The debate has been raging across the boards for some time now and I have added my oar into the heady mix from time to time. Perhaps I should make my position somewhat clearer.
It worth remember that the debate about 'homosexuality' is more a debate about how one interprets the Bible. Those who stand on their claim that the Bible is literal will never be convinced on anything - they have already made up their minds. For the rest of us who use the Bible in order to shape our lives and to sustain our hope I offer these thoughts.
Point 1. Scientifically, we now know that HIV Aids did not originate within the homosexual community - it originated in the heterosexual community in Africa where its scourge remained masked by the myriad of other miseries that plague that continent. It was only when the virus was 'discovered' in a 'Western' country, the US, that it was even noticed and, unfortunately, it was 'noticed' in the gay community. Immediately, the so-called Church of God blamed homosexuals and levelled their full barrage of hate in that direction. Anyone who raised a different opinion was drowned out. Homosexuals have been living with the fall-out ever since. (Aids and Compassion (1988) edited by Dr. Jim McPherson).
Point 2. Sodom was not destroyed for its homosexuality. Isaiah cites justice as the issue (Isa 1:10, 3:9). For Jeremiah it was adultery, lying and avoiding repentance (Jer 23:14). Ezekiel thought pride, comfort and gluttony where its downfall (Eze 16:14). The Book of Wisdom mentions foolishness (10: 8) and hatred of strangers (19:14) as the reasons. Sirach thinks it was their arrogance (Sir 16:8). Jesus mentions Sodom (Matt 10:15, 11:23-24, Mark 6:11, Luke 10:12, 17: 29) but makes no reference as to what caused its downfall. None make mention of homosexuality as the reason. The real problem with Sodom was it idolatry - its belief in itself that it could do whatever it wished. It could slake any desire, provide for any want - that's was its sin - it set itself up as god. (And herein lies a clear message for a self-indulgent West).
Point 3. The only claim in the Bible that homosexuality could have been the reason for Sodom's destruction comes in Jude 7. But Jude was written in about 80 AD and after one Philo of Alexandria (d. cira 50 AD), a Jewsih philosopher and writer living at the time of Paul, had claimed that Sodom's sin was homosexuality. It was Philo, the only Jewish writer from antiquity that made the first claim which, in all probability, influenced later authors like Paul and Jude.
Point 4. Paul certainly mentions homosexuality as a sin but it might be worth looking at the cultural with which the early believers were surrounded.
The Roman world had come into peace under Tiberius after years of civil wars. Pax Romana bought rest and wealth to a land weary of internal fighting. Tiberius was hailed as hero and was proclaimed Augusta - God with us. The Roman Empire now spanned many cultures and one was the Hellenised Greek culture - a culture that worshiped the human body. (The Olympic Games were held nude - well, at least for the athletics). This aesthetic influenced spread to Rome and coupled with the Emperor cult and the general peace and wealth enjoyed by the citizens, together with the practice of Temple prostitution and blood sports, resulted in a culture that was in love with itself - idolatry. This was the sin Paul was concerned with - the worship of the human body as god and the practice of self-indulgence. Paul was concerned to make separate his 'believers' from a population that worshipped 'self'.
Point 5. We come 'loaded' with the beliefs of the past - even the faulty ones. It is hard to throw off what we have been taught. Yet, we need to examine that past and see it for what it is - a sketchy and ambiguous kaleidoscope of images that are biased towards particular agendas. Yet, it seems clear there is no overwhelming prerogative that the Bible teaches homosexuality is a sin. Clearly there is some ambiguity at best. But what the Bible does teach time and time again is the sin of self-indulgence - where such self-indulgence becomes self-worship. That's our error - worshipping ourselves.
I have a prayer, I saw it somewhere and it stuck. 'God, thank you for not making me wealthy that I forget you nor so poor that I have to steal'. The West, and the Church, faces bigger problems than homosexuality - the problem of over indulgence.
