Leviticus 20:13 and Homosexuality

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“If a man lies with a male as with a woman, they have committed an abomination; the two of them shall be put to death; their bloodguilt is upon them.”
‭‭Leviticus‬ ‭20:13‬ ‭

I was getting into a debate with a close friend who does not approve of homosexuality, saying homosexuals should not have rights.

This really struck me because I know Jesus tells us to love our neighbors as we love ourselves and what not.

But then he used this quote from Leviticus to justify his hate of homosexuals.
  1. Why does God tell us to put homosexuals to death, but also tell us to love our neighbors?
  2. Is there a deeper historical or biblical context as to why homosexuals were put to death?
  3. What about the new testament? We see Jesus as advocating for love, but in the old testament telling people to kill homosexuals. Why is that?
 
cjmoa said:
  1. Why does God tell us to put homosexuals to death, but also tell us to love our neighbors?
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He doesn’t tell US to put homosexuals to death, he told Moses and the Jews to put homosexuals to death. Why? Well they had no avenue in which they could have their sins forgiven like we do today. You also must remember, the Jews in Moses time were plagued by the paganism, and even when God delivered them from the hands of the Egyptians, as soon as they felt unsatisfied they went back to worshiping many Gods and having orgies. God promised these people a kingdom that would usher in the messiah, but in order to have it they needed hold up their end of the bargain and that meant maintaining the strict moral laws God set for them.
cjmoa said:
  1. Is there a deeper historical or biblical context as to why homosexuals were put to death?
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Yes the corruption of paganism and not being able to have their sins forgiven like we can today.
cjmoa said:
  1. What about the new testament? We see Jesus as advocating for love, but in the old testament telling people to kill homosexuals. Why is that?
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When Jesus died he gave us corruptible beings a way to redemption and through his sacrifice and his Church we no longer need to abide by the laws of the Old Testament.
 
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You are correct. In fact, justice is love in my opinion.
 
cjmoa said:
saying homosexuals should not have rights.
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Of course they should have rights. They are human people. Rights don’t include marriage, but that doesn’t mean they shouldn’t be treated with dignity.
 
Is this your homophobic friend from the other thread?
 
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What Jesus and his Church tells us about our new Covenant
 
Well said @Capta(name removed by moderator)rudeman (5/16)
We are called to uphold and respect the human and civil or secular rights of every human being
 
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cjmoa said:
Is there a deeper historical or biblical context as to why homosexuals were put to death?
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For some perspective, keep in mind this punishment wasn’t unique to homosexuals or homosexual activity.

If your friend is using that passage “to justify his hate of homosexuals”, he’d best be prepared to hate himself or relinquish his own rights if he gave his parents much trouble as a kid or ever worked on the sabbath. These are also punishable by death and hold about the same relevance to the modern Christian.
 
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I don’t think that there is anything in that bible quote about “homosexuals.” The passage condemns a particular action. It is only in recent times that we have come to adopt the concept of “orientation” as a personal identifier. So no, the passage is about actions, not personal tendencies.
 
cjmoa said:
What about the new testament? We see Jesus as advocating for love, but in the old testament telling people to kill homosexuals. Why is that?
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The word your looking for is pornea in the NT, and Jesus does prohibit it. It means sexual immorality, MT 19. In the OT it is used in Lev 18 for prohibited marriages as well as Lev 20, Deut 22 and 27: 20-23. Some translators limit it to “adultery” only, the Church translates and understands it as unlawful and prohibited marriages as in Lev 18.

Whitewashing it to include “love” (the modern meaning, not “agape” of scripture) would logically mean we should also allow all the other Lev 18 prohibitions. I. E. Marrying you daughter, niece, sister in law, mother, mother in law etc.

Jesus never makes the exception people imply he does, in fact the opposite, as does St. Paul
 
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Just to put “love” in a biblical context (agapate alleliieu- love one another as I have loved you) when Jesus chose the sacrifice himself on the cross, was it an emotion where one thinks he actually enjoyed it? Or was a decision, a sacrificial commitment?

Certainly there are emotions that can be connected to love but biblically love is objective, not subjective. It is a decision, mainly of sacrifice.

In other words you should be just as willing to put your life on the line for a homosexual as much as Jesus did for example the Pharisees or even the worst of us. But that doesn’t mean one should be sleeping with or marrying them as in Jesus pornea prohibition. There is a major difference.
 
I have read a scholarly opinion in BAR which said that Lev. 20:13 was not part of the original text.
(Sorry that I am unable to provide a reference. The article was in Biblical Archeology Review a few years ago.)
 
tootle_toot said:
I have read a scholarly opinion in BAR which said that Lev. 20:13 was not part of the original text.
(Sorry that I am unable to provide a reference. The article was in Biblical Archeology Review a few years ago.)
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Uh, is that a Catholic opinion? Also, I am curious what is meant by “original text” in the Biblical scholarship. This is quite an involved concept if you know all the moving parts here.
 
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I’m not entering the argument. But by point of interest, I’d like
to point out that the Leviticus and other passages in the Torah
forbid a specific act – a man lying with a man with another man.

Contact with excrement is a public health hazard. Imagine a man
who has taken part in this act going back to his wife or wives and
spreading the illnesses that would inevitable result from contact
with human waste.

The Torah specifies how to dispose of human waste because
uncleanliness is unholiness.
Deuteronomy 23:

13 Outside the camp you shall have a place set aside you
shall go.

14 You shall keep a trowel in your equipment and, when you
go outside to relieve yourself, you shall dig a hole with it and
then cover up your excrement.

15 Since the Lord, your God, journeys along in the midst
of your camp to deliver you and to give your enemies over
to you, your camp must be holy, so that he does not see
anything indecent in your midst and turn away from you.
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cjmoa said:
What about the new testament? We see Jesus as advocating for love, but in the old testament telling people to kill homosexuals. Why is that?
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Saint Paul tells Christians in Romans 1:27
That [
Romans 1:27 NIV - In the same way the men also

In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts

New International Version
In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error

It seems a process in recognition of cultural deception by abandoned natural relations
 
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