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| Bible statements on homosexuality (real or alleged) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Book | Verses | Assessment | Explanation |
| Genesis | 19:4-11 | Misrepresented |
The conduct depicted is the formation of mobs for the purpose of gang-raping strangers. Citations of this (including the one in the Roman Catholic Catechism) as representative of homosexual behavior betray exceptional bigotry. Some might interpret Lot’s offer to substitute his daughters as victims (verse 8), refused by the mob, as demonstrating that homosexual lust is particularly depraved. This requires the silly companion assertion that gang-raping women rather than men is in some sense acceptable. The real issue appears to be Lot’s obligation to defend guests by any means, versus the mob’s resentment of being told what to do. |
| Leviticus | 18:22 and 20:13 | Genuine * | Prohibits male homosexual intercourse. |
| Deuteronomy | 23:17-18 (23:18-19 in Hebrew) | Non sequitur | Equally prohibits male and female prostitution. |
| Judges | 19:22-25 | Non sequitur | Reproduces the situation from Genesis 19, and has the same basic issues. In this instance, the mob appears to be less inclined to homosexual urges than to indiscriminate rape and outrage. |
| I Kings | 14:24, 15:12, 22:47 | Unclear | Male prostitution abhorred or eliminated; this involves a complex set of issues (general objection to prostitution of either sex; relative ease of targeting specifically male prostitution; relationship to foreign, possibly religious, influence). |
| 2 Kings | 23:7 | Unclear | Male prostitution removed from the Temple. Clearly, prostitution practiced there by either sex would have been abhorrent; the specifically male prostitution seems to have been connected to imported religion. |
| Romans | 1:26-27 | Genuine * | Depicts both male and female homosexual acts as perversion. |
| I Corinthians | 6:9-10 | Disputed | Two rare Greek words are interpreted in a way that might as easily represent the translators’ prejudices (and, eventually, precedent) as the author’s meaning. |
| I Timothy | 1:8-10 | Disputed | Based on use of one of the problematic words in I Corinthians 6. |
| Jude | 7 | Obscure but genuine, although founded on a misrepresentation. | Sets the precedent for Christians misrepresenting Genesis 19. In doing so, explicitly contradicts Ezekiel 16:49. |
| Barnabas (noncanonical) | 14:8, and maybe 9:8 | Genuine * | Equates homosexual intercourse with adultery and fornication. |
* For those passages assessed as genuinely prohibiting homosexuality, a further question remains about the nature of the behavior under discussion. There is a distinct implication that homosexual activity is simply an outlet for sexual impulses that evades the social expectations of commitment tied to heterosexual relationships. That is, as discussed in the Bible, it is always treated as purely a pursuit of physical pleasure with no social or emotional strings attached. | |||