At one point in history, literal interpretations of the Bible was all the world had. In this time it was acceptable to stone someone to death and condemn homosexuals. As the intellectual side of humanity has grown it has stopped reading the Bible in a strict literal interpretation. Society no longer stones people to death, but they still condemn those who express themselves as homosexual. If Christians are willing to ignore some biblical teachings then they should not denounce others. Today’s Christians should not damn homosexuality. To begin with, Christians need to look at why homosexuality was originally damned. The writers of the Bible were mainly Jewish or Jewish converts. “In Jewish thought homosexual activity was considered a gentile problem
The main historical writings, which damn homosexuals, come from Jewish authors. These authors did not know that (1) sexual orientation existed and (2) only knew gay relationships to be abusive. People today should know that sexual orientation is a real thing and all homosexual relations are not abusive. Identifying as homosexual also is not a means of idol worship like originally believed. Laws change as society changes. More information about gay partnerships emerges all the time, so the laws oppressing these people need to change with the times. There was a time women were viewed as completely inferior to men, this idea too has evolved and women now have a place in society. Finally, there is no such thing as an accurate interpretation of the Bible. There are as many interpretations of the Bible as there are people on earth, plus another million. To then add in other historical documents regarding homosexuality gives infinite beliefs on the ethics of homosexuality. The Bible itself is not clear on its definition of homosexuality, so Christians cannot use it as a defining source. Homosexuals should not be condemned based on ancient myths or for any other reason at
...to understand history, doctrines, and origins. Religion and homosexuality need not be mutually exclusive: you can be a good Christians and still love and accept LGBT people. I strongly believe that through Jesus, God wanted us to learn to love one another, and to treat everyone with dignity and respect. Using the Bible to justify persecution of anyone is despicable. Unfortunately, the Bible has been used to endorse racism, slavery, subjugation of women, and persecution of the Jews.
He stated, “Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning made them male and female, and said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh? (Matthew 19:4-5). The passage that Jesus alluded to is taken from Genesis 2:24, where we find God’s original plan for marriage. Nowhere in the Old or New Testament do we find authority or approval for homosexual marriages. This was not God’s plan. Just because our society accepts them, does not imply that God approves
Christian Fundamentalists translate verse 22 of Leviticus 18 to say, “Do not lie with a man as one lies with a woman; that is detestable.” This makes it clear that Christian fundamentalists are against homosexuality. The commentary states, “Homosexuality is absolutely forbidden, for it is an enormous sin.” Fundamentalist Christians view the Bible as the word of God in plain sense. They believe that the Bible is the closest and truest version of God’s actual words, since they believe that God spoke
Fag. Poof. Fairy. Homo. Dyke. Those are all words that are used on a daily basis to put down those who do not fit into the Bible’s supposed cookie-cutter, straight sexual orientation label. Homophobia has been around since the eleven hundreds, but before then homosexuality was viewed as healthy, normal, and at times it was even worshipped. However, society’s view of homosexuality has somehow been warped into a violently negative opinion. How did this happen? The main perpetrators of homophobia are the Bible and those who preach its word, or at least their version of its word. Which brings up the translation issues scattered throughout the Bible. The New Testament was written in Greek and there are not always direct translations of each word in English. The messages in the Bible that are said to condemn homosexuality can be interpreted in a more accepting way than they are usually preached.
The Holy Bible and its various renditions is the most common religious book that many religions have founded from. The first collection of writings of the bible can be dated back as far as 1500 years, which is 3500 years after homosexuality existed. The bible looks at homosexuality as an abomination and sinful, “You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination” (Leviticus 18:22), “Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality . . .” (1 Corinthians 1:26-28). There are nearly eighty bible verses about homosexuality being sinful and sacrilegious (Open Bible). Not all religions had the same view on homosexuals,
Religion has been a big issue with judging homosexual. Some Christians believe that the Bible speaks with one clear voice in condemning homosexuality. In many Anti-gay Christians groups see homosexuality as sinful. Using the Bible to justify their hate against anything they do not understand.
In fact most of the time it’s the anti-supporters bugging the LGBTQ community. The LGBTQ community just wants equal rights for all types of people, whether it’s in marriage or adoption. The anti-supporters often use the bible to state that LGBTQ rights should not happen. They use passages such as Leviticus 18:22 which states, “ 'You shall not lie with a male as one lies with a female; it is an abomination.” These rules have changed over time and Leviticus rules according to Galatians 3:10 are cursed laws. Then according to Galatians 3:13 “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law by becoming a curse for us.” This basically states that Jesus rescued us from the cursed laws by dying on the cross. Galatians 5:1 explains that “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.” All this is saying that you shouldn’t follow the rules of Leviticus because Jesus sacrificed himself to get rid of the curse. So in turn, it’s okay for men to sleep with other men, the bible is not a decent justification for not having LGBTQ
It 's easy to say that people do not share the same beliefs and therefore may not share the same morals. That being said, there are plenty of people who are homosexual that live their lives as catholics, christians, etc. So if we do keep in mind that there are people who do believe in the practices and ideas of these religions, then they must know that what they are doing is immoral under their God right? Corvino brings up a valid point that we are not supposed to touch pig but most of us have consumed pork or a product that uses pork several times throughout our lives. He actually uses this with his example of slaves to point out how the context was interpreted differently because of the time period and that the moral beliefs have changed. That is most definitely an excellent point. But let us give the arguer the side that they are right and that it is wrong under biblical teachings, even today, that people succumb to their homosexual desires and that they live a lifestyle as a homosexual. But can we say that they are being immoral? Yes, maybe they are not completely practicing what they believe but they are not moral accountable for all their actions, just like hetersexuals are not morally accountable for their all actions. In the King James version of the bible, James 2:10 states that, “For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one, he is guilty of all”. So if it is decided that homosexual sex is immoral because it 's breaking a law in the bible, then we must continue to point out every immoral action a hetersexual person carries out in their day-to-day lives. In biblical terms, they too would be immoral for many things that we would otherwise consider not morally right or wrong (sex before marriage, lying even if it 's necessary, being lazy, etc). Many people would argue back saying that some sins that is committed are accidental or without
Even in the Old Testament of the Bible, the issue of homosexuality has already been talked about. An example of a quote from the Bible would be: "...
"[I]t seems appropriate to understand sexual orientation (heterosexual or homosexual) as a deep-seated dimension of one's personality and to recognize its relative stability in a person. Generally, homosexual orientation is experienced as a given, not as something freely chosen. By itself, therefore, a homosexual orientation cannot be considered sinful, for morality presumes the freedom to choose. The teachings of the Church make it clear that the fundamental human rights of homosexual persons must be defended and that all of us must strive to eliminate any forms of injustice, oppression, or violence against them"(Pastoral).
As the years have passed, homosexuality has become a very controversial topic. The fact that day by day they fight for equality just to be happy, I think it is an injustice that many people refuse to give them the rights they deserve.
Society is created with both homosexual and heterosexual individuals. Previously when certain laws discriminated against others, such as law for women's rights to vote, these laws were changed. Changing the traditions of the country does not mean that it will lead to the legalization of other extreme issues. Each ...
Since the 1800's, psychiatrists and psychologists have concluded that homosexuality is a mental disorder. They have believed it is brought about by misguided upbringing and their social environments. For instance, it was believed that if the child was lacking a male - figure in the home, he would most likely be gay. Or that child abuse can lead to lesbianism when the special needs of a little girl are denied, ignored, or exploited and the future womanhood of the child is in risk. However, inconsistencies in the research subjects' abuse records ruled these theories out. And if this were the case, then why is homosexuality present in different cultures? Some believed homosexuality was caused by a difference in brain structure. In 1991, Simon LeVay published research stating that sexual orientation may be the result of differing brain structures. The hypothalamus, a region in the brain that governs sexual behavior, was the structure that LeVay was pointing as the structure at fault. In his studies of the hypothalamus, he found that in homosexual men, the hypothalamus was smaller than that of heterosexual men. Instead, it was the size of the female hypothalamus, consequently explaining their sexual tendencies.
In history, mainstream Abrahamic religions have had a negative relationship with LGBT persons. Beginning during the Hebrew exodus of Egypt, the purity codes documented in the Hebrew Bible’s Book of Leviticus explicitly stated a slew of rigid rules that attempted to keep a new Israelite nation “clean”. As William Countryman argues in the article “Dirt, Greed, & Sex”, the bible sets a precedent for what is “clean” and pure as well as what is “dirty”. In this sense, dirty means where something doesn’t belong, or is out of place. The ancient Israelite text as well as some New Testament verses have been used by many contemporary Christian denominations to condemn LGBT persons to hell and to provide “moral reasoning” for supporting legislation that makes LGBT people second class citizens. Missionaries during the imperialist period of European history have also used these verses to spread hate around the globe, and many of these anti-homosexuality sodomy laws that were backed by christian colonial monarchies are still on the books in former colonies in Africa, Asia and Oceania. The spread of Islam, a religion that also considers the Hebrew texts to be holy scripture, has also had the same effect on the Swahili Coast, Horn of Africa, Persia, and Southeast Asia. These religious texts have been the basis for anti-LGBT laws across the world, and as Abrahamic religions spread, the tolerance for LGBT people in other societies declined.
We have no right to judge. We should leave that to the Lord, and he will make the right decision. He will decide what the sinner does and doesn't deserve. Christians know what to abide by. They may know that being a homosexual is going against Gods word, but they also know that the Lord says that one should love all no matter what circumstances.