“If I’m going to get into the exegesis of biblical texts at the level of the original languages and how individual words are to be interpreted...”
If you’re going to teach people about the meanings of words in the Bible, especially that of sodomy, shouldn’t you know what the words mean? Especially if they may be speaking directly to you?
Again, the traditional definition of sodemy includes any unnatural sex act including anal and oral sex. This includes the modern Hebrew definition:
sod·om·y [sod-uh-mee]
noun
1. anal or oral copulation with a member of the opposite sex.
2. copulation with a member of the same sex.
3. bestiality
Anyone having oral sex is a sodomite every bit as sinful as the homosexuals.
Sure, it may be bothersome to us that other “unnatural” acts are condemned under the heading of sodomy, but you cannot dismiss or blather your way out of the fact that the bible may also be referring to you or me or others on this site who refer derisively to “sodomites”.
This doesn’t make it right, nor am I defending gay marrage or homosexuality, but rather trying lend perspective and maybe help the overly self-righteous among us reflect a little bit on the sinful state of man.
I do not dispute that the key Hebrew and Greek words and passages which condemn homosexuality, taken in context to include other passages on sexual behavior, very likely condemn a number of things which are commonly done today not only by homosexuals but also between consenting men and women.
My views on that issue would place me within the mainstream of conservative positions on sexuality at the time of the Reformation which were held by both Protestants and Roman Catholics, but which today are much less commonly heard among evangelicals. If you want to make the case that sexual activity should be for procreation and forms of sexual behavior such as anal sex which have no possibility of leading to reproduction are wrong, I don't have a problem with that argument. It's not one I choose to make because I believe we have bigger problems today to deal with such as homosexuality, and I'd prefer to fight on an issue which is crystal clear from Scripture rather than fight on the margins of what I believe can be supported from the text.
I've dealt with secular homosexuals and with so-called “evangelical gay” arguments for a very, very long time. That means I am used to seeing statements very much like yours being made by pro-homosexual people, arguing that because the Old Testament at least arguably condemns a number of sexual practices we today accept, that we should also accept homosexuality because we've accepted lots of other things.
I am glad that I did not make assumptions about your intent. It appears that you were going in a very different direction from what I had thought. I try not to assume intent without asking, and while I don't always succeed in understanding what people say or why they say it, I can't say that I don't try.