Guest Writer: Colby Grey on Why the Bible Doesn’t Condemn Same-Sex Relationships
As a middle schooler growing up in a small, conservative town, I had quickly picked up on the fact that it was quite an insult to call somebody gay. My peers were telling me it was wrong, my church was preaching that it was a sin, and members of my own family would recite verses in the Bible to me that I thought at the time explicitly stated that there was no room for being gay in Christianity. I could never imagine having the word gay be a part of my identity, because it was demonized before I even knew what it meant, so I quickly suppressed feelings that the world was seemingly telling me were wrong.
From a young age, my faith in God was central to my identity. Nothing I would do could be contrary to my faith, and that was especially true when it came to my sexual orientation. Thus, I suppressed my feelings seemingly convinced by the 'black and white' Scripture that supposedly left no room to be gay. I was in an online conversion therapy course for a year that engrained techniques to control lust such as snapping yourself with a rubber band and nailing in my head the dangers of the Hell that awaited anyone of us if we ever acted upon our urges.
As I grew older and progressed through school, it soon became too much of a burden to bear. I decided I would share my secret in my senior year of high school and see where it took me. While I was greeted with love and acceptance from most everyone in my circles, the journey to reconciliation with my faith and sexuality faced a setback in the summer of my senior year. I attended a faith-based camp called Hume Lake and was repeatedly mocked and targeted because of my sexuality, all of which was in "the name of God."
This propelled me on a journey to finally discover the Bible's message on homosexuality. While the Christian Church likes to make it seem like Scripture is straightforward on homosexuality, it is far from it. There is not a single instance of a loving, consensual same-sex relationship in the Bible. All instances that reference homosexuality either are instances of rape, polyamory, idolatry, or, in most of the cases, are simply mistranslations. The word for homosexuality in Biblical times for homosexuality was "Arsenokoites," which is a word that has been used to describe stealing, falsely accusing, and men who lusted over many women. The primary word used to describe homosexuality in the Bible was called "Sodomy" which was an instance in which an angry mob of men from the city of Sodom and Gomorrah swarmed a man's house and demanded to rape the men in his house. However, Biblical translators took this verse and weaponized it for their own political and social use to justify their opposition toward same-sex relationships.
God created us for relationships and would celebrate love in a society that desperately needs more relationships filled with love. My message is simple: if you still remain opposed to same-sex relationships, do as you please, but God cannot be your scapegoat for doing so.
Disclaimer: This is an opinion blog. Anything said here are my own opinions. Any facts presented have sources attached and included.