Wednesday, June 13th 2007

People that are threatened by homosexuality often seek justification from the Bible. It’s a common strategy to align yourself with scriptures to gain support in a fight against those that challenge your way of life. People that operate outside the lines of your convenient constraints aren’t likely to be controlled by your condemnation so why not enlist the assistance of the lord? Of course, this tactic is immediately shattered by the fact that the words used to condemn are not, in fact, the words of the lord at all. Unfortunately for many of us, that particular fact is of little importance to the greater part of the Christian world, which is why it is so shockingly simple for a few insecure individuals to secure legitimacy for their ridiculous claims about the detrimental effect of homosexuality on their world.

From religioustolerance.org:

This is almost identical to Leviticus 18:22. In transliterated Hebrew, the verse is written: “V’ish asher yishkav et zachar mishk’vei ishah to’evah asu shneihem mot yumatu d’meihem bam.” However, it adds a compulsory death penalty to the participants. In various translation the passage has been translated:

• ASV: (American Standard Version, 1901) “And if a man lie with mankind, as with womankind, both of them have committed abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them.”
• Darby: (J.N. Darby Translation, 1890): “And if a man lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall certainly be put to death; their blood is upon them.”
• ESV: (English Standard Version): “If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination; they shall surely be put to death; their blood is upon them.”
• HNV: (Hebrew Names Version): “If a man lies with a male, as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them.”
• KJV: (King James Version): “If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death. Their blood shall be upon them.”
• LB: (Living Bible): “The penalty for homosexual acts is death to both parties. They have brought it upon themselves.”
• NASB: (New American Standard Bible): “‘If {there is} a man who lies with a male as those who lie with a woman, both of them have committed a detestable act; they shall surely be put to death. Their bloodguiltiness is upon them. “
• Net Bible: “If a man has sexual intercourse with a male as one has sexual intercourse with a woman, the two of them have committed an abomination. They must be put to death; their blood guilt is on themselves.”
• NIV: (New International Version) “If a man lies with a man as one lies with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable. They must be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads.”
• NKJV: (New King James Version) “If a man lies with a male as he lies with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination. They shall surely be put to death. Their blood shall be upon them.”
• NLT: (New Living Translation): “The penalty for homosexual acts is death to both parties. They have committed a detestable act, and are guilty of a capital offense.”
• RSV: (Revised Standard Version): “If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination; they shall be put to death; their blood is upon them.”
• Webster: (Noah Webster Version, 1833): “If a man also shall lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood [shall be] upon them.”
• Young: (Robert Young Literal Translation, 1898) “And a man who lieth with a male as one lieth with a woman; abomination both of them have done; they are certainly put to death; their blood [is] on them.”

Death is sometimes required by the Hebrew Scriptures as the punishment for ritual transgressions. These included the worshiping of other Gods, gathering sticks on the Sabbath (Numbers 15:32-36), improper eating of ritual offerings (Numbers 18:32), ineligible persons acting as priests (Num 3:10).

Over the last few centuries, most Christians and Jews have rejected Leviticus 20:13. They no longer call on the death penalty for homosexuals. Only Christian Reconstructionists and a few Christian hate groups wish to revert to mass executions of gays and lesbians today.

I do not wish to condemn Christians with this post. Rather, I would like to applaud the Christians, Jews and all other faiths that have discarded the anti-homosexual parts of their religion.

This entry was posted by Boy Wonder on Wednesday, June 13th, 2007 at 8:21 PM and is filed under Politics, Religion. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

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