Divine Debauchery: A Biblical Defense of Homosexuality and Non-hetero Sexualities
By: J. Austin Mcdaniel
Tags: Theology, History, Greece, LGBTQ, Christianity

*Cheat-Sheet Arguments at the end*

It has come to my attention as a queer follower of Jesus that many Christians do not agree with homosexuality as a valid phenomenon. As a person raised in a Southern Baptist church, I know how strongly people feel about this topic of discussion. Don’t worry, I am not here to tell you that your spiritual journey is wrong. On the contrary, I will use the Bible, historical context, and natural science to prove to you that God does not reject the modern dominant form of homosexuality and non-hetero sexualities of today.

Story of Sodom

First, it is only apt to start in Genesis. I grew up being told that the downfall of Sodom and Gomorrah was a result of its people’s homosexuality. I believed this for a while, but something didn’t seem right. In Genesis 18, we become aware that Sodom is corrupt with sin, and God agrees to send two angels down to monitor the city. While under the protection of Lot and his family, a gang mob of city people commanded Lot to let out his angelic guests. They desired to “know”, to have sex with the angel men. Now at face value, the mob of men did want to have homosexual sex with the men, but the brutality goes further. These men of Sodom wanted to have sex with them without their consent. Sexual assault of a person(s) without their consent in a group setting is gang rape. This violent desire is the root of their sin. The men of Sodom’s “sin is extremely serious” (Genesis 18:21). I agree with this Bible verse.

To give consent is to have agency. Agency is the freedom to act as one desires. Gang rape removes the freedom of choice from the individual. Consent and freedom to choose is especially important to God. In Deuteronomy 30:19, God says, “now choose life, so that you and your children may live.” Choice is necessary here in order to partake in life that God grants his creations. It is clear that gang rape is the criminal sin presented in this story of Genesis, because it is the act that goes against the freedom that God grants his people. Homosexuality, more specifically the pair-bonds of same-sex people, does not necessarily inhibit consent. If anything, the dominant form of modern homosexuality is built upon the consent of two individuals. It doesn’t hold that homosexuality is the sinful act presented here. Claiming that homosexuality is the sin here is analogous with saying that when a man rapes a woman, his sin is his heterosexuality. Thus, this story of Sodom does not directly or implicitly state that homosexuality, in itself, is wrong.

God’s Commandments to the Israelites

In Leviticus, God gives the Israelites a list of regulations to obey as they move into the lands of Canaan. The lands they are moving into have social practices that God does not desire for the Israelites (Leviticus 18:3–4). The Philistines were a dominant people group who lived in this area. Many recognize this people group as a rival to the Israelites as they come up to claim their land. The Philistines had many social practices in place that derive from their root culture of Mycenean Greece (Killebrew). The Philistines carried over many Mycenean Greek religious practices, dietary practices, and pottery technology (Killebrew). The similarity between the Grecian “psi figure” idols to the Philistine idol-alter found in Ashdod suggests the migration of Mycenean religious practice to the lands of Canaan (Henry). When God states that “the pig…is unclean for you [to eat]”, he is directly attacking the predominant Philistine consumption of pigs (Leviticus 11:7). They brought with them pigs to consume from the Greek islands. In fact, the pigs who live in Israel now are genetically closer to Greek pigs than other pigs of the middle east (Meiri et al.). This all goes to show how many cultural practices of the Mycenean Greeks migrated to Philistine-dominated Canaan. One of those social practices forbidden by God, I presume, is pederasty.

Western pederasty was developed by Mycenean Greeks (Serena). This social religious practice calls for older men to bring up younger, adolescent males. Pederasty is officiated by a pagan community. The parents of the youthful male forge a deal with a high-status male, erōmenoi, to take their child, erastēs, and teach them the ways of a man. Most all Greek communities pushed for the older males to have sex with the younger male. Sexual desire of the younger male for the older males is chiefly forbidden in these communities (Bertosa, 8). Consent is therefore removed from the young male in this social practice. Again, the agency of the individual is inhibited in this historical practice.

In the famous verse of Leviticus 18:22, “do not have sexual relations with a man as one does with a woman; it is an abomination”, it is clear God detests this social form of homosexuality. Pederasty between a young male and an older male is the only socially accepted form of homosexuality at this time. Pedophilia is built into this social system. Understandably, God has a problem with young men forced into sex. This is the context that the verse is given in. Further to make my point, the word for “man” in this verse is the Hebrew word, Zākār (blueletterbible.org). The King James translation translates zākār as “man child” in many instances of the Bible (blueletterbible.org). “Man-child”, or adolescent male in our language, is an apt translation of the word zākār. In a more fitting translation given the historical context, the verse should read: do not have sexual relations with a man-child (adolescent male). Clearly, pederasty is the form of homosexuality rejected in this text.

Finally, to make this interpretation unavoidably obvious, let us discuss women in this scenario. God addresses men and women in the next verse: “Do not have sexual relations with an animal and defile yourself with it. A woman must not present herself to an animal” (Leviticus 18:23). This is another instance of God seemingly attacking Mycenean Greek tropes. In a pre-Mycenean Greek myth, the minotaur is birthed from the queen of Crete after she knew the Minoan bull. Now, I’m not asserting that this myth is true, but it is relevant in the context of Mediterranean culture. In the text, God doesn’t address women on the regulation of homosexuality, but he does in the regulation of bestiality because it is culturally relevant. The Bible provides us ample room to recognize he is attacking the practice of pederasty. As I’ve stated, pederasty is exclusively relevant to men — which is why only men are received regulation in Lev. 18:22. Homosexuality is not confined to men, just pederasty is in this context. Mycenean Greek women freely and consensually have sex with other women. This is well known. This time period would’ve had thousands of copies of Sappho distributed all throughout Greece, Egypt, and other areas connected to the Mediterranean Sea. God does not reject consensual lesbianism in Lev. 18:22. Thus, homosexuality, in itself, is not under attack in Leviticus. Pederasty is under attack.

Other texts in the old testament respond adjacently to homosexuality, but it can be understood that the homosexuality in reference is pederasty. Also, any references to the sins of Sodom should be automatically understood as indicating gang rape (Ezekiel 16:50). I have explained the fundamental passages which discuss homosexuality of the Old Testament. It would be repetitive to go over everything again in those smaller references in the Bible. They follow from what I have discussed.

Paul’s Message to the Greeks

The New Testament is the section where things get particularly interesting. Paul has much more to say regarding pederasty and the homosexuals under it. Yes, you have read correctly. Pederasty is still around as Paul writes. In fact, it thrived as Grecian powerhouses, such as Athens, Corinth, and Thebes, developed into large city-states. In Athens, pederasty is the cultural norm for Athenian males to partake in. Most all Athenian men are indoctrinated into it as a common-place social responsibility (Serena). Not only is it a huge part of the social sphere, but pederasty has proved to be a powerful tool of warfare. Thebes’ Sacred Band was a 300-soldier strong army of 150 pederastic units. This army defeated the famous 300 Spartans in battle during the Spartans’ height of military success. Also, pederasty has extended to slavery. A slave master can legally have sex with slave boys against their will (Serena). This is vile activity of high-ranking socialites. Paul, when going about his preaching in Greece, would’ve had a historical understanding of these social practices.

Paul’s historical understanding helps explains his harsh statements against the queer men of that age. To some extent, Paul’s harshness is warranted. Institutional pedophilia is a great danger to society. Further, it is a religious danger to Christianity if pederasty (its ancient form of homosexuality) is to continue. Pederastic unions are officiated in this age of Greece by a pagan priest. It would make no sense to allow institutional pedophilia into the Christian religious structure — especially if that social practice is officiated by a different religion’s delegates. It is clear why Paul attacks these men with such vigor.

Looking at the text, Paul launches his rhetorical attack in first Corinthians. In 1 Corinthians 6:9–11, Paul makes his famous list of people who will not receive the kingdom of God. Included in this list are “the effeminate and abusers of themselves with mankind” (1 Corinth. 6:9). The Greek word for “effeminate” used here is, malakoi (Brand et al.). Malakoi is a derogatory word used for the passive, younger members of pederastic units. In the Liddell and Scott Greek-English Lexicon, the word is also synonymous with soft, cowardice, and weak. Paul seems to use these meanings with equal force. The passive partners later become older men and repeat the process of pederasty but as the older members. These passive men are cowardly and weak in that they don’t do anything to change the socially damaging system; they have become complacent in pederasty. The word for the active, older men and abusers of themselves is the Greek word, arsenokoitai (Brand et al.). Arsenokoitai are the older, active members of pederastic units. They abuse themselves in that they use their bodies against the consent of the other party. Paul is essentially saying these men defile their “temples of Christ” when they seize vulnerable, younger men without consent.

Again in 1 Timothy 1:9, Paul includes these men in his list of those condemned. Granted, in some translations when we see the word “homosexuals”, it should be understood as these enabling men of pederasty. While “homosexuals” is correct in usage here, our understanding of the word has greatly broadened past the notions held by Paul and his context. Homosexuals today are free to form same-sex bonds consensually and without the confirmation of pagan Greek priests. The socially free homosexuals of today are not bound by social forces such as pederasty. The public homosexuals of Paul’s day are confined to these forces of complacent pedophilia. Thus, it should be understood that Paul is not attacking today’s socially free homosexual men, because they simply did not exist in Paul’s time.

In Romans 1:25–27, Paul states that “[gentile men] worshiped and served created beings rather than the Creator” (25), and because of that, “men committed shameful acts with other men” (27). Here, Paul attacks the religious implications of Pederasty. Pederasty was created in celebration of Greek gods. Paul goes on to include women in his critique and states that “for even their women did change the natural use (sexual acts) into that which is against nature” (Romans 1:26). While I understand this may be easy to be interpreted as just connotating homosexuality. I don’t see homosexuality mentioned explicitly or implicitly here. Paul throughout these texts is mainly talking about sexual impurity broadly speaking and using one’s body hedonistically (which is a norm in Roman high class). From the basic historical relevance of Roman hedonism and the lack of homosexually charged words, I think it is safe to conclude that Paul is talking about the massive amount group sex which is common in the times. Pederasty in Rome, much like in Athens, focuses on male domination and neglects the care of women. Many lonely and bored women participated in wild sexual encounters with many people to avoid their feelings of neglect.

The wide gap between man and woman in a heterosexual marriage, the rampant hedonism at parties, and child neglect are all phenomena that result from pederasty. I think Paul is critical of this in his words. Though, the passion in his message is lost if Christians are content with writing this message off as a stand against homosexuality. It is much more of an attack on what he sees as a social degradation of society. Paul is not content with hedonism, the neglect of wives, neglect of children, and what he sees as trivial pagan practice. I think we should give him more credit in critiquing normative Greco-Roman living and focus less on what meek English translation has to account for. All of this historical significance is lost when readers don’t dig further into the text and interpret analogously to known history. If the Bible is a historical text, shouldn’t Christians be concerned with the surrounding history to prove its holdings? If they were concerned, I would’ve learned about pederasty and Greco-Roman hedonism countless times when these verses were brought up in church. Christians have become complacent in taking words at face value and avoiding their history.

Words and Changing Culture

Words have much depth in Greek and Hebrew. The fallacy of incongruency is far too common in English translations of religious texts, such as the Bible. If the Bible is a living word, one should better listen to the voices of a word. The word “malakoi” does mean homosexual, but it speaks louder. This word means cowardly and weak. I can assure you from personal experience that the word homosexual does not carry this today. The homosexuals of today are brave and strong — even effeminate ones. Thus, the logic holds that “malakoi” are homosexual, but homosexual is not malakoi. The logic follows in that poodles are dogs, but not all dogs are poodles. Even in plainer terms, coke is often associated with the word soda in southern communities of the United States. It is common for a southern person to say, “get me any coke,” but really mean “get me any soda”. The words are interchangeable given the cultural context, but this can be easily misunderstood when the culture changes — say if the individual goes into a Northern community.

Translators of the Bible recognize that the interchangeability of words arsenokoitai and homosexual is understandable given the cultural understanding, but when this cultural understanding is removed, it leaves room for mass misunderstanding — misunderstanding translators may or may not have accounted for. So, when a person doesn’t recognize the real cultural significance of arsenokoitai and it is translated into homosexual, they use their own cultural understanding of homosexual to form their interpretation. Though, as I have pointed out, this is false because our understanding of homosexual has almost no semblance to the Greek word in cultural reference. Homosexual used today in English is incongruent with the Greek word for it. Paul’s message succeeded in Christian domination of Rome in later centuries; pederasty was outlawed by these converted Roman politicians.

Just before my last argument, I want to make it aware that this changing element of “homosexual” holds for the word “heterosexual”. When the Bible refers to a union between man and woman, they are referring to heterosexual marriage in the way they understood it. Marriage during the time of the Bible usually meant arranged marriage between a man and woman. Marry and Joseph are understood as heterosexuals, but this heterosexuality is different compared to the heterosexuality of today in the Western dominated cultures. In America, most all heterosexual marriages are done through the wanting desires of both man and woman for each other — entirely decided by that man and woman, not parents. So, just as homosexuality has adapted as a social practice and a word, heterosexuality has as well.

Change in social practice allowed for old sins to be transformed into good processes in worship of God/Jesus. God condemned pig consumption in Leviticus 11:7–8, but Paul changes this condition when he states that “every creature of God is good, and nothing is to be refused [to eat], if it is received with thanksgiving” (1 Timothy 4:4). Eating pork went from a sin outlawed by God himself to an opportunity of virtue to thank God/Christ for life. I grew up eating pork barbeque sandwiches in church. God and others never threatened me with damnation. It follows that damnation won’t happen when I love men with the urgency and power of Christ’s commandment to “love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:39).

Naturality of Homosexuality and Non-hetero Sexuality

Many people claim the unnatural element of homosexuality and non-hetero sexualities as the condition which ultimately makes them sinful. I have found this to be a false belief. Melissa Hogenboom wrote an excellent article on BBC which shows the vast naturality of homosexuality in the many creatures on Earth. Bonobos, red flour beetles, Laysan albatrosses, dolphins, sheep, salmon, geckos, and many other creatures exhibit same sex activities (Hogenboom). Same-sex monogamy and/or polyamory is quite natural throughout all animal kingdoms as observed in the natural sciences. This sexual and relationship-building behavior can be identified in many humans throughout many ages and cultures. God created all things and said they were good in Genesis 1:25. If one claims that homosexuality is a mistake, they thereby neglect the goodness of God. Homosexuality and non-hetero sexuality cannot be unnatural if it is a biologically common medium where people can make loving connections, connections which can last an entire lifetime.

Further, homosexuality cannot be thought of as sinful or unnatural, because humans identify their own sexuality before explicitly sexual thoughts and desires occur. According to the US institute of Medicine, there is strong psychological evidence that an individual identifies their sexual attraction and sexual orientation prior to the age of 10 (National Academies Press 2011). In simpler terms, a person knows what kind of person they are attracted to before pubescent age when sexual development and thoughts occurs. Homosexuality is not a result of a demon putting thoughts in an adolescent’s head. Homosexual identification occurs prior to any explicit sexual thought, which begins in puberty. By Christian moral standards, the individual cannot become sexually impure until they develop explicit tempting thoughts in the mind/brain. Thus, homosexuality is not unnatural and not immoral by default, because it is cognitively recognized before impure thoughts develop.

Shared Love

The Bible has referred to pederasty and gang rape as strong immoralities for reasons now known. Pederasty is no longer a social imperative. The chains of homosexuality have been broken by the love of Jesus. We queer individuals have the ability to love each other with mutual agency and mutual appreciation. This message is meant to bridge two lands that feel so far apart. Homosexuals have the ability and capacity to live just as Christly as any heterosexual individual. Regardless of how you feel, Christians, Jesus is clear that judgement and hatred of others is incorrect. Queer individuals may be hard for you to understand, but divisive ideology is not helping either party. I prayed for years that my queerness would be removed…years. Now, I pray only that you follow through with kindness to others as you’re commanded to by Christ.

Works Cited

Bertosa, Brian. “Sacrifice to Eros and Homosexuality in the Spartan Army.” War & Society, vol. 28, no. 2, Oct. 2009, p. 1. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=ip,shib&db=edb&AN=47575740&site=eds-live&scope=site.

BlueLetterBible Staff. “Lexicon: Strong’s H2145- z” BlueLetterBible, https://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?t=kjv&strongs=h2145. Accessed 15 March 2021.

Brand, Chad,, Draper, CharlesEngland, Archie,eds. Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary. Nashville, Tenn. : Holman Bible Publishers, 2003. Print.

Cartwright, Mark. “Mycenaean Civilization.” Ancient History Encyclopedia, 2019. https://www.ancient.eu/Mycenaean_Civilization/. Accessed 16 April 2020.

Henry, Andrew (PhD). “Who Were the Philistines?: Episode 4.” YouTube, uploaded by Patheos, 3 March, 2021, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOx09yU0kig&t=483s.

Hogenboom, Melissa. “Are there any homosexual animals?” BBC, 2015. http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20150206-are-there-any-homosexual-animals. Accessed 16 April 2020

Institute of Medicine (US) Committee on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Health Issues and Research Gaps and Opportunities. “The Health of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender People: Building a Foundation for Better Understanding.” National Academies Press(US), 2011. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK64808/. Accessed 16 April 2020.

Killebrew, Ann E., and Gunnar Lehmann, editors. The Philistines and Other. “Sea Peoples” in Text and Archaeology. Society of Biblical Literature, 2013. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt46n483. Accessed 17 Mar. 2021.

Liddell, Henry George, Robert Scott, Henry Stuart Jones, and Roderick McKenzie. 1940. A Greek-English lexicon. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

Meiri et al., “Ancient DNA and Population Turnover in Southern Levantine Pigs,” Nature, Scientific Reports, 3 3035 (2013)

Serena, Katie. “Three Revered Civilizations That Embraced Pederasty.” All That’s Interesting, 2018. https://allthatsinteresting.com/pederasty. Accessed 16 April 2020.

Cheat Sheet Arguments:

-arguments stripped down to ensure clarity and logical flow

A1

P1: Sodom had evil social practices (Genesis).

P2: God’s angels were requested to have group sex against their will.

P3: To sexually assault someone, without consent, in a group setting is defined as gang rape.

Therefore, God condemns Sodom for their sexual impurity: gang raping others

A2

P1: The Philistines rooted from Mycenean Greece.

P2: Mycenean Greece developed the social practice of Pederasty.

-Pederasty: homosexual (usually) nonconsensual practice between young boy and older man

P3: The Philistines most likely practiced Pederasty (Leviticus 17–18).

-Philistines carried over many religious, dietary, and technological developments of Greece

-Zākār, second “male” in Leviticus 18:22 can strongly, correctly be translated as “man-child” or male adolescent

Therefore, God attacks Pederasty in his commandment giving to the early Israelites.

A3

P1: Pederasty continued in Greece and Rome in Jesus’ time.

P2: Pederasty is officiated by pagan Greek priests.

P3: Pederasty does not allow for the consent of young males.

P4: Paul would’ve been aware of the destructive nature of Pederasty: warfare and social practice.

-The Sacred Band of Thebes & Athens’ female neglect is well known.

P5: Vilifying older men and younger men attacks the degrading social practice (Corinthians, Timothy, etc.).

P6: Free Agency is required to accept Jesus’ teachings and God.

Therefore, Paul attacks Pederasty as a pagan, cyclical agency disruptor.

-Western Pederasty dies as a dominant social practice as result of Roman and Greek Christian conversion.

A4

P1: God created all things (including animals) and saw they were good (Genesis)

P2: Animals of most all families partake in homosexual activity.

-insects, fish, reptiles, mammals, birds have been observed in homosexual activity.

P3: Humans are complex animals.

P4: we have the social ability to consensually partake in homosexuality

Therefore, homosexuality is natural, and humans have the social ability to have homosexual sex with consensual agency.

A5

P1: Heterosexuality in Biblical times was dominated by arranged marriages.

P2: Heterosexuality of today in Western cultures is not dominated by arranged marriages.

Therefore, Heterosexuality as a cultural practice and word has changed.

-Homosexuality changes as well.

A6

P1: Consumption of pig was condemned in Leviticus.

P2: Consumption of pig is validated in 1 Timothy, when people thank God.

Therefore, prior sinful activity can be made righteous given a change in social practice.

A7

P1: The story of Sodom attacks gang rape

-this is reflected in other sections of the old testament.

P2: God attacks Pederasty.

P3: Paul attacks Pederasty.

P4: Pederasty is an ancient Homosexual activity of males.

P5: Homosexuality of today is not limited to Pederasty.

Therefore, the Bible does not directly nor implicitly attack the dominant, consensual homosexuality of today.