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Detailed Table of Contents II. Homosexuality in the Old Testament In the Old Testament homosexuality is most explicitly discussed in four passages. Two are prohibitions in the law against homosexual activity.
The other two are historical events: We will not attempt to answer every issue that could be raised about each text.
This has already been done in a number of resources that will be referenced. Then we will look at the two narrative accounts. This straightforward law prohibits all homosexual acts. It makes no distinctions as to whether or not they were consensual. It comes in the midst of a section of laws related to sexual relationships.
No consequence is given here in each verse for the individual laws, but rather they are all listed as things that must not be done. In balance, homosexuality here is not singled out from among the rest of the sexual sins which themselves are being highlightedbut is included with the rest.
These various sexual activities are ones which brought about the punishment of God upon the previous inhabitants of the land Lev. Thus in the law homosexuality was an offense against God. It, along with the other sexual sins, was not to exist in Israel at all. They must be put to death; their blood guilt is on themselves.
It comes in the midst of a section detailing crime and punishment lists. This particular section deals with sexual offenses and their judgments.
The punishment for homosexual acts was to be death for both participants. Thus in the law homosexuality was a sin against God that required capital punishment.
Indeed all the men of the city tried desperately to rape them. Attempts have been made to see the sin here as only inhospitality, or of unnatural relations with angels. Similarly, the face value reading that the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah included not only inhospitality but also the homosexual activity is the best interpretation.
While aspects of this verse unnatural desires similar to angels may raise questions, it definitely extends the sinful conduct beyond hospitality to sexual immorality. Thus, before the giving of the law, God considered this attempt at homosexual rape—which continued even after the men were blinded— to be part of the great wickedness that resulted in the wholesale destruction of these towns.
She died after their treatment of her. Like many real life issues today, the sin that resulted in all this seems to have been an array of actions. Fourthly, the rest of the tribe of Benjamin refused to turn these men over to punishment Judges The brief re-telling of the story to the tribes Judges In the re-telling it seems that there was more of a focus on the actual offenses rather than on the intended ones.
However, the attempt is included in the longer record of the event and distinctly labeled as wrong. Consequently, it is fully appropriate to see it as part of the events being judged. Conclusion to Homosexuality in the Old Testament Both before the law was given and then under the law, homosexuality was considered to be sin for Israelites and non-Israelites.
This was true for consensual and non-consensual cases. Before the law was given this was not the only incident of God directly judging the sinfulness of man on a large scale cf. Far from minimizing or maximizing any particular sin, this shows that God is active both in declaring many deeds to be sin and in punishing them all.
There is no injustice with God. His actions were not limited to one particular sin, and many other examples from the Old Testament could be cited showing His involvement in dealing with sin.
It is possible, though, that the variety of sexual sins and their subsequent connection with idolatry may have been more strictly punished and warned against as a whole cf.Must-read post offering a Christian perspective on homosexuality.
A fresh approach that is gospel-centered & love-saturated without compromising the truth. Homosexuality can be overcome with the power and presence of our faithful God. A Christian Perspective on Homosexuality offers the hope of the power of God in Christ Jesus our Lord for those struggling with homosexuality in .
For some this issue of the Biblical perspective on homosexuality has a merely academic attraction. This would perhaps be the person who is neither a Christian, nor a homosexual.
The topic might not personally affect them, but since it is a current issue it is of interest. For others this is very personal. A Fresh Approach: A Christian Perspective on Homosexuality.
Only 8% of homosexual men and 7% of homosexual women ever have relationships lasting more than three years. Nobody knows the reason for this strange, obsessive promiscuity. It may be that homosexuals are trying to satisfy a deep psychological need by sexual encounters, and it just is not fulfilling. Homosexuality A Christian Perspective What Causes Homosexuality? The Formula For Producing A Homosexual. This formula can be illustrated in this way: A Predisposition Toward Homosexuality. Plus. That First Homosexual Experience. Multiplied By. Pleasurable and Positive Homosexual . A biblical perspective on being Christian and gay We experience same-sex attraction and yet are committed to what the Bible clearly says, and what the church has always taught, about marriage and sex.
Loving People, Standing for Truth. This post may contain affiliate links to products I love. For full disclosure, click here. Some people say homosexuality is natural and moral; others say it is unnatural and immoral. How do we know? A. Homosexuality: Questions and Answers.
Article contributed by Probe or both. But the Bible gives us the dignity and responsibility missing from that mechanistic view of life.
God has invested us with free will—the . Homosexuality A Christian Perspective What Causes Homosexuality? The Formula For Producing A Homosexual. This formula can be illustrated in this way: A Predisposition Toward Homosexuality.
Plus. That First Homosexual Experience. Multiplied By. Pleasurable and Positive Homosexual .