The commandments against being gay in the bible come mainly from Leviticus, which also tells you not to eat bacon. So why is one viewed as a bigger sin than the other?
Bible Verses Condemning Homosexuality
When Christians are looking for a biblical basis, they point mainly to two commandments in the book of Leviticus, in the Old Testament of the bible.
According to Michigan Live,
The Book of Leviticus in the Old Testament has two references condemning homosexuality: “Do not lie with a man as one lies with a woman; that is detestable” (Leviticus 18:22) and “If a man lies with a man as one lies with woman, both of them have done what is detestable. They must be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads” (Leviticus 20:13).While condemnations of gay sex are unequivocal in Leviticus, it also is part of a long list of Jewish laws, some of which are not followed by Christians today.For instance, Leviticus bans tattoos, pork and shellfish, offers the proper rules for selling a slave and says a “foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born.”Leviticus also advocates the death penalty for adultery.
There is a long list of “thou shalt not’s” in the book of Leviticus, and Christians today have decided to pick and choose which ones they are going to follow.
The idea of picking and choosing commandments as being important or unimportant depends on the viewpoint of the person who is interpreting the bible and their personal views. It is easy to look for something to confirm your views, and even find some biblical basis for those views.
This becomes problematic when there is a list somewhere, and they decide to follow some of the rules and not follow others. Saying one commandment is important but the other isn’t is subjective. It is also hypocritical.
Sure, it’s fine for you to have bacon, but it isn’t fine for you to be gay.
You just ignore the parts of the bible that you don’t like, and slam the book shut in the face of anyone that decides to argue with you.
When looking at New Testament Verses such as Romans 1:26–27 and 1 Corinthians 6:9–10 and 1 Timothy 1:10 it is interesting to note that,
Another point made by Fitzgerald and other theologians: Although homosexuality is singled out by some today as an especially vile sin, the Bible tends to lump it with other sins, such as greed and gossiping.
All of the biblical basis for discrimination against homosexuality talk about it as simply part of a list of other sins. It isn’t singled out as being this one big, bad sin as it is made out to be by many of today’s Christians.
If you look at all the Mega Churches out there and the millions that they are making, you could say that they are breaking the prohibition against greed which is listed in the very same sentence as the prohibition against homosexuality.
If you decide that you are going to believe the bible, you don’t just get to pick and choose which parts you are going to follow.
Sorry guys, it isn’t the Starbucks menu. You don’t get to pick and choose and customize to fit your tastes.
What Jesus Says
In the New Testament, Jesus himself is silent on the issue of homosexuality.
There are two relevant things that Jesus does talk about when it comes to discriminating against “sinners.” You could also look at the people that he surrounded himself with to see that he didn’t discriminate against people based on their past deeds or lifestyle.
30Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ 31The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ No other commandment is greater than these.” (Mark 12:30–31)
These are the only commandments that Jesus ever gave.
In some translations, it indicates that in the new Christian tradition, one should not follow the law or the prophets at all if one was brought up as a gentile; those commandments only relate to former Jews.
If you follow the logic of what Jesus said, then you would need to love everyone. Jesus tells us to love everyone as we love ourselves.
He further goes on to discuss who we should consider our “neighbors” to be, so there shouldn’t be confusion on that issue either.
When asked, Who is my neighbor? Jesus told what is known as the Parable of the Good Samaritan. (Luke 10:25–37) He follows up with this:
36 “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”37 The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.”Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”
Jesus tells us to have mercy on others, in the manner of the Samaritan in the story. This tells us that Jesus valued kindness and helping others more so than what someone believed. As the Samaritan is valued in the story above several church elders whom are also mentioned.
Actions are more important than our beliefs.
Finally, Jesus also talks about how sinners or lawbreakers ought to be treated.
7 So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her. (John 8:7)
The implications, then, is that there is no one among us without sin. Therefore, we shouldn’t be the ones to punish those in society that we deem to be sinners. We are all sinners in some way and all to be judged equally.
If you look closely at the bible, and what Jesus actually said, you will find that gossiping, lying, eating pork or shellfish, and a whole host of other things are equally condemned as homosexuality.
The bible was written in a different time, with different social norms and values.
Still, the one thing Jesus said shines through clear as day:
Love your neighbor as yourself.
That means, if you are in the church, you don’t get to pick and choose who you are going to love. You don’t get to pick and choose who you are going to condemn.
If you claim that you love and follow Jesus, that means you need to love everyone. So please stop using the bible as a basis for your hate. The bible isn’t teaching you that. You are just using an old book as an excuse for your bigotry.
❤ Nicole