The six clobber passages
used to condemn gays are often translated literally without
understanding the cultural and religious context, or where the terms
used were not common in the original Greek, the translators added
their own biased understanding. Thus when they say "The Word of God
says ....", it is often relating to what the translators had said,
or addressing the same sex action as sin rather than the motivation
behind it. When one studies the motivation behind these verses, the
six clobber verses are interlinked to each other on the thread of
religious idol worship. It was religious idol worship which was an
abomination (rather than homosexuality which was rare), with the
entire nation of Israel descending into mass sexual orgies
worshiping other gods, and male priests castrating themselves to be
women so that the men can have sex with them. It had nothing to do
with same sex orientation even on the face of it if we had known the
historical and religious context.
In Gen 19:4-5, the
interpretation of Sodom being filled with gays intending to have
orgies with the angels was not supported by Ezekiel 16:49,
which did not mention homosexuality as the sin rather pride and the
prosperity gain through the injustice against the poor and needy.
Sodom was in a region famous for its worship fertility gods, such as
Baal/Ashtoreth. They appear to be demonically possessed to attack
the angels and to rape them, able to supernaturally recognize the
Angels even though they came quietly into Sodom. Perhaps the
Sodomites were so proud of their prosperity that they tried to
challenge heaven itself on behalf of the gods they worshipped. The
clobber verses (Jude 1:6,7) is related where the angels from the
rebellion had sex with mankind to produce "stange flesh" of
supernatural beings - half human and half angelic. It was not about
same sex orientation. In the context of the religious idol worship,
we begin to realise that these were all straight men almost in a
state of religious frenzy as they seek to rape the angels, in the
same manner as they had worshipped and had anal sex with the priests
of Ashtoreth.
In Lev 18:22, 20:13, the
term “abominations” or “Towebah” when referring to same sex acts
refers to idol worship, in particular, the fertility god Molech (Lev
18:3). The role of the priests and the priestess in this fertility
idol worship were sexual in nature. In Deut 23:17-19, both the men
and women of Israel were prohibited from becoming ritual harlots or
qadesh. In the “The Sacred Fire: The Story of Sex in Religion by B.
Z. Goldberg”, it was said that the priests were Eunuchs who had
castrated themselves, and the worshippers were having anal sex with
the priests. There were also young men who sold themselves to play
the role of the harlot, and even dogs specially trained for the
worshippers to have sex with. Thus, we
have the term “price of a dog” in Deut 23:18 in NKJV mis-translated
as “male prostitutes” in NIV. Hence, Lev 18 and 20 should be
understood in the context of purity laws created in respond to idol
worship and not about homosexuality.
In Rom 1:26,27, Paul was preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the
Jews in Rome (1:15), and was facing the Judaist who insisted that
their righteousness is from the law, and so Paul leveraging on the
prevailing idol worship in Rome, highlighted that under the law, the
ancient Jews were not very much different. He explained how their
ancestors under the Law had worshiped idols even to the extent of
engaging in the sex with the priests as we have seen in Leviticus.
They were exchanging to truth of God and worshiping a lie (Rom
1:25). The Jews were judging (Rom 2:1) those who practised the same
kind of sexual orgies prevailing then in Rome where the Syrian
goddess Cybele was both male and female with a bearded face and a
big breast. The male priests were castrated to mark the mourning of
Cybele’s androgynous lover Attis. His death would be re-enacted by
cutting themselves with stones, castrating themselves and putting on
women's clothing.
Catherine Kroeger in “The Apostle Paul and the Greco-Roman cults Of
Women” found in the Journal of the Evangelical Society details how
these cults were often marked by gruesome sex exchanges. Hence, it
was a choice for the male priests to exchange their natural sexual
orientation, to become a "women". The term "natural" also speaks of
being natural for us to worship God who created us and this world
(Rom 1:20), and conversely unnatural for us to worship idols made by
our own hands as if they were gods (Rom 1:23). Hence, the same sex
acts in Rom 1:26,27 was motivated by the unrighteousness of idol
worship even under the law rather than homosexuality.
In 1 Cor 6:9, and 1 Tim
1:10, Paul was preaching about being unrighteous and not inheriting
the kingdom of heaven. The setting in the city of Corinth known for
its mass orgies in the worship of Aphrodite with a thousand female
slaves would have given us a strong hint. However, the
unrighteousness was again blamed on the gay men with the word
"Malakos" being mis- translated as "Homosexuals" (NKJV), and
“Effiminate” (KJV) even though Aristotle denotes it as unrestrained
indulgence in bodily pleasures. The Greek Word “Arsenokoites” was
also mis-translated as “Sodomites” (NKJV), and “Homosexual
Offenders” (NIV) even though there was no such usage in Greek
literature. The term appears to have been created by Paul from the
Septuagint’s Greek translation of Leviticus 18:22 and 20:13.
Leviticus
18:22 - “kai meta arsenos ou koimethese
koiten gynaikos”
Leviticus 20:13 - “kai hos an koimethe meta arsenos koiten gynaikos”
With this reference to
Leviticus relating to idol worship, it becomes clear that 1 Cor 6:9
was emphasizing the unrighteousness of those who worship other gods
having no part in the kingdom of God rather than about
homosexuality. "Arsenokoites" was referring to the temple priests
rather than gays. We also begin to understand 1 Tim 1:9 and 10,
talking about the laws being implemented for the unrighteous, were
actually refering to the laws in Leviticus which again were
motivated by idol worship rather than homosexuality.
Without
the six clobber passages condemning gays now effectively referring
to abominations and unrighteous acts in worshipping idols, we
begin to see a clearer picture that the heart of God is for the gay
community, the natural Eunuchs in Mat 19:12. and that Isaiah had
prophesised in 56:4-5 where the gay Eunuchs which were hitherto
rejected by the community will now have a special place in the
kingdom of God, in the body of Christ. The prophecy of Isaiah is now
coming to pass in our life time, the declaration of good tidings to
the meek, to the gay community which has been the most despised in
the community. When we see that all the condemnation about
homosexuality was based on our fear and mis-interpretation, we begin
to see that the good news message has a special place for the GLBT
community and God is calling out for us to come back in the last
days to be His special people of Faith.