Monday, March 24, 2008

Put down your Gaydar!!!!

I have a theory about why homosexuality has evolved into being considered a sin by most Christians. In the very beginning, Genesis, Lot offers his daughters up to the Sodomites in order to protect his guests from being raped by them. Any man's value was placed higher than any woman's, even your own daughters. I could go on and on about the interpretation of this and all of the homosexuality references in the Bible, which are few actually, but there are some percs to not being a theologian ;) I don't have to. You guys can do that for me. I think, and you all can tell me if my thinking is original or not. The only reason homosexuality is considered a sin is because of the value of women at that time of the old testament and then later to Paul. It was an abomination to lie with a man as one would lie with a woman because women were considered property, and to lie with a man would be considered an insult to the man's power, freedom, and basically put him on the same level as a woman. It can go the same way for when women were turned to lust for other women. Why would they offer themselves to a woman when they could be with a man and man is superior? It sounds simple, but I believe it is.

I'm sorry, but when quickie Vegas marriages hold up in court but a homosexual marriage isn't legal I just can't understand. That's more of a political issue, but Christians do make up a large majority of voters. And, to exclude a whole group of people from the fellowship of God is, in my opinion, far worse than being in a homosexual relationship, even if it were a sin. We all sin. My cousin was in a committed relationship with a man until he died, at least 25 years, but they could never be married. It just is so unfair. It's also not that big of a problem. Gay marriage made legal will not cause more people to become gay. Ask any hetero male if he secretly wants to sleep with guys and then laugh at the reaction you get. If a person is straight, then that's what they are. If a person wants to experiment because they aren't sure, then that's what they'll do. But they'll be experimenting before they become fully sexually aware anyway, it will just be with the opposite sex. Ask a gay person if they secretly want to sleep with animals. Joke, don’t do this. It’s all just ridiculous!!! I do think- and this might be where I’m old fashioned, is that I don’t want to see or hear about anyone’s sex life in detail, straight or gay. I don’t like PDA, I don’t want to see anyone’s vagina splashed all over the internet. I don’t agree with the "don’t ask don’t tell" rule, because I don’t think people should have to hide their relationships. But I do think we’re all too oversexed. And, I can see where promiscuity can be a problem far more than homosexuality by a mature adult who is homosexual. But that's another post. Anyway, there are a lot more important problems to solve.

8 comments:

Ryan Pappan said...

Dannah,
Sodom's sin was not being hospitable. I agree that women are property in the OT perhaps even today. Also folks relate the act of penetration to power. If you are penetrated, like women, you are less than. Why would a man allow himself to be penetrated? It is about power. That is the saddest part. If we proclaim a new reality in Jesus' victory over creation, then why do we continually seek to hold power at all. Jesus should be center not our own failed understandings and preconceived social norms.

Neal Locke said...

Genius of an idea--and I totally agree. Just one thing, though. I don't think the average person in our city, at least, is oversexed. Quite the opposite, I'd imagine. Too busy chasing money and kids to be chasing much of anything else...

Dannah said...

Maybe I should have said preoccupied with sex.

Laura said...

I really like this idea, that it is all about men staying superior to women. I haven't heard it before.

My cousin Alan and I were having a conversation the other day about regulations on sex. Do people have a right to have sex? Do homeless people have a right to have sex? Do people have a right to be protected from the sight of sex?

I love your blog, it covers some great philosophical and religious topics.

Anonymous said...

Dannah,
If you go by the Bible as the standard, then it states that it is an abomination to God if a man sleeps with a man. We will not be judged by man, we will be judged by a "Holy" & "Just" God. God is not only loving, He is also righteous and sin is sin & must be judged. Fortunatly judgement was poured out on His Son, on the cross for those whom He has chosen.

Dannah said...

Sorry Anonymous, But until we all start following the laws of Leviticus, that verse will not make the argument with me. If God is just then he won't see loving another as being a sin. There is more to it than the act of sex.
Mostly, my question is why is it such a big deal? Why do people get so worked up over sexuality? If men are judged by God and not men, then why not leave it up to God and let Gay people have equal rights? I know God doesn't want us to judge another. And punish people for their supposed sins. That's different than believing or not believing certain things are sins.

Sarah Glass said...

To respond to Ryan... reading the sin of Sodom as simply being inhospitable is to read it as every man reads it. It is more than a lack of hospitality... far more than that. It is inhospitality to ones own CHILDREN based on their sex, a pattern that is all too familiar in a largely male-dominated world.
One of the things that I have read by feminist theologians that has been most fascinating to me is the notion that the Bible is male-dominated perspective, that the theology of sin that Calvin and Luther and almost every church in existence has expounded is male theology. The sin of inhospitality is one reading, often a male reading, but not the only one.

Violence to a woman, the invisible and too often culturally acceptable sin, lies just beneath the surface as well.

Thanks Dannah for your post. It was a pleasure to read.

D said...

I'm a stumbler, but I promise to come back after reading this. What a great take on this subject. I have not heard this way of reading the Bible RE: homosexuality, but it is so poignant and right on.

God, Christendom has missed so much in the past 2000 years by not listening to women!

Sarah, I completely agree that the Bible is completely male-dominated. I mean, look at Abraham, who in effect, killed his wife over the whole Isaac thing which he thought was a God thing (Happy Mothers Day!).

Don't be too hard on the men, though, who read the Bible as men. We can't help it. We're men. But I can't say how invaluable it is to hear perspectives that wouldn't even occur to me sometimes and how hard so many of us try to step outside the culture we were reared in.