Homosexuality and intergenerational relationships
Submitted by Heather on September 24 1999 at 12:04:34
In reply to Re: Gay Theological Journal Submitted by Ben on September 23 1999 at 20:57:30
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Well, I just received a thirty-page essay from an acquaintance giving a detailed analysis of the Romans 1 passage, including an analysis of the question you're asking; I'll see whether I can get his permission to quote his answer. In the meantime, my own thoughts match those of Father Harvey of the ex-gay Catholic organization Courage: he says that the strongest biblical case against homosexual behavior is not to be found in the verses that apparently speak against homosexuality (which I, for one, find too difficult to interpret – even the Leviticus passage may be referring only to homosexuality with an idolotrous context), but rather in the verses that speak for (heterosexual) marriage. I agree; the fact that Jesus spoke of marriage between a man and a woman doesn't seem to me to be a conclusive case against Christian acceptance of homosexual behavior, but it does seem to suggest that the issue will then revolve around the question of what the essential elements are of a marriage. Which does tend to leave boylovers who are only attracted to boys out in the cold, as far as the Scriptures are concerned – at least, that's how I see it. On the other hand, as you say, the age of marriage varies from culture to culture, so if the Church ever accepted homosexual marriage, it doesn't seem unlikely that in some future society, the age of marriage might get pushed back so that, for example, someone like F.O.D., who is attracted to men as well as to teenage males, could marry his young friend at an earlier date than would be permitted in this society. I'm not sure, though, that I agree with the statement, "Intergenerational relationships are controversial only from a societal standpoint" – as F.O.D. has pointed out in the past, at least one Bible passage refers to God waiting until his bride (Israel) is ready for love. This seems to suggest that the biblical author did believe that there was an age limit to intergenerational relationships, at least as far as heterosexuality is concerned. I think that it would be more accurate to say that adolescent-adult relationships are controversial only from a societal standpoint, but that's because the definition of adult has changed since biblical times – the "girls" being married at an early age in the Bible were, by their society's definition, women. Of course, God commands the rape of prepubescent girls in certain passages. We all know how to interpret those passages, of course; I just think it's amusing that they exist, because practically every religious document on child sexual abuse that I receive says, "The Bible condemns child sexual abuse," when in fact the opposite is true. The only explicit references to child sexual abuse occur in the passages where such abuse is being encouraged by God. That shows, I think, how difficult it is to draw upon the Bible in determining its stance toward matters that were not of central importance to the biblical authors. Heather |