What does the Bible really say about homosexuality?
Part 2 – Homosexuality, Christianity, and the Church. (You can listen to Part 1 HERE)
Founder of Ambassadors & Bridge Builders International, Anthony Venn-Brown, was the first openly gay man invited to speak in an Australian evangelical Bible college. How often have we heard the words “the Bible clearly condemns homosexuality”. The Bible is clear about a lot of things: homosexuality is not one of them. Looking at the 6 passages in the light of cultural and historical contexts as well as the original language helps people understand what the Bible really says about homosexuality, that is, nothing. The Bible occasionally mentions same-sex sexual activity but never about sexual orientation as we know it today.
You read in Genesis 19 about a town of men who tried to have sex with angels and God destroyed the city.
You read in Leviticus that men shouldn’t lie with men as with a woman and if they do they should be put to death.
Then in Romans 1 you read that men and women turned from what was natural and burned with lust for each other; therefore God gave them over to a depraved mind and all kinds of evil.
You read in I Corinthians 6:9 that homosexuals are listed with a range of evil people that Paul says cannot enter the kingdom of heaven. Adding of course that some you were these kinds of people.
So it all sounds pretty cut and dried, doesn’t it?
Reading these in an English translation through our 21st-century lens means we make assumptions as to the meaning. To really understand the meaning intended by the writers, it would be necessary to look at the historical and cultural contexts the authors wrote in and also the nuances at times of the language used.
This audio covers the historical/cultural contexts as well as digging into the original languages to reveal the wide-ranging interpretations of Genesis 19, Leviticus 18:22, Leviticus 20:13, Romans 1:26-27, I Corinthians 6:9, 1 Timothy 1:10 and Jude 1:7. 11 verses out of 31,173
Remember. the enemy is not individuals, churches, ‘ex-gay’ organisations or political parties; the enemy is ignorance.
Change is created by focusing our energies on overcoming the latter instead of attacking the former.
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