Mark Jones #fundie #homophobia theologyreview.co.uk

Following up on Our Response

I’d encourage those of you who read this article to read the blog from The Northern Jester. It’s always good to read the opinions of others, especially so if they don’t line up with your views, and more importantly scripture. Personally, I regularly read the likes of Bart Ehrman and Elaine Pagels (and others), why? Because if we truly want to have a voice on any issue, we should have a balanced understanding of it from both sides of the fence.

Outside of my reply to the article, there isn’t too much to say here. Although I could go on for days picking apart this article, I’m not going to here. As I don’t think that’s fair to the writer. What I will say that wasn’t really mentioned in the reply I sent to the blog, is that if you are someone who wants to argue for the affirmation of homosexuality, then at least avoid the Jesus argument from silence. It’s not a good argument, as what always happens when using this is that you ignore what Jesus defines as marriage (one man and one woman) because you’re looking for Jesus uttering the word homosexual.

On that front allow me to share something I found rather recently in my research on this subject (something I’ve been doing for over 2 years now). In the gospel of Matthew, Jesus is found in many debates with the Pharisees and scribes. Chapter 15 is one such occasion, in verses 10-20 of that chapter Jesus zones in on the subject of what defiles us, where in verse 19 he says:

“For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander.” – Matthew 15:19 (ESV)

Logically the person arguing for the affirmation of homosexuality may look at the citing of this verse and ask why is this verse even being brought up. It doesn’t include the word homosexuality, so Jesus can’t be including it here. However, this shows a lack of understanding of the original language the New Testament was written in, Koine Greek. See the word we translate as sexual immorality is the word porneia. Here is a quick translation of the word:

illicit sexual intercourse
adultery, fornication, homosexuality, lesbianism, intercourse with animals etc.
sexual intercourse with close relatives; Lev. 18
sexual intercourse with a divorced man or woman; Mk. 10:11,
metaph. the worship of idols
of the defilement of idolatry, as incurred by eating the sacrifices offered to idols
So as we can see here, homosexuality (as well as lesbianism and beastiality) is included in the definition of porneia. Now the question to those arguing for Jesus never mentioning homosexuality during his ministry, is can you show me from this list what form (or forms) of sexual immorality Jesus is specifically mentioning and give a valid reason as to why this isn’t the case with homosexuality and lesbianism? And the answer to this question will have to be factual, not solely based on opinions.

Now, in this article, I will not be outlining what the Biblical view on this issue is, or how Christians should deal with this very important issue. That will come at another point in time. The purpose of this article is to share my response to the Northern Jester and to highlight this important question of whether or not Jesus did mention homosexuality in his ministry, which from reading the New Testament in Biblical Greek, it most certainly seems like he did.

This is a huge issue in our culture today, it will be discussed no end for a long time. This article and the Northern Jester’s blog will not change that anytime soon.

4 comments

Confused?

So were we! You can find all of this, and more, on Fundies Say the Darndest Things!

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