kate4christ03 wrote:REX im not arguing that romans werent into homosexual practices i know that was prevalent at that time but im saying that according to pais which is used in the bible not just for male slaves but also children, sons and slaves...with no sex involved, that its a stretch to say that this guy was gay
It's not that much of a stretch. As I stated before, there are other words which could have been used that meant son or slave. Pais means slave boy and it was very common for Romans to have sex with such people. So, it's not really a stretch of the imagination.
Quote:the law is clear that homosexuality is an abomination.
Yes, a strange word that. That part of the Bible is the part that Christians aren't supposed to follow. The original Hebrew is to'ebah, which is a religious term usually reserved for idolatory. It is the only part of that section which uses the word.
Why is that the only sexual sin as described in that part of the Bible that uses a word reserved for idolatory? It can therefore be interpreted as referring to temple prostitution.
Furthermore, if you insist in the Corinthians part being the Christian condemnation of homosexuality, that can also be interpreted in a different way.
The original Greek text describes the behaviors as "malakoi" (some sources quote "malakee,") and "arsenokoitai." Although these is often translated by modern Bibles as "homosexual," we can be fairly certain that this is not the meaning that Paul wanted to convey. If he had, he would have used the Greek word "paiderasste." That was the standard term at the time for male homosexuals. We can conclude that he probably meant something different from persons who engaged in male-male adult sexual behavior.
Malakoi means "loose" or "pliable", as in the phrase "loose morals", implying "unethical behaviour". In the early Christian church, the words were interpreted by some as referring to persons who are pliable, easily influenced, without courage or stability. Non-Biblical writings of the era used the world to refer to lazy men, men who cannot handle hard work, and cowards. [John] Wesley's Bible Notes defines "Malakoi" as those "Who live in an easy, indolent way; taking up no cross, enduring no hardship."
"Arsenokoitai" is made up of two parts: "arsen" means "man"; "koitai" means "beds." The Septuagint (an ancient, pre-Christian translation of the Old Testament into Greek) translated the Hebrew "quadesh" in I Kings 14:24, 15:12 and 22:46 as "arsenokoitai." They were referring to "male temple prostitutes" - people who engaged in ritual sex in Pagan temples. Some leaders in the early Christian church also thought that it meant temple prostitutes.
Some authorities believe that it simply means male prostitutes with female customers - a practice which appears to have been a common practice in the Roman empire. One source refers to other writings which contained the word "arsenokoitai:" (Sibylline Oracles 2.70-77, Acts of John; Theophilus of Antioch Ad Autolycum). They suggest that the term refers "to some kind of economic exploitation by means of sex (but no necessarily homosexual sex)."
Probably "pimp" or "man living off of the avails of prostitution" would be the closest English translations. It is worth noting that "Much Greek homosexual erotic literature has survived, none of it contains the word aresenokoitai."
Still others thought that it meant "masturbators." At the time of Martin Luther, the latter meaning was universally used. But by the 20th century, masturbation had become a more generally accepted behavior. So, new translations abandoned references to masturbators and switched the attack to homosexuals. The last religious writing in English that interpreted 1 Corinthians 6:9 as referring to masturbation is believed to be the [Roman] Catholic Encyclopedia of 1967.
