Bible on Homosexuality 3: Leviticus 18 & 20 - II

Leviticus 18:22
You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination.

Leviticus 20:13
If a man lies with a male as with a woman both of them have committed an abomination; they shall be put to death, their blood is upon them.

In the light of purity as ‘original’, the Leviticus laws stress the idea that man and all creation are broken from the beginning. Impurity sets in even before conception. Therefore a menstruating woman is considered impure, and semen is impure, and even sex is impure. This notion is distinct from the notion of sin. Newborn babies are considered impure, even when they are not in the capacity to do wrong. A baby was considered impure for the first eight days of his/her life and then circumcised.
Considering this ‘original impurity’ notion, gay sex is impure, for it relates to both sex and semen. Indeed, the ‘original impurity’ perspective leaves little room for interpreting gay sex as sin an sich.

Why would the ancient Jews go through so much lengths to stress how impure humanity is from its very beginning, even before conception? It is crucial to understand their view of God as pure and perfect, holy. In an act of worship, this perfection is contrasted with the original imperfection of men. In the face of so much perfection, man would surely die. In fact, if Leviticus is taken literally, everyone deserves capital punishment. This ultimate sanction was not restricted to gay sex but also, for example, to anyone who curses his/her parents. If this law was ever implemented, there would have been no Jewish people. The reason that the Leviticus laws were put in place was not to implement, like we do with laws nowadays, the reason was to forge a tribal (national) identity of a worshiping community.

The condemnation of gay sex as a sin, instead of a religious notion of impurity, invariably is discriminatory because other purity provision are not taken as seriously. Moreover, the Leviticus provisions have gained a additional meaning in the Christian tradition. Jesus’ condemnation of those who fanatically preach to live by the law is a clear amendment to a legal and prescriptive reading of Leviticus. Clear instances f Jesus liberal interpretation of those Leviticus provisions that deal with questions of purity is are plenty. Jesus condemns the religious authorities who are concerned about washing cups but their insides are like the white of gravestones; when people complain that his disciples do not wash their hands, again he points at the importance of what is inside, rather than the outside. In a reference to the purity laws on washing hands Jesus says that it is not what goes into thee mouth that defile a person, but it is what comes out of the mouth that defiles. When he explains this to his disciples, Jesus makes a distinction between purity and real sin. ‘What comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this is what defiles. for out of the heart come evil intentions, murder, adultery fornication, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a person, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile. (Mt. 15:18-20)

In sum, from the perspective of original impurity, homosexuality in Leviticus is not referred to as a sin, but mentioned in the context of impurity, a notion that is meant to exalt God, not to be implemented as a legal provision.

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