Hi! You allege Leviticus 18:10,17 countenances polygamy and pedophilia. You then use that as the backdrop for arguing that ministers who preach against homosexuality from Leviticus 18 are inconsistent and, hence, wrong about homosexuality.

Your argument is flawed because you're attempting to refute a claim by attacking the consistency of some ministers. A claim or argument is independent of its proponents' consistency or lack thereof. When you attack the person, his/her argument is left alone and, consequently, unaddressed. This is known as the ad-hominem fallacy. In short, your argument is completely irrelevant to whether the Bible teaches against homosexuality.

Leviticus 18:22 clearly teaches against homosexual acts and that message is plain REGARDLESS what the other verses teach.

That being said, the verses you cite DO NOT teach what you allege:

Lev. 18:10: The nakedness of thy son's daughter, or of thy daughter's daughter, even their nakedness thou shalt not uncover: for theirs is thine own nakedness.

This is a proscription of intrafamilial intercourse. As such, there is NO implication or explication for pedophilia. You assert an implication unwarranted by the text. It is unwarranted because we are not told how old these "grandchildren" are. One cannot legitimately read into the text what it does not say. Let's say you're a single grandparent. The BIble prohibits you from marrying your grandchild, but it doesn't prohibit you from marrying in general; and, mind you, anybody else you DO marry will be somebody's grandchild, regardless his age.

Lev. 18:17: Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of a woman and her daughter, neither shalt thou take her son's daughter, or her daughter's daughter, to uncover her nakedness; for they are her near kinswomen: it is wickedness.

Again, we're not told the age of these sons and daughters, so it is incorrect to assume they are seven or eight years old. The Hebrew words used here are used elsewhere in the Bible to include *adult* children as well as prepubescent ones. This DOES NOT say God likes polygamy nor does it say He countenances it. You're again turning a proscription into an endorsement which is to read into the text what it does not say.

The "fundamentalist" teaching on homosexuality is far more comprehensive than you indicate in your question. They use many verses from the Old & New Testaments and the laws of nature when teaching on that subject.

Feel free to email me if you'd like to discuss this further.

Best wishes,
Scalia

**Edit**

Since you clarified what answer you're looking for, I shall add to this post what I've sent you via email...

As I stated, our doctrine is based upon Scriptural teaching and the Natural Law (since God is the Author of nature). God designed human beings with the ability to reproduce only after physical maturity. Since sex is designed primarily for procreation (see Genesis 1 & 2), you cannot procreate with children. The Natural Law forbids sexual relations with children and God's word ONLY countenances heterosexual marriage between one man and one woman.

Gen. 2:24. Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.

Mt.19:4-5...4. And he answered and said unto them, Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female,
5. And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh?

Notice, marriage is between one man and one woman. The only sexual relationship countenanced in the Bible is the marital one:

Heb. 13:4. Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge.

You are incorrect to say God allows pedophilia. I've offered you a rational argument. If you disagree, please give me a rational reason why.

With respect to a *specific* Scriptural reference against pedophilia, none is needed. The Bible clearly teaches what marriage is and that any sexual relationship outside of marriage is sin. No specific verse is needed in this case.

There are many things the Bible teaches against without specifically naming the practice. For example, Christ taught that any man looking upon a woman with lust has committed adultery in his heart. This is sufficient to teach against pornography and similar forms of "entertainment." There were many forms of sexual entertainment in the Roman Empire, but very few of them, if any, are mentioned in the Bible. This verse, along with similar ones, is more than sufficient to proscribe that behavior.