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Originally Posted by mikey_the_redneck
I haven't read the bible ....but does it really "advocate" bigotry against homosexuality?...maybe Calgaryborn can fill us in??...
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No doubt he can provide a much more creative and apologetic take, but I don't see any other way to read the very few, brief, and equally terse treatments of "homosexuality" in the Bible: They are highly polemical.
However, two things of note here: First, the "biblical" position is a normative position in its own cultural and historical context. Second, "homosexuality" in the ancient world was NOTHING like modern day same sex coupling.
First, the Bible has its roots in the Ancient Mesopotamian world in which ritual purity, creational order, and family solidarity were the primary concerns of virtually every people group. I personally think these last two are fundamental to understanding what we perceive to be "anti-homosexual" invectives in biblical literature. The general concept of the world and the cosmos for these people held that the universe consisted of a vast system of careful balance that was constructed by the gods, and which held the powerful and destructive forces of chaos at bay. Virtually everything had a place and a purpose, and things were carefully ordered as a way to explain the nature of "creation". According to this worldview, women and men are opposite and complimentary halfs of a divinely mandated sexual union: To break the created order was to celebrate chaos. It threatened to upset the delicate balance of the cosmos, and to ultimately result in its utter destruction and ruin. Furthermore, sex in the ANE had little or nothing to do with love and romance. It was about power and procreation. It was for the function of producing children, expanding one's family and clan, and ensuring their preservation and success. An utterly non-productive sexual union is both incomprehensible and offensive in a world in which basic survival is so dependent upon the health and well being of the family.
Second, "homosexuality" was not common, and it was not primarily the product (as near as we can tell from the surviving literature) of "sexual orientation". Who even knows if there was such a thing in the ancient world? Not to suggest that there is any biological difference in the modern Western world, but the social constructs that we use to govern and explain sexuality are entirely different. When ancient peoples experienced "same sex attraction", I am fairly convinced that they did not perceive it nor express it in terms of romantic companionship as we do in this day and age. The most developed forms of homosexual practice in the region came from ancient Greek society, and it functioned a strange part of the relationship between a much older teacher and his very young pupil. It was not "love" or "affection" or even any sort of "attraction". It was a convention that was engrained into Hellenistic pedagogy as part of the normal upbringing and education for Greek boys. It much more closely resembled pediastry than modern homosexual companionship. Is it any wonder that the Eastern Semitic cultures were so repulsed by it? The Romans were especially critical of what they viewed as a base and vulgar form of barbarism.
So then, when reading the Bible about "homosexuality"—as with anything—it is always important to try to understand it within its own context. Not to excuse its polemical treatment of minorities and foreigners which is clearly evil by our modern standards, but to attempt to see WHY and HOW these attitudes prevailed.