be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.”
The reference has massive contemporary implications. This quote can’t be applied to a contemporary society context as, the standard to which this ancient society held each other has changed enormously regarding the standard today. What might be considered greed back then may simply be common practice today. This other term, homosexual offenders, can be interpreted in a numerous number of ways, it might simply be those who are violently sexual + homosexual, one may even go so far as to say that a homosexual offender is a being that offends a person of the homosexual persuasion, personally I find it difficult to comprehend people devising their morals from a text published over 2000 years from now, as how could it possibly have any application to a modern society? Romans 1:26-27- “For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust t one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompense [sic] of their error which was meet.”
I would merely use the words of another in a situation like this, regarding the Romans passage, there are many view points, two being:J. Nelson: “Paul didn’t write it as a condemnation of homosexuality, but as a criticism of Greek beahaviour in temple worship. Greeks often incorporated sexual behaviour in temple worship.”
D. Bartlett: “This is the tough one. I think one doesn’t get around this. It’s the only place in the New Testament where there’s any extensive discussion of homosexual relations. In Romas, there’s no question that Paul thinks certain kinds of homosexual beahaviour are a result of the idolatry of the pagan world.” The Archbishop of Cantebury: – “Many current ways of reading miss the actual direction of the passage. Paul is making a primary point not about homosexuality but about the delusions of the supposedly law-abiding. [These lines are] for the majority of modern readers the most important single text in Scripture on the subject of homosexuality.
Put in a more simplistic way, it could be said that these passages are often misconceived to give a detrimental view on homosexualirt. Even if this were the intended case, it does not have a substantiating practical application to the wider society and is there by interesting to examine for the purposes of history, but useless. It has merely been interpreted by humanity giving a discriminatory yet cryptic impression of that which we refer to as God.
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