low me to very briefly use the Bible to smack these Bible thumpers, because Romans, Timothy and Corinthians — it does sound like an Italian leather bar — are not God or Jesus speaking. Those are all letters from the one and only St. Paul.
Now, Paul is a fascinating figure. Jesus is like this radical revolutionary liberal and Paul is his really conservative PR guy. Most of the sexual hang-ups of the New Testament come from Paul, who believed the world would end in his lifetime and generally thought people should be celibate like him.
Now Romans says, “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 one toward another.” Slam dunk for homophobes, right?
when you read what comes before, Paul’s talking in the past tense about God punishing Romans for worshiping Roman gods. How? By giving them up unto vile affections. They’re not hooking up with each other to spite God — God’s making them do it to punish them. In the fetish community, this is called “forced bi.” Or so I’ve read on Craigslist.
What’s more, if they’re changing their “natural use of the woman” to burn in lust for each other, where’s the gay part come in, homophobes? They’re not gay guys: They’re straight guys hooking up with other straight guys. Also very common on Craigslist, or so I’m told.
John Fugelsang: Why the New Testament doesn’t condemn gay people