It seems clear enough to me, too. But the "Gay Christian exegetes" point out that Paul singles out women who have "changed the natural use," and men who "left the natural use of women" -- and from that, they deduce that this condemns only women who have left a man (leaving heterosexuality), or men who have left a woman (leaving heterosexuality) to try out a little same-sex action; and it makes no mention of such peopel who have always known themselves to be homosexual, and therefore have never "left" a different-sex relationship for a same-sex one.
They also argue that thPaul was writing with reference to pagan temple prostitution, which encouraged devotees (even heterosexual) to dabble in homosexual experience.
You can read about that here: http://www.gaychristian101.com/Romans-1.html
I 'm looking for somebody to engage these argumetns.
The idea of always knowing themselves to be homosexual is not a concept that is found in scripture and in fact, it shouldnt be a concept that exists today. Strictly speaking, there is no such thing as homosexuality... or heterosexuality either for that matter. There is only sexuality... and sexuality manifests itself in many ways i.e. healthy, unhealthy, perverted, forms that sanctioned by God, forms that are totally abhorred by God etc. When people use words such as homosexual and heterosexual, they are speaking strictly about something that doesnt exist in any tangible way....it is just something that is conjured up in ones own mind and as such, it is nothing more than being a self-identification or self-declarative statement of something that is perceived but cant be known. Since there is no means test that can act as a repeatable and consistent methodology for providing proof, the terms are meaningless. Thus if a person was to say Im a homosexual, how could this be verified to be a true statement? It cant and even those who champion so-called homosexual rights (I refuse to use the word gay) will often say things like we are no different than you are . Whenever scripture deals with issues like this, it never addresses it in terms of what you are... it addresses it in terms of what you are doing. As in 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 (King James Version) 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, Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. Note that for each of the parties on this list, the word used is referring to something that they are doing i.e. a fornicator is one who is fornicating, an idolater is one who is practising the worshipping of idols, a thief is one who is thieving etc. A thief isnt a thief because he thinks of himself as a thief, he is a thief because he stole something. Similarly, it is not simply the thought of thinking about ones predispositions or even contemplating a sexual act with one who is the same sex that is the problem... it is the act of doing it. By the same token, one gets into a bit of mental gymnastics with this if the question is posed is a person who has self-identified him or herself as a homosexual but never acted on their feelings, really a homosexual? If a person said yes to this question, how would they prove it?? There is a very important aspect to a persons thought life that Jesus talks about but with respect to this subject, it is the act thats the problem. Incidentally, the Bible verse above uses the word effeminate as quoted in the King James Version. It probably wasnt the best choice of word and other translations use the word sodomite and men who lie with men.....both of which are consistent with the point that its the act carried out by the individual(s) as opposed to some characteristic of the individual.
Underlying the logic of these people is the belief that their proclivities are "natural". Their argument is that because God made them this way then clearly God didn't mean to prohibit their behavior. Surely God must mean something other than what He said.
The problems with this are multiple. As already noted, God has clearly condemned sex between men in Leviticus. Even if there is some biological imperative (which I happen to deny) leading these people to the homosexual lifestyle, God has commanded them not to engage in the behavior. Just as heterosexual people are commanded not to engage in sexual immorality (i.e. premarital sex) these people, even if bent that way are commanded to deny their "urges". Think of it in these terms, my sinful flesh desires the worldly pleasures of a woman before I'm married...just because this is something I feel "naturally" doesn't make it right in the eyes of God. I can't make it acceptable to God no matter how much I may wish to share myself with a woman not my wife. If people are indeed innately homosexual, God's clear command is that they abstain from their sinful desires. Each of us must deny our flesh in some way to remain true to God's Holy Word. Our desires have been corrupted by the Fall and our earthly flesh is a powerful liar.
These folks also wish to twist Pauline teaching by proposing historically unsupportable theories. There is not one shred of evidence that the Jewish people or early Christians ever accepted homosexual behavior as anything other than an abomination.
vile affections...
men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet."
Stop wasting our time.
The usual sophistry on display here. The gays themselves claims that the Jewish antipathy to homosexuality was owing to their clashes with the Greeks and other nations where homosexuality was part of religious worship. But the Greeks themselves practiced pederasty in accordance with certain standards. Alcibiades, one of Socrates most brilliant students was held in low repute because he continued homosexual relations with other grown men of his own age. As for their interpretation of Romans, it has no merit. Idolatry, which is a perverted relationship to God leads to perverted sexual relations. What they claim, of course, is that homosexality is not naturally perverted, therefore Paul could not be condemning the practice itself but its abuse.