THE CHURCH & HOMOSEXUALITY
As time went on, homosexual men became something of a sacred object in some Gentile temples, where they were used as sexual objects in ritual prostitution. Most often these men were very effeminate, and wore makeup. They grew to be hated, even though holy men would come to the temples to use them as sex slaves in sex rituals. Called "dogs" or "bitches" by the public, it was considered the lowliest occupation on earth, whether you were a male or female prostitute.
The Jews saw these acts as depraved and used it to showcase that the Gentiles were a lower form of life than they were, and in the Bible's hundreds of laws set forth for obedient Jews, one of them has been translated as a law telling males not having sex with other males. The Jews also saw this type of lifestyle in the plain cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, where men would rape other men just as the men used the "dogs" as sexual slaves. This act of rape was meant to humiliate and show power over the man getting raped through brutal sexual force, and was not that much different from the sexual rituals in Gentile temples.
Thus began religion's long hatred of homosexuality. Some societies, including the Greeks, at times openly accepted homosexuality, as great warriors took male sex slaves much the way holy men took male sex slaves in the ritual acts of the Gentile and pagan temples. Even the Islamic hero, Gilgamesh, is said to have had male sex slaves. Except for some of the tribal religions in Polynesia and New Guinea, no religion has openly embraced homosexuality. Most violently condemn it, even if the answer is not clear cut and still hotly debated in the religious community. For a long time, society saw homosexuality as a disease until the 1970s. Great kings would be dethroned and locked up when they showed homosexual tendencies. Peasants who were noted to be homosexual would be stoned to death, sometimes heterosexuals would be stoned to death in assumption that they were homosexual even without proof. If a man were not up to the days' standards of masculinity, he was unfairly accused of being homosexual. Many of our greatest poets and artists (like Michelangelo) were homosexual themselves. They were lucky that the society they lived in did not kill them as well.
In Nazi Germany, homosexuals were rounded up and put in concentration camps to be gassed along with the Jews. They were forced to wear pink inverted triangles on their shirts to differentiate them from the other groups in the camps. That pink triangle has since become a symbol of gay pride, and the background of this web page. It is a symbol that means "Never again."
Society today still feels resentment to homosexuality. The church still remains largely opposed to the lifestyle, even though they still are not in total agreement over it. To date, it has been the Christian church which is most intolerant of homosexuals, which is ironic since they consider themselves to be the most loving and accepting religion in the world. They proved too many times that this is not true, like in the Spanish Inquisition, and other disasterous oppressions of people who think differently than they do. Sometimes, in events like this, those people who think differently than the organized church have been proven right, and the church wrong, centuries later. Take Galileo for example. He was executed for heresy by claiming that the world revolved around the sun. The medieval church branded him a liar and killed him. It would be proven later that Galileo was right, and the church was wrong.
Today's Christian Church also seems to have been blinded by time over what their own God taught them. He taught them to love their neighbor, and not to judge other people. Yet, in today's society, many people are unfairly judged, and often words of hate and intolerance are uttered from the lips of today's preachers of the truth instead of love. It is interesting to note that Jesus Christ was surprisingly silent on the issue of homosexuality, and it is equally surprising to note that the Church forgets who and what Jesus was. On one recent sign outside a church I saw recently the phrase, "If you lie down with the dogs, you will pick up fleas," meaning obviously that if you hang with the wrong crowd, you will be tainted just as they are.
Curious, I listened to the message that was being preached inside that church. I heard that if a Christian associates himself with a sinner, whether they be a homosexual, a drunk, a prostitute, whatever, then they will begin to become one. They will start to sin as well. The message was clear - stay away from people like this, and do not associate yourself with them. Oh how quickly they forgot that Jesus also taught them to "hang" with the sinners. He himself associated with thieves and prostitutes when he was alive in his ministry here on earth. And he declared that they would get into Heaven faster than the priests would. Jesus seemed to express disdain in his day for the same type of hypocritical preachers who today preach hate and intolerance. In Luke 20:46 Jesus states "Beware of the teachers of the law. They like to walk around in flowing robes and love to be greeted in the marketplaces and have the most important seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at banquets. They devour widows' houses and for a show make lengthy prayers. Such men will be punished most severely."
Earlier in the book of Luke, Jesus makes his first reference to homosexuality, though veiled it is, and in the New International Version of the Bible the language was even altered to obscure it even more. Jesus is talking about the Rapture, the moment at the end of time when Jesus is supposed to take the Christians away to safety in Heaven just as the time of Great Tribulation is spilled out onto the rest of the world. He is making a reference to the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, where the righteous Lot is saved by God by fleeing the city just as its being destroyed. He did not look back, though his wife did. She looked back and was frozen into a pillar of salt. Jesus says when that day comes, do not look back. By looking back, and fearing death, she died. Jesus seems to be saying here do not be afraid to die, because if you are afraid to die on that fateful day, and you do not want to go home to Heaven to be with the Lord, then you will lose your place in heaven. Then there is this curious line, "I tell you, on that night two men will be in one bed; one will be taken and the other left." (Luke 17:34) This seems to be saying that two men are sharing the same bed, and in various parts of the Bible, this implies a sexual relationship. If one is saved and taken to heaven, and the other is not what does this mean? Some have said it shows that there is nothing wrong with two men being together, that in that day a homosexual can get to Heaven just as easy as a heterosexual. Others say that homosexuality is not even implied in that verse, and if it is, it means that the saved man gave up his life as a homosexual and did not look back, and was saved, and the other refused to give up his life, and died a sinner. However you interpret it, it just goes to show that religion is a very complicated thing and the answers are not clear cut at all times.
By clicking on the link below, you can read one example of what most traditional Christians see as what homosexuality implies. I was troubled on how to cite the source, which appears in an article in the Editorials section of the Radford University Tartan, the school newspaper. It is actually documented and was printed in the newspaper and online as well, but since I was not able to talk to the author and get her permission to print this, I wondered if I should print it at all, since she may not want her words being put online for everyone to see. I finally decided to cite it as normal, and if she objects, I can change the citation, but here it is in its entirety:
Some Christians claim to be reformed homosexuals, and that was what actually sparked the letter above. The author was commenting on a school program where a former homosexual was talking about how other homosexuals can be 'saved'. Unfortunately, most of these "conversions" end up failing, for many reasons. The following document details the history of the "conversionist Christian movement" on homosexuality, and shows how it has failed horribly:
And even though today most psychiatrists say homosexuality cannot be cured, there are some who still believe it can be. They, along with Christian conversionalists, have teamed up to cure homosexuality among gay youth. However, some of their methods are quite extreme and shocking, as this next document reveals in graphic detail:
And finally, does the Bible really condemn homosexuality, or is it all just one big misunderstanding? I take an indepth look into this matter, taken directly from scripture, research its history and interpretation, and make a good argument that the latter may just be the case:
Even after all the debate, there are still no clear cut answers as to what is right and what is wrong. For many homosexuals, this is a source of constant conflict that tears apart their soul. Some are able to willingly and lovingly accept their homosexuality into their lives while also maintaining a precarious but happy religious life in the Christian Church. While other religions also condemn homosexuality, the Christian Church seems to be the one that gets most of the attention for disapproving of homosexuality. This has caused many homosexuals to turn their backs on the church, and in some cases, on religion altogether, because they cannot accept that the bigotry and hatred in churches can actually be allowed to exist by God, if he exists at all. Most of these questions arise in the growing homosexual's turbulent teen years, and so it makes it all the more serious because impressions made during these years will affect their whole self-image for the rest of their life. Feeling confused and also rejected by society, and being told that one is a sinner who will burn in Hell if they do not "change" (making it all sound so simple) these young people begin to absorb the hate that the rest of the world shows toward them. Many begin to see themselves as nothing but sinful, for this is what the church tells them. The church says that God dissapproves, and the messages of hate slowly take on a more sinister tone - if everyone hates the homosexual so much, then God, too, must hate the homosexual. While most Christian churches tell us that God loves all people, even sinners, there are some denominations that veil another message, seemingly a contradictory one, and that is that God hates all sinners, and does not hear their calls for help. These denominations take quotes from scripture to demonstrate their points. The young homosexual will take this message to heart, and views God as unloving and unkind. To escape this enormous pressure, which only makes the feelings of pain and hurt they already know all too well even more painful, the homosexual rebels against the system, rejecting the message, and the messenger.
Homosexuality is thrown into a basket of sins such as adultery, murder, prostitution, and thievery. There is a big fundamental difference in each of these. First of all, homosexuality is seemingly something we are born with, a sort of genetic imprint. It also is a biological drive which cannot be repressed easily. Even when it is repressed, it is still there, all the time, no matter if the person "changes" or not. It is a part of that person. Adultery is not. Murder is not. Prostitution is not. And thievery is not. Adulterers are not born that way. Adultery is a sin of choice. The same goes with murder, prostitution, and thievery. One does not realize in childhood that they are a prostitute for instance. And it is easy to see that homosexuality is a part of personality. Otherwise, hundreds of people would not caimpaign for equal rights and stand up to the system the way that homosexuals have. Homosexuals do not see themselves as sinners because the feelings they have have been with them usually since childhood, and they don't feel like a sin. They feel like love. You don't see murderers or adulterers or thieves organizing marches of their own. This is because they realize that it is a choice, not a deeply ingrained part of themselves that has existed since birth. With the rare exception of the serial killer, who seems to be somehow pre-disposed to want to kill, there is no other similiarity here. And deep down we all as human beings know for certain that taking someone's life is wrong. As for prostitution, there have been attempts to legalize it, but it is not even in the same category as homosexuality. Prostitutes know that theirs is a life of profession, one that can change at any time they choose. Except for those that are nymphomaniacs, they chose prostitution not out of need but of want. Sure, there are some that claim that prostitution was necessary to put food on the table, but that is what welfare or a minimum wage job is for. And that's what education is for.
And how does one explain how homosexuals can have mystical and religious experiences just as compelling as those of heterosexuals if it is such a deplorable sin? If you are a believer in religion and in the spiritual realm but are homosexual, you can take comfort in knowing that this can and does occur. The contemporary experience of the NDE, or near-death experience, a mystical/religious experience where a person comes back from the brink of death suddenly aware of life after death, does occur to homosexuals as well. And there is no condemnation or admonishment from God, only love. In fact, most NDE experiencers, no matter who they are, come back with stories that in Heaven there is no judgement passed onto us from God during the so-called "life review", but rather only love. They all say that it is us who ultimately judge ourselves in the afterlife based on whether we thought we were doing wrong, not what someone else thought.
There is a touching near-death experience story concerning a gay man dying of AIDS published in the book Every Day's A Miracle, by Paul Robert Walker (Avon Books, New York 1995), under the title "An Angel On My Shoulder" [Pages 222-225].
I hope that these documents have helped you understand a little more about homosexuality and what it is viewed as in the churches, today and yesterday. Good luck on your soul-searching, and in the words of Jesus Christ, "But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. If someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other also. If someone takes your cloak, do not stop him from taking your tunic. Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. Do to others as you would have them do to you." (Luke 6:27-31)
