I hate to tell you this but the Bible translation you are using is flawed. Not only that but it is biased towards the conservative side of things. Nobody knows for sure what the Greek word "arsenokoites" means. It could mean homosexuals but it could also mean something else. This is why there is such a variation in what various Bible translations say about the issue. Let me take your first verse as an example:
Simply wrong.
Arsenokoites is a compound word Paul likely coined himself.
Paul did this multiple times.
He liked to make up new terms to relate the Jewish scriptures to the subject he is talking about.
Arsenokoites is a compound word made up of terms used in the Septuagint in the Levitical and other Pentatuke books that bans homosexuality.
Those verses are quite explicit in the Greek. The refer to a man "having sexual relations with with another man".
Arsenokoites can only mean "a male laying with a man like he would a woman".
1 Corinthians 6:9 KJV Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind,
Derogatory figure of speech for homosexuals.
1 Corinthians 6:9 BBE Have you not knowledge that evil-doers will have no part in the kingdom of God? Have no false ideas about this: no one who goes after the desires of the flesh, or gives worship to images, or is untrue when married, or is less than a man, or makes a wrong use of men,
A euphemism for homosexual behaviour.
1 Corinthians 6:9 GNB Surely you know that the wicked will not possess God's Kingdom. Do not fool yourselves; people who are immoral or who worship idols or are adulterers or homosexual perverts
Homosexuality was a perversion according to Paul, so that is a redundant yet accurate interpretation of the term's popper translation.
1 Corinthians 6:9 NET Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived! The sexually immoral, idolaters, adulterers, passive homosexual partners, practicing homosexuals,
That is actually a very accurate set of interpretations of both arsenokoites and malakos.
1 Corinthians 6:9 NASB Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals,
I am starting to see a trend... all the translations you posted say the exact same thing.
1 Corinthians 6:9 NIV Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders
Same.
Now sure, you might say "Well most of those Bible translations identify "arsenokoites" as homosexuals of some kind" but as you can see, there is no clear definition for sure. Some say homosexual offenders, others say practicing homosexuals, others just simply say homosexuals.
They are all the same thing.
The same translation, just a different way of saying the same thing. Those phrases all have the same meaning.
In each case it is referring to homosexuals.
But you will also note that most of the Bible translations that I quoted are also biased towards the conservative side of things. Most of those Bible translations, if not all of them, were put together and translated by evangelicals.
Irrelevant. Greek is Greek.
Personally, I highly recommend that you take a look at the following website to get the liberal point of view on this issue:
http://home.wanadoo.nl/inspiritus/The%20Mystery.htm
That is a horrible source.
Good lord.
The arguments are terrible and I have refuted every one many times.
First: Linking malakos and Arsenokoites in such a way as one argument does is unwarranted because there are no other words that are linked in the passage.
Second: All translations except the odd one out translates the word as refering to homosexuals in some fassion. Whether directly or with a euphemism or a derogatory figure of speach.
Third: None of them take into consideration the clear uses of the terms that form arsenokoites in the exact old testament verses Paul would be familiar with in the Septuagint and would be familiar to the Greek speaking/reading Corinthians.
That said, I personally think that fundamentalists are entirely misguided on the issue of homosexuality. The Bible says that whosoever believes will have eternal life, not just straight people.
Yes, but without works faith is dead and those who practice such things can not inherit eternal life. This is because no true faith would maintain such sin intentionally and willingly.
Within Christianity, it may come down to how the Bible is regarded. Those who see homosexuality as sinful tend to take a literal view of the Bible and say that all of it is God's word or none of it is. OTOH, others see the Bible as partially God's word to be understood within the context of the culture and times. The latter would tend to judge right and wrong based on what his culture believes.
Which makes the Bible useless as a guide to the life of the believer.
Yes, some things are cultural, but they are easily identifiable.
Also, a ban on homosexuality is utterly unwarranted because Homosexual behaviour was widely accepted in the Greek cultures Paul was addressing.
There was no cultural basis to speak against it other than the moral laws of the Old Testament.
Yeah, well, Hosea 13:16 says, "The people of Samaria must bear their guilt, because they have rebelled against their God. They will fall by the sword; their little ones will be dashed to the ground, their pregnant women ripped open", but I don't see bible christians using that verse to support abortion.
First of all:
That is judgment language and a description of their fate.
Second:
Using that in the context of abortion makes no sense.
You are just twisting the meaning of the verse to suite your baseless rhetoric.
Therefore: Your response to that post was entirely a red herring.
Thanks for the great post and insightful link, PaladinGirl.
To refer to that link as "insightful" speaks woefully of he who would call it that. Likewise with referring to that post that proved the point of the poster herself wrong... as 'great' is, in a way, odd.
This is very true.
However, there are people who try to use this reasoning to split things into "homosexual tendencies are allowed, but homosexual acts -- even within the bonds of matrimony -- are not allowed." This always struck me as a little silly, making about as much sense as saying "left-handed tendencies are allowed, but left-handed acts are not allowed."
The sin nature is all consuming. We as Christians are free from its stinging condemnation.
Also, a homosexual couple can not in any sense exist within a "bond of matrimony". It is a contradiction of terms.
The very roots of the terms themselves imply a heterosexual relationship and no group, religion, institution, or culture has ever even considered bonding together those of the same gender in such a manner. It is entirely new.
Therefore it is insulting to me as a linguistics-buff to use the phrase in such an innaccurate and inappropriate fashion.
