OVERVIEW
In these pages we will attempt to address all the relevant biblical passages historically presumed to condemn homosexuals and homosexuality. We will attempt to determine the historical bases for homophobia. We’ll take a glimpse at problems facing scholars as they interpreted what the original authors tried to tell us about God and about what God desires for and from humankind. We’ll begin by asking and answering your questions.
Doesn’t the bible condemn homosexuality? If you were raised in the Judeo-Christian tradition, most likely you were taught that it does. Together we will explore the bible and discover that, not only is there no condemnation whatsoever of homosexuality as we know it today, but we will also discover that the bible contains many gay-positive affirmations of love, compassion, and heroism.
Where did the idea of condemning homosexuality come from? Philo, who was a leading Jewish scholar who lived from about 20 B.C.E. to 50 C.E. had a great deal of influence on biblical interpretation. With respect to sexuality, he taught that it was the primary duty of every male to procreate, and any sexual expression which did not produce legitimate offspring was "against nature." In a culture where violence of neighbor against neighbor was commonplace and you were saved because the size of the army of your children and their families afforded you protection, where the only social security was what was provided to elders by their children, one can easily see why having progeny was of primary importance.
If the condemnation is an ancient idea for an ancient culture, why do so many churches still teach it today? Tradition! Tradition has been defined as the homage one pays to the dead. Basing its teachings on the teachings of Philo and others, the church has, for the better part of the last two thousand years kept its doors closed to homosexuals. Worse, history is full of despicable acts perpetrated on homosexuals by the church–persecutions and torture, not to mention executions. Heterosexual scholars would have had no reason to research what the bible had to say to them about homosexuality, and homosexual scholars, if they did any research on the subject at all, would surely have had their work denounced or quashed, and they would have been subject to execution. It wasn’t until the twentieth century that serious study began.
One wonders if one of the reasons at least the Roman church has maintained its bias against homosexuals throughout the ages is partially to avoid being branded as a "homosexual" church, since its clergy and nuns are not permitted to marry.
Are you saying that the church knowingly would have buried information just because it went against tradition? Yes I am. Scholars even have a name for it: hermeneutical circle. In a simplified form it works like this: Hermeneutics, first of all, is the practice of biblical interpretation. Interpretation of writing is always necessary because not everything an author thinks or experiences can be conveyed exactly–how things smell or taste for example. Too, words can have more than one meaning. In the case of interpreting what is written in ancient languages, additional difficulties arise.
The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (Vol. 2, pp. 864) states, "The interpreter always has to guess at the meaning of a communication he (or she) wants to grasp…tries out several possible meanings which certain crucial words or phrases can have, until coherency with all such crucial terms and the text as a whole is reached." From the beginning of the process to end can take days, weeks, months, years. The hermeneutical circle happens when…"One’s mind is so delighted with all the "evidence" and "coherency" its construction draws from the text that anger is easily generated against different constructions of that text, which also claim coherency and cite much "evidence" in their support."
To put it in the language of the street: I’ve worked long and hard to figure this all out and settle it in my mind. If you’ve come up with a different interpretation, I don’t want to hear about it. Of course, scholars guard against this sad event, but with a subject seen as threatening as homosexuality is, it is not too difficult to see why the bias still exists.
Where do we begin? Before we can begin a detailed study about what the bible does and/or does not say about the subject of homosexuality, we need to confront the issues facing everyone who attempts to undertake any kind of serious study of Scripture. We need to bring the bible out of the closet, as it were. We will need to examine such problems as "scriptural inerrancy," "context," and "divine inspiration."
The Inerrant Word of Scripture
The inerrant Word of God is a term often used to describe the bible. A few years ago there was a popular automobile bumper sticker which read: God said it; I believe it; that settles it! Pithy saying, but knowing what God really said, and what God really meant is a different story altogether. Because we do not have the original manuscripts, the truth is that no one knows–for that matter–no one can know what God really said. If you need proof of my statement, go to any bible bookstore and look at the number of different translations presented. Each translation represents the diligent labor of countless scholars working for years to try to determine what God really said. The bottom line is that all we have are their interpretations of what God really said.
There are several problems inherent in trying to accurately translate the bible. The earliest manuscripts known to be in existence were written in Hebrew and the ancient language, Chaldee. Ancient Hebrew contained no written vowels. One determined which vowels went where by the context of what was being written. If you’d like to see how difficult it would be to figure out everything being said without use of vowels, try going back over just these two paragraphs, pull out all the vowels, and then see if you can figure out exactly everything I’ve written to here. Let me make it easier for you. Translate this: Vr gd b ds fn. If you figured out that the sentence was Every good boy does fine, congratulate yourself. (In this instance, the letter y used here was a vowel.) Was that too easy? Then pick up your favorite bible, pull out the Hebrew Scriptures (formerly known as the Old Testament), pluck out all the vowels, then tell me how well you were able to figure out what everything says. Oh, yes. Be sure to use only the King James Version. Even though the King James’ is written in English, the language used is archaic, which presents its own challenges to modern understanding.
Context
The first rule of hermeneutics is that passages in scripture must be kept in proper context. Part of biblical research has interpreters ferreting out similar concepts and ideas from various parts of the bible and combining them to form more complete thoughts or themes. The practice has great value in helping to round out or more thoroughly understand a particular idea of position, but one must forever be on the alert so as to avoid combining two different concepts and calling them one completed thought or instruction.
Here’s an egregious example of what one can create by taking passages out of context. Matthew 27:5 tells us that Judas "…went away and hanged himself." Luke 10:37 tells us that Jesus said, "Go and do likewise." While we all might agree that nowhere in the bible does it encourage suicide, the point of the importance of keeping scripture in context with itself is made.
Keeping scripture in context is also about taking into consideration the culture and times of the people the authors were addressing, especially their religious practices. Not only must we be aware of the culture, religion and times of the people the authors originally addressed, we must also remain mindful of the culture, language and times of the particular translation we are studying. Many people rely on the King James Version as their biblical source. Some believe it was the bible Jesus carried…. What the KJV has in beauty of the use of its language, it lacks in modern archaeological influence, as we will discover in our study of Leviticus, Deuteronomy and Romans. Also, though written in English, variances exist between the time of its writing and today’s English. For example, the KJV of Mark 6:25b reads: "…I will that thou give me by and by in a charger the head of John the Baptist." In today’s English the phrase by and by can be taken to mean "in due time," or "when time permits." On the other hand, in the New Revised Standard Version, written 1989 using today’s English, this verse reads, "I want you to give me at once the head of John the Baptist on a platter." Note the difference in urgency between the two phrases. Small point here, but it illustrates the need for due diligence when reading only one translation of scripture, and one written in an archaic language at that.
Divine Inspiration
Most, if not all, followers of the bible will readily agree that the bible is divinely inspired. What does that mean? It might surprise you to know that there are at least two schools of thought on the meaning of that term. The school of verbal inspiration believes that the Holy Spirit dictated every word of Scripture, and the writers merely acted as secretaries to the Spirit. The school of plenary inspiration believes that the Holy Spirit imbued the writers with the concepts to be presented, but the authors wrote using their own words. It is important that we recognize that even the best scholars don’t agree on exactly how much input the Spirit had on what appears in our Scriptures.
You might be asking yourself right now: if that’s true, how do I know if the Spirit had any input into the Scripture at all? How do I know what is true and what isn’t? How can I trust that God had anything to do with what is written in the bible? With all these questions, you might get the idea that I’m suggesting we discard the bible. Nothing could be further from the truth. Do you wonder if God didn’t foresee all the problems that would arise by choosing to have it written this way? Actually, I believe God fully intended that the bible be written in just the way it was. We human beings love mysteries, don’t we? And the bible offers us the mysteries of all the ages. Too, I believe that God fully intended that there not be just one interpretation of scripture. I believe that God wanted to make room for all–all different kinds of interpretation of scripture–all different kinds of understanding of scripture–many, many different ways of looking at scripture. Just as I believe that God’s Love embraces all different manner of us, I believe that God’s Heart has room for all the many ways we have of drawing closer to God.
We know that the bible is many things to many different people, but we must always remember one thing: the bible is not God! There are not four persons in the Trinity–just three. I think many people fail to realize that fact.
My personal definition of divine inspiration sees the bible as the instrument the Holy Spirit uses to communicate directly and personally with each of us, to the extent that we allow the Spirit to do so. At their last meal Jesus explained to the disciples about the coming of the Holy Spirit and said, "But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom God will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said…when the Spirit of truth comes, the Spirit will guide you into all the truth." ( John 14:26, 16:13a, NIV) For me, divine inspiration is what happens to me when I open up the bible to read it, and open up myself to be guided by the Holy Spirit into "all the truth" for my life. Christians like to speak of having a personal relationship with God. The resultant spiritual growth you and I experience when we open ourselves up to the Holy Spirit is our evidence of that personal relationship–that divine inspiration.
This ends our study for today.
Next week: Genesis 19, Sodom and Gomorrah. See also Judges 19
LIFE APPLICATION