you realize that, the passage makes no sense as one that would condemn homosexual relationships any more than heterosexual relationships. The people I know who are in homosexual relationships don’t believe it to be just about sex for sex’s sake. It’s about love. Love is not depicted in the above passage, but rather just the physical act of sex.