Homosexuality ambiguous in the Bible?
Posted on: October 10, 2007 - 9:48pm
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Homosexuality ambiguous in the Bible?
I read Rook's rebuttal on 'Slavery and Homosexuality' but there were a few things that I wanted to have cleared up. Many have argued that the term has been used with multiple different meanings in the first few centuries AD, some referring to paederasty and others to people who practise anal sex (not limited to homosexual anal sex), the earlier ones (closer to the time of the epistles) tending to mean paederasty.
Can anyone present evidence that it refers to the homosexual orientation in this instance (the passage refutted by Hawkins), or anywhere in the literature from the period for that matter?
Thanks for your help!
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When the bible says
"If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them. -- Lev.20:13
When a man lie with mankind. as he lieth with a woman. - To me this is pretty much self explanitory, I don't think it referred to cuddeling or spooning. I don't really think people back then got into specifics on a subject that obviously made them uncomfortable. But just on the basis of my understanding, They probably felt this way because of the way other cultures such as the Greeks and Romans who are known for being very sexually open. To me it only stands to reason they would create laws such as this. I don' t know, I am not really an expert on that.
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Here's a link to a good datasheet on religioustolerance.org that explains in detail about how Lev 18:22 is apparently an incomplete verse with a particular phrase in it (literally "lay lyings"
that nobody is really sure what it means, but which strongly affects the translation.
Also the site has a list of the various translations different groups have given this verse, including the reading that translates it as only prohibiting a specific kind of homosexual sex in pagan temples. Also the translation that prohibits male homosexual sex in a woman's bed only.
Lev 20:13 is reportedly nearly the same wording, except it adds a death penalty.
"After Jesus was born, the Old Testament basically became a way for Bible publishers to keep their word count up." -Stephen Colbert