New Discovery Disputes Bible Condemnation of Homosexuality

I have long argued - as have many biblical scholars - that the Bible cannot be treated as an "inerrant" work or isolated from the cultural and political milieu in which it was written. It's an argument that the Bible thumpers and Christianists do not want to hear. But as with scientific advances that are increasingly debunking dogma of the Bible such as the Adam and Eve myth in Genesis(and by extrapolation, the myth of the "Fall"), the steady march of knowledge and new historical discoveries is moving everything toward a tipping point at which point a continued refusal to acknowledge the limitations of and inaccuracies in the Bible will ultimately be the catalyst for the death of Christianity. Or at least Christianity as it has been known for centuries. As the God Discussion reports, new discoveries by cryptographer Michael Wood and Greek and Roman Classicists reveal that the millennium old readings of St. Paul's supposed condemnations of homosexuality are false - indeed that they have always been false. This is yet another example of the Christianists and Evangelical Christians turning the Bible into an object of idolatry that has in fact lead them down a false path. Here are some article highlights:

For the last 2,000 years, Christians have been taught to believe that Apostle Paul condemned homosexuality. But a new discovery documents that he deliberately acknowledged that it does not prevent anyone from entering heaven. If accepted, this discovery by internationally acclaimed cryptographer Michael Wood could remove the final barrier to full societal acceptance of gays and lesbians.

"Michael Wood's discovery is remarkable because it solves a colossal paradox regarding Paul's Greek that has baffled scholars for 2,000 years," says Dr. William Berg, who taught Greek and Roman Classics at Stanford University.

Paul's only unequivocal reference to homosexuality is found within Romans 1:18-3:20, a Biblical passage that has mystified scholars for two millennia. "The interpretation of Romans 1:18-3:20 has been notoriously difficult for almost every commentator," Richard Longenecker, the Distinguished New Testament Scholar at Wheaton College, writes in his book Studies in Paul. "Earlier interpreters such as Origen, Jerome, Augustine, and Erasmus wrestled with this issue and it continues to plague commentators today."

The finding is significant because it documents that Paul purposefully separated the same-sex acts; it was a conscious, deliberate decision consistent with the rest of the passage. In fact, it was demanded by the rest of the passage. The resolution of the paradox empirically proves that Paul's view on homosexuality was very different from what Christians had thought for 2,000 years.

Although Romans 1 contains the only unequivocal reference to homosexuality, anti-homosexual statements have been introduced into other passages in newer versions of the English Bible. As for these modern changes to the Biblical text: "Michael Wood has gone the extra mile in being faithful to Paul's Greek," said Dr. Berg. "He shows, time and again, that the words traditionally mistranslated as 'homosexual,' 'effeminate,' 'impure,' and so forth, are really targeting selfish, unloving, unjust activity and have nothing to do with sexual orientation. He shows that once again Paul was condemning those who violate the Justices of the Torah, and nothing more."

I don't doubt for a moment that those who cling to a a version of Christianity based on hatred and fear will close their ears to these new discoveries. Those who have a sick, psychological need to hate and condemn others in order to feel better about themselves will never willingly concede a basis that justifies their hatred of others and self-satisfaction. But as time goes by and in light of the growing flight of the generations under 30 from organized religion, the intransigence of supposed defenders of Christianity will hasten its death knell. Candidly, if the chose is between the Christianist form of Christianity and seeing Christianity as a dead religion, the latter is the more desirable outcome.