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What Does the Bible Say About Gay? (Sodom and Gomorrah)Intro:
Why we’re studying:
Not to change anyone’s mind, but to inform people’s minds. We have agroup of gays and lesbians within our church. It would be helpful for our church to better understand how we justify homosexuality in the light of scripture.
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In studies like this, people sometimes feel the need to force their ideas. I have no desireto do this (and you shouldn’t either). This is me telling you what I believe and what I’velearned – you can do with it what you like.
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Please express your opinions, feelings, and questions. Even though I am gay, I don’ttake “but I don’t agree with what you’re saying” personally.
What we’ll do:
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Six main passages: Genesis, Leviticus, Romans, Corinthians, Timothy, Jude(Sodom/Jude and Corinthians/Timothy will be dealt with together).
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My story (I’ll share as much or as little as you want): Seminary. Used these tools –ironically – to land in this place.
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The driving hermeneutical principal for this study will be that
the Bible can’tmean for us what it never meant for the original readers.
That’s why we’llexplore language, culture, history, text, etc.
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The Bible is innocent until proven guilty
. Like a jury, we have to put away our preconceptions – built up not over a lifetime, but over 2,000 years of history – inorder to find its pure truth.
The Story (Genesis 19)
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The Context
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Hospitality
: Hospitality in ancient near Eastern culture was far more importantthan in modern culture. Travel through an often desolate wilderness was a slowprocess. Inns and safe places to spend the night were few and far between.Therefore, travelers tended to stop and spend the night with whoever wasfriendly enough to invite them in. Imagine yourself riding a camel or leading acamel through arid, dusty country day after day and you begin to appreciate theimportance of hospitality in ancient times. Welcoming weary travelers for anovernight stay was common in the ancient near east. Hosts welcomed travelerspassing through, expecting the same hospitality would be returned to them intheir travels. Travelers in ancient times depended on the
hospitality
of strangersfor their lives and safety.
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The Jewish Legal Precedent
Exodus 22:21
Exodus 23:9
Leviticus 19:34
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The Back Story
:
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Abraham asks God to save the city if he can find one good person. (Genesis18:16-33)
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God sends two strangers to Sodom to see what happen.
Why did the angels want to spend the night in the square? (Gen 19:1-3)
They were testing the town’s hospitality – see who would take them in
Why wouldn’t Lot let the angels stay in the square? (Gen 19:1-3)
Not because he was afraid for their safety, but because he was the righteousman showing hospitality.
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During the “rape,” Lot says, “But don't do anything to these men, for they have
come under the protection of my roof."
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The Conflict:
“So we can ‘know’ them” (Genesis 19:4-5)
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(?) “know” does not mean “sex.”
“…the Hebrew ‘to know’ is very rarely usedin a sexual sense in the bible: in only 10 of its 943 occurrences in the OldTestament does it have the sense of carnal knowledge. The passage on Sodomis the only place in the Old Testament where it is generally believe dot refer tohomosexual relations.” (Boswell, 94)
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Sex is the point
. Why else would he offer his daughter as “bait?”
Three types of homosex in ancient times
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Age: pedastry (a student as service/payment to a teacher)
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Status: Higher status taking advantage of lower status
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Committed
Homosexual sex was often used in ancient times as a form of humiliation
. A sign of a barbaric society in Bible times was that ithumiliated strangers and prisoners. The ultimate method was torture.The ultimate torture was for a straight man, often several straight men, torape a stranger, enemy, or prisoner, anally.
Being the active partner was not taboo – being the passive partner was
. “[there was a] popular association of sexual passivity with politicalimpotence. Those who most commonly played the passive role inintercourse were boys, women, and slaves – all persons excluded fromthe power structure.” (Boswell, 74)
The humiliation of strangers in the Sodom story is the ultimateviolation of hospitality.
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Lot: “But don't do anything to these men, for they have comeunder the protection of my roof." (Genesis 19:8) Lot isresponsible for the safety of his angel visitors and all their needsas long as they are under his roof. Travelers in ancient timesdepended on the
hospitality
of strangers for their lives andsafety.
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Men of Sodom “"Get out of our way," they replied. And they said,"This fellow came here as an alien, and now he wants to play the judge! We'll treat you worse than them." (Genesis 19:9) Their treatment of strangers (gang rape) was their crime. Thehomosexual aspect is secondary.
Further Evidence
What did other writers say?
If the first principal of hermeneutics is that “the Bible cannot say to us what it didn’t say to theoriginal readers,” the second principal is, “Whenever possible, let the Bible interpret itself.” Whenthe Old Testament writers (and Jesus) spoke about Sodom and Gomorrah, they “were on a far more intimate footing than modern writers with both the language and life-style of the peopleinvolved.” (Boswell, 95)
What did they say?
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Ezekiel 16: 48-50
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Matthew 10:11-16
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Mark 6:11
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Jude 1:5-7
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This one’s trickier. “sexual immorality” and “perversion” in the Greek is “sarkosheteras.” This literally translates into “different/strange flesh.” (as opposed toflesh that was like theirs) Jewish tradition taught that this was referring to themen of Sodom wanting to have sex with angels (strange flesh).
The Problem of “Sodomy”
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