Hi
I have brought over a post I made in the Romans thread as I feel that it is appropriate to the discussion.
Romans 1:26 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:
27 And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet.
28 And even as they did not like to retain
[8] God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;
29 Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers,
30 Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents,
31 Without understanding, covenantbreakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful:
32 Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them. I think that a truer meaning is given in the AV. To begin, the word lust in the Greek has been wrongly interpreted in most translations, to be sexual lust when in fact it just means any strongly felt desire - for anything. Unfortunately it is being wrongly translated.
even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature:
27 And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly.
Now I know that the following is going to be controversial and probably no-one will agree with me due to accepting the traditional way of thinking for so long, but this is how I see it as fitting into the rest of the letter.
I do not agree that Paul is talking about sex here. Is that the natural
use of women!?! Is that what women have been created for!?! Well sadly, some men do think this way.
No, woman was created to be an equal partner to man, her
use if it can be put that way, is to balance out the nature of man for she is one half of the human population after all, and what is suitable for men is not necessarily suitable for women. God's order is that the two sexes should share in everything that God wills for us.
Unfortunately since the fall, man has dominated woman and this is against God's will. It is also seen in the church. Women have been barred from translating and interpreting scriptures and it is only very recently that women have been allowed to 'do' theology. So we have a Bible that is coming from only one perspective and that is, the male one. One example is that sexual sin is seen from a male viewpoint as being a huge issue, but that is generally only where men are concerned.
In fact for women, their biggest sin is passivity. Sexual lust is just not something they suffer from in the main.
So we have Paul talking here about the biggest problem for mankind and especially for those in the church. However, the traditional interpretation of Paul is saying that
male homosexuality is the biggest issue and the number one problem for mankind with no mention of lesbians. Is this what happens commonly when men do not acknowledge their maker or is this a biased interpretaion of what the translators, all men, think is the worst that men can fall into?? Really ?? Worse than murder?? We also have to take into acount that scripture speaks much more strongly and colourfully than the way it is today.
My understanding is that Paul is naming the biggest problem in the church not the outside world and this has happened when men put themselves on the throne of their heart and remove Christ, and thus showing the evidence for it, in that men prefer to join with men in running the church and denying women the role that Christ gave them to be equal in all things and needed by men moreover otherwise the churcgh cannot function as it should.
The result of this is that they fall into very backsliding sinners.
