What the Bible Really Says About Homosexuality
by Daniel A. Helminiak
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Book Summary Information
Author: Daniel A. HelminiakEdition: Paperback
Published: 2000-04
ISBN: 188636009X
Number of pages: 152
Publisher: Alamo Square Distributors
Book Reviews of What the Bible Really Says About Homosexuality
Book Review: Helminiak: Lying for Gays
Summary: 1 Stars
When I received this book, the first thing I noticed was glowing endorsements from Spong and Countryman, neither of whom are exactly conservative theologians. Then I noticed that this is a popular book and therefore there are no footnotes or references, so I cannot check his sources to see whether he is saying the truth or not, probably just as well, as he can lie with impunity.
On page 26 he trots out the party line by saying that one is "born gay, it cannot be changed and is benign", none of these statements are factually true, they are simply popular myths. He then compounds the error by comparing homosexuality with race and left-handedness. Once again he is incorrect. If homosexuality was like left-handedness (i.e. genetic) then we would expect the same percentage of homosexuals in rural and urban areas, yet this is precisely what we do not find, even for young people who have not migrated yet.
On Sodom, he gives the usual revisionist interpretation (based on Boswell and Bailey), it was about their inhospitality, this is a half truth, they were very inhospitable. The men of the city wanted to have sex with the male visitors, they wanted to rape them and unknowingly they would have raped angels. The purpose of the narrative was to show that God was just in destroying the cities.
On the meaning of arsenokoitai, he is unsure of the meaning, but if it does refer to male same-sex acts then it only "condemn wanton, lewd, irresponsible male homogenital acts but not homogenital acts in general" (p. 105). Of course the etymology of arsenokoitai is well know, it is derived from the Septuagint translation of the Levitical prohibitions of male-male intercourse (see Scroggs, p. 65), but this is rather inconvenient to Helminiak because it means that Paul thought that the Levitical prohibitions still applied in his day. Helminiak is aware of this (see p. 111), but he soft peddles here, lamely saying that 1 Cor 6:9 and 1 Tim 1:10 "may be repeating the prohibitions in Leviticus 18:22."
Then we come to Helminiak's best lie. His word study of toevah and bdelygma on p. 64-65. Toevah is the Hebrew word usually translated as abomination and bdelygma is the Septuagint Greek equivalent translation. Toevah is used in the Levitical prohibitions on male-male sex in Lev 18:22 and 20:13. He confidently asserts that toevah means "what is culturally or ritually forbidden" it is not a sin. He then compounds the error by saying that the Greek translation bdelygma, which he says, means a "ritual offense". When I looked up the meaning of the words toevah and bdelygma, the actual meanings of these two words is nowhere near as narrow as Helminiak implies. Toevah can be used in both a ritual and a moral sense, the same as bdelygma. In Lev 18:26-30 toevah is used four times and refers to adultery, child-sacrifice, male-male intercourse and bestiality (in Lev 18:20-23), bdelygma translates toevah in three of these verses. In the New Testament bdelygma is used of the "abomination of desolation" (Mat 24:15).
Lastly, we come to another quirky interpretation of Helminiak. The Greek word akatharsia which is translated "impurity" and Paul uses it in Rom 1:24 just before he talks about those who indulge in female-female sex and male-male sex in Rom 1:26-27. In all nine cases when Paul uses this word akatharsia it refers to moral sin. And yet Helminiak rather weakly says that "It must be admitted that Paul's use of the word impurity (akatharsia) here is out of line with his usage elsewhere" (p94). In other words making a scriptural case for homosexuality always involves special pleading, even lying.
This is the second edition of this book, so he had plenty of time to rectify any mistakes in his first edition, I suggest that he includes footnotes in his third edition.
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