Homosexuality

7 Pages 1629 Words

Homosexuality within the Church: An Issue of Religious Liberty The Argument If one were to ask your stance on homosexuality within the Christian church and your reasoning behind your views, how would you answer them? I find that most Christians I have talked with take a rather conservative, traditional view and base their beliefs upon a few key passages in the Bible - I Corinthians 6:9-10; Ephesians 5:3-5; Colossians 3:5-6; Jude 5-7 and about a dozen more. The basic problem with limiting your view to these various scriptures is that homosexuals who claim to be Christians use these same passages in defense. Many claim that these passages have been translated incorrectly from their original texts (Hebrew and Greek). An exhaustive study by Pastor Ken Coulter which has been published by Logos Ministries under the title Dispelling the Myth, attempts to prove that throughout the centuries the translations of the original texts have been incorrect. For example, I Corinthians 6:9 is translated in the New King James Version as follows: Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites.... The Greek words malakos arsenokoitai are translated into the modern word homosexual in this particular translation. However, Coulter makes the statement that malakos has a double meaning. The first of which means "softness," the second describes a character flaw which he translates as meaning "weak willed" or "easily beguiled." Arsenokoitai has been translated several different ways. Coulter says that the true meaning is a mystery, but that it could mean a "male prostitute who takes an active role." He also claims that there were many other words in the Greek that the apostle Paul could have used to make his meaning clearer if he was referring to homosexuality. What Coulter doesn't say is that Paul's meaning was not lost on the audience...