Re: Sodomites will burn!
Submitted by Jules on March 31 2000 08:13:16
In reply to Sodomites will burn! submitted by F.O.D. on March 30 2000 17:37:24
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Hi Fod, Yes, keep talking with your pastor! Here's a summary of the Old Testament part of Micael Vasey's book 'Strangers and friends', which I made a few weeks ago for a friend. I make no comment on whether I agree or not :-) Michael Vasey's book (working from memory) starts from the premise that sexual ethics are determined by the meaning of sexual practices within society. In the law of Moses, adultery was wrong because it was a form of stealing, and disrupted patriarchal clan-based procreation, but polygamy was okay because it helped the clan to grow. Wet dreams made a man ceremonially unclean because they were a waste of potential children. Homosexual intercourse was probably wrong for the same reason, but also because it was associated with humiliation by enemies (e.g. 2Sam.10:4? - my reference not his) or with pagan idolatry (Lev.18:21-23; Deut.23:17-18). In a patriarchal society, it was degrading for a man to be treated like a woman, hence Lot's horror (Gen.19) at the men of Sodom's demands, especially for guests who should have been treated with special respect. It's the social meaning that makes it wrong, not the physical act itself. Lot offered the men his daughters instead because it was less degrading to treat women like that than men, and because they were residents rather than honoured guests. However much that idea repulses us today, that is what it was like. But I don't think you will want to give your pastor a pro-gay book! Much better to refer him to some of the commentaries that explain the 'sin of Sodom' variously as rape, inhospitality or violence. That in itself doesn't prove homosexual activity okay, of course... With Christian love, Jules |
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