t. Paul had quite a task.
sFirst he had to sell this

quirky new Jewish faith
with only one god to Greeks and
Romans used to a pantheon of
intriguing deities.

Then he had to try to settle all
those pesky mysteries Christian-
ity is rife with. What exactly did
Jesus mean with the bread and
wine trick? Can we eat seafood
now? Where did he go on that
cloud, and is he coming back
before lunch?

So Paul became the Dear
Abby of his day, dashing off let-
ters of advice and admonition to
his little churches here and. there
around the Mediterranean. He
wrote so much that he was even-
tually bound to touch upon
homosexuality. (Doesn’t every-
body?)

However, he does so only in
an angry tirade against the
immorality of the Roman society
of the time. Remember that
same-sex activity was common at
all levels of this society, as were
prostitutes of both sexes.

What’s in a Name?

Paul himself experienced a
radical conversion. One day, God
punched him out and when he
came to, even his name had
changed — from Saul to Paul.

It was quite a punch, and some
will tell you to this day that he
was not right after that. He went
from being a persecutor of
Christians to a regular J ehovah’s
Witness, knocking on every door
in Damascus and handing out
cheap pamphlets.

Who else but a religious nut
would blame women for the fall
of Adam, tell them to sit down,
shut up, and cover their heads? I
refer you to 1 Timothy 2:11:
“...during instruction a woman

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should be quiet and respectful. I
am not giving permission for a
woman to speak or to tell a man
what to do,” and Ephesians
5124,25: “...as the church submits
to Christ so should women to
their husbands, in everything.”

He was very lucky the women
who cooked his meals didn’t poi-
son his geftlte fish.

Foreskins for jesus?

As Apostle of the Gentiles
(non-Jews), Paul was faced with
some big problems.

One major issue was whether
his converts needed to become
Jews first and then Christians, or
whether they could skip that extra
step. This was important because,
for one thing, Jewish men are cir-
cumcised as babies — ou try con-
vincing a hunky Roman centuri-
an that he has to give up some
skin to the rabbi! Paul very
quickly discovered that circumci-
sion was not good for business,
so he decided to let the Gentiles
skip that step.

But on to the quotations for
which Paul is famous. In his first
letter to some Corinthians (6:9),
he says, “You know...that people
who do wrong will not inherit the
kingdom of God...people of
immoral lives, idolaters,
catamites, sodomites ,thieves,
etc.” The words ‘catamites’ and
‘sodomites’ are of interest to us
because they are sometimes
translated as ‘homosexuals.’

But according to John
Boswell, ‘catamites’ is better
translated as either ‘wanton’ or
‘someone who masturbates.’ The
beloved King James version
translates ‘catamites’ as ‘effemi-
nate.’ which makes this appear to
be a condemnation of drag
queens!

Boswell also suggests that
‘sodomites’ means ‘male prosti-
tutes.’ King James translates it as
‘abusers of themselves with
mankind,’ which suggests guys
working their ‘way through the
entire human race! (So many
men, so little time!) Certainly, the
translation otfered by Boswell
makes more sense.

Then, in 1 Timothy 1:10, Paul
writes that the law is for “those
who are immoral with women or
with boys or with men.” This list
is simply a counsel not to be
immoral.

From these two passages, we
can conclude that Paul was
against male prostitution -and

immoral behavior. Who can
argue with that?
Those degrading pas-

sions!

Finally we have the statement
most beloved by Fred Phelps and
his ilk, the one you see on all the
hate placards: Romans 1:24-27.

This part of Paul’s letter to
some Romans is entitled “God’s
anger against the pagans.” Paul is
really wound up here as he
writes, “That is why God aban-
doned them (Romans) to degrad-
ing passions: why their women
have turned from natural inter-
course to unnatural practices, and
why their menfolk have given up
natural intercourse to be con-
sumed by their passion for each
other: men doing shameless
things with men and getting an
appropriate reward for. their per-
version.” The reward, he adds, is
to be left out of paradise.

He is clearly addressing peo-
ple who have “tumed from” or
“given up” what they had been
doing, and not gay folk at all. He
is condemning sexuality driven

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by passion and not by love, and
he is railing against people who
are not being true to their natures.

This passage, incidentally,
includes possibly the only refer-
ence to lesbian behavior in the
entire Bible.

Obviously, these comments
are not applicable to the loving
same-sex relationships that were
a part of the early church, accord-
ing to Boswell. Early Christians
even had same-sex marriages and
included the prayers in their
prayer books. It is also interesting
to note that it took the Christian
church a thousand years before it
specifically addressed the issue
of homosexuality at the Lateran
Council of 1179.

That’s it?
' Yes, indeed! These three pas-
sages are the only references to
homosexuality in the New
Testament. Nothing is said by
Jesus Christ or the other apostles,
and nothing occurs in the four
gospels! It has often been said
that there is much more in the
Bible to justify slavery and con-
demn lending money at interest,
to say nothing of prohibiting rich
people from going to heaven.

In truth, the Dear Abby of the

—— Ocroaen 1999 — 15

0 S'|'0NIEWI|ll

Romans much more often writes
about love. ‘‘All the command-
ments...are summed up in this
single command: You must love
your neighbor as yourself.”
(Romans 1319,10) “There are
three things that last: faith hope
and love; and the greatest of these
is love.” (1 Corinthians 13:13)
After all, this is the main
Christian message, but do you
think we will see these verses on
placards at the next fundamental-
ist rally?

Maybe it is time for God to
start punching out a few more
persecutors and changing a few
more names!

Next time: celibate monks,
vestal virgins, and eunuchs. V

For more information: Daniel
Helminiak’s What the Bible
Really Says About Homosexual-
ity, ISBN 0-9624751-9-X, is a
complete analysis of the issue.

Charlie Emond has a bache-
lors degree from Queens
College and masters degrees
fiom both Dartmouth and Keene
State. He teaches college history
courses in Springfield, and will
be teaching a course he devel-
oped Hidden History:
Homosexuality in Western
Civilization — at CCV in White
River Junction this fall.

   

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