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Originally Posted by Calgaryborn
All I can say is the New Testament makes it clear what God's opinion is regarding homosexuals. He terms it "vile affections". It is a sin just like adultery and unlawful fornication and many other things.
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Well first of all the NT wasn't written Hebrew, it was written in Greek.
That's exactly what the article linked to addresses, you say it's clear but I don't think it is. Paul is talking about idol worship and pagan rituals common to Rome in this chunk of scripture, you have to see that scripture in its context. There are some words used that aren't ever used elsewhere by Paul, and others that are used in unfamiliar ways. Even the Bible itself says Paul is difficult to interpret.
From here:
http://www.otkenyer.hu/truluck/six_b...#Romans1:26-27
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Romans 1:26-27 contains some words used only here by Paul. Familiar words are used here in unusual ways. The passage is very difficult to translate. The argument is directed against some form of idolatry that would have been known to Paul's readers. To us, 2,000 years later and in a totally different culture, the argument is vague and indirect.
Verse 25 is clearly a denunciation of idol worship, "For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature and not the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen."." Paul at no point in his writing dealt with same-sex orientation or the expression of love and affection between two people of the same sex who love each other.
Paul wrote Romans from Corinth, the second largest city in the empire and the crossroads of world trade and culture. Pausanius observed at about the same time as Paul that there were over 1,000 religions in Corinth. The most prominent were the fertility cult of Aphrodite, worship of Apollo, and the Delphi Oracle, which was across the bay from Corinth. Paul's readers would have been aware of the religious climate from which he wrote Romans and would have understood Paul a lot better than we do.
The word "passions" in 1:26 is the same word used to speak of the suffering and death of Jesus in Acts 1:3 and does not mean what we mean by "passion" today. Eros is the Greek word for romantic love, but eros is never used even once in the New Testament. "Passions" in 1:26 probably refers to the frenzied state of mind that many ancient mystery cults induced in worshipers by means of wine, drugs and music.
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