Quote Originally Posted by DMK
The bible is quite explicit with its position against homosexuality. I wonder how the gay churches (and there are quite a few these days) answer that
Well, now, this is something I have to point out to opposite poles in the debate:

The Bible has no general word for homosexuality and did not have the category, and apparently neither did any other ancient language. In English, homosexual activity refers to both males and females, and covers a variety of behaviours. Any translation using the term 'homosexual' or 'homosexuality' is incorrect, therefore, as there is no such word in Hebrew or Greek. Accordingly, there is no general condemnation of all homosexual behaviour in the Bible. There is no certain reference to lesbianism anywhere in the Bible (Rm. 1:26 can be plausibly interpreted quite otherwise). What specific behavior is meant in each text, under what circumstances does it occur, and how it is evaluated? Some scholars convincingly identify them with such things as sacred prostitution or exploitative sex, especially sex between adults and children.

I should point out that the same issue exists in Church history: homosexuality is a modern word, so when did the Church develop this concept? Apparently, no one has been able to find it in the early church.

I must say that when I first looked into these maybe 15 years ago, I had sort of assumed the fundamentalists were correct, and would have suggested simply that their beliefs were cultural limited and lacked modern knowledge.. Once I read the texts, I found I had numerous historical questions, and I soon found that the good scholars had the same sort of questions and a lot more.

The following link has a useful discussion, although I would prefer other interpretations at times.

http://www.religioustolerance.org/hom_marj.htm