Those passages which many claim deals with homosexuality does not. Those passages do not deal with our modern understanding of human sexuality in any way. Those passages deal with ritual uncleaness and or cultural prohibitions based on their understanding of human reproduction. Except for a reference in Romans, lesbianism is not addressed at all…because women were considered simply recepticals of the male seed which grew within them as a seed grows in fetile ground.
Genetics and DNA were not even on the “radar” 3500-2000 years ago when those “clobber passages” were written.
Modern understanding of human sexuality was not even considered. Tribal, magical, mythical understandings of human reproduction were “fact”. The male “seed” contained all there was to have a child…women were nothing but incubators of the “male seed”…they contributed nothing to the genetic makeup of the child they bore…simply because they had no knowlege of human reproductive physiology, DNA, genetics etc.
It was a “sin”, read the story of Onan, to spill one’s seed…why? Not because masterbation was necessarily wrong, but because everything that was “human” was contained in the “male seed”…concepts of the “female egg/ovum” were unknown.
Two men together were ritually unclean…“abomination” in Leviticus passages does not imply “sin” but “ritually unclean”…human bodily fluids from the reproductive organs made one “ritually unclean” for religious service.
Women were seen as “property”…vessels only to be “sold” by the father to the husband for the “bride price” in order to carry on the family line of the son…women were commodities…to be used and discarded if for some reason she could not bare a son for her husband…this continued up thru the middle ages with the European kings who needed a son to carry on the royal line…little did the king know if his wife bore him no sons, it was his “fault”…not hers as he only had “female swimmers”…something unknown until modern times.
Ritual sexual practices was not unknown in ancient times…‘ritual sex magic’…again…modern understanding of the mechanics and physiology of human sexuality was unknown…in fact their understanding of reproduction was incorrect…their science was incorrect…their cosmology was incorrect…their geography of the nature of the Earth and cosmos was lacking and incorrect.
The earth did not float on a great sea…the earth did not have 4 corners…the earth was not the center of the universe…the earth was not the center of the solar system…the earth was not covered by a canopy that allowed the lesser lights shine thru to light the evening…nor did the sun move thru the sky to be halted by a miracle in order for a war victory for Joshua to occur.
Snakes and donkeys did not speak, sickness was not caused by “sin”, angels did not mate with humans, people did not get turned into salt, nor did post-menopause women of some advanced ages give birth.
The diversity of creation is MORE…MUCH MORE…than the ancients even thought possible.
Human sexuality is much more complex than their minds could comprehend.
The Bible DOES NOT ADDRESS the modern understanding of human sexualtiy…history may not have had same sex marriages…but since the earliest times it had other “institutions” we do not share today.
Cultures outside the Judeo-Christian influence DID honor those who today would be called “gay”. Greek history had their Gods and Goddesses in same sex relationships. Many European cultures had thier Gods and Goddesses also take same sex partners. Some cultures counted it an honor for it’s bravest warriors to choose a same sex partner for one night…it would have been and insult to refuse the warriors advances as it was counted an honor.
Our understanding of marriage has changed thoughout the centuries and millenia…how we implement “marriage” in various society has changed…what constitues “marriage” has also changed.
For the ancient Hebrews…the “husband” paid the “bride price” and on an appointed day arrived at the home of his “bride” and claimed her…took her to his house…slept with her and…they were married. Nothing overtly religious occured…just a bunch of parties followed.
That some religious groups have a more modern understanding of biblical teachings rooted and grounded in culture, time and history tends to broaden the understanding of human sexuality…they are not denying what the Bible says…they are understanding it differently due to historical understandings.