Unfortunately, scripturally, it is not quite this simple, or else I think most Christians would have moved on by now.
While yes, Leviticus - "If a man has sexual relations with a man as one does with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable. They are to be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads." (20:13, NIV) - is one of the go to verses for a lot of condemnation, theologically it is not the current foundation of the declaration of homosexuality as a sin.
The reason why we don't worry about tattoos or eating shellfish is that the New Covenant replaces all of these old laws with a couple much simpler ones: "The first is... Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.” (Mark 12:29-31, NIV)
This would also seem to take care of the law against male homosexual sex, but things do get trickier, since Paul, in the New Testament, does write that we should still try to obey the old laws as well as we can, but that our eternal salvation does not depend on it.
These old laws, covering every aspect of life, are seen by Paul as essential guidelines for leading a happy and productive life, for understanding what is and is not sin, and for building a closer relationship to God, but they have nothing to do with whether or not one is saved or not saved. As he states in Romans 6:14: "For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace." (RSV)
In fact, transgressing many of the old laws is no longer even seen as being sinful, depending on circumstance, especially when looking at circumcision and the old dietetic laws.
There are three versus from Paul that refer to homosexuality, and these are the only three times when homosexuality is even referred to in the New Testament:
Romans 1:21-31 (NIV)-
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. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles.
Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.
Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error.
Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done. 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, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy.
1 Corinthians 6:8-10 (NIV)-
Instead, you yourselves cheat and do wrong, and you do this to your brothers and sisters. Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.
1 Timothy 1:9-10 (NIV)-
We know that the law is good if one uses it properly. We also know that the law is made not for the righteous but for lawbreakers and rebels, the ungodly and sinful, the unholy and irreligious, for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers, for the sexually immoral, for those practicing homosexuality, for slave traders and liars and perjurers—and for whatever else is contrary to the sound doctrine that conforms to the gospel concerning the glory of the blessed God, which he entrusted to me.
Of course, most Christians do not follow all of the recommendations in Paul's letters, especially when it comes to women. He has some pretty strong opinions on such things as women wearing veils - "For if a woman will not veil herself, then she should cut off her hair; but if it disgraceful for a woman to be shorn or shaven, let her wear a veil" (1 Corinthians 11:6) And, of course, women should never speak inside of a church, "For it is shameful for a woman to speak in church" (1 Corinthians 14:35)
April 25, 2022
While working on my first post for this blog in a long, long time, I saw this post sitting incomplete in the drafts. When I was working on this back in the day, it was less about the actual flowchart and more about the fact that I'd just read Unfair: Christians and the LGBT Question by John Shore, and while that book is very good and covered a lot of important points, I also felt there were a few theological gaps in Shore's defense of the LGBT community.
At this point, unfortunately, that is all I remember, not the arguments I was aiming for themselves! I could piece it all together and finish this, and perhaps I will someday, but it's seven years (!?!) later and I've got much on my task list ahead of this...
At this point, unfortunately, that is all I remember, not the arguments I was aiming for themselves! I could piece it all together and finish this, and perhaps I will someday, but it's seven years (!?!) later and I've got much on my task list ahead of this...
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