The person who wrote to me calls himself an Evangelist and wrote to me from Florida. As always, I never reveal anyone’s name without their permission, so I will refer to him only as "V."
Our spiritual brother, V, began a series of
correspondences with me some time in July, writing nearly every day. I did not
keep the first copies of the emails I received, but in the beginning I was under
the impression that the author was someone who was not too familiar with the
Bible He wrote asking for a definition of the word “abomination,” and more
specifically what it meant
With respect to certain verses in Leviticus, specifically, Lev. 28:22 and Lev.
20:13.
As the emails continued, his agenda was revealed. I trust you will enjoy the correspondences as much as we did writing them. What follows is the first one I saved. Others will follow in the upcoming four weeks.
Dear Rev. Yvette
Thank you for replying, I am not sure I understand what you mean.
Are you saying that abomination means “idolatry” in every place in the Bible?
“Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination.” Lev. 18:22
“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
What does the word “abomination” mean in the two above scriptures?
Sincerely,
V. L.
Dear V: While I’m not saying that abomination necessarily means “idolatry” every place in the Bible I am saying that it does so very often. And it does so in the passages you mentioned, as well as in other passages as relates to what people believe refers to homosexuality.
If you remember, when Moses brought the Israelites to the Promised Land, it belonged to the Canaanites. The Canaanites worshipped many gods, including the goddess, Asherah. A very popular way of worshipping Asherah involved same-sex, sexual contact. People who wanted to worship the goddess would go to temple, where men would find a male priest and women would find a priestess and engage in sex with them.
In the original biblical language, the words qadesh (masculine) and qedesha (feminine) mean holy one. These “holy ones” (i.e. priests and priestesses) acted as cultic prostitutes. In Deuteronomy 23:17 we find (King James Version) “There shall be no whore (qedesha) of the daughters of Israel, nor a sodomite (qadesh) of the sons of Israel.” Now, sodomite you would expect to mean homosexual, wouldn’t you?
But look at this: The King James Version of the Bible was written hundreds of years ago. Read the same passage in a modern Bible such as the New International Version, and this is what you’ll find: “No Israelite man or woman is to become a temple prostitute.”
The idea of male homosexuality is suddenly eliminated and the passage has been clarified to show that the condemnation was about temple prostitution, and the idea of the female whore has been reclassified to only temple prostitute.
Why the change? As happens with ancient cultures, things that happened that were not written down were lost, such as religious beliefs. One of the reasons why Judaism has managed to exist for so long was because the Israelites were among the first to write their religion down. Archaeologists knew a lot about the Canaanites, but most of what they knew either came from artifacts (pottery and such), and what the Israelites wrote about them. There was apparently nothing written about their religion.
Then in 1928 in Syria, they found the Canaanite city of Ugarit, and there they found a library, and from the library, they found out about Canaanite worship. That’s why the modern translation of the bible corrects the KJV of Deuteronomy 23:18.
The condemnations in Leviticus speak of this cultic or temple prostitution. Notice that Leviticus 18:21 and 23 also condemn idolatry. Another form of pagan worship was to sacrifice a child to the god, Molech, and a third was to engage in bestiality. All three are condemned, right in a row. Further, if you read Romans, chapter one, beginning with verse 18 to the end of the chapter very carefully, you will see that it is all about idolatry. Hope this helps, V. God bless.
Rev. Yvette Dube
Freeing the Spirit Bible Commentaries
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