The Gay Debate
Dear Mr. Robertson,

Thank you for doing so much to educate people regarding God’s Law. I have learned a great deal from your show, and I try to share that knowledge with as many people as I can. When someone tries to defend the homosexual lifestyle, for example, I simply remind him that Leviticus 18:22 clearly states it to be an abomination. End of debate. I do need some advice from you, however, regarding some of the specific laws and how to best follow them.

a) When I burn a bull on the altar as a sacrifice, I know it creates a pleasing odor for the Lord (Lev 1:9). The problem is my neighbors. They claim the odor is not pleasing to them. Should I smite them?
b) I would like to sell my daughter into slavery, as sanctioned in Exodus 21:7. In this day and age, what do you think would be a fair price for her?
c) I know that I am allowed no contact with a woman while she is in her period of menstrual uncleanliness (Lev 15:19-24). The problem is, how do I tell? I have tried asking, but most women take offense.
d) Lev. 25:44 states that I may indeed possess slaves, both male and female, provided they are purchased from neighboring nations. A friend of mine claims that this applies to Mexicans, but not Canadians. Can you clarify? Why can’t I own Canadians?
e) I have a neighbor who insists on working on the Sabbath. Exodus 35:2 clearly states he should be put to death. Am I morally obligated to kill him myself?
f) A friend of mine feels that even though eating shellfish is an Abomination (Lev 11:10), it is a lesser abomination than homosexuality. I don’t agree. Can you settle this?
g) Lev 21:20 states that I may not approach the altar of God if I have a defect in my sight. I have to admit that I wear reading glasses. Does my vision have to be 20/20, or is there some wiggle room here?
h) Most of my male friends get their hair trimmed, including the hair around their temples, even though this is expressly forbidden by Lev 19:27. How should they die?
i) I know from Lev 11:6-8 that touching the skin of a dead pig makes me unclean, but may I still play football if I wear gloves?
j) My uncle has a farm. He violates Lev 19:19 by planting two different crops in the same field, as does his wife by wearing garments made of two different kinds of thread (cotton/polyester blend). He also tends to curse and blaspheme a lot. Is it really necessary that we go to all the trouble of getting the whole town together to stone them? (Lev 24:10-16) Couldn’t we just burn them to death at a private family affair like we do with people who sleep with their in-laws? (Lev. 20:14)
I know you have studied these things extensively, so I am confident you can help. Thank you again for reminding us that God’s word is eternal and unchanging. Your devoted disciple and adoring fan. * Billy P

Philippians 2:4- To look not only to our own interest, but also to the interest of others.

Matthew 5- Jesus instructs if someone makes you go one mile, go two miles.

Matthew 7:17-18- Every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit.” Jesus warning against false teachers. This is a principle to be used to test good teaching from bad teaching.

According to Jesus, good teachings have good consequences. (Doesn’t mean following Christian teaching will/should be easy. * Turning the other cheek * Loving your enemies * Laying down your life for your friends

Good teachings even when they are difficult are not destructive to human dignity. Don’t lead to emotional and spiritual devastation and to the loss of self-esteem and self worth. Those have been the consequences for gay people of the traditional teaching on homosexuality. It has not born good fruit in their lives. Has caused them incalculable pain and suffering. Are we taking Jesus seriously, that bad fruit can come from a good tree?

Sodom and Gomorra Reference

Genesis 19:4-8- Before they had gone to bed, all the men from every part of the city of Sodom-both young and old-surrounded the house. They called to Lot, ‘Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so that we can have sex with them.’ Lot went outside to meet them and shut the door behind him and said, ‘No, my friend. Don’t do this wicked thing. Look, I have two daughters who have never slept with a man. Let me bring them out to you, and you can do what you like with the. But don’t do anything to these men, for they have came under the protection of my roof.’

^The men keep threatening so the angels (the two men) strike them with blindness. Lot and his family then flea from the city, and God destroys Sodom and Gomorra with fire and brimstone.

What does Sodom and Gomorra have anything to do with sexuality?? Yes, there’s a sexual component to the passage, but what is it saying about sexuality? During the middle ages it began to be believed that the reason Sodom was destroyed was because of homosexuality in particular. This interpretation held sway for centuries, giving rise to the English term “Sodemy”. Just because later societies (the middle ages) interoperated it to homosexuality, doesn’t mean that’s what the bible itself teaches. In the passage, the men of Sodom threaten to gang rape Lot’s angel visitors, who come in the form of men. So this behavior would ostensibly be “Same-Sex”. This is the only connection that can be drawn from this passage and homosexuality in general. There is a world difference between violent and corrosive practices like gang rape and consensual monogamous and loving relationships.

^Argument: But the men of Sodom wanted to rape other men so that must mean that they were gay, and it was their same sex desires and not just their threaten rape that god was punishing.

Answer: Gang rape of men by men was used as a common tactic of humiliation and aggression in warfare and other hostile contexts in ancient times. It had nothing to do with sexual orientation or attraction. The point was to shame and to conquer. This is the appropriate background for reading this passage. This passage is about generous welcome and hospitality that of Abraham and Sarah in Genesis 18, and Lot’s own display of hospitality in Genesis 19. The actions by God is Sodem are intended to underscore their cruel treatment of outsiders, NOT TO SOMEHOW TELL US THEY WERE GAY. Sodem and Gomorra are referred to throughout The Bible twenty times, sometimes with detailed commentary of what their sins were, but homosexuality is never mentioned or connected to them. Ezekiel 16:49 “Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy.” God himself in Ezekiel claims the sin of Sodom, to the arrogance and apathy towards the poor. In Matthew 10 and Luke 10, Jesus associates the sin of Sodom with inhospitable treatment of his disciples. Of all the twenty references of Sodom and Gomorra throughout the rest of scripture, only ONE connects their sins to sexual transgressions in general

Arugument: The New Testament book of Jude verse seven states “Sodom and Gomorrah gave themselves up to sexual immorality and perversion”

Answer: There are many forms of sexual immorality and perversion. Even if Jude 7 is taken as specifically referring to the gang rape from Genesis 19:5, that still has nothing to do with the kinds of relationships that we’re talking about.