>1Cor. 6:9 and 1Tim. 1:10< 1Cor. 6:9: Do not be deceived; neither fornicators nr idolaters nor adulterers nor boy prostitutes nor practicing homosexuals nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor robbers will inherit the kingdom of God.

1Tim. 1:10: The unchaste, practicing homosexuals, kidnappers, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is opposed to sound teaching.

Wow! That sounds pretty clear, doesn't it? It even mentions practicing homosexuals. How can you possibly answer that?

I happen to have the Catholic version of the Holy Bible which includes the footnotes. It explains explicitly that the verses refers to boys or young men who were kept as prostitutes and the men who engaged in sex with them. *NOT* homosexuals in general. Someone has rewritten these verses to try and turn them into a condemnation of homosexual acts. Fortunately there was a scholar with sufficient integrity to point out the original meaning of the words. That meaning is right there in the Bible.

In other words, Corinthians mentions prostitution. Just as elsewhere the Bible refers to heterosexual prostitution. However, this is no more a blanket condemnation of homosexuality than the other verses are a blanket condemnation of heterosexuality. The fact that they specify only a small part of homosexuality implies that homosexuality in general is *NOT* sinful. Otherwise they would have specified "men having intercourse with men" and "women having intercourse with women". There was no attempt to do so.

Adultury is a sin Adultery is a heterosexual act. Prostitution is a sin. Prostitution is a heterosexual act. Rape is a sin. Rape is a heterosexual act. But heterosexuality and heterosexual acts in general are not a sin. If God had meant to say that all heterosexual acts are sins he would not have wasted all the bandwidth specifying specific *types* of heterosexual acts that are sins. He is setting limits to an acceptable action, not banning it completely. The same reasoning applies to homosexual acts.

The footnotes in Corinthians and Tomothy stand as rebukes from God to all of those who choose to change his words in order to promote an agenda of hate.

Copyright March 25, 2000, by John Shannonhouse. All rights reserved, except that free distribution via any medium is permitted as long as author's credit is given and no profit is involved.

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