Much has been said about homosexuality since the religious right has made it an issue. Wouldn’t it be nice if we went back to the Bible and read what it really said.

First of all I would like to say that the Authorized Version of the King

James Bible of 1611 does not condemn homosexuality.

James the First became King of England in 1604. He needed an English translation for political reasons. Every other country had the Bible in their native tongue. So he authorized its translation which first came out in 1611.

King James was affectionately called “Queen James” by his friends. Being gay himself, he would know if the Hebrew and Greek condemned homosexuality.

If indeed homosexuality was to be condemned Thomas Moore used the word “invert” in 1533. “Invert” was one of the words used to denote homosexuality. So by the time of the writing of the King James version there were several words in use which would have condemned homosexuality. They WERE NOT used! Ask yourself: If there were plain and simple words to mean homosexuality why weren’t they used? Simply because homosexuality was not the issue in these passages that the religious right use. Almost every biblical scholar today will agree on that point.

Then you go back to the Hebrew and Greek, the original languages. Only twice are homosexual acts mentioned in the Bible. Both times they are mentioned are in the Holiness Code recorded in Leviticus.

Let’s examine Leviticus 18, where it is mentioned that “a man should not lie with a man as with a woman.” That 18th chapter has a long list of condemnation of sex acts. Don’t have sex with your mother, your sister, your aunt and a whole list of female relatives. Then and only once does it mention not to have sex with a man. The next reference in chapter 20, which gives the consequences of these wrong sex acts, mentions all of the acts against female relatives and male with male. They were all put on the same level. There were 614 prohibitions in this Holiness Code. Why doesn’t the religious right follow the other 613?

Now if we would say that these condemnations apply today, then it is just as wrong to eat lobster, pay a worker less than daily, plant two crops in the same field and wear clothing of two fabrics.

For the Christian these prohibitions were abolished at the Council of Jerusalem in 49 A.D. (Acts 15:28).

Another passage used against the gay community is Genesis 19. The story of Sodom. The Hebrew word “Yadach” is used 943 times. Ten times it is used to say a man had intercourse with a woman and a child was conceived. The other 933 times it is used in various ways to show that you want to get acquainted with or to know someone. If that Hebrew word meant “homosexuality,” then out of 943 times the word is used this would be the only time it is mentioned. And the context doesn’t support that theory.

The first three chapters of the prophet Isaiah say the sin of Sodom is inhospitality, greed, abusers of women and children and corrupt religious leaders. Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Lamantations support Isaiah. No where is there any mention of homosexuality in all of these verses.

I believe that Jesus rightly named the sin of Sodom in Luke 10:10-12 as inhospitality. If Jesus is right, and I believe that he is, then the real

Sodomites today are those who are inhospitable to gays.

So anyone who says they preach from the Bible should go back to the Hebrew and Greek or the English of King James where no condemnation is found of homosexuality. It wasn’t until 1946 with the coming out of the Revised Standard Version (RSV) did we find the word homosexual in an English translation.

If Plato, Erasmus, Michaelangelo, James I of England and others were gay throughout history, surely people knew about homosexuality long before the religious right decided that it was a sin.

It is appalling to me that so many people follow fads and false teachers without even looking into the background of the things they are willing to condemn. When Mel White, who was a ghost writer for Jerry Falwell, Billy Graham, Pat Robertson and others, told them he is gay, and he tried for 25 years to “overcome” his homosexuality, you would think that they would be willing to listen to an “expert”. But no, they act like they don’t know him.

It reminds me of Peter when his Lord was taken prisoner by the religious leaders of his day and turned over to the Romans. Peter cursed and swore he never knew Jesus. The religious right are doing the same today. So in terms of Scripture, they are the real Sodomites.