Homosexuality and Christianity.

Through history, Christianity has condemned homosexuality and other sexual

practices as immoral; but in recent times, many Christian communities are starting to be
more supportive about the issue. The believes of the worlds largest religion is
summarized in the Bible. Its It is based on monotheism and creationism and on the
conviction that humanity can be saved from a universal condition of sin and eternal
punishment, which is received by people if they dont do not have any regret of their
sins or if they disobey their gods Gods prohibitions. Just like the belief of eternal life
in heaven if they do well.

The Christian Bible is a collection of sacred texts written by ancient Israelites

and early Christians. They believe itsit is a product of divine inspiration and itsit is the
sacred Word of God. The Bible mentions and condemns same-sex sexual behavior six
times: three in the Old Testament and three in the New one. Despite it doesntdoes not
say a lot about it, it has had a big impact in the opinion of Christianity about it. The
interpretation of these passages is not solid; they change over time and can vary
within any particular situation. In fact, homosexuality is not condemned in the
Bible; neither the Old nor the New Testament had any concept of homosexuality as
a personal identity. Beautiful.

Before the rise of Christianity, same-sex sexual practices already existed and
were culturally accepted (and even revered) in some societies as the Ancient Rome and
Ancient Greece. Possibly this is what St. Paul wrote about in Romans 1. 26-27:
Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged
natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. And the men, instead of having normal
sexual relations with women, burned with lust for each other. Men did shameful things
with other men, and as a result of this sin, they suffered within themselves the penalty
they deserved.

ThatsThat is not the first time the Bible talks about the issue, nor the cruelest. In
the Old Testament, Leviticus 20:13 (if a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of
them have committed an abomination; they shall surely be put to death; their blood is
upon them) has been the most controversial passage about these topic and the one that
most of the time serves as an argument for conservative Christians; who are totally
against homosexuality nowadays and use their religious belief as the reason of their
attitudes. A lot of actions like hate crimes, forbidding laws and legal execution decrees
have also been encouraged by this passage.

A very familiar religion to Christianity is Islam. Death penalty as a punishment

for male homosexuality is still legal in most Islamic countries. In fact, in early 2012, an
armed group, which works as a kind of government army, called Shiite Militia tortured
and murdered more than forty men thought to be homosexual in Iraq, a country where
homosexuality is not illegal actually. Although, the murders were denounced by Iraqi
human rights groups and international LGBT activists, the Iraqi government did not
condemn the murdersthem.

Fortunately, Christian churches from nowadays are not so extremist towards that,
although they have regarded homosexual sex as sinful and immoral; especially the
Catholic Church, Orthodox Church and some Protestant denominations as Evangelical
Churches. However, a minority, that every time grows more, interprets the previous
biblical passages differently and argue that homosexuality can be seen as morally
acceptable. They accept gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender members and permit the
ordination of openly LGBT candidates for ministry. In fact, some of them bless same
sex marriages and support LGBT rights.

The Metropolitan Community Church was created in 1968 and had the mission
of standing up for the rights of minorities, particularly those of LGBT people. They also
performed the first public same sex marriage in the United States in 1969. In 1988, the
United Church of Canada was one of the first Christian denominations that stated all
persons, regardless of sexual orientation, who profess their faith in Jesus Christ are
welcome to be or become members of The United Church of Canada" and that "all
members of the United Church are eligible to be considered for ordered ministry." You
need the source here.

Beautiful essay. What is your position?

Jos Gregorio Rivas, 27.081.351.

Idiomas modernos, Universidad de los Andes.

20 points
Content 6 6
Organization 2 2
Expression 8 8
Mechanical accuracy 3 4
Total 19 points