Interpreting Homosexuality: A Biblical Perspective

For the Bible Tells Me So is a documentary that was made in 2007 by Daniel Karslake. The Film takes a look at the implications and results of raising children in a conservative religious context, and what happens when they are gay, and what the bible actually says about being gay, and how it is being misinterpreted to suit anti-gay rhetoric.

It is comprised of two working narratives that are used to discuss homosexuality in regard to the bible. One of the narratives is interviews with various families and ministers, a more subjective and personal understanding is made as a result because it shows that there are real people being affected by these belief systems. The other narrative is made up of interviews with ministers and reverends giving information and various ways of interpreting the bible even within the same religions where some are adamant that homosexuality is an abomination in the eyes of the bible.

The first component of

By following this idea, it is clear that the constant creation of new meaning- and new words- blurs the lines so that nothing is really black or white. With this in mind, reading a piece from even as early as 1923 and finding the word “heterosexual” in it would lead to the wrong interpretation if changing definitions and cultural contexts are not taken into account. Furthermore, in 1892, “heterosexual” had a published definition that also was used to describe “inclinations to both sexes” (44). A term that did not exist at that time is bisexual, which is a term that would most accurately be used to describe this kind of sexuality, while heterosexual has taken on a completely new meaning. Without taking this into account, a person who reads a piece from that time period would mistakenly understand the word heterosexual in the way it is used