This commentary is in response to an anonymous posting attached to our Resolution on Sexuality and Homophobia (along with some other interesting debate). I personally think the sexuality statement should be more theologically grounded.

Thank you for taking an interest in our statement on Sexuality and Homophobia. In future, it helps debate if you can identify yourself (you are more than welcome to register a login name and participate in some of our forums on scripture, theology, etc).

I can attempt to address your concerns, but I don’t speak for the movement, just how I understand it.

1) Read our mission statement. The first line is “We are the Student Christian Movement because we feel called to engage the prophetic teachings of the revolutionary Jesus of Nazareth.” Obviously, since almost the entirety of our knowledge about Jesus is in the Bible, we look to the Bible to discern what Christ calls us to, and also “God’s will for the world and to understand our role in it.”

2) If you wish to understand how we understand God’s word on the question of homosexuality, see our pamphlet on Homophobia in the Churches - it has scripture resources (also available on our scriptures forum). All of the passages supposedly condemning homosexuality are, in our understanding, actually condemning sins of inhospitality, collusion with the Roman Empire, or contextual aspects of ancient Hebrew society.

If you believe homosexuality is ‘perversion’, then do you wear clothing of multiple fabrics? When was the last time you cut an animal in half and walked between it? It seems you are critiquing us for selective reading of the Bible… but I don’t think anyone can claim to follow it 100 per cent. Correct me if I’m wrong.

3. What is the “very basic teaching of Christianity” of which you speak? For me, this teaching is the liberation promised in Jesus. That’s built on the teachings of Christ (found in his Sermon on the Mount, his proscription to love your neighbour as yourself as one of the highest laws, and throughout the Gospels).

Even St. Paul warns against judging others’ lifestyles and beliefs, when our arrogance itself is called into account. (see Romans 2:1).

I hope you are interested in discussing this - feel free to continue this conversation in the spirit of reconciliation and love.

In Christ the Liberator,
david

Leviticus 18:22 and 20:13

“If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination; they shall be put to death; their blood is upon them.”

The word usually translated as abomination, in Hebrew toevah, does not refer to an intrinsic evil such as rape or theft. It refers here to something which is ritually unclean - such as sex during menstruation. The prohibitions in the Jewish Holiness Codes function as symbols of Jewish distinctiveness in the face of neighbouring idolatry. This text also prohibits the wearing of clothes made from a blend of mixed textiles, the eating of pigs, seafood, rabbits… The authority of these Codes for Christians created a fierce dispute in the early Christian communities (Acts 15). Although the Codes were put aside by early Christianity, some Church Fathers occasionally referred to them to support their arguments.

The story of Sodom and Gomorrah is understood erroneously by many to condemn homosexuality. The word “sodomy” is derived from this passage. The local mob in the story appear to have wanted to rape (Hebrew word yada translated as “to know”) the visitors of Sodom. Lot refused, and in an attempt to follow the ancient law of hospitality, he offered his daughters to be raped instead!?! The sin in this story is not homosexuality, as it has traditionally been taught, but inhospitable and abusive behaviour (rape) towards strangers. See the parallel story in Judges 19. References to Sodom and Gomorrah in the Bible do not specifically mention homosexuality as the sin to which caused the destruction of Sodom.

Commentary from SCM’s Stop Homophobia in the Churches pamphlet (c. 2000, Mario DeGiglio-Bellemare)

Genesis 18:16 - 19:38

The two angels came to Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gateway of Sodom. When Lot saw them, he rose to meet them, and bowed down with his face to the ground. He said, “Please, my lords, turn aside to your servant’s house and spend the night… But before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, both young and old, all the people to the last man, surrounded the house; and they called to Lot, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us, so that we may know [i.e. rape] them.”

The story of Sodom and Gomorrah is understood erroneously by many to condemn homosexuality. The word “sodomy” is derived from this passage. The local mob in the story appear to have wanted to rape (Hebrew word yada translated as “to know”) the visitors of Sodom. Lot refused, and in an attempt to follow the ancient law of hospitality, he offered his daughters to be raped instead!?! The sin in this story is not homosexuality, as it has traditionally been taught, but inhospitable and abusive behaviour (rape) towards strangers. See the parallel story in Judges 19. References to Sodom and Gomorrah in the Bible do not specifically mention homosexuality as the sin to which caused the destruction of Sodom.

(See Deuteronomy 29:23, Isaiah 13:19, Jeremiah 50:39, Ezekiel 14:49, Matthew 11:23, Luke 17:29, 2 Peter 2:6, Jude 7 and Revelations 11:7)

Commentary from SCM’s Stop Homophobia in the Churches pamphlet (c. 2000, Mario DeGiglio-Bellemare)