What Jesus Had To Say

What did Jesus have to say about the issue of homosexuality? He said nothing specifically. He did, however, have much to say about issues of the heart, and about morality.

The Hebrew testament forbids homogenitality for purity reasons, male-male sex makes one unclean because it breaks a religious taboo... it associates one with the Canaanites. The hebrew scriptures also list other purity requirements, like washing at prescribed times or not eating certain foods.. example: circumcision... made a person a Jew... qualified them, but no one thought that God rejected the uncircumcised. The purity requirements of the Jewish law were part of being a Jew, they were not necesarily part of being a good person, just and righteous before God. Jesus was clear that being a good person and keeping the requirements of the Jewish law were not the same things, one of the reasons that he was killed was that he challenged the real importance of the law.

"It is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but it is what comes out of the mouth that defiles... what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this is what defiles, for out of the heart comes evil intentions, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, false witness, slander; these are what defile a person, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile." (Matthew 15:10, 18-20)

The only purity that mattered to Jesus was purity of heart. Jesus objected to eternal religious show fasting so others can see, praying in front of everybody, putting a lot of money into the collection so others will notice. "People honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me." (Mark 7:6)

Jesus is not impressed with externals, He looks into the heart. "For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything; they only thing that counts is faith working through love." (Galations 5:6)

The Christian scriptures insist that cleanness and uncleanness does not matter, only whether you are doing good or evil matters. Jesus and the Christian testament reject the only biblical basis for condemning male male sex. We should expect the Christian scriptures to show that something about homogenitality or homosexuality is in itself wrong, that it is harmful, unkind, destructive, unloving, dishonest, unjust, etc. Otherwise, we should expect some sex acts to be condemned only when they do include these other wrongs: when abusive, exploitative, hurtful, wanton or lewd, just as heterosexual acts would be forbidden for these same reasons. Thus, as can be seen after evaluating the verses, it is immoral behavior that is condemned, not homosexual behavior in itself.