²⁶ Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. ²⁷ In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error.

Romans 1:26-27 New International Version (NIV)

Here is another one as obvious to me as Sodom and Gomorrah – this is not about two men or two women being in a consensual relationship. It’s very clearly about lust.

The men and women in the passage are being lustful with all those around them, and this is very clearly stated to be a sin. They’re putting their lust above their love for God, which is something Christians should strive not to do. Lust is a sin. But the mere fact that they’re also having homosexual lustful exchanges really says nothing about homosexuality itself being the sin.

The passages leading up to this one I feel are very important for setting the scene:

²¹ For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. ²² Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools ²³ and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles.

²⁴ Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. ²⁵ They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.

Romans 1:21-25 New International Version (NIV)

These people are literally worshiping and serving things created on Earth over God. They are not glorifying or thanking God. They are worshiping shrines instead of God, idolatry. These are things the Bible repeats over and over as bad things. Aka sin.

Lust is focusing on your own desires over worshiping God. It is something we all have experienced, and we all have had to deal and work through, since we’re all humans.

Lust is such a prime example of what actual sin is in the Bible and it makes it incredibly clear that homosexuality is not something that should be in the same category. Lust is something that feels good. Lust is something that our bodies crave in a way that takes us further from God. Lust is exactly what the Bible warns about time and time again.

How is being in a consensual relationship with another human being, who happens to be the same gender, have anything to do with lust? Yes, a lot of gay culture revolves around lust, but how can you blame them when they have been told their sole being is a sin? How can you hold it against anyone for falling farther into this sin when they’ve been told that just by existing, that alone is a sin?

I think this is a key point when people think they’re being loving and Jesus-like when they say “Homosexuality is a sin, but we’re all sinners”. Yes, we all experience lust. And yes, we all experience other forms of sin. But no, your being is not a sin. Saying homosexuality is a sin is akin to telling someone that their left handedness makes them a sinner. The color of their skin makes them a sinner. The way they walk makes them a sinner. These are all ridiculous claims that (most) people can see right through. How then is homosexuality any different?

This reminds me of the issue with the Kinsey scale, and those who are stanch homophobes being in the middle of it (literally). In their mind, they are experiencing homosexual thoughts in a way that feels like lust to them. They can oppress it; they can turn their attention away from those desires. And to them, that feels like they are being good Christians. What they don’t understand is that not everyone is at the same place on the Kinsey scale. Not everyone is experiencing their sexuality in the same way. And by oppressing and calling other’s existence “a sin”, they are hurting an entire demographic of individuals who could easily be loved and welcomed into the church.

We’re all sinners, yes. But no, no one’s existence is a sin. And if you believe that homosexuality and lust are similar things, check where you are on the sexuality spectrum. You will likely be surprised at where you find yourself.

Phew, this one I believe is the hardest for many people, myself included. It’s the only one I don’t feel that there is one “right” answer, there are many alternative answers, and I can’t in good faith deduce which one feels the most accurate.

Of course, with all these passage interpretations, there is no “right” answer at all. I used to work as a sign language interpreter and let me tell you something – there is no single right interpretation of anything, let alone ancient texts. I believe that scholars and historians and religious study professors are all doing their best to interpret The Word as accurately as possible, but they have one flaw they can’t get around – they’re human! And I am too! No matter what, we are interpreting these texts through our own flawed and judgmental reality, with all our privileges and biases and life experiences behind those interpretations.

With that being said, why should anyone care about my interpretation of the Bible? Well, I believe I have a unique perspective in the fact that I wasn’t raised in the church. This lets me weed out and see through a lot of things many people raised in the church deem as “facts” that are really just interpretations. I believe my outsider perspective is valuable and different to many voices prevalent in the Christian community. I think my time as an interpreter, my time as an agnostic, and my journey to find truth have put me in a unique position to share my findings.

But really, I think everyone’s journey is unique and different, and I just hope that my own journey can help someone else on theirs.

So, let’s get into Leviticus!

²² “‘Do not have sexual relations with a man as one does with a woman; that is detestable.

Leviticus 18:22 New International Version (NIV)

¹³ “‘If a man has sexual relations with a man as one does with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable. They are to be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads.

Leviticus 20:13 New International Version (NIV)

Yikes, right? So many people have used these lines to justify hate, discrimination, and even murder. On the surface, this appears straightforward and to the point. But really, it’s anything but.

As Adam Nicholas Phillips points out in his fantastic article “The Bible Does Not Condemn Homosexuality. Why Does Franklin Graham Not Get This?“, the Leviticus commandments were written for a people that were on the run out of Egypt. They were written at a very specific time for a very specific people.

That said, I still believe the Bible was written so vague and without direct points for exactly the purpose that it would be timeless. If the Bible was written with explicit and direct “how-to’s”, there would be no humanity. The vagueness is “sorta what God is going for”, to quote The Book of Mormon, the musical. It’s vague so it can be understood and interpreted for all time periods by all peoples.

So, with the thought that the Bible is timeless, it doesn’t matter who Leviticus was written for, it should all still apply now. Correct?

Well, not quite. Leviticus is also where the Bible forbids eating shellfish (11:9-12), promotes slavery (25:44-45), and describes how you cannot wear mixed fabric (19:19). Look at that shirt you’re wearing and let me know how well you’re following those Leviticus commandments.

We can all see plainly with our eyes that slavery is bad. We can all see that wearing mixed fabrics or eating shellfish is not something Jesus thought was important to uphold and maintain. Jesus is the fulfilment of this law. Jesus spoke often and frequently how there were many people “upholding the law” but finding loopholes and still being greedy and selfish. That was more important to focus on – being good, loving others, helping the poor. That was what Jesus preached about and spoke for. Your attitude and intention are what is important.

³⁸ “You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’ ³⁹ But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also. ⁴⁰ And if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well. ⁴¹ If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles. ⁴² Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.

Matthew 5:38-42 New International Version (NIV)

In many ways, Jesus came to focus our attention on what we were doing wrong. And focusing on shellfish and mixed fabrics was not one of those things. Why then do people pluck this single passage and deem it more important than any others in Leviticus?

I have also seen in multiple sources how this passage is most likely completely mistranslated all together! In the article “Redefining Leviticus 20:13“, it explains how the specific Hebrew words are more likely in reference to an adult man and a young man.

²² Thou shalt not lie with zachar, as with isha: it is to’evah (abomination, detestable)

Vayikra 18:22 Orthodox Jewish Bible (OJB)

Aka, this passage is explaining specifically how pedophilia is wrong. An adult man should not have sex with a young boy. This falls perfectly in line with my core belief that “sexual sin” is when sex is used to hurt or harm someone, such as a child. Sexual sin is not a reference to two consensual adults loving each other in marriage.

It likely was completely changed due to Emperor Constantine’s anti-homosexual laws. Emperor Constantine ruled from AD 306 and 337 and already the Bible was being translated and change to fit in with what he deemed as accurate.

Why would my interpretation be more accurate than his interpretation? It follows the overall narrative of the Bible to be loving and kind and to not hate your neighbor. It truly falls in line with Jesus’s preaching and His message.

There is no sin in a man loving and being in a consensual relationship with another man. At least not according to Leviticus. We have 4 more passages to go and I hope you stay with me to learn more!

Resources:

• The Bible Does Not Condemn Homosexuality. Why Does Franklin Graham Not Get This?
• Redefining Leviticus 20:13

Sodom and Gomorrah is often the first thing Christians will mention when talking about why the Bible is anti-homosexuality. I mean, the word “sodomy” even derives from this passage. But let’s really look at what happened in Sodom.

Two angels arrive in Sodom and Lot takes them in to protect them. A crowd of men then surround their house and demand that Lot bring the angels outside so they can have sex with them. This is a great sin and God punishes the city of Sodom accordingly.

If these angels had been women, would the sin not be the same thing? I believe it would be, because rape is wrong no matter who is being raped. A crowd of people asking and forcing themselves upon anyone is wrong and sinful.

I suggest re-reading this passage with the thought of the angels being women. Wouldn’t it still be wrong? Wouldn’t you still understand why God destroyed these cities?

²⁷ Early the next morning Abraham got up and returned to the place where he had stood before the Lord. ²⁸ He looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah, toward all the land of the plain, and he saw dense smoke rising from the land, like smoke from a furnace.

²⁹ So when God destroyed the cities of the plain, he remembered Abraham, and he brought Lot out of the catastrophe that overthrew the cities where Lot had lived.

Genesis 19 New International Version (NIV)

This passage says absolutely nothing about two people of the same gender being in a consensual, mutually respecting relationship. The passage is very clearly stating that forming a mob and attempting to rape someone is a bad thing. What does this say about a gay relationship? Absolutely nothing.

To top if all off, there are more disturbing things in this passage than that. Lot, our protagonist, offers up his virgin daughters to the angry crowd. Also, later his daughters have sex with their father. But you don’t see people bringing up those passages because incest is understood as being a bad thing in this day and age.

6 Lot went outside to meet them and shut the door behind him 7 and said, “No, my friends. Don’t do this wicked thing. 8 Look, I have two daughters who have never slept with a man. Let me bring them out to you, and you can do what you like with them. But don’t do anything to these men, for they have come under the protection of my roof.”

Genesis 19 New International Version (NIV)

³⁴ The next day the older daughter said to the younger, “Last night I slept with my father. Let’s get him to drink wine again tonight, and you go in and sleep with him so we can preserve our family line through our father.” ³⁵ So they got their father to drink wine that night also, and the younger daughter went in and slept with him. Again he was not aware of it when she lay down or when she got up.

³⁶ So both of Lot’s daughters became pregnant by their father.

Genesis 19 New International Version (NIV)

When people pick and choose their Bible verses to bring harm to others is when we should be ashamed as Christians. The entire Bible needs to be analyzed from a perspective of love and history.

I believe these passages are telling a historical tale and obviously that it is not what you should follow for yourself. The Bible is not suggesting you should go have sex with your father or that you should offer up your virgin daughters to an angry mob of rapists. It’s stating what happened at that time as a historical volume of what occurred. This is made clear to me by how it’s delivered – with no suggestions that this is what should happen or what was right. It is merely stating what occurred in those matters. This is problematic for many reasons, but history is history, and there are a lot of awful things in it. Keep this in mind as we explore future passages.

Going back to what the men were doing in Sodom, the angels specifically take action against it, which is indicative of their actions being sinful:

⁹ “Get out of our way,” they replied. “This fellow came here as a foreigner, and now he wants to play the judge! We’ll treat you worse than them.” They kept bringing pressure on Lot and moved forward to break down the door.

¹⁰ But the men inside reached out and pulled Lot back into the house and shut the door. ¹¹ Then they struck the men who were at the door of the house, young and old, with blindness so that they could not find the door.

Genesis 19 New International Version (NIV)

The angels turn the men blind. Because a mob of men wanting to have sex with anyone is sinful.

This one feels very straight forward to me. Do not form an angry mob and try to have sex with people who do not want to have sex with you. This is sinful and bad.

Angry mob rape parties = sin.

Even at other parts in the Bible, when they mention Sodom, it never calls out homosexuality as the sin in which God decided to destroy the city. In Ezekiel 16, Sodom is even called out for specific sins, none of those being homosexuality.

49 “‘Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy. 50 They were haughty and did detestable things before me. Therefore I did away with them as you have seen.

Ezekiel 16 New International Version (NIV)

40 As I overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah
    along with their neighboring towns,”
declares the Lord,
“so no one will live there;
    no people will dwell in it.

Jeremiah 50 New International Version (NIV)

Absolutely nowhere in this passage does it specify that the men-on-men aspect of this rape is the primary focus and specifically what was sinful. That is only an assumption put on by our homophobic culture. This passage flat out isn’t about homosexuality at all, no matter how much some churches wish to shoehorn it into that box.

The crux of this is, you can’t choose to be homosexual just as much as you can’t choose to be heterosexual. It’s who you are, just as much as your race or the shape of your face or the color of your hair. But it’s so much more complex than that.

I believe you’re born somewhere on the spectrum of sexuality. Biologically, you have a tendency to sway one way or the other. But also, life/environment/culture/so many things can influence your sexuality.

This is what makes it so tricky for many Christians to accept someone as being gay. They believe it’s a choice that person has gone out and made, they could just as easily choose to be straight (as perhaps this person has done themselves) but instead this person is deciding to “sin” by being gay.

While trying to find words for my concept of why this is inaccurate, I came up with a scale. You can either be a 1 (completely heterosexual) or a 10 (completely homosexual) or anywhere in between.

I thought I was thinking up this brilliant concept to explain why you can’t flip a switch to change your sexuality. But I was wrong, as my good friend Ben pointed out. I was not coming up with a brilliant concept – that concept has already been documented and studied by Alfred Kinsey and it’s called the Kinsey scale.

I was wrong on a few points (Kinsey bases the scale from 0-6, includes decimals, and accounts for asexuality as an X). Also, this scale was thought up in the 1940s and has been expanded and studied by so many new scientists, it’s frankly at this point mostly outdated. Sexuality isn’t a one-dimensional scale, it’s three or four dimensions, with gender and other influences playing a role as well.

I highly recommend doing more research if this is something that interests you, but for the point of my simple blog, let’s just say you have a number. Maybe you’re born a 1.57 or a 2.33. You’re mostly interested in the opposite sex, but occasionally someone of the same sex will catch your eye. There is absolutely nothing wrong with this, it’s just your number.

However, I believe these individuals are the individuals most dangerous when it comes to understanding sexuality and Christianity. Arguably most (if not all) individuals fall somewhere in the middle of the scale and few are the two extremes of a full 0 or a full 6. Just look at a random number generator generating any number with 2 decimal places between 0 and 6. You will go a long time before you get the 0 or the 6 dead on.

These individuals are dangerous when combined with repressive Christianity because they see their homosexual thoughts as fleeting “sinful” thoughts that they can control and suppress. They think all individuals are like this, they are not unique, and they are better and less “sinful” because they can control these thoughts.

What they’re not understanding, is that they might be 1-2, but there are other people that are 4-6. Most or all their attractions are for members of the same sex. And there is nothing wrong with that either. They could in theory be attracted to someone of the opposite sex, but not easily.

Also, this number changes during your life, but gradually. You might be a 1.45 one day and a 1.52 the next, but you’re not going to be a 5.89 the day after.

So, what does this all really mean?

You can’t choose who you are. God made you somewhere on this scale and is with you as it changes, flexes, and grows. Be empathetic and realize that those around you are somewhere else on this scale. No one is experiencing the exact experiences you are and no one’s feelings are identical to your own. Empathy is important.

Once when I was 16, I was driving with my good friend Jason and I asked him if he had decided to be gay. I was ignorant and didn’t see this question as a big deal. He was immediately floored and wondered how I could ask such a thing. How could I ask if he decided to be bullied? How could I ask if he decided to have the person whom he loved be incapable of loving him back because he was the “wrong” gender? How could I ask if that was a decision he had made? Who would choose to be looked down on and bullied and hated?

This was a big deal for me. His life was hard, but he was going to make the most of it. He wasn’t going to hide who he was despite how mean and cruel teenagers (and adults) can be. He didn’t choose that life, but he was making the best of it.

Now, if you still believe homosexuality is a sin, this might not influence you much. You might think, sure, okay, people are a specific way, but it’s just like any other sin and God gives us all sins to work through.

Yes, some people might be naturally more sinful or are put in more frequent situations where they can be tempted by sin. Some people’s life experiences lead them to sin.

But no one is flat out born more of a sinner than anyone else. If we’re all born sinners, we are all the same level of sinner. And people are born on this spectrum. And God makes no mistakes. So, what does that tell you?

Being gay is not a sin.

Future posts we’ll explore how people have misinterpreted the Bible to fit with their homophobic beliefs. We’ll go through each passage of the Bible that is being used against homosexuality and show how they have been translated inaccurately (some within only the last 100 years even). Are you using the Bible the same way a racist might have in the 1920s? Stick around to find out and figure out how you can be more loving and accepting as Jesus wants us to be.

Here are some great articles I read while preparing this post:

• Stop calling it a choice: Biological factors drive homosexuality
• Search For ‘Gay Genes’ Comes Up Short In Large New Study
• Is Homosexuality a Choice?

That’s why, I believe, a lot of my friends were thrown off guard when I came out as a Christian.

As a hippy-dippy, Democrat voting, left-wing nut liberal, this was unexpected. The Christian community has grown into a monolith of right-wing ideals. Christian people are often anti-LGBTQ+ and anti-progress and anti-science. What was I doing getting mixed in with those sorts of people?

It really comes down to the Bible, God, and Jesus.

Throughout my life, I had a mixed relationship with churches and Christianity. Growing up, we were CEO Christians (Christmas Easter Only). My high school boyfriend brought me to church with him and I learned that churches not only were open every Sunday, but also there were events and activities throughout the week that church goers did together.

I stopped going to church in my late teens, largely because of the church’s views on homosexuality. I have many queer friends and consider myself a part of the queer community. I have never felt more at home in any group of people. How can I be a part of a group that so openly makes these people feel like less?

Much later in life, I began interpreting (I’m a certified ASL interpreter) for a church every Sunday. I would meet with my fellow interpreters and we would analyze the service and find the best signs to fit. Unexpectedly, I was learning about the Bible. It wasn’t until I stopped interpreting at this church that I began to really miss and yearn for those Bible study meetings, even though at the time I hadn’t realized that was what we were doing.

At this point in my life (about mid-20s), I wasn’t thinking much about God at all. I wasn’t purposefully anti any religion, but I was anti bigotry and the persecutions I was seeing the LGBTQ+ community go through. People just living their lives and being who they were (how God made them, I later realized) were being bullied, shamed, and even murdered – for what? I decided to just keep living my life and being a good person and not thinking much about the whole “religion” thing.

That was my way of life – at least until I had a small medical scare that really shook me. On instinct, I prayed about it. After results came in and I was completely fine, I realized that it was a bit messed up that I only reached out to God when I needed something.

Here was this entity, this thing, that in my heart I could feel, but I only searched for it in times of trouble. I was reminded of verses from my time interpreting church. “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.” (Joshua 1:9 NIV)

I decided to start going to church again and see where that lead me.

I went to a few churches and saw again what I had seen when I left the church: close-minded people. I kept remembering my time as an interpreter and realized what great disconnect there was between the Bible and the Chrisitians I was seeing in every day life.

I then decided to do more research. If these people were right, and the Bible really is anti-homosexuality, then the Bible is not for me. For one, I have a fundamental belief and knowledge that being gay is not a choice and that there is nothing wrong with two people of the same sex being in a consensual relationship. I will definitely be exploring this more in future posts, but I know this to be a fact. There are many “bad” things in our world, and two consensual adults loving each other is not one of those bad things. If the Bible disagrees with this, it is opposing obvious truths I can see with my own eyes, and thus must be wrong.

Furthermore, my limited knowledge of the Bible was how much God and Jesus loves us and how most Christian beliefs are about loving each other and loving God. This limited knowledge was in direct contrast to how I was seeing Chrisitans behave towards LGBTQ+ people. So if in the Bible there was something directly attacking gay people, that would be hypocritical. And hypocracy is something I can not stand.

So I went to the Bible. The one place with words written by God Himself, translated into 698 different languages. Honestly, I was pretty confident at this point I was going to find something to turn me off of this whole Christianity phase I was going through.

But I have news, friends – the Bible is NOT anti-homosexuality!

Even moreso, I’m confident being gay is not a sin.

I know, shocker.

I’m going to explore this more in depth in future posts, but after really reading and analyzing all the Bible verses Christians have used to be anti-LGBTQ+, I honestly believe that many Christians are wrong. They’re using the Bible just as racists have used it for white supremacy. They’re making choices and picking words from here and there to fit with a preconceived idea that has been passed down to them.

I believe God took me on my specific path so that I could see and know the truth. If I had grown up in the church, I would be just as blinded to this idea as many of my Christian friends. Because of where I come from, I can see and read and interpret The Word without the biases of my family. My family’s biases (where I learned to love all others) fit in perfect tandem with God’s Words, unlike many fundamentalist Christian biases.

So, if you’re still here and I haven’t completely scared you off, I really hope you’ll join me as I go through the “6 Bullets” Christians use against homosexuality. We’ll explore the Bible, God’s words, and why these interpretations align more with the overall words of Jesus. We’ll also explore why it’s not okay to say “yes being gay is a sin, but we’re all sinners” and just how badly that damages what Jesus had in mind for us.