For the Bible Tells Me So: The Real Story, Part 6

BY BOB ELLIS
DAKOTA VOICE

This is the sixth installment in a 8-part series examining the DVD "For the Bible Tells Me So."

Introduction - Why the DVD Deserves a Closer Look

Part 1 - Building Sympathy Without Exegisis

Part 2 - The Bible as a 'Truth Buffet'

Part 3 - Understanding the Bible...Or Rewriting It?

Part 4 - Science or the Bible...or Neither?

Part 5 - Why Was Sodom Destroyed?

Dr. Richard J. Mouw, President of Fuller Theological Seminary, a fairly liberal scholar, says he believes the story of Sodom is about homosexuality, “But if all we have is the Sodom and Gomorrah story, there’s not a lot in the Old Testament that settles the question. We have to turn to the New Testament,” Mouw continues. “The one that’s very clear is Romans 1.”

While Dr. Mouw seems to forget about the passage in Leviticus which clearly condemns homosexuality, and the passage in Genesis chapter 2 which clearly outlines God's design for human sexuality as being between a man and a woman, he is correct that Romans chapter one also clearly condemns homosexuality. However, another Bible “authority” arrives at this point in "For the Bible Tells Me So" (FTBTMS) to cast doubt on what would otherwise be quite plain.

Rev. Jimmy Creech of Faith in America says that when Paul uses the terms “natural” and “unnatural” he really meant “customary” and “uncustomary.”

“It wasn’t customary for men to have sex with men in the Jewish context,” Creech says. “But he [Paul] saw it in the Greek world, so he saw that as evidence of worshipping the wrong god, of idolatry.”

It wasn't "customary" for Jewish men to have sex with other men because God had made it plain to the Jewish people that He doesn't approve of it. Since God had already dealt with this issue in the Hebrew Scriptures, I think it's safe to say that both Paul and the rest of Jewish culture had a more-than-adequate understanding of what homosexual sex is, that it isn't natural because it's contrary to God's design for sexuality, and that God doesn't approve of it.

Rev. Gomes says of the passage in Romans chapter 1, “His reference, of course, is to exploitive same-sex relationships among pagan Romans and Greeks. Paul certainly never contemplated the kind of monogamous, long-term relationships that are very much normal among homosexual people today.”

Paul was a very learned man, and a well-traveled man. It is implausible to believe that this rabbi who studied under the great Gamaliel wouldn’t have understood that homosexuality occurs in every society to some extent, whether it be Roman, Greek or Jewish.

Even if Paul hadn’t contemplated this, the Bible makes no reference whatsoever to the acceptability of homosexual behavior “as long as it’s in a monogamous, long-term relationship.” The practice violates God’s man-woman design for human sexuality, regardless of how long two same-sex partners have sex with one another.

Also, long-term homosexual relationships were not unheard of in the ancient world (Alexander the Great), though they were the exception to the rule, as they are in the modern world.

Along those lines and contrary to Gomes’ assertion, monogamy is NOT the norm among homosexuals today. While some couples do remain together for long periods of time, this is not normal, nor is it usually monogamous.

According to a 2003-2004 survey of homosexuals, only 15 percent reported relationships lasting longer than 10 years. According to a Canadian study, even among homosexuals who stay in a “committed” relationship, only 25 percent remained monogamous, and another study found the number to be as low as 4.5 percent. This low level of commitment helps explain why a survey conducted by the homosexual magazine Genre found 24 percent of respondents said they had more than 100 sexual partners in their lifetime, with a few reporting over 1,000. The advent of legally-recognized domestic relationships equated to “marriage” in some countries has done little to improve these figures.

But getting back to the film, Creech tells us, “The Bible really doesn’t deal with homosexuality because it has no concept of it. There were no Greek words, no Hebrew words, no Aramaic words for these concepts of human sexuality. And therefore the few references that have been lifted out of the Bible to be used in religious teachings to condemn homosexuality really are inappropriate.”

Creech must be forgetting about the multiple references in both Old and New Testaments which refer to men having sex with men, and women with women. They described the act with complete clarity. The ancients did not use our modern word “homosexuality,” which is a composite of the Greek “homos” meaning “same” and sexuality which, of course, we all understand.

But of course the writers of the Old and New Testaments understood perfectly well what homosexuality was. If you believe the Bible, then you know that the writers were guided by the Holy Spirit of God--and God certainly knew what homosexuality was.

This, like practically every other Biblical assertion made by FTBTMS, holds no water.

In Part 7 next week: do activism, sympathy and self supersede Biblical authority?