{"id":893,"date":"2011-08-31T21:56:20","date_gmt":"2011-08-31T20:56:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.christianvoice.org.uk\/?page_id=893"},"modified":"2011-10-05T20:19:26","modified_gmt":"2011-10-05T19:19:26","slug":"the-abomination-of-homosexual-theology","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.christianvoice.org.uk\/index.php\/the-abomination-of-homosexual-theology\/","title":{"rendered":"The Abomination of Homosexual Theology"},"content":{"rendered":"

Biblical Reference: Leviticus 18<\/strong>
\nBy Stephen Green<\/strong>
\nFirst published in Christian Voice March 2011<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Click HERE<\/a> for Leviticus 18, 19 and 20 in full (KJV).<\/p>\n

Click HERE<\/a> for an analysis of which Hebrew and Greek words are translated in the KJV by the word \u2018abomination\u2019 and to see what those words actually mean (some surprises in store).<\/p>\n

Lev. 18:22 Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination.<\/em><\/p>\n

Lev. 20:13 If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them.<\/em><\/p>\n

In the July 2010 edition of Christian Voice I looked at the Biblical account of Sodom, and contrasted homosexual behaviour with God\u2019s institution of heterosexual love and marriage which was upheld by the Lord Jesus in Mark 10 and Matthew 19.<\/p>\n

The next place in the Bible to mention the sin of sodomy is the book of Leviticus, as quoted above.\u00a0 Some surprising objections are made to the universal application of these verses today and we need to be aware of what the objections are and why they cannot stand scrutiny.<\/p>\n

PURPOSE OF THE BOOK OF LEVITICUS<\/strong>
\nThe book of Leviticus, as its name implies, mainly concerns the religious observance of the Israelite nation and the duties of its Levites, the tribe from which came Moses, the inspirational and prophetic leader, and his brother Aaron, the first priest of Israel .<\/p>\n

But to say that Leviticus applies exclusively to Israel , let alone solely to the Levites, does\u00a0 not follow.\u00a0 The expression, \u2018Speak to the sons of Levi\u2019 occurs not once.\u00a0 To the contrary, the whole book of 27 chapters is addressed \u2018to the children of Israel\u2019 with the exception of chapters 6, 16, 17, 21 and 22 which have expressions like, \u2018Speak unto Aaron and his sons.\u2019\u00a0 So less than a fifth of it contains commands explicitly for Aaron and his successors who will carry on the priesthood.<\/p>\n

Now it is true that the contents of the book are overwhelmingly ceremonial.\u00a0 We have what we should today consider as elaborate regulations for the conduct of sacrifices, dedications, priestly conduct, diet, purification, private and public health, the Sabbath, the feasts, the jubilee, bond-servitude, vows and tithing.\u00a0 There are also blessings for obedience and curses for disobedience.<\/p>\n

But then amid all the ceremonial, two-thirds of the way through are three chapters of much more universal moral application.\u00a0 These are chapters 18, 19 and 20.<\/p>\n

PURPOSE OF THE \u2018MORAL CHAPTERS\u2019<\/strong>
\nThe injunctions in these chapters were written initially to tell Israel to obey God\u2019s law and not to follow the practices of Egypt whence they escaped nor those of Canaan whither they are headed, but the general equity of them is much wider.\u00a0 The point is made that judgment is coming on the gentile nations of Canaan precisely because they did not follow God\u2019s laws:<\/p>\n

Lev. 18:3: After the doings of the land of Egypt, wherein ye dwelt, shall ye not do: and after the doings of the land of Canaan, whither I bring you, shall ye not do: neither shall ye walk in their ordinances.<\/em><\/p>\n

Lev. 18:4: Ye shall do my judgments, and keep mine ordinances, to walk therein: I am the LORD your God.<\/em><\/p>\n

Lev. 18:5: Ye shall therefore keep my statutes, and my judgments: which if a man do, he shall live in them: I am the LORD.<\/em><\/p>\n

Lev. 18:30: Therefore shall ye keep mine ordinance, that ye commit not any one of these abominable customs, which were committed before you, and that ye defile not yourselves therein: I am the LORD your God.<\/em><\/p>\n

Lev. 19:37: Therefore shall ye observe all my statutes, and all my judgments, and do them: I am the LORD.<\/em><\/p>\n

Lev. 20:23 And ye shall not walk in the manners of the nation, which I cast out before you: for they committed all these things, and therefore I abhorred them.<\/em><\/p>\n

Around this framework, the Lord provides a table of affinity to rule against incest, prohibits bestiality, sodomy, adultery and child sacrifice and in chapter 19 moves into more general laws governing society in other areas.<\/p>\n

RITUALS OF WORSHIP, NOT PERSONAL BEHAVIOUR?<\/strong>
\nPro-gay minister Robert W. Alexander wrote in 1993: \u2018Although chapters 18 and 20 prohibit personal conduct which seems morally wrong also, verses 18:3 and 30 make it clear that God is talking about rituals of worship, not personal behaviour ,(sic) in these two chapters.\u2019<\/p>\n

Apologists for sodomy rarely quote actual scripture, and Alexander was no exception.\u00a0 In the first place he would hate to admit that verse 3 spoke disparagingly of \u2018doings\u2019 and verse 30 of \u2018abominable customs\u2019.\u00a0 Secondly, when we look at these two verses, (printed above) and do so without preconceptions, we see they don\u2019t do what he says they do.\u00a0 The word translated \u2018ordinances\u2019 in v3, \u2018customs\u2019 in v30 and \u2018manners\u2019 in 20:23 is chuqqah (Strong\u2019s Dictionary H2708).\u00a0 Elsewhere chuqqah (or its masculine form choq – H2706) is translated as \u2018statutes\u2019, for example, in Gen 26:5, where Abraham is said to have obeyed God\u2019s commands (mitsvah), his statutes (chuqqah) and his laws (torah).\u00a0 In Jer 31:35-36 chuqqah refers to the courses of the moon and stars.\u00a0\u00a0 It is translated \u2018statutes\u2019 in Lev 18:5.\u00a0 So we see that chuqqah is not exclusively a religious word.\u00a0 Furthermore, Alexander ignored the middle chapter, Leviticus 19, altogether.\u00a0 We shall look at that chapter in a moment.\u00a0 He also set himself up over scripture by pronouncing that the conduct forbidden in the two chapters merely \u2018seems\u2019 morally wrong.<\/p>\n

LAWS AND MORALITY DERIVE FROM RELIGION<\/strong>
\nFurthermore, we need to bear in mind that a nation\u2019s religious observance forms part of its religious world-view, and determines its morality and from that its law-code.\u00a0 A nation which has a cavalier attitude about sexual morality in its worship will carry that over into its daily life.\u00a0 Whether it is talking about temple prostitution or whoredom in general, Leviticus gives an example of how evil spreads:<\/p>\n

Lev. 19:29: Do not prostitute thy daughter, to cause her to be a whore; lest the land fall to whoredom, and the land become full of wickedness.<\/em><\/p>\n

It is the same with respect for human life.\u00a0 A nation practising human sacrifice hardly views innocent human life with respect or sees each person as made in the image of God.\u00a0 In paganism, human life becomes expendable and sex becomes promiscuous, which is why such societies have historically been short-lived from the moment they embarked on such a course.\u00a0 We shall look at life in Canaan in more detail below.\u00a0 Meanwhile, Ezekiel provides another powerful link between religious observance and general morality:<\/p>\n

Eze. 8:17 Then he said unto me, Hast thou seen this, O son of man? Is it a light thing to the house of Judah that they commit the abominations which they commit here (in the temple)? for they have filled the land with violence, and have returned to provoke me to anger…<\/em><\/p>\n

We are drawn to see that because paganism has supplanted the worship of the true God in the temple, the whole nation has lost its respect for life and decency.\u00a0\u00a0 Does that remind us of western society today?<\/p>\n

ISRAEL RESPECTED HUMAN LIFE AND MARRIAGE<\/strong>
\nIsrael\u2019s religious life, in contrast, respected innocent human life and the bond of marriage, and so did her normal daily life.\u00a0 We should not forget that Israel was God\u2019s model nation.\u00a0 Other nations were supposed to look to her for an example:<\/p>\n

Deut. 4:6 … this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these statutes, and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.\u00a0 7 For what nation is there so great, who hath God so nigh unto them, as the LORD our God is in all things that we call upon him for?\u00a0 8 And what nation is there so great, that hath statutes and judgments so righteous as all this law, which I set before you this day?<\/em><\/p>\n

The prophet Isaiah tells us clearly that the judgments which God revealed to Israel should not only be observed universally, but that enacting and observing them causes people to behave righteously:
\nIsa. 26:9 With my soul have I desired thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early: for when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.<\/p>\n

This is the context in which we read the two verses which refer to homosexual acts.\u00a0 Twenty-three and a half out of twenty-seven chapters of Leviticus deal with ceremonial observance.\u00a0 And let us not forget that in those chapters, the New Covenant in the blood of the Lord Jesus is concealed.\u00a0 Nowhere is this more so than in chapter 17 with its key principle: \u2018For the life of the flesh is in the blood … For it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul.\u2019\u00a0 (Lev 17:11)\u00a0 These words were dramatically picked up by the Lord Jesus in John 6:53-58 and followed through to their logical conclusion by the Apostles (See Acts 20:28, Rom 5:9, 1Cor 11:27, Eph 1:7, Heb 9:12 etc).<\/p>\n

TIMELESS GENERAL MORALITY<\/strong>
\nBut the three chapters 18-20 focus almost exclusively on timeless matters of general morality, and if the forbidden practices were also involved in pagan worship rituals, that seems merely to have provided a good reason to raise them.\u00a0 To be specific, Leviticus 18 leads with a 5 verse reminder to the Israelites not to be like Egypt or Canaan .\u00a0 Verses 6 to 17 are a table of prohibited incest with various relations, verse 19 concerns abstinence during the menstrual period, verses 18 and 20 prohibit adultery, verse 21 child sacrifice, verse 22 homosexuality and verse 23 bestiality.\u00a0 The remainder of the chapter, 24 – 30 exhorts the Israelites not to \u2018follow any of the abominable customs\u2019 (chuqqah to\u2019evah) and not to \u2018defile your\u00adselves with them.\u2019<\/p>\n

Leviticus 19 then expands into other areas of life (although there is some ceremonial in it), while chapter 20 concerns the punishments to be dealt to those who defile themselves with practices in the previous two chapters.<\/p>\n

The late Rev Dr Norman Pittenger was part of the homosexual set at Cambridge University in the 1930s.\u00a0 He was a friend of W H Auden and Christopher Isherwood.\u00a0 In Time for Consent, published in 1969, he took the argument of context further.\u00a0 \u2018The Leviticus passages in the Old Testament,\u2019 he said, \u2018are found in contexts which make it clear that the primary concern is with prohibitions of acts which would violate the so-called \u201choliness code.\u201d\u2018\u00a0 Rev Robert Arthur made the same argument in his book, saying that practices such as bestiality, child sacrifice, idola\u00adtry, adultery, incest, weird haircutting, tattooing, sorcery and menstrual inter\u00adcourse were all involved in the worship of the Canaanite god Molech and that the homosexual activity referred to in the same chapter must be seen in the same context.<\/p>\n

DEPRAVITY OF THE CANAANITE CULTURE<\/strong>
\nRobert Arthur\u2019s argument takes the lesser time of the two to demolish.\u00a0 It is quite true that the city-nations of Canaan were doing all these things and more.\u00a0 Archaeology has revealed the total depravity of the Canaanite culture.<\/p>\n

Timothy Wilkinson writes: \u2018Priests in Canaan were political and religious leaders with absolute power over their followers. They practised exorcism and various forms of divination. They were assisted by Kurgaru (castrato), Assinu (homosexual priests), Naditu (ritually neutered priestesses), Sinnishat Zikrum (lesbian transvestites), and Qadishtu (female temple prostitutes).<\/p>\n

Among the most well-known of their practices was the invocation of \u201csympathetic magic.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018During the dry summer season vegetation died when Mot triumphed over Baal, forcing him to withdraw into the depths of the earth. Baal (and the rain) would return only after Anat conquered Mot and Baal could mate with Ashtoreth, ensuring fertility for the coming year. To encourage Baal to do so, Canaanites held huge sexual orgies in which the priests had sex with any and all women they desired.<\/p>\n

\u2018The priests might also re-enact Baal\u2019s copulation with cows, and offer sacrifices of infant children. In some cases, Canaanites would appeal to their dead relatives for help in overcoming Mot; this was done by having sex with one\u2019s closest living fleshly relative.<\/p>\n

\u2018Evidence indicates that Canaanites lived in morbid dread of their priests. Marriages and families were shattered by their practices, and the unwanted children of these unions were often slaughtered on altars to Baal or Dagon. Sexually transmitted disease was likely epidemic; rape was perhaps as common as it is in the worst of today\u2019s war-ravaged nations. According to Merrill F. Unger: \u201cExcavations in Palestine have uncovered piles of ashes and remains of infant skeletons in cemeteries around heathen altars, pointing to the widespread practice of this cruel abomination.\u201d (Archaeology and the Old Testament, 1964, p. 279) Halley\u2019s Bible Handbook (1964, p. 161) says: \u201cCanaanites worshipped, by immoral indulgence, as a religious rite, in the presence of their gods; and then, by murdering their first\u2011born children, as a sacrifice to these same gods. It seems that, in large measure, the land of Canaan had become a sort of Sodom and Gomorrah on a national scale. . . . Did a civilization of such abominable filth and brutality have any right longer to exist? . . . Archaeologists who dig in the ruins of Canaanite cities wonder that God did not destroy them sooner than he did.\u201d\u2018<\/p>\n

\u2018MARKED CONTRAST TO THE HIGH ETHICAL IDEALS OF ISRAEL\u2019<\/strong>
\nJulian Spriggs adds the following:<\/p>\n

\u2018Through archaeology, the second millennium BC Canaanite religious system has become notorious for its depravity. The Phoenician and Canaanite religions were almost identical. It was essentially a nature religion, in which the gods and goddesses were closely associated with the natural cycle of the seasons.<\/p>\n

\u2018The religion was a crude and debased form of ritual polytheism, the sensuous fertility cult, involving worship of a particularly lewd and orgiastic kind. It proved to be more influential than any other nature religion in the Near East, ensnaring the nation of Israel .<\/p>\n

\u2018Sacrifices were offered to the gods for two purposes: The first was to appease the god\u2019s wrath, an act of propitiation. The second was to strengthen the god, to enable him to bless those who worshipped him. Prized gifts resulted in greater blessing from the god, particularly when first\u2011born male children were sacrificed.<\/p>\n

\u2018The sordid and debased nature of Canaanite religion stood in marked contrast to the high ethical ideals of Israel . The absolute lack of moral character in the Canaanite deities made such corrupt practices as ritual prostitution, child sacrifice and licentious worship the normal expressions of religious devotion and fervour.\u2019<\/p>\n

LOGIC SUSPENDED<\/strong>
\nSo archaeology supports the Biblical witness that the Canaanites were involved in all the practices listed in Leviticus 18.\u00a0 We know that the Bible condemns these things.\u00a0 We know that the Canaanites did them.\u00a0 But to say these things were only wicked because or when they were committed in the cause of Canaanite religion neither necessarily nor logically follows.<\/p>\n

Are we really being asked to believe that God will not hold us guilty of sin if instead of committing bestiality, incest, sodomy and adultery (let alone child sacrifice) out of worship for Molech or Baal, we do them through following Wicca, or liberal humanism, or middle\u2011class tolerance, out of lust or because we really think we cannot help ourselves?<\/p>\n

Pittenger\u2019s \u2018Holiness Code\u2019 idea is picked up by Dr Mel White, co-founder of a pro-gay group called \u2018SoulForce\u2019, in his pamphlet, \u2018What the Bible says – and doesn\u2019t say – about homosexuality.\u2019\u00a0 He signed a holiness code at school, he says.\u00a0 He promised not to drink, smoke or chew.\u00a0 His mother signed one in her day in which she promised not to dance.\u00a0 The Levitical Holiness Code is of equally status, he suggests.\u00a0 It merely proscribes \u2018behaviours that people of faith find offensive in a certain place and time\u2019.<\/p>\n

But when he rehearses the prohibitions from Leviticus 18 and 20, he lists some and omits others. Funnily enough, he invites his readers to disagree with things with which modern liberal-minded people will easily disagree: prohibitions on dodgy haircuts, tattoos, Sabbath-working, eating pork or shellfish, wearing garments of mixed fibres, fortune telling, playing with pig-skin, stoning for adultery and having intercourse during a woman\u2019s period.<\/p>\n

The curious thing is, when we look at such a list with a reverent rather than a mocking spirit, trying to see the righteousness of God in his laws, there is more than one item in that list where we can draw modern lessons from the ceremonial.\u00a0 I happen to believe that God is showing us that fortune telling is from the occult, tattoos dishonour the body, sexual intercourse during menstruation is dirty, and making Sunday trading legal dishonours God\u2019s first ever statute and oppresses the workers.\u00a0 By the way, it is not a garment of any old mixed fibres which is prohibited in Lev 19:19, just wool and linen.<\/p>\n

But there is a lot more from Leviticus 18-20 which he misses out.<\/p>\n

EMBARRASSING OMISSIONS<\/strong>
\nA brief comparison with Leviticus reveals the omissions, and those demonstrate the weakness of his argument.\u00a0 What Mel White is too embarrassed to mention are the following prohibited practices: child sacrifice, adultery itself, bestiality and incest.\u00a0 Nor does he mention the social laws of Leviticus 19 upon which much of our law is based.\u00a0 They include being respectful to parents (v3) and the elderly (v32), having care for the poor (vs 9-10) and the stranger (vs33-34), keeping food fresh (v6), paying workers on time (v13), loving your brother enough to warn him of his sin (v17) and keeping the Sabbath day of rest (vs3,30).\u00a0 There are prohibitions against stealing (v11), lying (v11), cursing the disabled (v14), gossip (v16), injustice (v15), vengeance (v18a), witchcraft (vs26,31) and using false weights and measures (vs35-36).<\/p>\n

Above all, Mel White omits the second great commandment which is found in Leviticus 19 and which is quoted by the Lord Jesus: \u2018Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.\u2019 (Lev 19:18b, Mark 12:31)<\/p>\n

All of a sudden, Leviticus doesn\u2019t look quite so out-of-date.\u00a0 It is impossible to dismiss the statutes of these three chapters as merely part of some trivial \u2018holiness code\u2019.\u00a0 We may object to the penalties, although Christian people should be striving to see the righteousness of God reflected in these, but the laws mandating some practices and prohibiting others just seem sensible and timeless to anyone with an open mind.<\/p>\n

It is obviously ridiculous, given both the content and the context to claim that such a law-book is a mere \u2018a ritual for Israel\u2019s priests\u2019, as the Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement (L&GCM) attempt to do in their pamphlet \u2018Abomination? – A short introduction to what the Bible says about same-sex relationships\u2019.<\/p>\n

THE WORDS IN THE HEBREW<\/strong>
\nThe same publication goes on to claim that the word \u2018abomination\u2019 means \u2018that which God found detestable because it was unclean, disloyal or unjust.\u2019\u00a0 This leads us to look at the word in the Hebrew.\u00a0 When we look at what the word actually means we shall see it was bigger and more present-tense than that.\u00a0 They go on to say, correctly, that one word translated \u2018abomination\u2019 is \u2018To-evah\u2019 but then they claim it \u2018is usually associated with idolatry\u2019.<\/p>\n

As this is standard \u2018gay Christian\u2019 fare which we have already seen Alexander, Pittenger, Arthur and White wheeling out, it is important to look at the Hebrew.<\/p>\n

To-evah (Strong\u2019s Hebrew Dictionary no. 8441) is indeed the most common Hebrew word in the Bible translated as abomination, abominations or abominable.\u00a0 It accounts for 132 of the 175 uses of those three words in the Old Testament.\u00a0 It means something morally disgusting, an abhorrence.\u00a0 Sodomy is referred to as to-evah in Lev 18:22 and 20:13.\u00a0 Sometimes to-evah has religious connotations and sometimes it does not.\u00a0 For example, to-evah is widely used throughout Proverbs to mean anything which is morally reprehensible.<\/p>\n

The runner-up as a word translated \u2018abomination\u2019 is shiqquts (H8251) with 20 occurrences.\u00a0 Shiqquts really does mean idolatrous and we find it used, for example, when Daniel refers to the abomination (shiqquts) that maketh desolate (Dan 9:27, 11:31, 12:11).\u00a0 In Leviticus 11, by the way, shellfish and other \u2018unclean\u2019 foods are described with a completely different word, sheqets (H8263), which means fetid or unclean.\u00a0 (There will be a study on these words, with all the verses in which they occur, on the Christian Voice website, together with Lev 18-20 in full, linked off this article in the \u2018Bible\u2019 section.)<\/p>\n

To-evah is so widely used that the contention that it only ever refers to idolatrous practices is not sustainable.\u00a0 More accurate would be to say it refers to rebellious practices.\u00a0 For example, from Proverbs:\u00a0 \u2018A false balance is abomination (to-evah) to the LORD: but a just weight is his delight\u00a0 (Pro. 11:1) and \u2018He that turneth away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer shall be abomination (to-evah)\u2019\u00a0 (Pro. 28:9).<\/p>\n

Others in L&GCM maintain that they do not have sex with a man as they would with a woman, but that is nitpicking although curiously revealing.\u00a0 They are really admitting that a man cannot enter into a one-flesh union with a man as he can with a woman.\u00a0 They are showing the futility of homosexual behaviour, but it is not the point being made in Lev 18:22 and 20:13.\u00a0 The verses say: \u2018Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind\u2019 (Lev 18:22) and \u2018If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman\u2019 (Lev. 20:13).\u00a0 The Hebrew word shakab (H7910) means to lie down for rest or for sexual activity.\u00a0 The expression \u2018as with a woman\u2019 is there to make certain we draw a sexual meaning from shakab.<\/p>\n

DO WE REALLY NEED THE LAW RESTATED?<\/strong>
\nAnother possible objection to the universal application of Lev 18:22, which is a refinement of the \u2018Leviticus is just for the priests\u2019 idea, is that we find the adultery, incest, bestiality and child sacrifice prohibitions restated in Exodus and\/or Deuteronomy, but not the law against sodomy.\u00a0 In this minority view, these restated injunctions apply to all the people, but the law against sodomy is just to be observed by the Levites.<\/p>\n

That argument falls as well.\u00a0 In the first place, although we find various forms of incest prohibited elsewhere in the Pentateuch, we do not find such detail and a complete table of affinity anywhere else.\u00a0 Secondly, when the Israelites curse evil-doers in Deut 27, indeed they include incest and bestiality and exclude sodomy, but they conclude:<\/p>\n

Deut 27:26: Cursed be he that confirmeth not all the words of the law to do them.<\/em><\/p>\n

Thirdly, the argument ignores the following verse from Deuteronomy:<\/p>\n

Deut. 23:17: There shall be no whore (H6948) of the daughters of Israel , nor a sodomite (H6945) of the sons of Israel .<\/em><\/p>\n

Ritual temple prostitution may be in mind here, but any form of prostitution was against the law of God in Israel , so it is perfectly valid for such a general prohibition to be extended to the male variety.\u00a0\u00a0 The next verse says the wages of a whore or a dog (slang for a sodomite) are not to be brought into the temple.\u00a0 If the word \u2018sodomite\u2019 only means a male prostitute, someone might argue, \u2018well, that doesn\u2019t apply to loving homosexual relationships\u2019.\u00a0 The position taken in Christian Voice is that all homosexual relationships are disordered and that the act of sodomy is an act of violence and abuse.\u00a0 But the fact is, prostitution is an integral part of homosexuality and we never find apologists for sodomy condemning it in the form of the rent-boy culture and the description of casual contacts as \u2018trade\u2019 which are indispensable to the \u2018gay scene\u2019.<\/p>\n

Lastly, should we really require every law of God to be restated?\u00a0 How many times does the Bible tell us not to curse the deaf?\u00a0 Just once, in Lev 19:14.\u00a0 How many times does it tell a man not to dress as a woman?\u00a0 Just once, in Deut 22:5.\u00a0 How many times are we told that a man\u2019s tools may not be taken as a pledge?\u00a0 Only once, in Deut 24:6.\u00a0 How many times are we told the Lord washed the disciples\u2019 feet?\u00a0 Just once, in John 13.\u00a0 For that matter, how many times did God tell Adam not to eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil?\u00a0 That\u2019s right, just once (Gen 2:17).<\/p>\n

WE CANNOT SINGLE OUT THE VERSES AGAINST SODOMY<\/strong>
\nThe final objection is the seemingly high-minded warning against \u2018biblical literalism,\u2019 which is the liberal get-out-of-jail card when all textual argument has failed.\u00a0 But those who object to \u2018biblical literalism\u2019 are quite happy to quote Bible texts with which they agree in order to suggest conflict with those they don\u2019t.\u00a0 I make no apologies for taking the whole Bible literally.\u00a0 If I don\u2019t take every word as inspired and infallible, I set myself up to decide what is and is not true in the Bible, and I become my own god.\u00a0 It is just not tenable for a Christian to do that, so I shall believe the whole Bible, literally.<\/p>\n

To sum up, Leviticus chapters 18, 19 and 20 encompass a wide range of moral behaviour.\u00a0 The prohibitions on homosexual acts are found in chapters 18 and 20 which are dominated by laws against incest and adultery and are side-by-side with injunctions against bestiality and child sacrifice.\u00a0 They flank chapter 19 which contains laws for areas of human life other than sexual conduct.<\/p>\n

I do hope we can take it that the pro-sodomy advocates are in favour of loving thy neighbour, caring for the poor, judging righteously, and against stealing, lying, gossip, incest, adultery, bearing grudges (come on, be charitable to them!), cursing the disabled, child sacrifice and bestiality.\u00a0 If so, it seems, to quote the late Norman Pittenger himself, \u2018preposterous to single out one set of texts, dealing with sexual contacts between males\u2019 and to say that these are the only verses in these chapters dealing with morality that God did NOT really mean to be taken literally and for all time by all people.<\/p>\n

References:<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Robert W. Alexander, Seeking God\u2019s Wisdom about Christian Homosexuality, 1993<\/li>\n
  2. Rev Dr William Norman Pittenger, Time for Consent, SCM Press, London, 1969, p83<\/li>\n
  3. Rev Robert L Arthur, Homosexuality and the Conservative Christian,\u00a0 STI Publications, Los Angeles, 1982: p2<\/li>\n
  4. Rev Dr Mel White, What the Bible Says – and Doesn\u2019t Say – about Homosexuality, Soulforce, California, 2003<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

     <\/p>\n

    <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Biblical Reference: Leviticus 18 By Stephen Green First published in Christian Voice March 2011 Click HERE for Leviticus 18, 19 and 20 in full (KJV). Click HERE for an analysis of which Hebrew and Greek words are translated in the KJV by the word \u2018abomination\u2019 and to see what those words actually mean (some surprises […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":10,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-893","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"rttpg_featured_image_url":null,"rttpg_author":{"display_name":"Jason","author_link":"https:\/\/www.christianvoice.org.uk\/index.php\/author\/jason\/"},"rttpg_comment":3,"rttpg_category":null,"rttpg_excerpt":"Biblical Reference: Leviticus 18 By Stephen Green First published in Christian Voice March 2011 Click HERE for Leviticus 18, 19 and 20 in full (KJV). Click HERE for an analysis of which Hebrew and Greek words are translated in the KJV by the word \u2018abomination\u2019 and to see what those words actually mean (some surprises…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.christianvoice.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/893","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.christianvoice.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.christianvoice.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christianvoice.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christianvoice.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=893"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.christianvoice.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/893\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.christianvoice.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=893"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}