# Homosexuality: Is It a Sin
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homosexuality-is-it-a-sin/515786
**Category:** Great Debates
**Created:** [October 30, 2009, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homosexuality-is-it-a-sin/515786 "2009-10-30T23:23:15Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)
#### Post date: [October 30, 2009, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homosexuality-is-it-a-sin/515786/1 "2009-10-30T23:23:15Z")
Is homosexuality a sin?
I think in Christianity homosexuality is a sin as evidenced by Corinthians I 6:9-10 (NIV):
> [@](#):
>
> Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.
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### Author:  [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)
#### Post date: [October 30, 2009, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homosexuality-is-it-a-sin/515786/2 "2009-10-30T23:27:36Z")
It’s a sin if the religion in question says it is. So is heterosexuality, wearing red, wearing hats on odd numbered days of the week, or letting women vote; it’s all arbitrary and has nothing to do with morality or good sense.
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### Author:  [@DanBlather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DanBlather)
#### Post date: [October 30, 2009, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homosexuality-is-it-a-sin/515786/3 "2009-10-30T23:28:10Z")
You are free to call it a sin, but please don’t try and legislate your beliefs. Especially if you aren’t going to punish adultery, divorce, and people that say God Dammit.
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### Author:  [@Superfluous\_Parentheses](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superfluous_Parentheses)
#### Post date: [October 30, 2009, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homosexuality-is-it-a-sin/515786/4 "2009-10-30T23:30:37Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#):
>
> It’s a sin if the religion in question says it is. So is heterosexuality, wearing red, wearing hats on odd numbered days of the week, or letting women vote; it’s all arbitrary and has nothing to do with morality or good sense.
Agreed. Now if the question is “is it wrong or immoral” the answer is hell no, and why would you even think that it would be?
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### Author:  [@Dorothea\_Book](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dorothea_Book)
#### Post date: [October 30, 2009, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homosexuality-is-it-a-sin/515786/5 "2009-10-30T23:31:10Z")
Does anyone know the actual wording for “homosexual offenders” in the original?
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### Author:  [@Happy\_Fun\_Ball](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Fun_Ball)
#### Post date: [October 30, 2009, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homosexuality-is-it-a-sin/515786/6 "2009-10-30T23:31:47Z")
> [@Curtis LeMay](#):
>
> Is homosexuality a sin?
>
> I think in Christianity homosexuality is a sin as evidenced by Corinthians I 6:9-10 (NIV):
>
> > [@](#):
> >
> > Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.
Are you sure that is what that passage says? It looks like a funny translation to me.
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### Author:  [@Superfluous\_Parentheses](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superfluous_Parentheses)
#### Post date: [October 30, 2009, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homosexuality-is-it-a-sin/515786/7 "2009-10-30T23:32:44Z")
> [@Dorothea\_Book](#):
>
> Does anyone know the actual wording for “homosexual offenders” in the original?
Queer jaywalkers, probably.
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### Author:  [@Gorsnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorsnak)
#### Post date: [October 30, 2009, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homosexuality-is-it-a-sin/515786/8 "2009-10-30T23:32:45Z")
Just to nitpick, I Corinthians 6:9-10 actually reads:
ἢ οὐκ οἴδατε ὅτι ἄδικοι θεοῦ βασιλείαν οὐ κληρονομήσουσιν; μὴ πλανᾶσθε: οὔτε πόρνοι οὔτε εἰδωλολάτραι οὔτε μοιχοὶ οὔτε μαλακοὶ οὔτε ἀρσενοκοῖται οὔτε κλέπται οὔτε πλεονέκται, οὐ μέθυσοι, οὐ λοίδοροι, οὐχ ἅρπαγες βασιλείαν θεοῦ κληρονομήσουσιν.
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### Author:  [@begbert2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/begbert2)
#### Post date: [October 30, 2009, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homosexuality-is-it-a-sin/515786/9 "2009-10-30T23:33:18Z")
[That scripture may not mean what you think it means.](http://mccanchorage.com/?p=205)
Though of course if you’re a “god used a wrong word whn he wrote it so it would mean the right thing after being mistranslated” kind of biblical literalist, then this won’t faze you.
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### Author:  [@Happy\_Fun\_Ball](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Fun_Ball)
#### Post date: [October 30, 2009, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homosexuality-is-it-a-sin/515786/10 "2009-10-30T23:33:39Z")
**Curtis LeMay** , did you know that touching yourself is a sin?
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### Author:  [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)
#### Post date: [October 30, 2009, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homosexuality-is-it-a-sin/515786/11 "2009-10-30T23:34:03Z")
> [@Dorothea\_Book](#):
>
> Does anyone know the actual wording for “homosexual offenders” in the original?
I once told a drag queen that her Marylin Monroe impersonation was sub-par.
She was not amused.
Evidently, I’m going to hell.
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### Author:  [@Indistinguishable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indistinguishable)
#### Post date: [October 30, 2009, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homosexuality-is-it-a-sin/515786/12 "2009-10-30T23:34:36Z")
Apparently, it’s a sin on par with reverence of images, desire for wealth, and tendency to alcoholic stupor.
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### Author:  [@begbert2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/begbert2)
#### Post date: [October 30, 2009, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homosexuality-is-it-a-sin/515786/13 "2009-10-30T23:35:28Z")
> [@Indistinguishable](#):
>
> Apparently, it’s a sin on par with idol-worship and alcoholism.
And greed. Truly a deadly sin!
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### Author:  [@Homebrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Homebrew)
#### Post date: [October 30, 2009, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homosexuality-is-it-a-sin/515786/14 "2009-10-30T23:35:40Z")
At some point someone with far more knowledge than you or I will come along and school you on the disagreements scholars have over the exact Greek words used in the oldest known texts and how they can be interpreted in various ways. Everyone is free to choose which argument they find more compelling.
I must ask, though, why exactly does it matter? If it is a sin or not affects you in what way? Why does the state of my “external soul” give you the authority or right to try to wreck my mortal life by making me a second-class citizen, even so much as to criminalize my love until recently?
Go on and argue about sin and biblical interpretations of what God or Paul or Jesus or Peter or whomever said. I don’t care. Just leave me be.
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### Author:  [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)
#### Post date: [October 30, 2009, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homosexuality-is-it-a-sin/515786/15 "2009-10-30T23:36:32Z")
> [@L. G. Butts](#):
>
> Are you sure that is what that passage says? It looks like a funny translation to me.
The Skeptics Annotated Bible has it as
> [@](#):
>
> Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind,
This is the King James version.
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### Author:  [@Gorsnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorsnak)
#### Post date: [October 30, 2009, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homosexuality-is-it-a-sin/515786/16 "2009-10-30T23:36:34Z")
> [@Dorothea\_Book](#):
>
> Does anyone know the actual wording for “homosexual offenders” in the original?
The word translated as “homosexual offenders” in the NIV is ἀρσενοκοῖται (arsenokoitai). The question of this word’s meaning has been asked on this board before: see [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=318819) for some reasonable discussion.
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### Author:  [@Homebrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Homebrew)
#### Post date: [October 30, 2009, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homosexuality-is-it-a-sin/515786/17 "2009-10-30T23:37:06Z")
Wow. So soon that it was even before I hit submit.
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### Author:  [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)
#### Post date: [October 30, 2009, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homosexuality-is-it-a-sin/515786/18 "2009-10-30T23:37:32Z")
> [@Gorsnak](#):
>
> Just to nitpick, I Corinthians 6:9-10 actually reads:
>
> ἢ οὐκ οἴδατε ὅτι ἄδικοι θεοῦ βασιλείαν οὐ κληρονομήσουσιν; μὴ πλανᾶσθε: οὔτε πόρνοι οὔτε εἰδωλολάτραι οὔτε μοιχοὶ οὔτε μαλακοὶ οὔτε ἀρσενοκοῖται οὔτε κλέπται οὔτε πλεονέκται, οὐ μέθυσοι, οὐ λοίδοροι, οὐχ ἅρπαγες βασιλείαν θεοῦ κληρονομήσουσιν.
That’s Greek to me. 😃
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### Author:  [@Superfluous\_Parentheses](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superfluous_Parentheses)
#### Post date: [October 30, 2009, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homosexuality-is-it-a-sin/515786/19 "2009-10-30T23:38:45Z")
> [@Homebrew](#):
>
> I must ask, though, why exactly does it matter? If it is a sin or not affects you in what way? Why does the state of my “external soul” give you the authority or right to try to wreck my mortal life by making me a second-class citizen, even so much as to criminalize my love until recently?
I’m genuinely interested in an answer to this, but I suspect it will be unsatisfying. I’ll leave it at that for now.
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### Author:  [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)
#### Post date: [October 30, 2009, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homosexuality-is-it-a-sin/515786/20 "2009-10-30T23:42:36Z")
> [@begbert2](#):
>
> [That scripture may not mean what you think it means.](http://mccanchorage.com/?p=205)
>
> Though of course if you’re a “god used a wrong word whn he wrote it so it would mean the right thing after being mistranslated” kind of biblical literalist, then this won’t faze you.
The word “effeminate” is a euphemism for homosexual and thus would mean that even without the later phrase “homosexual offender” or “abusers of themselves” homosexuals not just male prostitutes are condemned.
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