Let’s be clear about what Bible says on homosexuality

My View

If I’ve heard it once, I’ve heard it 10,000 times: “I believe it because the Bible says so.”
A friend in one of my pastorates a few years ago used to laugh and imitate a former pastor of his, saying, “The Bible says so; I believe it; that settles it.” And perhaps the majority of church people maintain that the Bible is the ultimate authority on almost everything.
Most churches today, both Protestant and Roman Catholic, have been forced to deal with the question of homosexuality. Many church synods, conferences or other decision-making bodies have asked their denominations to study the issue.
Their publishing houses, consulting with experts on scientific studies, biblical interpretation and church policy, have produced literature for such exploration.
Many pastors talk about the topic from the pulpit. Sunday school classes discuss it, and special study groups are designed to consider issues around the subject. It’s a hot issue.
In all of these places where the theme is examined, the Bible is used as a primary source. Ironically, however, the Bible is a very poor source for understanding the issues around homosexuality. Let us look carefully at why:
First, it is generally accepted that homosexuality as we understand it wasn’t known in Bible times. In a lecture in Corpus Christi in June, Michael White stated (and it was written in lecture notes): “There is no word for same-sex relationships in the Hebrew Bible.”
White said the same of the New Testament. “… (T)here is no such denotative conceptual category in the culture,” he wrote. Actually the word was not used until after the middle of the 19th century.
Second, I think it is highly unlikely that biblical writers, including St. Paul, ever conceived of a committed, monogamous relationship between two people of the same sex. What appear to be references to same-sex relationships in the Hebrew Bible are more about idolatry and Levitical purity codes for priests than about what we think of as homosexuality.
Many prominent biblical scholars and other writers have determined through a study of Greek terms that mention of same-sex behaviors is more about pederasty.
Most people now, both liberal and conservative, generally agree that any kind of sexual behavior that is exploitative, manipulative or abusive in any way is wrong. That includes pederasty, of course.
But, in my view, the five biblical references to same-sex behavior cannot help us much, if at all, on gay issues today, any more than it can be used as a sex-education manual. Neither can the Bible enlighten us on what kind of materials to use in the textile industry, what types of fish to eat, or—using Leviticus as a guide—how to punish wayward children and adulterers.
As we know, however, there is abundant biblical material dealing with how to treat one another with love and compassion.
What I say here in no way diminishes the value of the Bible in human lives. I am interested in finding ways to help us use the Bible without distorting it or trying to force it to deal with areas it was never meant to address.