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 The author argues that the meaning of the Bible's passages on homosexuality have been lost in translation.
May 15th, 2012
05:39 PM ET
My Take: What the Bible really says about homosexuality
By Daniel A. Helminiak, Special to CNN President Barack Obama’s support of same-sex marriage, like blood in the water, has conservative sharks circling for a kill. In a nation that touts separation of religion and government, religious-based arguments command this battle. Lurking beneath anti-gay forays, you inevitably find religion and, above all, the Bible. We now face religious jingoism, the imposition of personal beliefs on the whole pluralistic society. Worse still, these beliefs are irrational, just a fiction of blind conviction. Nowhere does the Bible actually oppose homosexuality. In the past 60 years, we have learned more about sex, by far, than in preceding millennia. Is it likely that an ancient people, who thought the male was the basic biological model and the world flat, understood homosexuality as we do today? Could they have even addressed the questions about homosexuality that we grapple with today? Of course not. CNN’s Belief Blog: The faith angles behind the biggest stories Hard evidence supports this commonsensical expectation. Taken on its own terms, read in the original languages, placed back into its historical context, the Bible is ho-hum on homosexuality, unless – as with heterosexuality – injustice and abuse are involved. That, in fact, was the case among the Sodomites (Genesis 19), whose experience is frequently cited by modern anti-gay critics. The Sodomites wanted to rape the visitors whom Lot, the one just man in the city, welcomed in hospitality for the night. The Bible itself is lucid on the sin of Sodom: pride, lack of concern for the poor and needy (Ezekiel 16:48-49); hatred of strangers and cruelty to guests (Wisdom 19:13); arrogance (Sirach/Ecclesiaticus 16:8); evildoing, injustice, oppression of the widow and orphan (Isaiah 1:17); adultery (in those days, the use of another man’s property), and lying (Jeremiah 23:12). But nowhere are same-sex acts named as the sin of Sodom. That intended gang rape only expressed the greater sin, condemned in the Bible from cover to cover: hatred, injustice, cruelty, lack of concern for others. Hence, Jesus says “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 19:19; Mark 12:31); and “By this will they know you are my disciples” (John 13:35). How inverted these values have become! In the name of Jesus, evangelicals and Catholic bishops make sex the Christian litmus test and are willing to sacrifice the social safety net in return. The longest biblical passage on male-male sex is Romans 1:26-27: "Their women exchanged natural intercourse for unnatural, and in the same way also the men, giving up natural intercourse with women, were consumed with passion for one another." The Greek term para physin has been translated unnatural; it should read atypical or unusual. In the technical sense, yes, the Stoic philosophers did use para physin to mean unnatural, but this term also had a widespread popular meaning. It is this latter meaning that informs Paul's writing. It carries no ethical condemnation. Compare the passage on male-male sex to Romans 11:24. There, Paul applies the term para physin to God. God grafted the Gentiles into the Jewish people, a wild branch into a cultivated vine. Not your standard practice! An unusual thing to do — atypical, nothing more. The anti-gay "unnatural" hullabaloo rests on a mistranslation. Besides, Paul used two other words to describe male-male sex: dishonorable (1:24, 26) and unseemly (1:27). But for Paul, neither carried ethical weight. In 2 Corinthians 6:8 and 11:21, Paul says that even he was held in dishonor — for preaching Christ. Clearly, these words merely indicate social disrepute, not truly unethical behavior. In this passage Paul is referring to the ancient Jewish Law: Leviticus 18:22, the “abomination” of a man’s lying with another man. Paul sees male-male sex as an impurity, a taboo, uncleanness — in other words, “abomination.” Introducing this discussion in 1:24, he says so outright: "God gave them up … to impurity." But Jesus taught lucidly that Jewish requirements for purity — varied cultural traditions — do not matter before God. What matters is purity of heart. “It is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but it is what comes out of the mouth that defiles,” reads Matthew 15. “What comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this is what defiles. For out of the heart come evil intentions, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a person, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile.” Or again, Jesus taught, “Everyone who looks at a women with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart” (Matthew 5:28). Jesus rejected the purity requirements of the Jewish Law. In calling it unclean, Paul was not condemning male-male sex. He had terms to express condemnation. Before and after his section on sex, he used truly condemnatory terms: godless, evil, wicked or unjust, not to be done. But he never used ethical terms around that issue of sex. As for marriage, again, the Bible is more liberal than we hear today. The Jewish patriarchs had many wives and concubines. David and Jonathan, Ruth and Naomi, and Daniel and the palace master were probably lovers. The Bible’s Song of Songs is a paean to romantic love with no mention of children or a married couple. Jesus never mentioned same-sex behaviors, although he did heal the “servant” — pais, a Greek term for male lover — of the Roman Centurion. Follow the CNN Belief Blog on Twitter Paul discouraged marriage because he believed the world would soon end. Still, he encouraged people with sexual needs to marry, and he never linked sex and procreation. Were God-given reason to prevail, rather than knee-jerk religion, we would not be having a heated debate over gay marriage. “Liberty and justice for all,” marvel at the diversity of creation, welcome for one another: these, alas, are true biblical values. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Daniel A. Helminiak. soundoff (8,832 Responses)« Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 Next » |
  About this blog
The CNN Belief Blog covers the faith angles of the day's biggest stories, from breaking news to politics to entertainment, fostering a global conversation about the role of religion and belief in readers' lives. It's edited by CNN's Daniel Burke with contributions from Eric Marrapodi and CNN's worldwide news gathering team.  |
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Editor's note:
People of faith use the bible as a weapon to justify their bigotry; been doing it since they formerly organized the church and began to hunt other believers, gnostics and others. The vast majority have never actually read the bible. the vast majority have no interest that the bible has thousands of mistranslations. because the point really is not to justify faith but to use faith to justify one's beliefts however repugnant.
Funny how you just perfectly described what the man who wrote this article is doing.
Question...If Jesus was born of a virgin then he has NO father. If God sired Jesus then Mary would not be a virgin. How did she get pregnant anyway? Did Mary cheat on Joseph with God? If so, then God broke the 7th commandment, something about adultery. Why did God even need Mary to begin with? He could have just sent Jesus on a cloud and we could have crucified him as soon as he arrived. Oh, and how is Jesus supposed to appear in the second comming? Is he gonna appear as a full grown adult or will he be born again as a baby? And if he is born as a baby would that be reincarnation? If I don't belive in Jesus am I going to Hell??? If I do believe but repeatedly break all 10 commandments will I still go to Heaven??? If I'm gay and do it very well but still believe in Jesus, will I go to Heaven or Hell? I wonder what Harold Camping would say.
Being gay is a sin just like adultry, stealing, bearing false witness, etc.... I'll worry about my sin and let you worry about your own. The bible says that we should not cast stones and that we should be compassionate towards others and not judge. However, it does not make certain behaviors right.
I think the last page was left out of the bible – I believe it went: " And they all lived happily everafter"
@rickwh
Happily ever after? lol – so you mean to say it's was a fairy tale? No pun intended 🙂
Mary : Joseph, i am with child.
Joseph: But mary, i have not been with you.
Mary : It was an act of God.
Joseph : You lying little......
If Adam and Eve were gay or our original ancestors...we all would have our answer....none of us would be here.
With brains like yours it's lucky we are.
Perhaps Adam and Eve were Bi, or had some other interests that "sparked" up life on the ranch.
Do you really call that an argument? lolololol
Quite accurate Ken. Just because they do not like the truth does not make it less true.
If Adam and Eve was true we would all be related (since their kids would have had to do it to keep the species going).
Shure we would.
God, who is perfect, would have had to fix his mistake
and start over, right ?
The Bible does not say anything. It is a BOOK. Before the printing press, the "stories" we passed along via word of mouth, generation to generation. Anyone who has played the "Gossip Game" as a child knows just how distorted and unreliable word of mouth stories can be. And now, the terminally stupid look to this "book" to argue with true science. A huge number of people would rather have a book of wildly exaggerated stories used as a guide for real life important decisions. How absolutely gutless.
LOL. Please use google before embarrassing yourself by publicizing your ignorance. The scriptures were written and copied by hand. There were actually monks whose sole job was to copy scripture word for word. They were not spread by word of mouth. Lets not use blind assumptions to back our arguments...
Graham your argument does not go far enough back into history especially since you are referencing monks who did not appear until early Christianity when the old testament was already formed and written. The books old testament bible were written down, edited and reshaped over time, many times this editing depended on the political needs and particular beliefs of the people in power at the time. There are many versions of the old testament some in conflict with each other amongst the jews after they were written down. Another argument against the Bible being anything but a work of men. No doubt there was an oral tradition and belief which predates the writings. Half of the old testament books are histories and these took the form we know today (meaning they evolved over time) between 600 and 400 BC. The prophets took their current form between 800 and 600 BC except Jonah and Daniel which were much later. The Pentateuch (first five books) did not take its present form until around 500 BC "Few scholars today doubt that it reached its present form in the Persian period (538-332 BC), and that its authors were the elite of exilic returnees who controlled the Temple at that time." (Blenkinsopp, Joseph (1998). "The Pentateuch" (1998), p.184).
*** Talk about ignorance ***
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The scriptures were written and copied by hand. There were actually monks whose sole job was to copy scripture word for word. They were not spread by word of mouth. Lets not use blind assumptions to back our arguments...
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So the monks copied these "written" texts word for word.
Who wrote the original texts ?
Very few people back then could write.
A child can be taught to copy anything.
If i was one of the few who could write,
i would sure as heck tell the story from my own point of view.
You said "they were not spread by word of mouth".
You are wrong, maybe you need to use google some more.
Most stories in the bible in fact, had been passed on by mouth for generations
before they had been written down.
EPIC FAIL.
1 Corinthians chapter 6: verse 9 - "What ! Do you not know that unrighteous persons will not inherit God's kingdom? Do not be mislead. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men kept for unnatural, purposes, nor men who lie with men, verse 10 - nor thieves, nor greedy persons, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit God's kingdom. verse 11 - "And yet, that is what some of you WERE. But you have been washed clean, but you have been sanctified, but you have been declared righteous in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and with the spirit of our God. - Mark 12:29, 30 say's the kind of Love that comes FIRST ( above all other Love ) Mark 12:29, 30 say's, " Jesus answered: "The first is, 'Hear O Isreal, Jehovah our God is one Jehovah, verse 30 "and you must LOVE Jehovah your God with your whole heart and your whole soul and with your whole mind and with your whole strength. ' verse 31 say's, "The second is this, 'You must LOVE your neighbor as yourself. ' There is no other commandment greater than these. " LOVE FIRST goes to God. And God's way of doing things. Not first to our own way or preference of doing things. All people MUST be shown Dignity. People who make their OWN CHOICES should be treated with Dignity, even and especially when their choices do not agree with our personal choices. People who choose to learn what is God's Way of doing things, God's view, must likewise be treated with Dignity . ( For how will they call upon Him in whom they have not heard? How in turn will they hear about Him without somone to preach? How in turn will they preach unless they have been sent forth? Romans 10: 14, 15. )..
Rom 10:9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
ordained a priest in Rome, is a theologian, psychotherapist and author ROFL... who also rewrites history based on his own need to justify bad behavior. For goodness sakes. Lets do away with marriage altogether. Let all the benefits and protections be attached individually to the children. The adults can all just make up their own morality. Been doing it since the 1960s. Sure seems to be working just great. Stupid rainbow. Lets have a flood and start over big Daddy!!! Just hit the reset.
Opinion: What Bible Says About ________
is the same no matter what you put in the blank.......BS! and who cares?
Well put!
The bible clearly states that God created Adam then Eve. And then Adam named the womam, not God. The womam was made from the man exclusively. Read Proverb 31. Also realize religion is about worshipping God, not man.
Who wrote Genesis though? How exactly is it God's word?
And exactly who was it that overheard this that can be repeated 6000 years later?
Answer for Svann: The first five books of the bible were written by Moses but inspired by God.
what about leviticus20:13
What about Leviticus 25: 44?
44 ” ‘Your male and female slaves are to come from the nations around you; from them you may buy slaves. 45 You may also buy some of the temporary residents living among you and members of their clans born in your country, and they will become your property. 46 You can will them to your children as inherited property and can make them slaves for life, but you must not rule over your fellow Israelites ruthlessly.
Christianity is a mental disease. The bible, the father, the Ho and the b@@stard son are fake. I dare every Christian to pray as hard as they want to make even a clap of thunder appear on its own. You are all a bunched of duped id!ots.
You do realize that there will come a day when you will meet the Lord face to face? I sincerely doubt you will be calling him a fake then. Good luck with your hatred.
as they want to make even a clap of thunder appear on its own
===========
Why would anyone do that? God gave us life that is enough.
Nope.
Totally agree :)))
I dare you to post your name and address and find out whether God is real in the next 24 hours. Idiots and cowards. The atheists bible has 1 paragraph.
I dun believe in anything. you dun believe in anything all dem christians is stoopid.... yeah good argument there buddy.
the devil has spoken
The media can spin anything they want to make this president look good.
He already looked good before this !! Romney is an arrogant ass that only cares about money..take a hike
Yeah...I'll stick with the guy with multiple PhDs over the numbskull that just believes what his pastor tells him.
Funny, all the arguing that goes on here.... How about we all agree to rejoin Christianity rather than letting it be divided. Or shall we just let Christians argue over which branch (Mormon, Catholic, Methodist, Presbyterian, Pentecostal, etc...) is the right one to follow. Also should we decide on which version of the bible to use for our arguemnents :NASB, KJV, NRSV, NKJV, NAB, NIV, CEV, GNT, NLT, NIrV, or a NCV, (http://www.sundayschoolresources.com/biblechoices.htm). I tell you one thing, there is going to be HELL to pay for all of us, christian or not, if we don't get our act together and start loving and respecting each other like we were instructed to do!
If after becoming a Muslim someone decides to suicide bomb, they get to go to heaven quicker than a normal Christian. It is all fun to discuss as long as we do not starting killing each other over Sun or Moon Gods. Peace to all.
Lev 18:22 You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination.
Eating shellfish is an abomination – Lev. 11:10
Men gettingt their hair trimmed, including the hair around their temples, is an abomination – Lev. 19:27
Planting two different crops in the same field is an abomination – Lev. 19:19
You may possess slaves, both male and female, provided they are purchased from neighbouring nations. – Leviticus 25:44
@five: look at the spelling of the form "lie" it's not the correct form used to imply sleeping. it's the form used to imply "not telling the truth"
lie- to not tell the truth
lye- a type of soap
lay- to put down
ly- to position oneself horizontially
"If a man also lies with a man, as he lies with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them." Levitivus 20:13
Why does the author conveniently leave this passage out?
Leviticus also condemns anyone who works on the sabbath (which is Saturday, BTW) or women who speak in public to death.
How on earth in this day and age can anyone defend the use of these ancient mores and myths?!? Try sticking to these:
Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
Judge not lest ye be judged.
All who curse their father or mother must be put to death. They are guilty of a capital offense. (Leviticus 20:9 NLT)
Same book.. do you follow that too?
Great! Let's go into the Old Testament and look for things punishibale by death - including failure to properly observe the Sabbath! Wow, I bet it won't be too hard to find something we can execute you for! Christians spend a lot of time justifying why much of this part of the Bible doesn't apply to them. Do you really want to open that can of un-kosher creatures?
Read again. He does discuss what has been mistranslated and malused by the faux Christians to justify their hatreds.
He did not conveniently leave out Mosaic law. Mosaic law was for the Jews to distinguish themselves from the Gentiles. There are many translation issues also with these condemnations as well. Why is it that people can not accept that there are possible flaws in the way they understand the Bible, a 3000 yr text? It was first an oral history then written in languages that have not been spoken in thousands of years. What will their answer be when they stand before Him when asked why did you condemn people in His name?
(1 Corinthians 6:9-11) What! Do YOU not know that unrighteous persons will not inherit God’s kingdom? Do not be misled. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men kept for unnatural purposes, nor men who lie with men, 10 nor thieves, nor greedy persons, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit God’s kingdom. 11 And yet that is what some of YOU were. But YOU have been washed clean, but YOU have been sanctified, but YOU have been declared righteous in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and with the spirit of our God. {You can have a desire to do any of these things, "but that is what some of you were, but you have been washed clean" just need to resist the desire until Gods Will is done and his Kingdom rules the Earth}
(1 Corinthians 7:1-3) Now concerning the things about which YOU wrote, it is well for a man not to touch a woman; 2 yet, because of prevalence of fornication, let each man have his own wife and each woman have her own husband. 3 Let the husband render to [his] wife her due; but let the wife also do likewise to [her] husband.
(1 Corinthians 7:10, 11) To the married people I give instructions, yet not I but the Lord, that a wife should not depart from her husband; 11 but if she should actually depart, let her remain unmarried or else make up again with her husband; and a husband should not leave his wife.
(Daniel 2:44) “And in the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be brought to ruin. And the kingdom itself will not be passed on to any other people. It will crush and put an end to all these kingdoms, and it itself will stand to times indefinite;
(Psalms 37, Rev. 21:3,4)
Yea this guy left a lot out ! Holy misrepresenting the content of the bible wow!
Yes but Corinthians is not God's word – its Paul's word. Letters to the church.
I think the passages are QUITE clear. I find it interesting that an ordained priest thinks that the bible doesn't mean what it says but we all know that even the devil knows that Jesus is Lord yet he has his own agenda. Not every one who wears the cloth is of the cloth. Things that made go HUMMM!?!?
Yes, but the above passage does concede that divorce is just like "lying with a man," and also many other behaviors that Christians trivialize... I think the saying is take the beam out of your eye before you talk about the sawdust in anothers'.
The bible is a book of ancient myths written by primitive men who feared the world around them because they didn't understand it. Trying to use it to govern a modern society, is non-sensical, especially since we have separation of church and state. How would the Christians like it, if they were forced to live by some Hebrew laws?
The Book of Lobotomy makes it all very clear.
I dont see that Jesus negated the law. You can be forgiven violations, but that does not make them legal.
Leviticus 18:22 "You shall not lie with a male as one lies with a female; it is an abomination.
Matthew 5:17 "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them."
Not all the bible is clear as to meaning, but that part is. You dont need a theologian to interpret what it means.
But having said that, he also said to render unto Caesars what is Caesars. Which to me in principle is the ideal of separation of church and state. Not the same words, but the same idea.
Again I will ask this question: God created the world man,aminals birds,etc,etc than if this so why are there gay creatures in the aminals kingdom and also there are abortions. Does that God is evil????? No one yet have answer my question.
God is both good and evil. Male and female. The Devil was invented to explain the evil side of God. God got so disgusted with man that he caused a great flood to wipe him off of the earth except for Noah and his family. Not my idea of a nice superior being.
It is true that God created man and women, the earth and all things upon the face thereof. He also gave mankind their agency to choose for themselves. At the same time he has given commandments and guidance through the bible/prophets/our own conscience....what we can't choose for ourselves is the consequences of our actions. God is not evil, it is those who know God's will for mankind and opposes it.
I don't know why this very simple concept can't seem to get through some people's noggins, but let's try again: If you believe in a religion that disagrees with the idea that people should be allowed to marry whomever they want regardless of gender, then don't marry someone of the same gender.
I believe in fairness, equality and the right for people to shape their own lives and destinies. Laws promoting marriage equality takes nothing away from the lives people who do not believe that people of the same gender should be allowed to marry. It does not make them suddenly "not married' or "less married" than they were before. Laws prohibiting same-gender marriage DO take something away from other people – something that is not anyone's to take. If you believe that your religious beliefs allow you to take something away from other people that is not yours to take, then you might want to give serious thought to your choice in belief systems. Because one day, someone is going to come along and take something from you that isn't theirs to take, and you won't have any room to argue about it.
All the time that is wasted because of a book.
If mankind could find the truth about its origin, this book will become
the footnote in history that it is.
Another race of beings thousands of years ago
stepped onto the earth and manipulated the DNA of primitive simiens.
Your Adam & Eve story.
That is why you have no missing link.
It was decided to give you enough inteligence to do the chores of your masters.
But one of our own gave you too much knowledge,
Your garden of eden story.
Your ancient Sumerian tablets show us giving you the plow
so you could grow food instead of being hunter/gathering peoples.
We are not Gods, but we are gods to you primitives.
When we left, we left behind gaurdians.
Those same gaurdians, are still with you.
Your presidents, and kings.
Your "controllers".
Your religions are a creation to control your behaviour.
We had much hope, that as you progressed as a species
you would leave that behind.
You have failed.
How will you ever join the true creation of the universe
when you cannot evolve beyond your primitive Gods.
You have the left brain of man, and the right brain of woman.
Until you merge these two brains into universal understanding
You cannot become one with the universe.
Do not look to your book.
Do not look to the sky.
Do not look to your gods.
Look to your heart.
You may find your answer.
The Universe is watching.