LEVITICUS 18 & 20: The Heterosexual Abomination

LEVITICUS 18 & 20:

The Heterosexual Abomination

"Sometimes them that quotes the Bible

has less of the Bible in their heart

than them that don't quotes it"

-Long John Silver, Return to Treasure Island

The man in this photo believes that he is quoting the Bible.
Most Christians would say that he is.
But are they right?

Let's see what the Word of God actually says.

"Thou shalt not lie with mankind,

as with womankind:

it is abomination."

- Leviticus 18:22

"If a man also lie with mankind,

as he lieth with a woman,

both of them have committed an abomination."

- Leviticus 20:13

This man has misquoted the Scriptures by inserting the words “one lies”. This completely alters the meaning of the text.

First, this man’s sign is nonsensical. Presuming that “lie with” means “have sex with”, it is a physical impossibility for anyone to lie with a man as one lies with a women. The body parts are not the same. This sign is as absurd as saying, “Do not lie with a woman as one lies with a man”. This should have been a red flag to anyone who thought this man was quoting the Scriptures.

Second, who is his sign addressing? I bet you automatically assumed it was addressing men. However, because he has removed “If a man” from the beginning of the verse and replaced it with “Do not”, his sign is now addressing EVERYONE – men and women. And when he removed “as HE lieth” and replaced it with “as ONE lies with”, the sign again targets both men and women. If you’re going to alter words, why not say, “Do not lie with a man as A MAN lies with a woman”? Aside from the fact that it is impossible for a man to lie with a man the way a man lies with a woman (see the previous paragraph), saying “as one lies with” makes no sense. Red flag #2.

Therefore this verse must be saying something completely different from what has been presumed. I want to make a clear point about the words of the verse as it is actually written in Scripture. Equally valid translations of these verses from the Hebrew would be:

"It is an abomination for a man that lies with a woman

if he also lies with mankind."

"A man that lies with a woman commits abomination

if he lies with mankind, too."

"If a man that lies with a woman also lies with mankind,

they have committed an abomination."

"If a man also lies with mankind, as he lies with a woman,

they have committed an abomination."

These sentences all have different word layouts, yet they all say exactly the same thing. Elementary school children learn how to diagram sentences like this because it is proper grammatical English to do so. Unfortunately, Christians have invented an anti-gay doctrine by trying to apply Modern English speech & reasoning to the Old English speech and word diagramming used in these verses. For example, in the Book of Acts the phrase "to fetch a compass" is used. In modern English speech & reasoning, this would mean, "to go and get a (directional) compass". However, that is NOT what the Old English of the Bible meant. "To fetch a compass" means "to travel in a circuit".

Only a heterosexual man lies with a woman. Only a heterosexual man is able to ALSO lie with mankind AS HE LIETH with a woman. Why has the church, like the man in the picture above, utterly failed to acknowledge these important words? A true homosexual does not lie with women, nor has the desire to do so (unless he's going through some experimental phase or forced into it by peer/parental/religious pressure).

It is common knowledge in the secular gay community that many heterosexual men have sex with other men just to achieve sexual gratification. Many of these men are even married with children. They are not homosexuals, but due to their lust, often borne out of loneliness or dissatisfaction, many heterosexual men do not believe that a brief sexual encounter with another male is considered "adultery". Some men do this for the thrill aspect. For others, it is a power play, like wild animals. Some men see it as merely a way to release sexual tension, others find it easier to have a same gender encounter than having to go through the "hunt" with females, and still others see it as no big deal at all while reasoning it away as bisexuality. The sexual underworld is well hidden from a society that would never expect such things. But same-gender sexual activity by heterosexuals is not only very real, but very common. And it is this very activity to which these Levitical verses refer.

Paul puts it in proper terms in Romans 1:27 (which we’ll discuss later in this site) when he says that these kind of men do these things because they burn in their lust. They "burn" to the point that they don't care who they are with as long as they have been "satisfied". It’s not a gay or straight issue in their minds; it’s just pure lustful gratification. We hear of such things happening in the military and in prisons as well, where heterosexual men will fornicate with other men because of the lack of a female partner. And among the Middle Eastern societies, where women are relegated to property and excluded from the world of men, heterosexual men there are famous for their sexual contacts with each other. In fact, the British army, during their war against the Muslim Ottoman Empire, has fully documented this behavior among heterosexual men.

Remember, we're not talking about young children who know at a young age of their inner attraction to the same gender - innocent people who have no idea what lust is, or even what sex is. In fact, most homosexuals admit that there was virtually no homosexual influence in their young lives that anyone could say was an "environmental factor", and merely having inattentive or overbearing parents didn't result in homosexual identity - else half the planet would be homosexual. These verses are talking about grown MEN who are blatantly heterosexual and attracted to women, yet burning in their LUST they seek sexual pleasure any way they can get it - in this case, with other men. This was a famously common practice among ancient Romans and Greeks, to whom Paul was writing. Long before modern theologists (wrongfully) applied the term "sodomy" to homosexual sex, it was widely referred to as the "Greek Position". None of this has anything whatsoever to do with persons who are mentally, emotionally, psychologically and physically attracted only to the same gender in the same way that others are attracted only to the opposite gender. Remember, it is lust, not natural attraction, which is sin.

Note something important here. The Scripture doesn't say,

"If a man also lieth with mankind,

as he WOULD lie with a woman...".

Neither, like the man's sign above, does it say,

"If a man also lies with mankind,

AS ONE LIES WITH a woman..."

These are totally different words and contexts than what Scripture actually says, and if the Scriptures had used either of these phrases there would be no question that it refers to any form of homosexuality, because, if those words were there, the verse would mean "IN THE SAME WAY that a man MIGHT lie with a woman IF HE WERE TO lie with a woman". But in fact it says "ALSO" and "AS HE LIETH with a woman", which clearly refers to a heterosexual who has been with a woman, but has left the woman for a man - exactly as Paul describes it in Romans 1. You will also notice that, among all of the sex laws listed around these two, ONLY THIS LAW goes out of its way to say AS WITH A WOMAN. For example, Scripture doesn't say

"Thou shalt not lie with thy father AS WITH A WOMAN,"

"Thou shalt not lie with a beast AS WITH A WOMAN".

It doesn't have to. We know exactly what is meant by "Thou shalt not lie with thy father," and "Thou shalt not lie with a beast" - it is referring to the sex act. So we can clearly see that the Law, by going out of its way to say "ALSO" and "AS HE LIETH WITH A WOMAN" in our subject verses, is specifically referring to heterosexual men - men who lie with women - who then forsake and betray their natural desire for women, for whatever reason, to also lie with other men. Such an act would surely be, not only fornication, but adultery, since a man has no business sleeping with a woman in the first place unless he were married to her.

There is nothing here at all to imply a blanket prohibition of same gender attraction (i.e. the state of BEING homosexual), or a homosexual romance, a monogamous homosexual lifetime union, or sex within that union. Since the marriage bed is Holy, according to Paul, whatever a married couple does in bed is their right. While many people enforce their personal moral opinion on sex, there is no biblical prohibition on any particular sex acts between married persons. These verses speak plainly of perverted heterosexual men. The main problem is, that, because the church believes homosexual identity to be abomination, they do not believe that there are heterosexuals and homosexuals - two different things. They wrongfully believe that homosexuals are merely perverted heterosexuals. But a heterosexual who lies with the same gender is committing BISEXUAL acts - they have not become a homosexual, which is completely different. One is hetero or homo sexual regardless of whether they ever have sex.

Something else which I find very interesting is the church's schizophrenic attitude regarding the Law. When asked why they do not obey the fourth commandment of observing the seventh day Sabbath (a LAW written in stone by God Himself), or, why they do not obey the biblical Kosher dietary laws which forbids the eating of bacon, pork chops, pork roast, sausage, shrimp, oysters, clams, lobster, crab, and rare beef, or, why they do not honor the Passover as Jesus and Paul commanded, most Christians will declare that the Law is done away with and that we are not under bondage to the Law. But when it comes to the subject of homosexuality, suddenly the Levitical law is brought into play. "Oh no, God didn't do away with THAT Law!" That form of reasoning is pure and simple bias inflicted upon the Scriptures by cafeteria Christians who not only pick and choose the laws that are convenient for them, but who then force their interpretation on the church - and upon homosexuals in particular. They want their cake and to eat it, too.

You might say, "Well, I don't hate homosexuals because we are all sinners and no sin is greater than any other." That at least is a good start, but it is still wrong. While it most certainly is true that we are all sinners and that no sin but the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit is greater than any other, the fact is that being homosexual, like being heterosexual, is not a sin in the first place and cannot be categorized as "a sin" because, as I have proven throughout this site, condemnation of homosexual identity cannot be supported by the Scriptures. Heterosexual Christians cannot use circular arguments by first saying that homosexuality is a sin without proof from the Scriptures, and then still insist that it is sin when no proof is found because they have isolated irrelevant verses and reinterpreted them. Doing so would be much like Evolutionists who speculate without proof that Evolution of species occurred, and then insists that the discovery of an arthritic pig bone is a missing link that proves Evolution! They’re trying to ram a round peg in a square hole.

A Christian also cannot begin with the argument that the Holy Spirit told them that it was a sin, because it is clearly written that "sin is not imputed when there is no law", and, "for where no law is, there is no transgression" (Romans 5:13 & 4:15), and therefore the Holy Spirit will tell EVERYONE what sin is - and not just secretly tell a few people what a sin is. Any Joe Schmoe can come along and say that God told them something, but if it is not supported clearly by Scripture, it is not to be believed. One of the loudest arguments against gay marriage has been that it is against the tradition of one man and one woman, to which the Bible responds,

"Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your traditions?... Thus have ye made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition!... Howbeit in vain do they worship Me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of MEN! For, laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men!... Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep YOUR OWN tradition!... Making the Word of God of none effect through your tradition, which YE have delivered, and many such like things do ye!"

(Matthew 15:3&15, Mark 7: 6-8,9,13).

Paul warns us in Colossians 2:8 to "beware, lest any man spoil you through philosophy and VAIN deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ." Many people have said that, "Well, even if the Bible doesn't explicitly condemn homosexuality, I feel inside my spirit that it is wrong." Not only is that view extremely subjective, but it violates God's words in Deuteronomy 4:2 which says, "Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you." We cannot, as the Pharisees, come up with our own view on what we believe may be sinful to God and then inflict that view on others. Sin is an act against God - not us. Therefore God alone can say what is and is not a sin, regardless of how you FEEL about something. And if God has not declared something to be a sin, how dare any man say otherwise.