Homosexuality and the Bible

Homosexuality and the Scriptures
Arlene Robbins
Chapter 1: So What REALLY Happened at Sodom???
Chapter 2: Who is the Law For?
Chapter 3: Paul Talks to the Romans
Chapter 4: Paul Writes to the Sex Capitals of the World
Chapter 5: Huh, What'd He Say?
Chapter 6: A Little "Church" History
An Afterward
Bibliography

Chapter Five:
Huh, What'd He Say?

Chapter 5 Huh, What’d He Say? Jesus, or Yeshua as His friends probably called Him, loved people. And He was a (gasp) RADICAL FEMINIST. He talked to (gasp) WOMEN, ANY women. He even treated them like real human beings. He said it was better for a woman to learn than to do housework. (Yo, read the BIBLE. That’s what it SAYS.) His thing about divorce stemmed from the fact that men could just toss their wives out the door whenever they got tired of them. That was the law. He said that’s not acceptable. I really don’t think He would have accepted wife-beating, either.

Jesus did have something to say about gay people, as much as He could say in that very strict culture where there was no gay lifestyle the way we understand it. He said in Matthew 19:12, “For there are some eunuchs, which were so born from their mother’s womb, some are made eunuchs by men, and some make themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven.” He begins and ends this very strange statement by saying, “Not everyone can accept this statementOnly those whom God helps.Let anyone who can, accept my statement.”

Why did He say this about eunuchs? Who were eunuchs?

By current definition, a eunuch is one who has been castrated. But, according to Bob Arthur, that was not the only New Testament period definition. “The Greek word used in Matthew 19 is eunouchos , which is a masculine noun referring to men who are in the state ofbeing unmarried” (p. 12).

Many people today believe eunuchs were without sexual desire. However, that is not the case. The galli , for example, the men who castrated themselves during the frenzy of goddess worship, were known for homosexual orgies.

In the Hebrew culture, any man whose sexual organs were damaged in any way was not permitted to be a priest or to come near the altar because that would defile the altar (Lev. 21:21, 23). Anyone who could not or would not reproduce was considered cursed.

But I believe that when Jesus talked about those were made eunuchs in heaven, He was not only talking about those who were made physically unable to marry or to reproduce, but also those who were made so hormonally.

I believe that even though many, many gay and lesbian people do have children either through social pressure or deliberate choice, that we are somehow made differently from the beginning. (The question remains: when did you choose the person to whom you were attracted? There is some medical evidence for the genetic root of homosexuality, but that’s a whole ‘nother story.)

And who did the Holy Spirit deliberately send Philip the apostle to? The Treasurer of Ethiopia, a eunuch (Acts 8:26-27). God promises eunuchs who love and obey God “in my house and within my walls a memorial, an everlasting name which will not be cut off” (Isaiah, 56:4-5). But the major point about Yeshua is that He said, Come to me, ALL ye that are weary and I will give you rest.” (He didn’t say, “except for.”)

Greenberg and others have pointed out another “puzzling” passage in scripture. In Matthew 5:22, Jesus says: But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court; and whoever shall say to his brother ‘Raca,’ shall be guilty before the supreme court; and whoever shall say, ‘You fool,’ shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell.

The word raca, in Hebrew, means soft, with “connotations of effeminacy and weakness. By implication the phrase refers to passive effeminate male homosexuals.” Similarly, the syllable raq is an Akkadian prefix indicating a woman’s name or task. The Akkadian symbol is the one used to indicate a woman. Several scholars have even suggested that the word moros, which is translated as fool , “actually refers to a male homosexual aggressor” (p. 211). Perhaps, just perhaps, Jesus was telling the people to quit condemning homosexuals. It’s worth a thought.

Jesus said to a man who asked, “What must I do to have eternal life?” “Don’t kill, don’t commit adultery, don’t steal, don’t lie, honor your father and mother, and love your neighbor as yourself!” (Mat. 19:16, 18-19)

Jesus said the two most important commandments are “You shall 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, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” (Mark 12:30-31)

Jesus was incredibly gentle with plain old sinners, including sexual sinners. But He yelled at hypocrites and legalists a lot. He offered a woman (not even Jewish, yet, and living with a fifth man, not her husband) His living water (John 4)—salvation. He said, “anyone who believes in me will have eternal life. For God loved the world so much that God gave Jesus so that anyone who believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. God did not send the Son into the world to condemn it, but to save it.

“There is no eternal doom awaiting those who trust God to save them.” (The Living Scriptures, Messianic Edition of The Living Bible , inclusified).