Is god against homosexuality
What Does the Bible Say About Homosexuality?
What Does The Bible State About Homosexuality?
Introduction
For the last two decades, Pew Research Center has reported that one of the most enduring ethical issues across Christian traditions is sexual diversity. For many Christians, one of the most frequently first-asked questions on this topic is, “What does the Bible say about attraction to someone of the equal sex?”
Although its unlikely that the biblical authors had any notion of sexual orientation (for example, the term homosexual wasn't even coined until the overdue 19th century) for many people of faith, the Bible is looked to for timeless guidance on what it means to honor God with our lives; and this most certainly includes our sexuality.
Before we can vault into how it is that Christians can maintain the authority of the Bible and also affirm sexual diversity, it might be helpful if we started with a concise but clear overview of some of the assumptions informing many Christian approaches to understanding the Bible.
What is the Bible?
For Christians to whom the Bible is God’s very written word, it is widely understood that God produced its content
Pope Francis was recently asked about his views on homosexuality. He reportedly replied:
This (laws around the earth criminalising LGBTI people) is not right. Persons with homosexual tendencies are children of God. God loves them. God accompanies them … condemning a person like this is a sin. Criminalising people with homosexual tendencies is an injustice.
This isn’t the first time Pope Francis has shown himself to be a progressive leader when it comes to, among other things, gay Catholics.
It’s a stance that has drawn the ire of some high-ranking bishops and ordinary Catholics, both on the African continent and elsewhere in the world.
Read more: Pope Francis' visit to Africa comes at a defining moment for the Catholic church
Some of these Catholics may argue that Pope Francis’s approach to LGBTI matters is a misinterpretation of Scripture (or the Bible). But is it?
Scripture is particularly vital for Christians. When church leaders refer to “the Bible” or “the Scriptures”, they usually mean “the Bible as we know it through our theological doctrines”. The Bible is always interpreted by our churches through their particular theological lense
But for many LGBTQ Christians, the Bible can sense like the enemy. In the Book of Leviticus homosexuality is called an “abomination” (18:22; 20:13). And although Jesus never explicitly condemns homosexuality, thought he could have (he is hard on divorce, for example), St. Paul does (1 Cor 6:9-10). The few biblical verses that address homosexuality are used against LGBTQ people over and over: in the political sphere; by religious leaders; on social media; in one-on-one encounters; and, perhaps worst of all, in homilies and sermons in the very churches where LGBTQ people look for to encounter a loving God.
By the same token, the Bible proscribes many laws, moral codes and ethical guidelines that modern-day Christians ignore, don’t pursue or have rejected completely. For example, even though they honor the Aged Testament, Christians don’t stone people who work on the Sabbath (Ex. 35:2). We don’t sell people into slavery (Ex. 21:7). And if someone curses God, we don’t complete them (Lev. 24:10-16). In the New Testament, St. Paul told slaves to be obedient to their masters (Eph. 6:25-29). He also said that women should be silent in churches (1 Cor 14:34). A now-famous online response to
This article is part of the Tough Passages series.
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24Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, 25because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.
26For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged innate relations for those that are contrary to nature; 27and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.
28And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done.29They were filled with all style of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are entire of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips,30slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents,31foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless.32Though they know God’s righteous
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