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 a
group 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.
• In studies like this, people sometimes feel the need to force their ideas. I have no desire
to do this (and you shouldn’t either). This is me telling you what I believe and what I’ve
learned – you can do with it what you like.
• Please express your opinions, feelings, and questions. Even though I am gay, I don’t
take “but I don’t agree with what you’re saying” personally.

What we’ll do:

• Six main passages: Genesis, Leviticus, Romans, Corinthians, Timothy, Jude
(Sodom/Jude and Corinthians/Timothy will be dealt with together).
• My story (I’ll share as much or as little as you want): Seminary. Used these tools –
ironically – to land in this place.
o The driving hermeneutical principal for this study will be that the Bible can’t
mean for us what it never meant for the original readers. That’s why we’ll
explore language, culture, history, text, etc.
o 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 – in
order to find its pure truth.

The Story (Genesis 19)

• The Context
o Hospitality: Hospitality in ancient near Eastern culture was far more important
than in modern culture. Travel through an often desolate wilderness was a slow
process. Inns and safe places to spend the night were few and far between.
Therefore, travelers tended to stop and spend the night with whoever was
friendly enough to invite them in. Imagine yourself riding a camel or leading a
camel through arid, dusty country day after day and you begin to appreciate the
importance of hospitality in ancient times. Welcoming weary travelers for an
overnight stay was common in the ancient near east. Hosts welcomed travelers
passing through, expecting the same hospitality would be returned to them in
their travels. Travelers in ancient times depended on the hospitality of strangers
for their lives and safety.
o The Jewish Legal Precedent
 Exodus 22:21
 Exodus 23:9
 Leviticus 19:34

• The Back Story:

o Abraham asks God to save the city if he can find one good person. (Genesis
18:16-33)
o 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 righteous
man showing hospitality.
o During the “rape,” Lot says, “But don't do anything to these men, for they have
 come under the protection of my roof."

• The Conflict: “So we can ‘know’ them” (Genesis 19:4-5)

o (?) “know” does not mean “sex.” “…the Hebrew ‘to know’ is very rarely used
in a sexual sense in the bible: in only 10 of its 943 occurrences in the Old
Testament does it have the sense of carnal knowledge. The passage on Sodom
is the only place in the Old Testament where it is generally believe dot refer to
homosexual relations.” (Boswell, 94)
o Sex is the point. Why else would he offer his daughter as “bait?”
 Three types of homosex in ancient times
• Age: pedastry (a student as service/payment to a teacher)
• Status: Higher status taking advantage of lower status
• 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 it
humiliated strangers and prisoners. The ultimate method was torture.
The ultimate torture was for a straight man, often several straight men, to
rape 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 political
impotence. Those who most commonly played the passive role in
intercourse were boys, women, and slaves – all persons excluded from
the power structure.” (Boswell, 74)
 The humiliation of strangers in the Sodom story is the ultimate
violation of hospitality.
• Lot: “But don't do anything to these men, for they have come
under the protection of my roof." (Genesis 19:8) Lot is
responsible for the safety of his angel visitors and all their needs
as long as they are under his roof. Travelers in ancient times
depended on the hospitality of strangers for their lives and
safety.
• 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. The
homosexual 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 the
original readers,” the second principal is, “Whenever possible, let the Bible interpret itself.” When
the 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 people
involved.” (Boswell, 95) What did they say?
o Ezekiel 16: 48-50
o Matthew 10:11-16
o Mark 6:11
o Jude 1:5-7
o This one’s trickier. “sexual immorality” and “perversion” in the Greek is “sarkos
heteras.” This literally translates into “different/strange flesh.” (as opposed to
flesh that was like theirs) Jewish tradition taught that this was referring to the
men of Sodom wanting to have sex with angels (strange flesh).

The Problem of “Sodomy”

Much of the confusion about the Biblical perspective on homosexuality comes from the words
“sodomy” and “sodomite.” It is important to note that these words are never used in scripture.
When we say the Bible condemns “sodomy,” we are using slang the Bible never uses.
o The OT word translated “sodomy” is “Kadash” (literally “temple prostitute”). We think the
Bible says “don’t be like the Sodomites,” but it doesn’t. It says “don’t be like the Kadash.”
(better translated “sexually immoral”) “Sodom” was a Hebrew word. They could have
used it if they had wanted to… But they didn’t.
o The words “Sodomite” and “Sodomy” didn’t start to be used until approximately 1297
when the scriptures were translated into Latin (sodomita). “Sodom in fact gave its name
to homosexual relations in the Latin language, and throughout the Middle Ages the
closest word to ‘homosexual’ in Latin or any vernacular was ‘sodomita.’” (Boswell, 92-93)
o Originally “Sodomy” (thanks to the ascetics) meant “non-procreative sex” and
was used to mean homosexuality, anal sex, sex during menstruation,
masturbation, etc. It referred to both homo and hetero sex.
o During the inquisition, people were lumped into “those we hated.” (Jews,
Muslims, Heretics, etc.) Gays were those who had non-procreative sex. They
were lumped into a group with the heretics. Sodomy then came to mean “gay
sex” and Sodomite “homosexual.”
o A “retro-reading” then made the scripture say the “Kadash” were Sodomites and
therefore homosexuals (which by then had gained a negative stigma).
 “Three Little Pigs” Originally it’s about three little pigs and is a classic
American story. 200 years from now, the Dutch invade America. They
start telling their children our stories, but in Dutch don’t have a word for
“little pigs.” Instead they call them “flargs,” which means “mammals who
build things.” Everyone comes to accept that the story is about “three
little mammals who built things,” which is close. Another 1000 years
pass. Laws are passed that state mammals are no longer allowed to
build houses. Since “the three little flargs” were mammals who built
houses, “flargs” becomes synonymous with “outlaws.” “The three little
flargs” are now “the three little outlaws.” Whenever the story it taught,
the pigs are dressed like robbers and thugs. The story is used to
illustrate how it’s immoral for mammals – especially pigs – to build
houses.
 Question: 1200 years from now, what is the story of the three little pigs
about?