Homosexuality

“Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law” (Rom. 13:10 NIV).

Love

Love is not a feeling, it is the act of the will. It is aiming to choose the highest good of others equally with our own.

Harm

The purpose of the moral law is to eliminate “harm” and hurt in the world. So when we ask if something is a sin, we can ask does it or is it likely to cause harm and hurt.

Sex outside a monogamous committed relationship is likely to cause harm and hurt. Therefore, a monogamous committed relationship is prescribed by God.

Monogamous Committed Relationship

Is sex between two consenting adult men in a monogamous committed relationship a sin? I don’t believe it is. For it does not and is not likely to cause harm or hurt, any more than a heterosexual relationship.

And is seems contrary to good logical to require gay men to be celibate. For Paul says that “it is better to marry than to be aflame with passion” (1 Cor. 7:9).
Homosexuality is biological, it is not a choice.

Homosexuality

Homosexuality is “the quality or characteristic of being sexually or romantically attracted to people of one’s own sex” (Oxford English dictionary). Heterosexual culture did not understand this. They thought it was a choice. Because it would be a choice for them.

Therefore, the Bible never condemns homosexuality. Rather, it condemned men having sex with men, or women having sex with women (Romans 1:26-27).

Arsenokoites

Now most translations render arsenokoites as “homosexuals” (1 Cor. 6:9; 1 Tim. 1:10 NASB). This is the first time the term appears in any extent manuscripts, and it seems like a slang term. It literally means something like “male beds.” It was later interpreted to mean “men who have sex with men.” So arsenokoites does not mean homosexuals, those with same sex attraction, but “men who have sex with men.” For same sex attraction was not in the worldview of early cultures.

NRSVue

But even the translation “men who have sex with men” may be a later understanding of the term. This is why the New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition has a footnote that says, “Meaning of Gk uncertain.”

It translates both 1 Corinthians 6:9 and 1 Timothy 1:10 as, “men who engage in illicit sex.” Which significantly changes the meaning

It Doesn’t Matter

It is not surprising that a heterosexual man would condemn sex between men. Paul could simply not understand the concept of same-sex attraction. Most most heterosexuals cannot.

But if you actually talk to homosexuals, they will tell you that they knew that they were attracted to men very very early in their childhood. That means that they were born that way.

References

“ἀρσενοκοίτης • arsenokoites,” 1 Corinthians 6:1-11. Rev. Thomas G. James. Washington Street UMC.
February 2, 2020

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Jay N. Forrest

I am a Christian Teacher focused on the Pursuit of God through Prayer, Contemplation, Silence, Solitude, and Simplicity. I became a Christian in 1983, attended Bible school, and eventually earned my Doctorate in Ministry. I served as a Protestant minister for 27 years and also spent about a decade practicing Buddhism. In 2005, I was baptized into the Catholic Church, but have since joined the Episcopal Church. I live in the desert southwest of the United States.

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