Homsexuality and the bible?

Question

A serious question, not trolling, for those who hold that the Old Testament outlawing of homosexuality holds today.

Many people point out the other Old Testament laws that are NOT held to apply today. Eg eating pork, blood, shrimps, the lawfullness of selling your daughter into slavery etc.

Why is it that these laws are not thought to be binding on Christians but the law against homosexuality is?

Answer 1

God's Wrath Against Mankind - Romans 1:18-27 - it's pretty clear:

18 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, 19 since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20 For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.

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.

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.

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.

Answer 2

Good question. There are different sections of old testament laws. Moral and ceremonial and civil. Moral was given by God to live a better life. Disobeying is a sin. Ceremonial had to do with the sanctuary and other symbolic things pointing to Christ. The other were civil laws that were given by God. They were given to bring order to society rife with cultural bias and other problems. Slavery would fall under the civil law category.The only laws that apply to us today are the moral laws. (All other laws were nailed to the cross) They were reinforced in the new testament or they were given by God during creation or before the Jews were a nation. Those are demonstrations of God's unchanging character regardless of culture. Some of these are the 10 commandments, sexual laws, the food laws are actually both moral and ceremonial. There are just some animals that are not meant to be eaten. God gave us those instructions to make us healthier. The question of homosexuality isn't a issue for me since I follow God's moral laws and it falls under that category.

Answer 3

Priciples of the Mosaic law still apply whereas Christians are not bound by that set of laws anymore. For example, Jesus stated that the greatest commands were to love God with the whole heart and to love our neighbor as ourself. These were in the 10 commandments and the Mosaic law, respectively.

But the laws on tithing and observing the sabbath, for example, which were laws for a nation of God's people, were done away with when Christ died. Many people cite the Mosaic law against homosexuality in part to show that this is something God has always stated is wrong. One reason for the Mosaic law was to show people that they needed a savior, Christ, because of mankind's sinfulness. It also established issues of morality that only God has the right to set for man. At 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 the Christians were told that homosexuals, drunkards, and idolaters etc. were not acceptable to God, and then the statement is made "and yet that is what some of you WERE". So homosexuality is not any better or worse than drunkeness or idolatry- God views these as wrong, and yet people can change. An alcoholic is an alcoholic whether he drinks or not. If a person is homosexual, they can chose to practice this sin or not.

Answer 4

The first thing to note is that many Christians forget that the most important law is to "Love the Lord your God and Love your neighbour as yourself". In theory this means that it doesn't matter what we do so long as we are loving God and loving others - of course the paradox here is that there are some things you can't do purely because to do them would be not to love God and/or others. In fact we can sum this all up by saying if you don't love others you can't be loving God - therefore the call on us is simply to love God.
Many of the rules listed in the books of the law (like Deuteronomy and Leviticus) are outdated not in their meaning but in their wording - the root of the law remains the same. The rules surrounding what we eat were because God asked us not to eat those things, but he latter allowed us to eat anything in creation. The law surrounding selling your daughter into slavery still stands today becauses to do so would contradict the law of love.
Also do not discount that many of the laws listed in the Bible are there not to tell us what to do but to show us what happens when humans obtain power and do not administer it justly - much of the New Testament documents Jesus and his apostles rebuking laws which arre self-seeking and not for the good of God's people (all people).
As far as homosexuality is concerned, I have people close to me who are homosexual but it doesn't change my view. Homosexuality is a sin, just as lying is a sin. That does not make people who practice homosexuality or who have homosexual temptations evil it just means there is something in their life that goes against what God asks of us (to have sexual relations only within a marriage, and for marriage to be between a man and a woman). A homosexual can be a Christian but to practice homosexuality is to sin.

Answer 5

The old testament is the old covenant that we had with God, but the new testament is the new convenant that we have with God. So christains follow the new testament. The new testament says that gentiles are allowed eat pork, etc.. but that homosexuality is very bad. the old testament is just for reference.

Also the new testament focused on homosexuality so much because at the time of its writing in greek society it was fashionable for the rich married men to have a "boy" ***** as well. (basically owning a boy ***** was a bit like having a jaguar in today todays terms!!)

Answer 6

Because ministers will only like to rebuke the non-popular hidden sins, not the popular out in the open ones, such as divorce. If they brought up such things as divorce, etc. most all of their congregation would leave and their income along with it. They also avoid controversial passages of the Bible such as Psalms 82:6 and John 10:34. God made us all. We are all a part of God and God's children. He will never leave us or forsake us because we are a part of Him.Jesus did not judge people, but preachers very much do just that as evidenced by a the recent stepping down of a popular evangelical pastor who condemned gays...only to be caught paying for sex with a gay prostitute and meth drugs also.Very hypocritical...Church is more about money and millions and TV popularity than it is about worshiping God today unfortunately.

Answer 7

Theological inconsistency. As far as any New Testament writer saying it was wrong, that person could have had a good dose of it and was in denial, or simply had a problem, like one did with women. Jesus had nothing against women of faith, they were the ones who stood by him at the end, along with John.
I think Christians need to consider that God, not they, not some human writer is the pure judge of other's behaviours.
I ought to say I am a Christian (Anglican) and stay far from such people bashing issues.
--That Cheeky Lad

Answer 8

This is not a law this is an activity that is an abomination to God in both the Old and New Testaments. Since we are under a new covenant and not under the law the perspective is where you are misunderstanding. The position of a child of God today is still to do what is good and pleasing to our Father in heaven. The laws and commandments in the Old testament were not given to be legalistic about life. They were given so that man can know what is best for him and to bring about the most favorable consequences to our choices.

Jesus said that the 2 most important commandments are these: Love God with all that you are mind body and soul. The second is this, love your neighbor as yourself. When we fulfill these two commandments we are fulfilling all of the law and the prophets. The reason for this is because when we do this we are reflecting the perfect love that God has for us and that is in us to the world around us. This is how we are able to fulfill all of the law in the Old Testament without being legalistic.

It is because of the love that we have for our God and our Father and the fact that we are trying to be a good son or daughter that we are obedient and strive to honor Him with our actions. This is no different than our own children wanting to be pleasing to us and considered a good child. Our children know how to be good and pleasing to us because we tell them. It is no different with God. In the bible He has not only revealed Himself to us He has also revealed the morals we should have and the qualities of our character that are pleasing to Him. When we follow the wisdom in the bible that God gives us our life is less stressful and more satisfactory and fulfilling to us. God is not a dictatorial God and has given us a list of do's and don'ts for His pleasure. We are given them to help us enjoy life and be the best that we can be.

Answer 9

There is a difference between purely Jewish law and universal law in the OT. Some of the laws were destined to be characteristic of Jews only and some are universal. (True for all people all time) It doesnt exactly take a Bible scholar to see the differences. Of what we read in the NT, ALL sexual sin is STILL forbidden. That is stated so many times in the NT I fail to see how there is still any debate today over it. Actually I do see, because a number of people are trying to justify their unGodly lifestyles by knowlingly confusing and clouding the Scriptures.

Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. -1 Corinthians 6:10

Answer 10

Sometimes, letting go seems like the easiest thing to do. But think about this: you've invested so much of your time and energy into another person; you've made a solemn promise; and you still know there's love, even if it's hiding underneath the surface. This website will show you how to save a marriage and avoid divorce, even if you're the only one trying https://tr.im/RwIqn

Answer 11

One: Rules not held to day Eg: eating "un clean foods" Mark 7 Jesus defined clean /unclean. He declared all foods clean.(v19) So that argument is null and void.

Two: I don't think God ever said "sell your daughter into slavery", but if you want to talk about slavery back in old testament days, you have to know that slavery was a whole different thing than it is now. It was culturally acceptable, but there were reasons for people to become slaves. When one group of people conquered another it was acceptable to take the losing side as slaves, but generally i believe that the "slaves" eventually became integrated into the new culture. Another reason for someone to "become" a slave was debt, if money was owed then the person owed the money could make the other person "work off' his debt for up to7 years(this is my understanding), it really was a part of culture, there were laws that protected slaves, and usually the bondage was not permanent. Of course sometimes it was allowed by God to punish His people(Jews) for being unfaithful.(kind of like how he used war)

Three: Homosexuality Is NEVER "ok'd" by God NEVER.

**God ok's sex only in marriage(no if ands or buts about it), God defines marriage as between ONE MAN AND ONE WOMAN, therefore it is a sin(WRONG) to have sex out side of marriage weather it is with the oppisite sex or with the same sex, and you can only be married in gods eyes if the marriage is between a man and a women.

Homosexuality is a sinful behavior, and like any other sin requires repentance.