Christianity and Homosexuality: Not A Sin (Outline)

1. Jewish people believe they were chosen specifically by God to fulfill a covenant - a larger list of obligations to live a moral life
2. This covenant is outlined in Leviticus
3. Jewish people believe that their covenant is a personal relationship with God
4. Rules meant for Jewish people are always referenced in the Hebrew text by calling God YHWH
5. Rules meant for everyone else are always referenced in the Hebrew text by calling God Elohim
6. English translations of the Old Testament do not differentiate between these, which means so much context on what constitutes goodness is lost
7. Leviticus is part of the Torah - YHWH's specific covenant for only the Jewish people, not universal law for all humanity

1. Christians interpret certain Old Testament passages as prophecies of God's incarnation as the Messiah
2. The Christian belief is that Jesus was this incarnation - hence the name CHRISTianity
3. Christ IS God made flesh: the highest ever of any man because he is God
4. Christ's word is the word of God
5. By God’s crucifixion and resurrection, all humans are offered salvation - this is the covenant of Christianity
6. This means Christians explicitly claim they are NOT under the Old Covenant (Torah/Leviticus) but under the New Covenant through Christ

1. Christ, which is to say God himself, never once talked about homosexuality
2. Christ's brother, James, never talked about homosexuality
3. Leviticus does not apply to Christians because they are not Jewish - they cannot invoke Leviticus 18:22
4. At no point did God himself speak about homosexuality being a sin
5. If God himself incarnate chose not to mention it, his followers have no authority to elevate it to a defining moral issue

1. The word homosexual did not appear in the Bible until 1946 (RSV)
2. Prior translations used terms like "abusers of themselves with mankind"
3. The word homosexual was a German word invented 1800 years after Paul - there is cultural context and differences missing
4. The ancient Greek word ἀρσενοκοῖται is highly contested in literature
5. This word does not appear in ancient Greek before Paul uses it
6. Paul is not God
7. Paul never even met Jesus
8. Paul is primarily writing letters trying to settle ritual and temple debate (head coverings, slaves, inclusion of women in church)

1. Leviticus does not apply to Christians because they are not Jewish - Christ being crucified is the universal covenant for ALL men
2. Anyone who did talk about 'homosexuality' in the New Testament was not Christ
3. Christ is God incarnate, the mediator or the bridge between humanity and God ("come to the Father through me")
4. Christ never once talked about homosexuality
5. If Christ is God, the entire premise of Christianity, then the word of Christ is the word of God
6. The word of God is higher than any man-made interpretation; and God never spoke on homosexuality
7. It is logically incoherent for Christians to speak of homosexuality as being immoral
8. Christians who condemn homosexuality are elevating human interpretation (Paul) and a covenant they're not part of (Torah) above God's direct teaching (Christ), which is idolatry. This fundamentally contradicts the claim that Christ is God incarnate and ultimate authority

"Homosexuality is unnatural because it doesn’t lead to procreation, and natural law shows us that male and female were designed for reproductive union.”

1. Natural law is, "Given our interpretation of what we see in nature, what ought for humans to do?"
2. Animals partake in same-sex intercourse (bonobos, lions, dolphins): homosexuality is not a biological anomaly
3. Even if the sole purpose of sex was procreation (which Christ never said): then infertile couples, celibate people, and post-menopausal women would be sinning. Are those people ever criticized?
4. Christ is God
5. Not once did Christ appeal to 'nature' as a source of moral truth
6. God is love; all people are saved by grace

NOTE:

In this outline, I used the common belief that Christ is God.

In the original Greek New Testament, in Koine Greek, our English reference of 'Word' is from the Greek term logos. Logos is the divine ordering principle of existence, what makes life intelligible. John said that "the Word is oriented towards God, but is distinct from God" (paraphrased).

Even in the worst case where Christ is not God but rather the logos incarnate, that still places him higher than any human who are simply observers of the logos. If Christ is the logos, he is the rational structure of the universe made incarnate. Yet he never spoke of homosexuality.