My Internet Goddess Blog

Posts Tagged ‘romans’

On my previous question i asked about bible-interpretations. I used Romans 1:26-27 as an example, because i do not interprete it as being about homosexuality.

In Romans 1:26-27 the apostle Paul describes non-Jewish women who exchange “natural use for unnatural” and non-Jewish men who “leave the natural use of women, working shame with each other.”

When i go back 2,000 years and try to understand why, i understand this:

Paul is writing this letter to Rome after his missionary tour of the Mediterranean. On his journey Paul had seen great temples built to honor Aphrodite, Diana, and other fertility gods and goddesses of sex and passion instead of the one true God the apostle honors. Apparently, these priests and priestesses engaged in some odd sexual behaviors — including castrating themselves, carrying on drunken sexual orgies, and even having sex with young temple prostitutes (male and female) — all to honor the gods of sex and pleasure.
The Bible is clear that sexuality is a gift from God. He celebrates our passion. But the Bible is also clear that when passion gets control of our lives, we’re in deep trouble.

When we live for pleasure, when we forget that we are God’s children and that God has great dreams for our lives, we may end up serving the false gods of sex and passion, just as they did in Paul’s time. In our obsession with pleasure, we may even walk away from the God who created us — and in the process we may cause God to abandon all the great dreams God has for our lives.

Did these priests and priestesses get into these behaviors because they were lesbian or gay? I don’t think so. Did God abandon them because they were practicing homosexuals? No.

The people Paul had in mind refused to acknowledge and worship God, and for this reason were abandoned by God. And being abandoned by God, they sank into sexual depravity.
I feel certain this passage says a lot about God, but nothing about homosexuality as we understand it.

also note that Romans 2 begins with “Therefore, [referring to Romans 1], you have no excuse, whoever you are, when you judge others; for in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself…” Even after he describes the disturbing practices he has seen, Paul warns us that judging others is God’s business, not ours.

(Note, i’m not gay, i seem to have to say that when i ask such questions, i’m also not a Christian, i’m just interested in the Bible)

Roman religion “stole” some ideas from the Etruscans and the Greeks. The Romans also “stole” the Egyptian goddess, Isis as well as the Persian god, Mithra. Does that make the pagan Romans bad people?
Mathematician, from one perspective, that is true. On the other hand, I have talked with Jews who feel that Christianity is really just a pagan Roman plot to steal Judaism.