this post was submitted on 17 Feb 2024
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Does your book not say that homosexuality is a sin?
It really doesn't. English translations of it do, but in the Greek, it pointedly avoids using the words for homosexuality.
The one exception is Romans 1, but it's a rhetorical argument against the legalism of the Jewish Christians, not against homosexuality.
That's not quite correct. If we look at 1 Corinthians 6:9 (not nice) and the commentaries around the words to explain it, we can find things like the below. Summary: not just being gay but even being effeminate. Additionally, I've never heard a single sermon where they were saying the Greek doesn't actually mean that. They all very much meant it.
Reading exercise if anyone likes walls of text.
English amplified:
Here's one commentary: https://gospelreformation.net/pauls-understanding-of-sexuality/
I think we get the point though. There's more.
Those are all really interesting theories, but the simple matter is that if it was referencing homosexuality, there were plenty of appropriate words Paul could have used.
Specifically, erastes and eromenos.
The words Paul used certainly have sexual connotations, but if he meant gay sex, plenty of words already existed for it.
There's a ton of theories, but no one "knows" exactly what Paul means here. It's a strange word with almost no parallels anywhere else in history.
Why would you trust the Greek translation on that topic? They had a clear bias on the subject that would've influenced word choice.
The New Testament was written in Greek.
The only Hebrew verses that discuss homosexuality are even more vague and difficult to translate.
I'm not trying to convert you or persuade you the Bible is actually pretty cool. I'm just telling you what's in it.
The problem with all of the New Testament and much of the Old Testament is that it has been altered over time again and again. While for some texts in the old bible there is good reason to assume them to be reliable, a lot is not.
Especially the New Testament is clearly a product of trying to mix abrahamic faith with pagan beliefs. You can see this in the concept of trinity and Jesus being the literal son of god. This directly contradicts the commandments given to Moses and Allah has rejected it again in the Quran. Also these concepts were not of the time of Jesus, but developed some hundreds year after. It is also contradictory to much the New Testament says about the life of Jesus, as he was explicit not to speak in his name, but in the name of God.
This is very different to the Quran, where already at the time of revelation much effort was made for preservation in the original form, as well as the life of the prophert Mohammed being documented too.
Biblical literalism is an invention of 20th century evangelicalism. It's not because you find one or two verses which seem to condemn something that this thing should be condemned forever; and in the case of homosexuality, the verses used by some Christians to condemn homosexuality aren't clear at all. Thus homophobic Christian bigots condemn homosexuality not because they're Christians, but because they're bigots.
I got the impression it depends on the translation or adaption, and also the culture at the time it was translated or adapted.
It also says that mixing meat and dairy is a sin.
The Old Testament says a lot of things; there’s also a New Testament that focuses on Grace and that the most important thing of all is love.
Those who focus on one “sin” over the actual purpose and teachings are those who are focused on hate.
It sounds confusing. How can we be sure which rules are rules and which aren't?
You choose which rules you want to believe in. Some sects follow all of them, some follow none, some follow all the hateful ones, some follow the basic moral tenets. If your sect doesn't care about something, you just kinda pretend it isn't a part of the Bible until it fades into the background. If your sect does care about something, you drag it up as often as you can in sermons to hammer home its importance.
If the Bible is the immutable word of your god, then what sense does it make to be able to cherry pick what parts to follow and what not to?
It’s not the Bible that’s the issue, but our current understanding of it.
The Bible is generally broken into the laws, the histories, the lamentations, and words of promise all in the Old Testament and then the words and actions of Jesus and His followers in the New Testament.
For Christians, the laws aren’t so much hard laws as much as they are “Tips for a Better Life, featuring the Prequel Stories”. The New Testament is what makes Christianity, and those texts primarily focus on the Grace of God, which is - hastily summarizing here - “All ‘sin’ requires the shedding blood, but I’ve already done that and forgiven everything, so just do your best”.
Different gospels say different things about the same events. Different letters are written to different ancient churches by different people about many different issues. Different texts and histories are included or discarded dependent upon how any particular sect of Christianity worships. The Bible is a collection of the words of people who are driven by God for their purpose at their time, and so it is always going to be subject to adaptable understandings.
All this is because mortal, imperfect people are in charge of interpreting, translating, and communicating the words of an entity that “exists” outside the confines of matter, energy, space, or time. As time continues, our understanding of the word adapts and changes.
This sounds like a great argument for not taking anything the Bible says seriously at all.
There’s nothing that forces you to take anything spiritual “seriously”. It’s up to you to make that decision for yourself.
The Bible says you should, and most churches say you should.
Or seriously enough to think about it, not just swallow everything. Christianity is a religion who praised critical thinking for centuries because the Bible is a book which should be studied. It was written by intelligent people who made a point to let contradictions and diverse points of view in order to let the reader decide.
Only for as long as nobody knew any better. It’s also a religion that put people like Galileo in jail, for daring to think differently. And burn them alive at the stake. Unless we forget the Spanish inquisition, or the crusades?
Galileo was Christian as much as the Pope who condemned him.
Moving the goalposts, are we?
How so?
Now it’s feigned ignorance…
The Bible isn't the immutable word of God. The Word of God is Jesus-Christ. That's what taught Christianity for 19 centuries before American evangelicalism invented the heresy of biblical inerrancy.