Post by shangxin on Jun 9, 2006 19:54:07 GMT -5
Well, guys, I got my paper back from the instructor! The students who edited it thought it was really well done because of the historical and cultural and Biblical info I used, and the teacher was too. She gave me an A- on the paper. I'll post it here since so many are eager to read it.
Lately the various Christian denominations have been extra-vocal on same-sex relationships and marriages. Protestants stand outside churches waving signs and screaming that marriages between and man and a man, or a woman and a woman, is a sinful practice that must not be tolerated. The Catholic Church refuses to accept priests that haven't repressed their homosexual urges. Christian politicians want to prevent homosexual couples from adopting kids (because, hey, apparently leaving them in orphanages is doing them a favor). All of this goes on thanks to the Holy Bible, which states that homosexuality is a sin against God.
Or does it? Is the Bible the perfect, unchanged Word of God that many so claim? Is it uncorrupted? No, it is not. Christianity is endorsing a lie that is centuries old, and should therefore retract its official negative stance on homosexuality.
What few of the above-mentioned Christians (and in some cases the term is used loosely) don't think about is that the Bible has been through many translations and revisions over the course of its history. The original texts were written in Hebrew and Greek, and they represent a very different ideal than what the new, crisp English pages of the Bible tell us today. In fact, not only do the Greek and Hebrew versions not condemn homosexuality, they present it as a natural aspect of life and treat it with the same passing as they do heterosexuality.
In Leviticus 18: 22, the American Standard translation of the Bible states: “Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination.” Reading this, anyone with half a functioning brain cell would think, “Hey, God is against homosexual sex!” And that is indeed how it looks. However, if one studies the actual, correct Hebrew translations, one discovers the following verse: "and with a male thou shalt not lie down in beds of a woman; it is an abomination". The original Hebrew translation is very different—it does not say men can't lie together. It says that men can't lie together in the bed of a woman. Says the Apostolic Restoration Mission website, re-printing from Lighthouse Ministries, “Culturally, a woman's bed was her own. Other than the woman herself, only her husband was permitted in her bed, and there were even restrictions on when he was allowed in there. Any other use of her bed would have been considered defilement. Other verses in the Law will help clarify the acceptable use of the woman's bed.” In other words, in the times when this was written, it was culturally wrong to lie in a woman's bed, even if you were not lying with her.
Another example of corrupted verses takes place in the book of 1 Samuel, 20:41. The King James version of the Bible tells us the following on the relationship of David and Johnathan: “And as soon as the lad was gone, David arose out of a place toward the south, and fell on his face to the ground, and bowed himself three times: and they kissed one another, and wept one with another, until David exceeded.” However the actual translations from Samuel are slightly but importantly different: "As soon as the boy was gone, David arose from the south, and fell on his face to the ground, and bowed three times. They kissed each other, and wept together, until David experienced an erection." (In Hebrew, “erection” is translated as “became large.”) Thanks to the Hebrew translation we see that David wasn't just “close” with Johnathan—he was sexually attracted to him. And nowhere does the Hebrew translation speak against this.
As we delve deeper into Samuel, we find more proof that David loved Johnathan. According to the KJV translation, David says the following after Johnathan's death: “I am distressed for thee, my brother Jonathan: very pleasant hast thou been unto me: thy love to me was wonderful, passing the love of women.” The Apostolic Restoration website helps explain how David's feelings could only be sexual in nature: “David expressed his love for the late Jonathan. Please understand that when David referred to the love of women, the only possible love he could be referring to was sexual love. It was considered highly improper for a man to have any type of platonic friendship with a woman. Men and women usually didn't even speak to each other in public. Even a husband and wife would not speak to each other in the street. (The Chassidic Jews still observe this custom.) Since David would not have had any platonic relationships with women, he could only have been referring to sexual interaction. This is further indication of the sexual nature of his relationship with Jonathan, since it would not make sense to compare a platonic relationship with a man to a sexual relationship with a woman. David clearly preferred the love of Jonathan. Nowhere in scripture will you find David expressing such love for a woman. Although he married more than once, and fathered children, he never expressed such love for any of his wives.”
There are even more examples of manipulated Biblical text in both the Old and New Testaments.
Today, Christians have many reasons for crying against homosexuality and discriminating against homosexuals. One excuse they like to use is that homosexuality is not “natural.” However, in the wild, beta males in wolf packs are not allowed to mate with the Alpha female, so instead release their sexual urges with each other. At the Central Park Zoo, two penguin males named Silo and Roy “adopted” an egg together. The egg had been abandoned by its birthmother and was given to the Chinstrap penguins by zookeepers. In an effort to increase the penguin population, the two males (and another homosexual penguin pairing) were separated. Silo and Roy refused to mate with the females. At the New York Aquarium, there is another male homosexual couple—Cass and Wendell. “Sometimes they lie on the rocks together," Stephanie Mitchell, a worker for the Aquarium, said. "They're one of the few couples that like to hang out together outside their nest.” (1)
Another stance against homosexuality concerns marriage: homosexuals, some anti-gay advocates allege, are destroying the institution of marriage. But according to M.V. Lee Badgette, “Currently there are nine European countries that give marital rights to gay couples. In Scandinavia, Denmark (1989), Norway (1993), Sweden (1994), and Iceland (1996) pioneered a separate-and-not-quite-equal status for same-sex couples called "registered partnership." (When they register, same-sex couples receive most of the financial and legal rights of marriage, other than the right to marry in a state church and the right to adopt children.) Since 2001, the Netherlands and Belgium have opened marriage to same-sex couples...Danish heterosexual marriage rates are now the highest they've been since the early 1970's. And the most recent marriage rates in Sweden, Norway, and Iceland are all higher than the rates for the years before the partner laws were passed. Furthermore, in the 1990s, divorce rates in Scandinavia remained basically unchanged.” (Slate)
Another reason Christians cry that homosexuality is wrong is because some believe that “homosexual” is synonymous with “child rapist.” This could not be further from the truth. Pedophilia is in no way connected to homosexuality, and all references to such were eliminated from Diagnostic and Statistical Manual in 1987 concerning rape 1987. (Profiles of Child Molesters)
In today's Christian society homosexuality is stigmatized thanks to manipulated facts. Due to the religious texts that do not brand homosexuality as immoral, and due to research that refutes all negative claims towards homosexuality regarding nature and society, the modern Christian church needs to revoke its anti-homosexual stance.
Apostolic Reformation Mission, re-printing from Lighthouse Ministries, formated for web use.
www.apostolicrestorationmission.4t.com/id27.htm 1996, 2000, and 2002.
Cardoze, Christina. Columbia “They're in love. They're gay. They're penguins...and they're not alone.” June10, 2002. Columbia News Service www.jrn.columbia.edu/studentwork/cns/2002-06-10/591.asp
Badgett, Lee. “Prenuptial Jitters: Did gay marriage destroy heterosexual marriage in Scandinavia?” May 20, 2004. Slate.com. <http://www.slate.com/id/2100884/>
Profiles of Child Molesters. September, 06, 2005. faculty.ncwc.edu/TOConnor/428/428lect19.htm
The Religious Wrong
Lately the various Christian denominations have been extra-vocal on same-sex relationships and marriages. Protestants stand outside churches waving signs and screaming that marriages between and man and a man, or a woman and a woman, is a sinful practice that must not be tolerated. The Catholic Church refuses to accept priests that haven't repressed their homosexual urges. Christian politicians want to prevent homosexual couples from adopting kids (because, hey, apparently leaving them in orphanages is doing them a favor). All of this goes on thanks to the Holy Bible, which states that homosexuality is a sin against God.
Or does it? Is the Bible the perfect, unchanged Word of God that many so claim? Is it uncorrupted? No, it is not. Christianity is endorsing a lie that is centuries old, and should therefore retract its official negative stance on homosexuality.
What few of the above-mentioned Christians (and in some cases the term is used loosely) don't think about is that the Bible has been through many translations and revisions over the course of its history. The original texts were written in Hebrew and Greek, and they represent a very different ideal than what the new, crisp English pages of the Bible tell us today. In fact, not only do the Greek and Hebrew versions not condemn homosexuality, they present it as a natural aspect of life and treat it with the same passing as they do heterosexuality.
In Leviticus 18: 22, the American Standard translation of the Bible states: “Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination.” Reading this, anyone with half a functioning brain cell would think, “Hey, God is against homosexual sex!” And that is indeed how it looks. However, if one studies the actual, correct Hebrew translations, one discovers the following verse: "and with a male thou shalt not lie down in beds of a woman; it is an abomination". The original Hebrew translation is very different—it does not say men can't lie together. It says that men can't lie together in the bed of a woman. Says the Apostolic Restoration Mission website, re-printing from Lighthouse Ministries, “Culturally, a woman's bed was her own. Other than the woman herself, only her husband was permitted in her bed, and there were even restrictions on when he was allowed in there. Any other use of her bed would have been considered defilement. Other verses in the Law will help clarify the acceptable use of the woman's bed.” In other words, in the times when this was written, it was culturally wrong to lie in a woman's bed, even if you were not lying with her.
Another example of corrupted verses takes place in the book of 1 Samuel, 20:41. The King James version of the Bible tells us the following on the relationship of David and Johnathan: “And as soon as the lad was gone, David arose out of a place toward the south, and fell on his face to the ground, and bowed himself three times: and they kissed one another, and wept one with another, until David exceeded.” However the actual translations from Samuel are slightly but importantly different: "As soon as the boy was gone, David arose from the south, and fell on his face to the ground, and bowed three times. They kissed each other, and wept together, until David experienced an erection." (In Hebrew, “erection” is translated as “became large.”) Thanks to the Hebrew translation we see that David wasn't just “close” with Johnathan—he was sexually attracted to him. And nowhere does the Hebrew translation speak against this.
As we delve deeper into Samuel, we find more proof that David loved Johnathan. According to the KJV translation, David says the following after Johnathan's death: “I am distressed for thee, my brother Jonathan: very pleasant hast thou been unto me: thy love to me was wonderful, passing the love of women.” The Apostolic Restoration website helps explain how David's feelings could only be sexual in nature: “David expressed his love for the late Jonathan. Please understand that when David referred to the love of women, the only possible love he could be referring to was sexual love. It was considered highly improper for a man to have any type of platonic friendship with a woman. Men and women usually didn't even speak to each other in public. Even a husband and wife would not speak to each other in the street. (The Chassidic Jews still observe this custom.) Since David would not have had any platonic relationships with women, he could only have been referring to sexual interaction. This is further indication of the sexual nature of his relationship with Jonathan, since it would not make sense to compare a platonic relationship with a man to a sexual relationship with a woman. David clearly preferred the love of Jonathan. Nowhere in scripture will you find David expressing such love for a woman. Although he married more than once, and fathered children, he never expressed such love for any of his wives.”
There are even more examples of manipulated Biblical text in both the Old and New Testaments.
Today, Christians have many reasons for crying against homosexuality and discriminating against homosexuals. One excuse they like to use is that homosexuality is not “natural.” However, in the wild, beta males in wolf packs are not allowed to mate with the Alpha female, so instead release their sexual urges with each other. At the Central Park Zoo, two penguin males named Silo and Roy “adopted” an egg together. The egg had been abandoned by its birthmother and was given to the Chinstrap penguins by zookeepers. In an effort to increase the penguin population, the two males (and another homosexual penguin pairing) were separated. Silo and Roy refused to mate with the females. At the New York Aquarium, there is another male homosexual couple—Cass and Wendell. “Sometimes they lie on the rocks together," Stephanie Mitchell, a worker for the Aquarium, said. "They're one of the few couples that like to hang out together outside their nest.” (1)
Another stance against homosexuality concerns marriage: homosexuals, some anti-gay advocates allege, are destroying the institution of marriage. But according to M.V. Lee Badgette, “Currently there are nine European countries that give marital rights to gay couples. In Scandinavia, Denmark (1989), Norway (1993), Sweden (1994), and Iceland (1996) pioneered a separate-and-not-quite-equal status for same-sex couples called "registered partnership." (When they register, same-sex couples receive most of the financial and legal rights of marriage, other than the right to marry in a state church and the right to adopt children.) Since 2001, the Netherlands and Belgium have opened marriage to same-sex couples...Danish heterosexual marriage rates are now the highest they've been since the early 1970's. And the most recent marriage rates in Sweden, Norway, and Iceland are all higher than the rates for the years before the partner laws were passed. Furthermore, in the 1990s, divorce rates in Scandinavia remained basically unchanged.” (Slate)
Another reason Christians cry that homosexuality is wrong is because some believe that “homosexual” is synonymous with “child rapist.” This could not be further from the truth. Pedophilia is in no way connected to homosexuality, and all references to such were eliminated from Diagnostic and Statistical Manual in 1987 concerning rape 1987. (Profiles of Child Molesters)
In today's Christian society homosexuality is stigmatized thanks to manipulated facts. Due to the religious texts that do not brand homosexuality as immoral, and due to research that refutes all negative claims towards homosexuality regarding nature and society, the modern Christian church needs to revoke its anti-homosexual stance.
Works Cited
Apostolic Reformation Mission, re-printing from Lighthouse Ministries, formated for web use.
www.apostolicrestorationmission.4t.com/id27.htm 1996, 2000, and 2002.
Cardoze, Christina. Columbia “They're in love. They're gay. They're penguins...and they're not alone.” June10, 2002. Columbia News Service www.jrn.columbia.edu/studentwork/cns/2002-06-10/591.asp
Badgett, Lee. “Prenuptial Jitters: Did gay marriage destroy heterosexual marriage in Scandinavia?” May 20, 2004. Slate.com. <http://www.slate.com/id/2100884/>
Profiles of Child Molesters. September, 06, 2005. faculty.ncwc.edu/TOConnor/428/428lect19.htm