GAY TRUTH

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Christian abhorrence of homosexuality was not confined to pederasty, however. Sex between two adult males was also considered abhorrent. For instance, St. Paul condemned men’s “indecent acts with other men” ( Romans 1:27 ). He did not differentiate between pedophilia and adult homosexual acts; both were sinful sexual perversions in God’s eyes. It seems that wherever pagan values reign, as in the Greco-Roman culture , there one finds widespread homosexuality. For instance, homosexuality was common among numerous American Indian tribes. Walter L. Williams, in a book that focuses on homosexuality among American Indians, sympathetically notes that the Kwakiutl Indians of British Columbia, the Crows, the Klamaths, the Hopi, the Sioux, the Navajo, the Zuni, the Yokuts, and other tribes in the United States all practiced homosexuality before contact with Westerners. Sometimes homosexual acts were intertwined with the religious ceremonies performed by shamans.  Williams not only conveys

Homosexuality . Sexual desire directed toward members of one’s own sex. Female homosexuality is frequently called lesbianism, from the Island of Lesbos , where the Greek poetess Sappho (reputedly homosexual) lived ca. 600 B.C. Traditionally homosexuality was the sin for which Sodom was destroyed by divine judgment, hence the popular term “sodomy.” This interpretation depends upon uncertain translation, while Ezekiel 16:49–50 and Sirach 16:8–9 give other reasons for the judgment. The assumption of homosexuality in Sodom dates from the Greek occupation of Palestine , when “the Greek sin” seriously endangered Jewish youth and strong scriptural warning was necessary. Homosexuality had been condemned in both Leviticus (18:22; 20:13), where it is abhorrent to God, defiling, punishable by death , and in Deuteronomy (23:18), where it is forbidden to bring the hire of harlot or homosexual (“dog”) into the house of God in payment of religious vows, both being abhorrent to God. It is usually a

SLAVE, SLAVERY I. In the Old Testament a. Introduction Under the influence of Roman law , a slave is usually considered to be a person (male or female) owned by another, without rights, and—like any other form of personal property—to be used and disposed of in whatever way the owner may wish. In the ancient biblical East, however, slaves could and did acquire various rights before the law or by custom, and these included ownership (even of other slaves) and the power to conduct business while they were yet under their masters’ control. Slavery is attested from the earliest times throughout the ancient Near East, and owed its existence and perpetuation primarily to economic factors. b. Sources of slaves (i) By capture. Captives, especially prisoners of war, were commonly reduced to slavery (Gn. 14:21, claimed by the king of Sodom; Nu. 31:9; Dt. 20:14; 21:10ff.; Jdg. 5:30; 1 Sa. 4:9 (cf. RSV); 2 Ki. 5:2; 2 Ch. 28:8, 10ff.), a custom that goes back as far as written documents

From the statue in Rome. The Emperor Nero. (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Given that the gay marriage agenda will be increasingly pressed upon all churches by the state, we should be much more aware of what history has to teach us about gay marriage—given that we don’t want to be among those who, ignorant of history, blithely condemned themselves to repeat it. Contrary to the popular view—both among proponents and opponents—gay marriage is not a new issue. It cannot be couched (by proponents) as a seamless advance on the civil rights movement, nor should it be understood (by opponents) as something that’s evil merely because it appears to them to be morally unprecedented. Gay marriage was—surprise!—alive and well in Rome , celebrated even and especially by select emperors, a spin-off of the general cultural affirmation of Roman homosexuality. Gay marriage was, along with homosexuality, something the first Christians faced as part of the pagan moral darkness of their time. Wh