The question is whether "abusers of themselves with mankind" is in fact a good translation of Greek "arsenokoitais." A quick google got me one site arguing that the literal meaning would be "the man [specifically male] who has many beds," and proceeding to argue that this was about promiscuity, not homosexuality. I never studied koine Greek, and my classical Greek is so rusty it is lying in flakes on the garage floor, but if they're correct that "arsen-" means "male human," the passage likely has nothing to do with women. (Which may be a comfort to Christian lesbians and bisexual women.)
And the writer of that passage (whether or not it was Paul) might have been more concerned with multiple partners, and seen them as giving in to lust, than with two men who have settled down quietly together. [But I'm trying to guess the meaning of a writer from a very different culture, whom I have never read except in quoted snippets; don't lean too much on this.]
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Date: 2010-02-01 06:08 pm (UTC)And the writer of that passage (whether or not it was Paul) might have been more concerned with multiple partners, and seen them as giving in to lust, than with two men who have settled down quietly together. [But I'm trying to guess the meaning of a writer from a very different culture, whom I have never read except in quoted snippets; don't lean too much on this.]