Read the rest of the series Stories are powerful, but not all stories withstand the test of time -and not all stories should. Think of the story of The Giving Tree by the great Shel Silverstein. At one point in time, it was perfectly okay
If we know one thing about guys in ancient Rome, it’s that they swung both ways. “Roman society almost unanimously assumed that adult males would be capable of, if not interested in, sexual relations with both sexes,” as John Boswell noted back in his 1980
What is a eunuch by birth? A curious, enigmatic, debated, and often dismissed, verse is found in the 19th chapter of the New Testament’s Gospel of Matthew. Some scholars for the past 40 years or so have argued that it includes a reference to men
Preached at First Christian Church of Decatur, Ga. Prepare to be prepared Key Resource: This I Know: A Simple Biblical Defense for LGBTQ Christians by Jim Dant Pastor Paul Turner of Gentle Spirit Christian Church was in his office, which is upstairs on the second
Read the rest of the series The book of Leviticus was written for the people of Israel. It was a law book for them. It was also known as the Holiness Code. Leviticus was not only the book that recorded the law for the people
There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. (Romans 8:1) Well, that seems plain enough. It’s particularly true when you tie it to our main focus passage: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son,
The notorious passages of the so-called Holiness Code in Chapters 18 and 20 of Leviticus have traditionally been used to justify the ill treatment of sexual minorities. On first reading, the text appears to be unequivocal in its condemnation of physical relations between members of
When I first began attending to Internet newsgroup threads about homosexuality and the Bible, I held the conventional view: the Bible condemns it. I knew of ways to discount each of the standard texts; I thought a person could in a piecemeal way discount all
Part of a series of essays on the Bible and homosexuality. The holiness code Leviticus 18:22 states: Thou shall not lie with mankind as with womankind: it is abomination. The term abomination (to’ebah) is a religious term, usually reserved for use against idolatry; it does
Back to Index In summary: Homosexual activity in the temple by male prostitutes is clearly prohibited by the Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament). Homosexual activity in general may have been prohibited at the time by the Holiness Code, but that code is no longer binding on