But you’re cherry picking some lines from around 800,000 words written by who knows whom. I could also pull out nonsensical rules from the Old Testament, but that would be childish.
Christopher Hitchens summed it up better than I could - why do so many intelligent and otherwise nice people become such shits when religion is involved? Some people at Morrison Academy have decided to be anti-gay and have searched for and found some justification for this in the Bible. I could do the same with shellfish.
Well, it’s not like they’re just random lines. Leviticus is considered pretty important when it comes to moral practices. I think it’s great that modern Christians are taking them with a grain of salt, but pretending the Bible is a gay-friendly tome is a bit of a stretch.
Which is pretty ironic considering what a shit he was (in a good way, I think) when it comes to Islam (and Christianity).
There are several references to the “sins” of Sodom and Gomorrah in the New Testament and the punishment that awaits them. There are numerous condemnations of gay sex in the Old Testament so it’s clear that Judeo-Christian scripture views gay sex as “sinful.”
"And you, Capernaum, will you be lifted to the heavens? No, you will go down to Hades. For if the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Sodom, it would have remained to this day. But I tell you that it will be more bearable for Sodom on the day of judgment than for you.”
– Matthew 11:20-24
“Just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire.”
– Jude 7 (New Testament)
Any religion that lists anal sex as an unnatural desire is fucked up. Next you’ll be telling me oral sex is a sin and then where are we? Missionary position with lights off and socks on?
What was it Blake wrote: “Binding with briars my joys and desires”.
I think the difference between the OT and the NT is something that most Christians struggle with. They seem to represent two completely different religions, and what you end up with is two extremes:
a) Judaism, which deletes everything that happened in the NT.
b) New Covenant theologians, who delete everything that happened in the OT.
Plus a whole bunch of stuff in between:
a) Catholics, who invented a whole new religion based loosely on a bit of this and that from the OT and NT;
b) Fire-and-Brimstone American Christianity, which is very much OT-based and starts from the assumption that Jesus put his seal of approval on Jewish Law.
c) Lutherans, Calvinists, and variants, which represents the mainstream of Christianity and treats the OT more-or-less as a historical document.
d) The Church of England, which wrings its hands over practically everything.
Plus of course Islam, which developed alongside (modern) Judaism and Catholicism and (much like the latter) takes bits and pieces from both the OT and the NT.
Indeed. The list is endless. Those were just a few examples off the top of my head. Bottom line is that Christians have far more interest in sects than sex … gay, anal, or otherwise. Most of them really would rather argue over big issues of doctrine than what you’re allowed to do with which bits of your anatomy. I think the obsession with homosexuality is very much a Stateside thing.