homosexuality - Biblical ideas

Question 1

What does the story of Sodom and Ghomorrah (Genesis 19:4-25) suggest about Biblical attitudes to homosexuality + quote?

Answer 1

seen as wrong - God destroyed the towns of homosexuals

Genesis 19:13 - ‘The outcry to the Lord against its people is so great that he has sent us to destroy it.’

Question 2

Quote from Deuteronomy 23:17-18? What does this suggest about homosexuality?

Answer 2

‘No Israelite man or woman is to become a shrine prostitute….because the Lord you God detests them both’

heterosexual sex sometimes seen as wrong - perhaps
whether homosexual sex = accepted or not depends on circumstances

Question 3

Quote from Leviticus 18:22? What does this suggest about homosexuality?

Answer 3

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

homosexuality not acceptable

Question 4

Quote from Leviticus 20:13? What does this suggest about homosexuality?

Answer 4

‘If a man has sexual relations with a man…both of them have done what is detestable. They are to be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads.’

not accepted - punishable by death
‘their blood will be on their own heads’ suggests it is a choice

Question 5

Quote from Genesis 2:24? What does this suggest about homosexuality?

Answer 5

‘…man…is united to his wife and they become one flesh.’

heterosexual couples = the norm
suggests can only achieve ‘one flesh’ with someone of opposite sex

Question 6

Quote from Leviticus 19:19? How can this be used to dismiss the traditional Christian condemnation of homosexuality?

Answer 6

‘keep my decrees.
Do not mate different kinds of animals
Do not plant your fields with two kinds of seed
Do not wear clothing worn of two kinds of material’

many of the laws in Bible are not relevant today - does not make sense following rules against homosexuality when many of the rules in the Bible = not followed