The Bible on Gay Marriage, Race Relations and Righteousness
By An Atheist (or click here for a gay Christians opinion)
Introduction
There are many bible verses that are often quoted as justifying anti-gay-marriage and anti-homosexuality in general. But people who focus on these are undertaking a fundamentalist reading of the Bible and often claim that the Bible is 100% the literal word and truth of their God. However, they also tend to skip over the many verses that are pro gay-marriage and pro-relationship. Therefore they are on one hand arguing for 100% truth in every passage of their book, but on the other hand selectively focusing on some passages and neglecting other passages found therein, just because they seemingly contradict each-other in some places. This is the fundamental problem with the attitude that the Bible is 100% the literal truth of the Christian God. It is much more likely that The Bible was/is meant as an allegorical test, or sort of like a puzzle, for Christians to determine which passages are the righteous way and which are not?
Likewise, there are also many verses that are anti-racial-relations, and so the Christian that focuses only on the anti-homosexual readings should also focus only on the anti-racial-relations readings, or risk being called a hypocrite. But if the Christian contends to be not a hypocrite and does focus on both anti-homosexual and anti-racial-relations, then he/she is risks being called a bigot in this day and age, because the majority of secular people believe in cultural diversity and the freedom to marry despite race. That is to say that most people would say, for example, that people who believe that ‘blacks shouldn’t marry whites’ are being bigots. The reason for this is that science would say that mixing races (actually race is no longer really a scientific concept, its just genetic difference but will stick with it for cultural self-identification reasons) is actually good for genetic diversity and therefore there is a conflict between biblical doctrine and science
— and the definition of bigotry is (from Dictionary.com):
“Bigotry — stubborn and complete intolerance of any creed, belief, or opinion that differs from one’s own.”
Anyway, lets return to the Biblical passages.
Verses That Could Be Read as Anti-Homosexual and Anti-Gay Marriage
These have gotten a lot of airplay, so i wont revisit them all, except to quote two of the most famous ones:
Leviticus 18:22 [NASB]
“‘You shall not lie with a male as one lies with a female; it is an abomination.”
Many arguments that interpret homosexuality and gay marriage to be wrong or sinful can be interpreted differently, and if one focuses too much on literal-absolutism there are still problems with interpretation.
For example the above verse could be literally interpreted (stupidly) to mean lie as in tell a mistruth, as in being dishonest or unfaithful, in which case could be interpreted to justify telling mistruths to females but not to males.
Romans 1:26–27
“For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet.”
Again, an un-righteous reading could interpret this as saying homosexual relations are unnatural but a righteous reading could interpret it as saying relations that are against nature (or against union) are unrighteous. That is to say, in a society that disincentives or disallows unions for gays leads to more unnatural gay relationships that are not devoted to each-other and are not in union with nature. One only has to look to science that shows that gay relations are natural both in the human world and the animal kingdom in hundreds of species to justify that homosexuality and homosexual pairing is natural — what is unnatural (for humans at least) is non-union, non-pairing, sexual relations with no longevity because they lead to dissatisfaction with life, and thus young gay kids have little to look forward to (as far as relationships incentivised by society) and we see higher suicide rates in young gay teenagers.
The honest Christian needs to think broader to better understand the intended righteous message, to reinterpret preconceived understandings, and take into account all other passages and then decipher which are the true righteous way and which aren’t. To focus on hateful interpretations of passages as the only Christian truth on homosexuality and gay marriage, is to be conducting a fundamentally biased reading and neglecting passages in support/tolerance/acceptance of homosexuality and gay marriage and all committed relationships in general. We can look both historically, at Adolf Hitler and Nazi-Germany’s anti-Jewish Aryan Christian interpretations and associated propaganda, and also at current radical interpretations of Islamic doctrines and West Baptist Church picketing, to see what can happen when fundamentalist interpretations of scriptures is taken to an extreme without considering all passages and without applying Jesus’ (and perhaps Mohammad’s?) core teachings of acceptance and love, but instead focusing on passages preaching hate.
Verses That Could Be Read As Support for Committed Relationships including Gay Marriage
John 4:11
“Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.”
John 4:18
“There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.”
John 3:18
“My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.”
John 4:20–21
“If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?”
Leviticus 19:18
“Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself”
John 3:16
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
Mark 12:31
“‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’
No other commandment is greater than these.”
These are mostly saying similar to the John Lennon argument that influenced a lot of 60s/70s movement of liberalism towards sexuality (not just gay sexuality) — “love is all you need”.
Galatians 5:13–14:
“You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love. The entire law is summed up in a single command: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.”
The righteous interpretation of the “sinful nature” therefore is most likely nothing to do with homosexuality or gay marriage but with being disloyal, dishonourable and/or abusive to who you are married/devoted to and being unrighteous towards other people especially those most vulnerable (rape, pedophilia).
All of these passages don’t explicitly say that homosexuality and gay marriage are acceptable, but truth is not always explicit, and only the decipherment of the puzzle reveals the truth, not the literal-absolutist readings. Even so, there is a more convincing passage in support of homosexuality and gay relations:
Romans 13:8–10
“Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law. The commandments, ‘Do not commit adultery,’ ‘Do not murder,’ ‘Do not steal,’ ‘Do not covet,’ and whatever other commandment there may be, are summed up in this one rule: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ Love does no harm to its neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.”
Here, readers are told, love is the highest standard, woman is not mentioned, only man (and neighbour) in a gender-non-specific way is mentioned, meaning the commonly found love between man-woman, and the less commonly found but equally righteous love between man-man and woman-woman. The passage explicitly refers to marriage in its reminder against adultery (most probably meaning as is commonly understood to mean sexual relations outside of marriage). Therefore, this passage can be read to mean that all types of loving marriages are condoned and even warranted.
Galatians 3:28
“There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”
Romans 10:12–13
“For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call on Him
These passages are historically interesting. Here, reference to the Jews is referring to their old testament teachings (in contrast to the New Testament). Some of the passages in the old testament (like that in Leviticus above) are often interpreted as being anti-homosexuality and anti-gay-marriage, however the righteous interpretation of these passages should be anti-rape, anti-abuse, anti-cheat, anti-devotion and anti-pedophilia. On the other hand the Greeks were known for accepting (non-pedaphilic) homosexual relations as virtuous and even had same sex marriages, before Christianity. Therefore, one can argue there is no difference between the marriages the Jews (seemingly) disclude (that might even disclude gay marriage) and those the Greeks include (gay marriage), so long as there is love in both cases. The Galatians passage explicitly argues there is neither male nor female and so the righteousness of relationships and marriages should be based on the Lord (a metaphor for love, devotion, respect, honor).
Based on these passages an unrighteous view could still argue that atheists (homosexual or heterosexual) should be discluded (as they’re without faith in the Lord), however a righteous argument can either consider the Lord as metaphor, or can consider the righteousness of the atheist in judging whether their Lord is with them, irrespective of whether the atheist believes so or not. Even though the atheist may consider the Christian Bible story as just a metaphor to strive to live to be righteous and honourable, that is riddled itself with temptations to be swayed by unrighteousness, more importantly is how the atheist or theist acts, righteous or unrighteous (Stalin was an unrighteous atheist for example).
But its not even just the New Testament that has arguments in support of gay marriage and loving relationships in general. The Old Testament is the only explicit telling of a story of a loving gay relationship in the story of David and Jonathon (son of Saul):
1. Samuel 18:1–5
Now it came about when he had finished speaking to Saul, that the soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as himself. Saul took him that day and did not let him return to his father’s house. Then Jonathan made a covenant with David because he loved him as himself. Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that was on him and gave it to David, with his armor, including his sword and his bow and his belt. So David went out wherever Saul sent him, and prospered; and Saul set him over the men of war.
As Saul continues to pursue David, the pair renew their covenant, after which they do not meet again. Eventually Saul and David are reconciled. Jonathan, however, is slain on Mt. Gilboaalong with his two brothers, and there Saul commits suicide. David learns of Saul and Jonathan’s death and chants a lament, which in part says:
2. Samuel 1:1–17
Saul and Jonathan, beloved and pleasant in their life, And in their death they were not parted; They were swifter than eagles, They were stronger than lions… How have the mighty fallen in the midst of the battle! Jonathan is slain on your high places. I am distressed for you, my brother Jonathan; You have been very pleasant to me. Your love to me was more wonderful than the love of women. How have the mighty fallen, And the weapons of war perished!
Verses That Could Be Read as Anti-Race-Relations and Anti-Multi-Culturalism
Genesis 28:1:
“And Isaac called Jacob, and blessed him, and charged him, and said unto him, Thou shalt not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan.”
Leviticus 19:19:
“Ye shall keep my statutes. Thou shalt not let thy cattle gender with a diverse kind”
Deuteronomy 7:2–3:
“And when the LORD thy God shall deliver them before thee; thou shalt smite them, and utterly destroy them; thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor shew mercy unto them: Neither shalt thou make marriages with them; thy daughter thou shalt not give unto his son, nor his daughter shalt thou take unto thy son.
[KJV] Deuteronomy 22:9:
“Thou shalt not sow thy vineyard with divers seeds: lest the fruit of thy seed which thou hast sown, and the fruit of thy vineyard, be defiled.”
[NIV] Deuteronomy 22:9:
“Do not plant two kinds of seed in your vineyard; if you do, not only the crops you plant but also the fruit of the vineyard will be defiled.”
Deuteronomy 23:2:
“A bastard shall not enter into the congregation of the LORD; even to his tenth generation shall he not enter into the congregation of the LORD.”
Jeremiah 13:23:
“Can an Ethiopian change the color of his skin? Can a leopard take away its spots? Neither can you start doing good, for you have always done evil.”
Acts 17:24–26:
“God … hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation …”
Verses That Could Be Read In Support of Pro-Race-Relations and Pro-Multi-Culturalism
The passages that can be read in support of homosexual relationships and gay marriage can also be read in support of racial marriages and multi-cultarism:
Romans 13:8–10
“Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law. The commandments, ‘Do not commit adultery,’ ‘Do not murder,’ ‘Do not steal,’ ‘Do not covet,’ and whatever other commandment there may be, are summed up in this one rule: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ Love does no harm to its neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.”
Romans 10:12–13
“For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call on Him;
SUMMARY
The Christian can choose to read passages and focus on unrighteous interpretations, but this leads to bigotry and hate and does nothing for their proclaimed cause of getting into heaven. The atheist is left to assume that in Pascals wager of ‘might as well believe just in case’, that their wager would be worthless for many, as many choose to hate and will be going south in violation of their own core beliefs.
Whilst many Christians agree their Bible is meant to be a “living document”, there is sometimes a loud minority arguing that it is literal-word of their God and set in stone. Meanwhile, the atheist and many liberal Christians alike insist that The Christian Bible was not meant to be 100% the word of the Christian God, but rather a puzzle story-book that asks the Christian the question — which bits are allegorically teachings of the righteous, virtuous way and which bits are not?
Therefore, even in the Bible there is a choice between love and hate, depending on how one views/reads various passages or the book in entirety. When the Christian chooses against the core beliefs of Jesus Christ, of love and acceptance then they are choosing hate, and will be judged accordingly whether by humans or Gods.