Bestiality VS Homosexuality - According to Bible

In my previous blog posts, I've written my opinion on the timeline pattern of the Bible, the timeless and ephemeral elements within the Bible laws. If the ephemeral element of the homosexual prohibition in the Bible is indeed not applicable for today's Christians. Then, there will be a question on bestiality:

"If we say that Old Testament laws against homosexuality no longer apply, can’t we use the same reasoning to say that law against bestiality, or modern term, zoophilia, no longer apply?"

There is no doubt, it is not about the Law or prohibition. It is about the choice that our ancestor Adam had made before the fall of mankind in Genesis 2:18-24. Before woman was made, God offers the still perfect Adam a choice, and he had made that very first choice for the human kind. Therefore, God created Eve specially for him. It is the very first marriage that had confirmed that union of human-animal would be wrong. This is for sure because it has been made when Adam and Eve were still perfect.

Hah! God created Adam and Eve, not Steve! That's why homosexuality is wrong! Really?

The very very early purpose for God to create Eve, is for Adam to have a companion. A helper for him to take care of the Garden of Eden, and whole lot of things to do that God knows he need a helper for doing all the tasks. Just as the dyadic (two person) nature of Adam and Eve’s relationship was not used in Genesis to forbid polygamy (eg. King Solomon), so the heterosexual nature of Adam and Eve’s relationship does not forbid homosexual unions for the small percentage of the human population who are homosexual.

My personal view on this, that God permitted incest and polygamy, also He prohibit masturbation (Onan) and homosexual intercourse DURING THE EARLY DAYS when the main purpose of human on earth is to populate, so that there will be more man power to rule the earth. The process goes on during Moses time, God started to prohibit incest (Lev 18). Polygamy was still in practice. Until the time when Jesus came on earth, He brought back the original monogamy concept.

See, God is a better boss than any of the CEO on earth, He knows the importance of human capital and manpower. Talking about cooperate structure, if your company is growing and got a lot of sales and orders, you need to have enough man power to fulfill the orders right? Ok, now, when the company gets to the level of stability. What will a CEO do? Train the existing employee to be a better performers. In that meantime, you want your employees to stay focus and pour out most of their time to improve themselves. In the later stage of the stable growth, you want the working environment to be have the diversity.

As a conclusion for sure, from the very beginning of the creation of Adam, human already rejected bestiality because the animals are not suitable helpers. Some may bring an argument that animals are lower form of life, therefore, having sexual intercourse with them are degrading the human kind. I do have a different view on this. God's has shown us in Genesis 6, that it is not the degrading of human kind that angers Him. Human had sexual intercourse with the angels, which is the higher form than human. Therefore, the Nephilim was born. Those were the creatures God destroyed by flood.

So bestiality is not acceptable, it still doesn't justify that homosexuality is allowable. We will continue the discussion next.

Robophila In The Bible?

Talking about unnatural sexual intercourse, How does one differentiate between masturbation and the new "robophilia"? 

masturbate

verb UK    /ˈmæs.tə.beɪt/  US    /-tɚ-/        

› [I] to ​touch or ​rub ​your ​sexual ​organs in ​order to give yourself ​sexual ​pleasure

› [T] to ​touch or ​rub someone's ​sexual ​organs in ​order to give them ​sexual ​pleasure

The above definition is from dictionary.cambridge.org. While the term "robophilia" is quite new. You might able to find the definition from Urban Dictionary. I would suggest 3 to 5 years in the future, it will be used in scholarly articles and officially indexed in the English dictionaries.  

While most of the Christian denominations and Catholics prohibits masturbation even though the Bible didn't explicitly mentioned about the activity of it. The key word related to masturbation is "Lust". When a person have the lustful imagination over themselves or another while rubbing themselves. However, it still doesn't explain whether the activity of rubbing themselves is a sin. If the second definition of masturbation is to be considered, the main person is rubbing his wife's sexual organ for the purpose of fulfilling each other and for birth control.

At this point, I have to divert the topic a while to the concept of birth control. We all should be familiar with the Old Testament about Onan. Now, have you see the pattern yet? The pattern of the whole Bible! If you haven't, go read my previous post about incest. In Genesis Chapter 38, we understand that during that era, finding a partner was so difficult, that leaded Judah to instruct Onan to perform incest, which is a prohibition in Leviticus 18:16. If you still argue that everything in the Bible is timeless, then in this situation, the Bible had revealed to you the ephemeral situation! Reproduction was so important during the time of Onan, that his selfish act of spilling his sperms had angered God. 

Back to the main topic, masturbation, right or wrong? I am no judge, let God be the judge! 

Matthew 5:28 (KJV)

But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.

Adultery is a sin mentioned in the Ten Commandments. There is no doubt that this is the timeless law God gave to us. Therefore, My personal view on this (not  judging) is that masturbation in form of imagining others who is not your spouse, is wrong. It's still doesn't answer my further questions regarding other stimuli of sexual arousal such as, Objectophilia, Fetishism, Neo-Sexuality, and most recently, Robophilia. They all have nothing to do with another flesh. How about Narcissism? When one person love him/herself and have sexual arousal all by his/her own? I would like to have the Bible literalists quoting the direct and explicit verse in Bible regarding my above mentioned issues.

What is my conclusion? BIBLE IS ALWAYS ALIVE! Amen! It tells us about a Father. He was strict, because the nation is still young. He forgive, and shows us love, when the nation was in their 'teenage'. Our nation is now in the adulthood. We shall have that conscience to know that where the line of morality. 

Proverbs 23:13 (KJV)Withhold not correction from the child: for if thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die.

Now, I would like to bring us back to the main topic of these series of blog posts. Homosexuality. Is a man, loving another man, a sin? Is a woman, loving another woman, a sin? Some argues that the key is in the sole responsibility that God had gave mankind: Reproduction. I did discuss a little bit about birth control in this post. We shall discuss more next. Thanks for reading.

Next Topic: "If we say that Old Testament laws against homosexuality no longer apply, can’t we use the same reasoning to say that law against bestiality, or modern term, zoophilia, no longer apply?" Please visit my blog again tomorrow! Thanks!

Old Testament: The Most Important Record of Human History on Sexual Violations

Bible is always alive. This is what I believe. The Words are breathing, both New and Old Testaments. A lot of Christian will tell you that the Old Testament is old laws which we no longer applies. Some Christians even gave a very hypocritical answer, saying that it's both "Yes" and "No". Some would say that Bible is timeless and the Law is still applicable in this modern days...etc.

My view? It is a 100% without the "Yes or/and No". The purpose of Old Testament, is an information God left for us to take the Bible and the holy scriptures as a whole! Many Christian love to read and pick only a few verses. Some claims that they must read the whole chapter. I would suggest Christians should read the Bible in whole. Trace its root, understand the history of it and seek God, continuously! Because the Bible is alive and one person can never fully master it. Even though a person claims that he/she able to rewrite the whole Bible in his/hers own, word by word without error. 

2 Timothy 3:16-17 (NIV)
16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the servant of God[a] may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

The reason I cited NIV above is because I've checked the interlinear and found that the word "breathed" is closer to the original Greek.

Ok, lets look at Bible as whole, on a topic of incest. It was written as a prohibition in Leviticus (Lev 18:9). If you know Genesis, Adam and Eve was the only two human existed on earth. Leviticus not existed yet during that time. The only way for Adam and Eve and their children to multiply is through incest. 

It is a miracle, if you think with an open mind, you will discover that the whole Bible is actually supporting the science and evolution of human being.

We all know the biological cost of incest. Therefore, from the closest form of human being to God (remember, Adam is the first person created according to God's image), the children born of incest had reduced the lifespan of human being. Adam died at the age of 930 years old, and Noah at 950. The life span of human decreased starting from Shem died at 600. Then, Abraham at 175. Moses 120. Moses is the prophet who wrote the Leviticus and Deuteronomy laws, which introduced the prohibition on incest. Since then, due to various diseases human life expectancy reduced greatly. However, in the modern days, human live around 70 years old. By now, you should able to understand the logic behind such strict sexual prohibition was introduced. The history long incest has brought the evolution of human, significant for our life expectancy and racial diversity. Then suddenly God instruct Moses to stop the incest. 

Do keep in mind that during Moses's time, hebephilia is not a prohibition. A girl who just reach puberty age, around 12 years old, were the right age to be married. I personally started to menstruate when I was 10, if my parents follow the marriage rule of the ancient time and got married, what do you think? Therefore, there are no prohibition on pedophilia written in Bible. Neither Old nor New Testament. Even though the similar term "pederasty" existed in the history, the word "pedophilia" was only coined in the 19th century. Sounds similar to the word "homosexual".

When we read the Bible and analyze it as a whole, I found that God is alive and am still alive in this modern days. His love to us is growing stronger and stronger. He has the ability to wipe out all of the disobedient people. Like what he had done during Noah's time. During Moses's time, He was angry, full of vengeance and He was violent. After that, He calms, forgive, and sacrificing His Son for our salvation. In the future, He will end everything, How about now? I do feel that He is in the process of preparation. Prepare for the day of the end, prepare a place for us in the heaven. (John 14:3)

By now, you may think that I am trying to divert the topic from my previous post about the word "αρϲενοκοιταιϲ". I am not trying to make the readers believe that the word suppose to mean pederasty. There are no mention about pederasty in the Bible. May be that's the reason why there are cases where modern clergy men practice pedophilia without fear of God? The Bible had explicitly describe the prohibition of sexual immorality between men and women, men and men, and men or women with animals, but never in the Bible describe about men and children. Does this means it is alright to be pedophile? 

The answer is NO for sure. Back to my first few paragraph, when it is about incest, you notice that the moral code evolve. Same thing happened to the morality of pedophilia and homosexuality. During Adam's time, where multiply was important, incest was accepted be be moral. While during Moses time, incest became immoral, because the population has reach certain level. Reproduction is still important during that time because human capital is important to build the nation. 

The main point is, the whole Bible had told us the both timeless and ephemeral condition! From total tolerance of incest, to total forbidden of incest. From introduction of the rituals law, to the final ritual of sacrifice, which is the death of Jesus. Of course, the Bible also told us about the timelessness of the Ten Commandments. 

Bible didn't explicitly prohibits pedophilia. It also didn't explicitly prohibit necrophilia. Same goes to "Robophilia". I will talk about the future form of sexual intercourse next!

 Bible prohibits LUST, not LOVE! Amen!

Glossolalia-The Causes of Heavily Harpaxed Pauline Writtings?

The debate continues on the scriptures written by Paul. If you notice on the table in my previous post here, we realized that most of the letters and scriptures written by Paul were full of harpaxes which is very difficult to decipher. I would personally believe that this phenomenon might due to Paul was given the ability of speaking in tongue. 

1 Corinthians 14:1-3 (KJV)
Follow after charity, and desire spiritual gifts, but rather that ye may prophesy. 2 For he that speaketh in an unknown tongue speaketh not unto men, but unto God: for no man understandeth him; howbeit in the spirit he speaketh mysteries.3 But he that prophesieth speaketh unto men to edification, and exhortation, and comfort.

I once met a young boy who claimed that he speaks in tongues. When I look into his eyes, he avoided the sight, and I asked him, "Boy, do you have Trouette syndrome?" That was the first time I encounter people who claims that they can speak in tongue.

I am a skeptic over his ability of glossolalia, because I don't understand his tongue. I ask his members, they also told me that they don't understand what he was saying. They merely told me that only God will understand. It is totally different from my understanding what real glossolalia should be:

Acts 2:1-6 (KJV)

And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. 2 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. 3 And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. 5 And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven. 6 Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded, because that every man heard them speak in his own language.

Ok, back to the main topic about Paul. So the argument about the word "αρϲενοκοιταιϲ" is a harpax in ancient Koine Greek. Which were not found in other documents other than in the 1 Corinthians. That is actually a good thing, because it shows that Paul is the person wrote these 2 books. Could it be that he was actually writing in "tongue"?

As a skeptic, I don't think so. I believe that the "tongue" in the Bible means languages. Do bare in mind that Paul is a gifted person who able to speak different languages. That's why, when he spoke people understood it as their own language. 

As a person growing up in Malaysia, I learn 3 different languages, Malay, English and Mandarin. It was a blessing to know many languages, but it is also causing difficulties. We sometimes made up new words such as: Kiasi, tapao, sabun...etc. Where these words are like "tongues" because everyone living in Malaysia, regardless of what are their native languages, we heard it as our own languages! Thus, this led me to further investigate what "αρϲενοκοιταιϲ" means. Consider that Paul is a Jew, and he did learn Hebrew. The most interesting thing I found was in Septuagint Bible, one of the early manuscript translation of Old Testament to Koine Greek, the word "ἄρσενος κοίτην" was used in Leviticus 20:13, which originated from Hebrew. Since most of the ancient Hebrew can be easily translated due to the organized language system with proper root, suffixes and prefixes. 

Leviticus 20:13 (KJV)

If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them.

Let me clarify again, I have no knowledge on the Hebrew or the Koine Greek, and I am not an archaeologist. What I did was searching online on the Septuagint Bible and match the text patterns like a kid playing matching the shapes:

καὶ ὃς ἂν κοιμηθῇ μετὰ ἄρσενος κοίτην γυναικός βδέλυγμα ἐποίησαν ἀμφότεροι θανατούσθωσαν ἔνοχοί εἰσιν

So the mystery of the word was solved! The word "αρϲενοκοιταιϲ" does mean something directly translated from Hebrew "יִשְׁכַּ֤ב" which means lye, and "זָכָר֙" which means man. Ha! Old Testament! Is it really a set of laws we no longer follows? I don't think so! I am not a person who ignores the Old Testament, Just recently, the Leviticus piece was found.

But WAIT! There's more to come... My studies on various materials really open up my heart and mind. Please follow my blog post for the next chapter of my discovery. The next topic will be: Pederasty ( or Pedophilia for the modern term). The "men-bed" mentioned in Leviticus, Deuteronomy and the Epistles of Paul could mean something else. I will justify my findings on this in my next blog post.

I know it is nothing new, some people might have read it from all the scholar articles and published books. My aim here is to document my findings, my discovery and my thoughts on this topic. I have different views with some of the LGBT Christians around my area. The most prominent one in Malaysia would be Pastor Au Yong. I have read his books and sometimes, I do not agree upon his views. Thus, I feel there's a need to voice out my views too.

There's another LGBT Christian leader in Singapore who's name is Rev Miak Siew. I never heard his sermons before, and I'm going to check it out this Sunday. About the church, I still going to those non-LGBT friendly Churches around my area. The reason is, I am in the church to praise God, not to please the people. There is nothing wrong to go to church. If the church people throw bad words to harm you because you're LGBT, just go find another church! Always keep in mind that you are to serve God. Amen.

Αρσενοκοιταις Again!

In my previous blog post on 1 Tim 1:10 here, I mentioned about the difficulties on understanding the word "Αρσενοκοιταις". I recall the time when I debated with my bible mentor. She did agrees that we have limited wisdom, especially when both of us are not Greek native speakers and we know nothing about the language. We had prayed and asked God to guide the translators to do their job, brought the Word of God to be understood by many. So we must trust the translators. My question is, should I? Must I fully trust the translators and forget about that conscience telling me that something is really really wrong there?

If A told you an information, and you know that A heard it from B, and B get it from C, and C heard that from D, will you not go to D and ask D to explain further about that piece of information?

2 Peter 3:16-17 (KJV)

16 As also in all his 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. 17 Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own stedfastness.

So I went to do my own research on the 1 Tim 1:10 and found about the harpaxes. The further argument my mentor gave me is about the historical translation should be accurate because the earlier people understood the language of that time more than us in the modern days. I am totally in doubt about that.

If the people in the older days really understand bible more than we do today, then the KKK, Crusaders and Apartheid wont exist at all! How the Church used Deuteronomy to justify Apartheid was totally wrong! Very very wrong! People had used the Bible to kill the left-handed, enslave the poor, and discriminated women. How could they understand Bible more than us do now?

1 Chronicles 16:11 (KJV)

11 Seek the Lord and his strength, seek his face continually.

What I believe is, never stop to seeking God. If somebody said they had found God, ask them to go find Him again and again. Seeking God is a continuous process that never ends, until the final day when we met Him. Never stop learning about God's word. Never stay in one ground. That is what I believe, and may God open my heart and yours too. Amen. Next Blog Post: Glossolalia-The Causes of Heavily Harpaxed Pauline Writtings?

Bible Research: 1 Timothy 1:9-11

I have done this about 10 years ago, when I was in struggle over the decision to accept Christ into my life. I thought I had finally found the grace from Him. I was foolish and selfish because I didn't really documented my studies and findings. Now I am doing it on my blog! I hope it will help all the people around the world to understand God's word better.

My study methodology is by referring to the different version of translated Bible. It will fascinate you to discover how different it is! I shall start the analysis from the Words written by Paul.

1 Timothy 1:9-11 (KJV) 9 Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers,10 For whoremongers, for them that defile themselves with mankind, for menstealers, for liars, for perjured persons, and if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine. 11 According to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which was committed to my trust.

1 Timothy 1:9-11 (NIV) 

9 We also know that the law is made not for the righteous but for lawbreakers and rebels, the ungodly and sinful, the unholy and irreligious, for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers, 10 for the sexually immoral, for those practicing homosexuality, for slave traders and liars and perjurers—and for whatever else is contrary to the sound doctrine 11 that conforms to the gospel concerning the glory of the blessed God, which he entrusted to me.

1 Timothy 1:9-11 (Codex Sinaiticus) 9 ειδωϲ τουτο οτι δι καιω νομοϲ ου κι ται · ανομοιϲ δε  και ανυποτακτοιϲ  αϲεβεϲι και αμαρ τωλοιϲ ανοϲιοιϲ  και βεβηλοιϲ πα τρολωαιϲ · και μη τρολωαιϲ · ανδρο 10 φονοιϲ · πορνοιϲ αρϲενοκοιταιϲ ανδραποδιϲταιϲ ψευϲταιϲ · επιορκοιϲ και ει τι ετερον τη ϋγιαινουϲη διδα ϲκαλια αντικειται  11 κατα το ευαγγελιο τηϲ δοξηϲ του μα καριου θυ ο επιϲτευ θην εγω 

Lets explore the key word "αρϲενοκοιταιϲ" in the scripture and it's occurrence in the Bible. It only occurs twice (1 Corinthians 6:9). The argument made for this word is actually combination of the word arsen (“male” or “man”) and koite (“bed”).

The medieval Latin translation in the Vulgata Clementina was "masculorum concubitoribus," implying concubinage or pimping, not homosexuality specifically. Martin Luther's 1545 German translation employs the word "Knabenschänder" (from "Knaben", boys or young children), implying that "arsenokoites" was interpreted as pedophilia as early as the 16th century. A modern German translation speaks of "Kinder sexuell missbrauchen" ("to abuse children sexually").

Arsenokoites is extremely rare in ancient Greek - so rare, there is no other extant use predating or contemporary to the Bible (a linguistic phenomenon known as a hapax legomenon).

Under this circumstances, I know that my knowledge is limited. Sometimes, Jesus will speak of something which even the 12 disciples unable to understand Him. I would pray and surrender this to God. No man would fully understand the Word of God. He or she who claimed that he knows 100% of what God wants, then he must be a liar. I was accused for being ignorant by my previous JW mentor. However, it makes me strongly believe that my wisdom had a limit when I saw the children and adults in Bethany Home (hospice for mentally disabled people) singing praises to the Lord. Do they understand Bible? God do not judge people on their mental ability. They are like the angels. Who am I to call somebody a fool when they unable to read and understand the Bible at all but have faith in their heart?

I have faith, I read the Bible and do not understand 100%. Amen. Next

Project Crucifixion

I still have numerous art projects on hand. This one just came in due to the recent incident. I want to express about my God. The personal Savior in my life.

I am a theist. I use a small letter "t" to represent what I believe, to be humble and minor. The doctrine I believe, is that Jesus, the Messiah, who had died for me. No, this is not something new, basically I may call myself a Christian. I do not have a denomination. I just purely surrender myself to this one God represented by Jesus as the Son. 

The Jesus I believe, is a loving God. He acknowledge LGBT. In Matthew 19:12. It is the one and only verse that Jesus Himself, mentioned that we were BORN THIS WAY! Ok, I will not rant about the technical stuffs here.

Many years ago, when I was a student. I did struggle in my faith and sexual orientation. There were times I bought different versions of bibles to gain better understanding on the texts. I even tried to learn Hebrew. One of the major discovery I had during that time, was about the language! The variety of English bible versions, somehow deviated a lot compare to the KJV or even the Hebrew or Greek language.

The method of learning the bible referring to different versions was actually inspired by a Jehovah Witness who was my bible study mentor that time. I finally set myself free from doubt when I read the KJV. Though it is not an easy Bible, and it is not popular. I find this version is the closest to the original language. Therefore, the prohibition of homosexual relationship is never a sin in the Bible I read. 

In Timothy 1:9-10, translators sometimes use homosexual for the original Greek words, pornoi, arsenokoitai, and andrapodistai, meaning male prostitutes, males who hire male prostitutes or the slave dealers who procure them.

While in this modern day, LGBT are a group of people with the NATURAL desire and feeling of love which is different from the majority people. Love has nothing to do with prostitution, slavery or sexual violation. 

My way of reading Bible is simple. Keep in mind that the meaning of words change over time. For example:

The word gay arrived in English during the 12th century from Old French gai, most likely deriving ultimately from a Germanic source. In English, the word's primary meaning was "joyful", "carefree", "bright and showy", and the word was very commonly used with this meaning in speech and literature. For example, the optimistic 1890s are still often referred to as the Gay Nineties. The title of the 1938 French ballet Gaîté Parisienne ("Parisian Gaiety"), which became the 1941 Warner Brothers movie, The Gay Parisian, also illustrates this connotation. It was apparently not until the 20th century that the word began to be used to mean specifically "homosexual", although it had earlier acquired sexual connotations.

Therefore, I believe I should look closer to the meaning of each word when reading the Bible. I always believe that I am foolish, and not Greek or Hebrew literate. Language tend to shift its meaning depends on the trend. If a Christian never had doubt and always 100% understand the Bible, then this person must be better than the 12. Even the 12 never fully understood Jesus sometimes! 

Heavenly Father, I am foolish, I am sinful, guide me, lead me, forgive me. Amen.

Scar

Scar
Acrylic on paper
254×305mm.
Done by layering acrylic paints of pure black and white.

That day, my rolling Samsonite bag scratched my leg. My leg bled. He was anxious, driving all around to find a pharmacy to get some antiseptic. He was supposed to going back to his office.

The wound had healed, but the scar is now in my heart.