I can't actually recall any points being made about this passage whenever we did the bible reading. Probably why i only just realised it existed not that long ago.
" No man who has been castrated by having his testicles crushed or who has had his male organ cut off may come into the congregation of Jehovah."
-Deuteronomy 23:1
Was this so common in ancient Israel that they had to make a rule about it?
'The Law further read: “No man castrated by crushing the testicles or having his male member cut off may come into the congregation of Jehovah.” ( De 23:1 ) Such ‘castration’ did not relate to congenital defects or to an accidental condition. (Compare Le 21:17-21; De 25:11, 12 .) Evidently, therefore, it had to do with deliberate emasculation for immoral purposes, such as homosexuality. Such a one was to be kept out of the congregation, not being allowed to associate with it, thereby protecting its purity.'
That sounds like an awful lot of pain to go through just to have sex with another man which, unless i'm mistaken, requires for you to have all the required "parts".
Just thinking of some old guys in the desert dressed in ridiculous clothes reading out these rules to thousands of guillible people who just go along with it just makes me so glad i wasn't born back then