Quote:
Originally posted by a.e.B.O.T.
Sorry I have taken too long to respond... BUT, did you read this link... the only accusation towards homosexuality as a sin (besides that in Leviticus, which also says some other wild stuff like that you cant eat a bat, or wear mix-linens) is not made by bible refrences, but by commentary. Most of that stuff like the Sodomn and Gamora comes from sexual perversion such as rape, lust and orgies... There are many a book on the topic, and many a debate. I recently took a class on the very topic, and its actually quite fascinating. To quote you website... "Jesus said nothing about gays, lesbians, or homosexuality as such"
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Did you actually read the website, including the references to the first chapter of Romans and the sixth chapter of I Corinthians?
As you said, there is a lot of debate on this, and a lot of commentary/interpretation, including the interpretation that "stuff like the Sodomn and Gamora comes from sexual perversion such as rape, lust and orgies" or from lack of hospitality. That itself is an interpretation, and it is a fairly recent one.
And as you say, Jesus said nothing about homosexuality "as such." (He said nothing about a lot of things.) But what does that mean? In his context -- he was an observant Jew who would have known quite well that the Mosaic Law forbad any form of homosexuality -- one could assume that had he disgreed with the way this prohibition was understood, interpreted or applied he would have said so (he did on other subjects) and that silence may well indicate an acceptance of the prohibition. And there
is what he said in the 19th chapter of Matthew, where, after having been asked about divorce, he refers back to the creation story:
"Have you not read that the one who made them at the beginning 'made them male and female,' and said, 'For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh'? So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate."
Here, he echoes the gist of Genesis, which certainly implies if not expressly states, that male-female "relations" are normative. He then goes on to say that those who cannot cannot accept this teaching should remain celibate. (He also explains that the Mosaic law allowed for divorce as an accomodation to those too weak to live up to the expectation of marriage for life, so again he can and does point out places where the Law is designed to accomodate us.)
Please do not get me wrong -- as far as the OP's question goes, I have no problem with gay brothers and I never have. I also have no problem with my gay family members, co-workers and friends. And the Biblical/theological debate on the issue is something I take seriously and try to approach with compassion and the "law of love" rather than with legalism and judgmentalism. But that said, I simply think it is inaccurate to characterize what the Bible has to say about homosexuality as being limited to Leviticus (which brings on whole new discussions of the moral law vs. the ritual law and, for Christians, Jesus's comment that he did not come to abolish the law but to fulfill it), or to "close the book," so to speak, by saying "Jesus never said anything about it," as if that settles the matter. Rather, I think hinders meaningful discussion on the subject.