I remember reading that a few years ago. There was a similar adaptation of it on the show "The West Wing" where the president goes off on a Dr. Laura-type figure about her views.
The gist is that the Levitical laws are pretty absurd today. The punishment for most everything was also death in any number of ways.
You will often, however, still see Orthodox Jews follwing these laws (hence the long hair on the temples that often curls, a kosher diet, etc.). People like Joey, however, choose (wisely or not) to disregard this portion of the Bible. Sometimes the justification with be that the New Testament superceeds that of the old.
Strangely enough, however, it's the Christians who disaprove of homosexuality more often that the Jewish.
Essentially what we get then is a selective interpretation, at which point you wonder what we can next disregard.
Leviticus has thus become one of not necessarily controversial, but most quoted and discussed in the religion debate.
As for the topic: As stated in 2 Peter 3:15-17, we have to be very careful when interpreting the writings of Paul: "As also in all his [Paul's] epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction." (KJV)
As stated by Dr. R.S. Truluck, "Paul's writings have been taken out of context and twisted to punish and oppress every identifiable minority in the world: Jews, children, women, blacks, slaves, politicians, divorced people, convicts, pro choice people, lesbians, gays, bisexuals, transsexuals, religious reformers, the mentally ill, and the list could go on and on. Paul is often difficult and confusing to understand. A lot of Paul's writing is very difficult to translate. Since most of his letters were written in response to news from other people, reading Paul can be like listening to one side of a telephone conversation. We know, or think we know, what Paul is saying, but we have to guess what the other side has said."
It is important to understand the precise meaning of certain key words in Verses 26 & 27, as expressed in the original Greek:
About the words "vile affections:" The Greek phrase translated as "vile affections" in the King James Version of the Bible is also translated as:
"vile affections and degrading passions" (Amplified Bible)
"dishonorable passions" (English Standard Version)
"degrading passions" (New American Bible, New American Standard Bible, & New Revised Standard Version)
"shameful lusts" (New International Version)
"shameful desires" (New Living Translation)
"evil things" (Living Bible)
"shameful affections" (Rheims New Testament)
In the original Greek, the phrase probably does not mean "passions" or "lust" as people experienced in normal, day-to-day living -- the type of emotion that one encounters in a marriage or sexually active relationship. It seems to refer to the "frenzied state of mind that many ancient mystery cults induced in worshipers by means of wine, drugs and music." It seems to describe the results of ritual sexual orgies as performed in many Pagan settings at the time. Paul seems to be referring here to Pagan "fertility cult worship prevalent in Rome" at the time. Vestiges of this type of sex magic are still seen today in some Neopagan religious traditions. The Wiccan "Great Rite" is one example. However, in modern times, such rituals are restricted to committed couples in private.
About the word "against nature," "unnatural," etc: The Greek phrase "
para physin" is commonly translated into the English as:
"unnatural and abnormal" (Amplified Bible)
"contrary to nature" (English Standard Version)
"against nature" (King James Version, Rheims New Testament)
"sin with each other" (Living Bible)
"unnatural" (New American Bible, New American Standard Bible, New International Version, New Revised Standard Version)
This does not seem to be an accurate translation. It may demonstrate prejudice on the part of the translators. "Unnatural" implies that the act is something that is to be morally condemned. M. Nissinen defines "para physin" as "Deviating from the ordinary order either in a good or a bad sense, as something that goes beyond the ordinary realm of experience." 3 The word "unconventional" would have been a more precise word for translators to use. The phrase "
Para physin" appears elsewhere in the Bible:
In 1 Corinthians 11:14, Paul uses the phrase to refer to long hair on men as unusual and not ordinary.
In Romans 11:24, Paul used it to describe God's positive actions to bring Jews and Gentiles together.
The context in which Verses 26 & 27 appear:It is important to analyze the preamble to the verses quoted above:
Romans 1:7 says that Paul is writing his epistle "To all that be in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints...": That is, his letter is written to all of the Christians in Rome. His recipients would be submerged in the Roman culture, where homosexual behavior was both widespread and acceptable by society.
Romans 1 is concerned with "Paul's vigorous denunciation of idolatrous religious worship and rituals." 2 This is not often mentioned today. Rather, verses 26 and 27 are broken out of the longer passage and cited by themselves to condemn same-sex behavior.
Verses 21 to 28 include the following topics:
Verses 21-23: The people had once been Christians. But they had fallen away from the faith, and returned to Paganism. They made images of Pagan gods in the form of men, birds, animals and reptiles for their religious rituals. The latter were probably held in Pagan temples.
Verse 24: Next, they engaged in heterosexual orgies with each other as part of these pagan fertility rituals.
Verse 25: Next, they worshipped the images that they had made, instead of God, the creator. Paul is specifically condemning idol worship here.
Verse 26: Because of these forbidden practices, God intervened in these fertility sex-rituals and changed the people's behavior so that women started to engage in sexual activities with other women.
Verse 27: describes how God had the men also engage in same-sex ritual activities. They (presumably both the men and women) were then punished in some way for their error.
Verse 28: Again, because they did not acknowledge God, then He "gave them up" to many different unethical activities and attitudes: evil, covetousness, malice, envy, murder, etc.
References:
1. "How to be true to the Bible and say 'Yes' to same-sex unions," at:
http://members.aol.com/DrSwiney/bennett.html 2. R.S. Truluck, "The six Bible passages used to condemn homosexuals," at:
http://www.truluck.com/html/3. Quoted in: Bruce Hane, "'Natural' and 'unnatural' " at:
http://www.newvisionsproject.org/4. "Free to be gay: A brief look at the Bible and homosexuality," Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches, at:
http://www.ualberta.ca/~cbidwell/UFMCC/Finally, being "unnatural" is no justification for condemnation. Even if we were to accept a view like yours there is no sounds basis for it. Left-handedness is unnatural and relatively rare (11% of the population). Vegetarianism likewise is a choice
and unnatural but ceratinly doesn't rise to the level of moral condemnation you would want to foist upon homosexuals.
Also, many would contend that homosexuality is, given it's nature, natural. What would be 'unnatural' is for a homosexual to deny his/her tendencies or to engage in heterosexual intercourse against what seems 'natural' to him/her.
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