Have you ever heard this Bible interpretation before?
I am a gamer, of the tabletop roleplaying variety, who has been meeting with the same group weekly for over two decades (on and off). The group is led by a married couple (man and woman), and they have a female "roommate" who has lived with them for many years. In fact, they are a menage a trois, but they do not fit the stereotype: the husband is straight, the wife is bisexual, and the roommate is lesbian. They are lovely, intelligent people and dear friends of mine, and obviously they are pro-gay. However, they also happen to be Christians.
Last Saturday, during the pre-game chatter and setup, the wife (C) and the roommate (N) were talking about Leviticus. N declared that Leviticus, specifically the verses that talk about how men who lie with men should be put to death, isn't *really* anti-gay. She says that the verses are actually talking about *harmful* relationships, such as molestation.
I have *never* heard this interpretation. But I admit I have never read the Bible, therefore I kept my mouth shut due to not knowing my ground.
Those of you who know gay Christians: is this a common interpretation that they have? Does this explain how they can live with being both gay and Christian, because this is how they choose to read those verses which seem to be so hateful toward them? Is there *actually* anything in the Bible to back up N's assertion?
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Rocky john on -
No that is not a comon perception . but the thing i find strange is how many christians focus on the part of leviticus about gays and ignore the other commandments from leviticus as It also includes prohibitions against round haircuts, tattoos, working on the Sabbath, wearing garments of mixed fabrics, eating pork or shellfish, getting your fortune told, and even playing with the skin of a pig.
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Permalink Reply by Ida Know on -
Ah, but none of those involve knowing (and controlling) what kind of sex other people are having, ergo they're no fun, ergo naturally no one but the particularly fanatical believers pay them any mind.
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Permalink Reply by Steve on -
What's really up to interpretation is the anti-gay stuff in the NT by Paul. Especially since he uses made up words that are very unclear.
The OT is very straight forward though. If there is a problem it's the mistranslation of "abomination". In Hebrew that doesn't mean some kind of evil, bad thing, but a ritual uncleanliness. Leviticus is a holiness code and about behavior that's common among non-Jews, but forbidden for Jews. It's all about setting the tribe apart
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Permalink Reply by Chad Poelman on
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Before I was an atheist I made a transition from a fundamentalist christian to a liberal christian. Some of the common excuses we gave for the Leviticus anti-scripture that it was a health issue back then and so with the invention of reliable condoms it's not an issue anymore. Or we would say it was referring to male temple prostitutes for other religions. I have also heard people say that it referred to pedophilia but that was not a common one.
Christians that have moral issues with things with the bible, but do not want to lose their their faith will perform amazing feats of verbal gymnastics to reinterpret the bible to fit their morality.
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Permalink Reply by Ida Know on
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Which of course proves that their morality *doesn't* come from the Bible but is independent of it, though they have been taught otherwise.
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Permalink Reply by Chad Poelman on
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Very true, tho there is a growing number of liberal christians that will admit that. At the very end of my christianity I gave very little credence to the bible at all. Which of course brought me to the inevitable conclusion that if I don't think the bible is that important why bother keeping the label "christian" anymore.
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