Homosexuality What the Bible Really Says...

by EvilForce 54 Replies latest social relationships

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  minimus

  Hmm, so the Bible supports homosexuality.......Interesting.
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  pc

  Thanks Evil and everyone for your posts. I will look back at Evils posts and read some of the books. I had this conversation with my JW sister-in-law last week. She gave me the whole "it's not in nature speech", and I said your wrong.

  I do attend a church but argue this point with everyone. I can't stand that people thing homosexuals will not be accepted by God. I always say do you think anyone would chose a life of people looking down at you or dealing with some peoples closed minds. Absolutely not! So then if it is an individuals DNA that determines which sex they like isn't that from God?

  I am a married mom of two young boys, and I only want them to be whatever it is they were born to be. That is one area that really pisses me off with Christians.

  I really love reading everyones posts here...
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  love2Bworldly

  Thanks for all the info EF. As time goes on, I am changing a lot of my views toward the Bible. I enjoy reading it, and believe it has a lot of good moral value for people--as far as treating others as you would treat yourself. But I think people go overboard in reading everything as literal. I can't openly talk about this stuff with my spouse, which is annoying to me. He reads the Bible every day for an hour and is waiting for the 'antiChrist' to appear any day now and for all the Christians to be caught away in the clouds. He sees everything in the Bible as very cut and dried, very black and white, and all I see are shades of various gray tones. He is very anti-gay, but sometimes I think his homophobic feelings are due to his uncle molesting him and making him feel dirty as a child. I think because he is not gay, he has some deeprooted fear of being perceived as gay.

  Anyway, I'm getting a little off the topic. But I enjoy learning other perspectives on the Bible.
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  EvilForce

  PC.....for the "it isn't in nature" b.s. argument one particular book is helpful. Bruce Bagemihl's "Biological Exuberance," published in 1999, documents homosexual behavior in more than 450 animal species. The list includes grizzly bears, gorillas, flamingos, owls and even several species of salmon.
  
  "The world is, indeed, teeming with homosexual, bisexual and transgendered creatures of every stripe and feather," Bagemihl writes in the first page of his book. "From the Southeastern Blueberry Bee of the United States to more than 130 different bird species worldwide, the 'birds and the bees,' literally, are queer."
  
  450 !!! So much for the "nature" argument.
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  minimus

  Homosexual gorillas are cool.
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  sonnyboy

  Leviticus 20:13 states, in part, "When a man lies down with a male the same as one lies down with a woman". Had the writer intended to convey homosexuality being condemned here, he would have likely used the Hebrew word 'iysh, which means "man", or "male person". Instead, the author utilizes a much more complicated Hebrew word, zakar, which literally translated means "a person worthy of recognition".

  Not that I care what the bible says (but as you say, many do), what does that scripture mean if it's not implying that the "persons worthy of recognition" are both men? Why would they add "as one lies down with a woman" if one of the "zakars" was a woman? And what would constitute a person worthy of recognition? A priest? A land owner? A father? What types of men would be excluded from the zakar class and be allowed to have gay sex? A slave? A farmer? A blacksmith?

  Sorry for so many questions, but I don't have any answers.
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  HappyDad
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  Narkissos

  Sonnyboy,

  As I said above this "explanation" of zakar is desperate: the term occurs over 80 times in the OT with the plain meaning "male" -- together with neqeva "female" in the 15 following instances:

  Genesis 1:27; 5:2; 6:19; 7:3,9,16;

  Leviticus 3:1,6; 12:7; 15:33; 27:5,6,7;

  Numbers 5:3;

  Deuteronomy 4:16
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  HappyDad

  
  EF,

  Thank you for the way you put it in writing. You are the first one that has made me look deep into myself and think about the treatment of gays and I am actually getting a different perspective on my outlook. I always considered myself as having an open mind, but now I'm seeing that it was just slightly ajar for certain issues. Somewhat like it was as a JW!

  Your points are valid and I would say thoughtfully and tastefully put. I apologize if I came across as having an attitude. Now I am able to see a little better.

  If it weren't for posts such as yours, ones like me would still have "foggy" glasses on........seeing a little of the picture.......but not clear enough to really understand.

  I guess education takes time for those willing to be educated. One thing that has helped me immensely is having two dear friends who are lesbian and nothing in their lifestyle would make me drop them as friends. Then a little less than a month ago a male friend I have had for almost 8 years confided in me that he is gay. He said that I'm someone he could trust talking to. I would have never known it since he has never said or done anything to make me suspect. That made me think too! He is my friend and I'm not about to drop him because he is gay. And I will not betray his trust in me.

  Soooooooo EF, continue writing informative posts that make people think.

  HappyDad
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  HappyDad

  (Edited to say) How did this screen get here? And blank at that.