Is Homosexuality a Sin?
Answer: According to the letter of the Law of Moses, yes, but ...
Moses referred to homosexuality as an abomination worthy of death.1 So also was adultery, blasphemy, and cursing one's parents.2 He also wrote that eating certain meats, such as pork, shrimp or oysters, is an abomination. Also, people who were blind or lame, had crooked backs, flat noses, or other physical deformities could not be priests.3 By contrast, it was not offensive to buy and sell children; and, males were valued above females.4
Moses grew up in Egypt where virtually every aspect of life was overseen by priests. The pyramids are a lasting testimony to the preeminent role religious ceremony played in the life of Egyptians. The religious laws and ordinances Moses gave to the children of Israel, therefore, were not anything particularly new or strange. The people he led into the wilderness were already accustomed to priests sacrificing animals in temples inlaid with gold and precious stones. They were also used to living under strict codes of morality, as did many people in surrounding kingdoms. King Abimelech, for example, was appalled when he learned that Abraham had tricked him into taking his wife: What have you done to us… that you have brought on me and my kingdom a great sin?5 Even Moses' view of one god was nothing new to Semitic people. Just a century before Moses, Pharaoh Akhenaten led his people into the desert to worship what he declared to be their one true god, Aten.
As head of the priestly family of Levites, it is not surprising that Moses gave a multitude of strict religious laws and ordinances like those used by other nations to govern and worship. What Moses did do that was unique, however, was tell the people that they must learn to set these aside and choose compassion instead.6 They could not be like the God of Israel, who is merciful and forgiving, and continue to judge one another with the law. The prophet Ezekiel later wrote: Wherefore I gave them also statutes that were not good, and judgments whereby they should not live …that I might make them desolate, to the end that they might know that I am the Lord.7
In the names of many gods, mankind has judged one another over immorality, what people should eat or drink, and which religious ceremonies must be observed. Israel's God was set apart from these gods by requiring that, in order to enter his kingdom, people could not judge one another by religious and moral laws. To the God of Israel, judging others was sin; and, it was those who judged others who he saw as the true abusers of themselves with mankind, adulterers, fornicators and idolaters.8 True morality, in his eyes, was simply treating others as they would want to be treated themselves.9
References
1 Lev 18:22; 20:13
2 Lev 18:22; 20:13
3 Lev 18:22; 20:13
4 Lev 25:45-46; 27:2-8
5 Gen 20:9
6 Deuteronomy, Chapter 30
7 Eze 20:25
8 Romans, Chapters 1, 2; Matthew, Chapter 7; Rev 21:8, 27
9 Mt 7:12 |
