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Homophobic attacks on language abound in our culture. The use of the
words sodomy, sodomite, and sodomize in news stories falls into the same
category as the use of demeaning slang expressions based on race,
gender, and religion.
Recent news accounts of the brutal beating and torture of a prisoner by
police officers in New York used the word "sodomize" to describe a broom
handle being rammed into the rectum of the victim to produce extensive
internal injuries. I noticed that a few of the radio and television
reporters avoided using "sodomize" and used "torture" instead.
If other more familiar racial slurs and slang expressions had been used,
a great public outcry would have happened. But since "sodomize" is now
a common and accepted distortion of language, nobody protested that I
know of.
Sodomy, sodomite, and sodomize are words that never appear anywhere in
the Bible.
THE DICTIONARY IS WRONG.
The most recent Webster's Dictionary (tenth edition, 1996) calls itself
"The Voice of Authority" and usually is. Look up the dictionary
definitions of Sodom, sodomist, sodomite, sodomize, sodomy. See for
yourself how our homophobic culture has distorted language by basing
definitions on inaccurate Bible translations and twisted interpretations
of Genesis 19:5. The emphasis in the definition is on "anal sex".
Where in Genesis 19 is there any hint at all of "anal sex"? There is
none. The dictionary is wrong. Just like a lot of Bible translations
that are based on religion and not on the facts are wrong. Can you
believe that! I can.
Webster's Dictionary shows that the first English use of "sodomize" was
in 1868.
In the original text of the Bible, a sodomite is simply someone who
lived in Sodom, including Lot and his family. Where the King James
Version uses the term "sodomite" in Deuteronomy 23:17; 1 Kings 14:24;
15:12; 22:46; 2 Kings 23:7, there is no mention of Sodom or the word
"sodomite" in the original text. The "sodomite" hoax is an infected
blister on the Bible. Words that mislead and offend and destroy need to
be cut out so that healing can happen.
The New Revised Standard Version translation (1989) used "sodomites" in
1 Corinthians 6:9 for "arsenokoitai" where the 1971 "second edition"
used "sexual perverts". Many famous Greek scholars challenged the use
of "sodomites" in 1 Corinthians 6:9, but the New RSV still appears in
plain texts and in study Bibles (such as The New Oxford Annotated Bible)
with the incorrect "sodomites" glaring painfully and inaccurately from
the page.
Giving a homophobic twist to "Sodom" to create the verb "sodomize" took
great care and deliberation. The abusive anti-gay slang language that
modern scholarship has imported into Bible translations is "the
abomination that makes desolate" for millions of closeted homosexual
Christians who love God and follow Jesus as the way, the truth, and the
life.
Homophobia is based on fear, which is based on ignorance. Ignorance
about sexual orientation is based on distortions and perversions of
biblical words and phrases. John the Baptist said concerning abusive
oppressive religion: "The axe is already laid at the root of the trees
(Matthew 3:10). Jesus said the same things in Matthew 7:15-23, where he
cried out: "Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep's
clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves." Then Jesus called abusive
religious leaders "rotten trees bearing bad fruit." A lot of rotten
religious timber has to fall before our community will be free from the
perverted use of the Bible and religion against us.
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The Invention of Sodomy in Christian Theology by Mark D. Jordan
by Rembert Truluck
Websites:
Steps To Recovery From Bible Abuse
Dr. Truluck's detailed discussion of Sodom
Also In This Issue:
Offering Hope and Healing to Those Hurt by Religion: An Interview with Dr. Rembert Truluck
Paul's Greek: First Aid for Mistranslation
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