S5, Ep. 2: It's NOT Ancient History

Is there evidence to support a need to reinterpret Scripture in regards to same-sex relationships? In this episode, Mandi shares her thoughts on this.

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Transcript

Mandi: Mandi A. here welcoming you to my podcast - Find Your Beautiful: Life Through the Eyes of a Christian Disabled Woman.  

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Mandi: Last week, I ended the episode asking you to consider Matthew 7:15-20 where Jesus is giving the Sermon on the Mount. In these particular verses, Jesus is warning against false prophets. In verse 16, he says, "By their fruit, you will recognize them." A summary, or paraphrase, of the following verses tells us that a good tree cannot not bear bad fruit and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. I believe a fair interpretation of this concept is that good teachings will lead to good outcomes, while bad teachings will lead to bad outcomes. With this in mind, we must consider if the traditional teachings about same-sex relationships have resulted in good or bad outcomes. 

According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, members of the LGBTQIA* community are at higher risk for experiencing mental health conditions, especially depression and anxiety disorders.  Furthermore, "For many LGBTQI people, socioeconomic and cultural conditions negatively impact mental health conditions. Many in the LGBTQI community face discrimination, prejudice, denial of civil and human rights, harassment and family rejection, which can lead to new or worsened symptoms, particularly for those with intersecting racial or socioeconomic identities." While many churches and faiths are now welcoming members of the LGBTQIA* community, many still speak harshly of same-sex relationships, have individual congregants who are non-affirming, or limit members to attending services as congregants only and never allowing them to serve in ministry. 

These outcomes are not good. If good teachings result in good outcomes, then we must acknowledge that what is being taught about same-sex relationships needs to be reconsidered as our brothers and sisters in the LGBTQIA* community are suffering.

But wait, there's more! Back in the day, I thought I was going to be a lawyer, so making sound arguments with evidence to prove my case is important to me. Today I want to bring up new evidence about sexual orientation that should further encourage you to want to dive deeper into questioning the traditional interpretation of same-sex relationships.

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Mandi: Psalm 92:1 reads, "The world is firmly established; it cannot be moved." Joshua 10:13 tells us the sun "stopped in the middle of the sky and delayed going down for a full day." Ecclesiastes 1:5 says, "The sun rises and the sun sets and hurries back to where it rises." On December 20, 1614, Tommasco Caccini addressed a congregation in Florence, Italy. Supported by verses like the ones I just read, Caccini declared that it was blasphemous to say that the earth revolved around the sun. Scripture, he believed and proclaimed, clearly tells us the earth is motionless and it is the sun that moves. In fact, some historians believe that Caccini's sermon was the catalyst for the trial of Galileo.

It was not just specific Scripture that led Caccini, and many others, to believe the earth was the center of the universe. It was the bible as a whole, the fact that humans and humanity are the central theme of God's Word and His plans. Imagine being Galileo, having seen through the telescope evidence that disrupts everything you've been taught your whole life. Imagine the mind-shift it must have taken Galileo to believe his eyes and then the courage to share his findings. It will take a mind-shift and courage for you to understand what I'm going to share. If you are going to understand the ancient writings of Scripture, then you can't think like a person living today, in modern times. You must understand how ancient people thought and viewed the world. 

As I mentioned in last week's episode, there are mainly 6 Scriptures non-affirming Christians use to speak against same-sex relationships. Along with these verses, and much like Caccini believed the bible supported him, non-affirming Christians also believe the overall story of the bible condemns same-sex relationships. One of the biggest arguments non-affirming Christians make regarding God's creation of Adam and Eve, and therefore for heterosexual relationships, is known as gender complementarity. This is the idea that men and women complement each other, both socially and anatomically. The belief is that based on the bible, men and women have different gender roles and this difference makes them the "ideal" in God's vision. Anatomically, the fact that the penis is designed to enter the vagina, and further supported by procreation, then hetero relationships are what God intended.

Unfortunately, while non-affirming Christians of today and the people of ancient times do agree about some things regarding same-sex relationships, it's not what non-affirming Christians think they agree on. The bible was written under a patriarchal society. In ancient history, as evidenced by ancient writers like Plutarch and Aristotle, same-sex relations were expected and could be expected of anyone. There was no concept of sexual orientation when the bible was written. Ancient people did not care about the gender of who people had sex with. They cared about the role people in sexual acts assumed, passive vs. active. In a patriarchy, women, especially slave women, were considered property and they were viewed as weak, irrational and self-indulgent. As objects of inferiority, it was degrading for men to be seen as womanly. 

Same-sex relationships were linked to 3 other sin types: lust, gluttony and pedastry better known as pedophilia. It was believed by people of bible times that people involved in same-sex relations were impulsive, caught up in lustful passions. These people were believed to have no self-control, satiating their overindulgences by having sex with everyone - male, female, young and old. Same sex relations were also used as power plays, where men asserted their power over women, slaves, and young boys. The sin of people sleeping with the same sex was spoken against because self-control was valued and being so over passionate and lustful were against God. According to Richard B. Hays, sexual orientation "is a modern idea of which there is no trace in either the [New Testament] or in any other Jewish or Christian writings in the ancient world...The usual supposition of writers in the Hellenistic period was that homosexual behavior was the result of insatiable lust seeking novel and more challenging forms of self-gratification."

All of this is not to say that gay people didn't exist in ancient history. It is unlikely that gay people just started to appear in the late 19th century when German psychiatrists labeled the diversity of attraction that people have as sexual orientation. However, my point here is that the very concept of sexual orientation did not exist in ancient history. In fact, there was no language for homosexual or homosexuality before 1869! How then, could the writers of the bible, in ancient history, be condemning something they didn't know existed? Yes, same-sex practices were understood, but again, it was believed that anyone could succumb to passions and lust and seek to satisfy themselves with same-sex relations. The idea that someone could have a sexual orientation in which they desired a monogamous, loving relationship with a life-mate was unknown in ancient history. 

With this evidence, I again believe we are called to reinterpret Scripture. However, if non-affirming Christians refuse to reinterpret Scripture regarding same-sex relationships, then they must concede on another biblical issue, which we'll discuss next week.

    

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Mandi: If you listened all the way through, thank you! Whether you're listening to prove me wrong, or because you are seeking how you can reconcile your faith with affirmation of the LGBTQIA* community, I'm grateful for your time. 

If you find value in my podcast, please leave a review on my on my website at mandiboxbeauty.com. You can also connect with me on Instagram and Facebook at MandiBox Beauty. 

[Mandi voiceover to 'Compton' music]:  Next week, we'll be talking about biblical celibacy! ‘Til next time Beauties.