Someone please tell me what this is supposed to mean...?

Question

Romans 1:21-32 NIV

PLEASE READ THE WHOLE THING BEFORE ANSWERING.

Give me your personal interpretation of this selection. In my opinion, it would appear that Paul teaches that homosexuals and non-Christians are comparable to murderers and that they do not deserve to live.

Just wondering, have I "misunderstood" again, or have I hit the nail on the head?

Answer 1

There are plenty of ways to interpret the Christian Bible, as it does speak to people in mysterious ways. I believe 10 different people could read the exact same scripture, and come up with 10 different explanations. But I'll share my thoughts with you on this one.. Maybe seeing it in a different perspective will help you understand it on a different level? Who knows..

"Rom 1:21: For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened 22: Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools 23: and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles."

Basically, it's telling us we know God. We've heard the stories, read the scriptures, but we don't really KNOW God. How could we claim to know him, while our thoughts and actions are impure, foolish ones? 1:22 explains it perfectly. Although men are wise in the physical sense, With the book smarts, technology, and so on.. These same men are ignorant in the eyes of God, because they are ignorant in the ways of the Bible. They have no morals, no faith. 1:23 goes further into this point, stating men have chosen false Gods.. building shrines and statues to mortal figures. It has been stated plenty of times in the Christian Bible that Jehovah is a jealous God.. "Exodus 20:3-6 you shall have no other gods before me. 4 You shall not make for yourself an image, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. 5 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, punishing children for the iniquity of parents, to the third and the fourth generation of those who reject me, 6 but showing steadfast love to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments."

"Rom 1:24 Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. 25 They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen. "

Basically, this states that we have a free will to live our lives as we please, with the adultery, impure thoughts, so on and so forth. Rom 1:25 turns back to mention the shrines, statues, and temples created to worship mortal beings and false Gods, which I've described above.

"Rom 1:26 Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. 27 In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion."

This is basically telling us that when we give into our sins (using homosexuality/adultery as prime examples here), we are taken out of God's eyes. We're no longer living for God when we submit to these lifestyles.. We're living for our sins, instead. (Which can also be descibed as a "False God"). Rom 1:27 "... and recieved in themselves the due penalty for their perversion". When the Chirstian Judgement Day arrives, everyone will have to witness their lives throught the eyes of God, and account for everything we've ever done. The sins, the acts of kindness, of faith, et cetera. We will be judged accordingly. This doesn't nessicarily mean that homosexuals will be damned to hell, it just means they will be judged accordingly for the amount and extent of their sin.

"Rom 1:28 Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done. 29 They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; 31 they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless. 32 Although they know God's righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them."

Rom 1:28-31 is pretty much self-explanitory.. I don't think I could interpret these passages any more plainly than they've already been stated, so I won't try. However, 1:32 can be laid out in a more modern sense. This is telling us that even though we know God, and know how he punishes sin, and frowns upon lifestyles so evil, we continue to do these things anyway. When we see sin, we don't confront.. We just shrug our shoulders and turn the other cheek. This is also sinful, in the eyes of God. "... those who do such things deserve death". I don't believe this means a physical death, but more of an eternal death. Damnation, if you will.

As for your personal interpretation, I don't think you've exactly "hit the nail on the head".. though you do have a few good points. Non-Christians and homosexuals are comparable to murders, to the extent that they are all sins. But I think it ends there. Everyone will be judged on a personal basis.. I believe if 2 people commit even the exact same sin, they will be judged, and punished, in 2 entirely different ways.. given the personal circumstances and extent of the sins.

I know this is a very long explination.. But I hope you've gained something from it, and it helps you understand the scripture a little better.

Merry Christmas!

Answer 2

The only thing that puzzles me is why anybody would spend precious time out of a very short life, worrying over the interpretation of what somebody may or may not have said two or more thousand years ago. Just imagine if people today tried to apply aaaallllll of the things in the Bible to our present day world. It would be chaotic. Women would lose all the progress that has ever been made towards their equality as human beings with the male half of the species. And I hate to think what would be the fate of millions whose only "crime" was that they wanted to be free thinkers, and make up their own minds what they wanted to believe or not believe.
But of course, we know that the world has changed so drastically that (and I make no apology for saying THANKFULLY SO) it just absolutely wouldn't work.
There are enough homosexuals, and non-christians in this world to be more than capable of standing up to those who would love to have the freedom under law to exterminate them. My my my, wouldn't Adolf Hitler love that.
I think smart people do not distract themselves from the business of living in the very real present, to speculate on the questionable sayings and thinkings of those who died thousands of years ago, and who couldn't even make it through a single day of life in our present times, much less make any rational judgements about what any of us should or should not do, or be, or believe in.

Answer 3

Well, I'd say your interpretation is a little bit "off" in terms of "not deserve to live" etc. Here's my take.

1. This passage refers to a specific group in history. This happened to a particular, depraved group whom Paul is using as an illustration. This is an example of a group of people who were so depraved that God "gave up" on them and just stopped trying to intervene in their sin - just gave them over to it and to its consequences "received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion" (v 27).

2. There are things to be learned from this passage. One particular thing we can take from it is how much God deplores these acts! You can see how the acts of homosexuality led to other wicked acts, i.e. "envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice...." Those who approve of homosexuality in this day and age are certainly trying to deceive the rest of us into believing that it's a good thing and that God approves of it!

3. The final stage... "they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them". That's the last stage of depravity... no longer satisfied to do these things themselves, they actively recruit and approve of those who join in with their depravity.

There's lots of parallels with this passage and our society today. Hopefully some people will sit up and take notice from the warning.

Thanks for a good question.

Answer 4

No, it is talking about sin. It means no sin is greater a sin, or lesser a sin than the other. Its all sin. But the thing you have to remember is that everyone DOES sin, and we have all been given a way out, forgiveness, and if you reallyt hink about it. God died for us, which would have been our punishment, so that we could spend eternity with him. So unfortunately yes, all sin is equallly bad in God's eyes, but all of those sins have been foregiven, as long as you are willing to accept the gift!

Answer 5

It may help to begin the passage at vs 18. It is really all ungodliness that makes all people including Christians subject to death. All sin is not the same their are different levels of punishment for sin, but all sin leads to separation from life. The real issue isn't morality or religion, but one of faith. Who is Jesus to you and what are you going to to about it?

Answer 6

The director has his say and his way. She's the Pamela Anderson of the video because she looks better on the screen as opposed to your friend. I would not take it personally. That's an actor's life.

Answer 7

Unfortunately yes. Christianity, even though preaching love and forgiveness is one of the most hateful religions in the world. It preaches hatred and punishment upon anyone who does not believe in the Christian God. Even though they can't agree on what God is or how it should be worshipped themselves.

Answer 8

I believe it means that Homosexuals and Non-Christians are the lowest kind and there like murderers

Answer 9

Yes, no one is worthy of God's grace but it is there for the accepting or rejecting. Acceptance is not a means for bragging or feeling self-righteous. No one earned it.

Answer 10

Well homosexuals are just regular people that God made. God made them that way for a reason. They can't help it. God is the one they should go to for help with whatever they have.