Judaism's Sexual Revolution: Why Judaism (and then Christianity) Rejected Homosexuality

orthodoxytoday.org ^ | Dennis Prager

[CitizenUSA]

According to Jesus, marriage was God’s plan from the beginning...

Matthew 19:4-6 “And He answered and said to them, “Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning ‘made them male and female,’ and said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? So then, they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate.”

Whether Jews believe in Jesus as the Christ or not, I think Jesus’ interpretation of Genesis is right on. Noah received guidance, but the plan was there before Noah.

[gingerbread]

I notice that this “PIECE” was only reserved for the Christians and the Jews. Let me ask this question: “WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME A JEW OR A CHRISTIAN KILLED A HOMOSEXUAL”? Meanwhile the Muslim religion has never been asked that question. If you will notice, most of the killings of homosexuals are being done by the MUSLIMS. We see in every day news, how MUSLIMS are killing homosexuals by the hundreds, if not by the thousands. Yet no one in the liberal, socialist or communist group has ever made any accusations to the MUSLIMS

[Phinneous]

What did he interpret? A specific verse is quoted...

[Know et al]

Excellent point TMA62!

[Pietro]

"Hope you agree?"

Yes, I do. It is a very well developed argument.

One interesting tangent shooting off from Preager's observation that Jews would not have considered an unmarried Rabbi to have the necessary gravitas to be a leader of a congregation is what to make of Christ.

I can see a number of interpretations:

1. His unmarried status may explain, to some extent, why the religious hierarchy took a dim view of His teachings.

2. Being Devine Himself, He did not require a mate to increase His holiness.

3. Jesus represents an evolutionary step in monotheism that transcends the Old Testament conscriptions.

Nevertheless, I think, this is a very thoughtful essay.

[onyx]

B T T T ! ! ! ©

[RoosterRedux]

One interesting tangent shooting off from Preager's observation that Jews would not have considered an unmarried Rabbi to have the necessary gravitas to be a leader of a congregation is what to make of Christ.

I think Jesus is the exception to the rule because as the Son of God, the Church (the entire body of believers) is to be His bride.

[JimRed]

Because God said so?

[AppyPappy]

It could explain why he was so poorly received in the Synagogue.

[DeweyCA]

This article goes right along with an article posted just a short time before on FR about the new “Mad Max” movie. The original article is at http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2015/05/emmad_maxem_and_the_dreamwork_of_homosexuality.html

[PapaBear3625]

Ancient societies unassociated with Judaism or Christianity also had marriage between one man and one woman. The Greeks, the Romans, the Norse, they all had institutions of marriage.

Yes, the wealthy or kings might have harems, but that was true of the old Jewish kings too.

[tbw2]

I’ve brought up his points in arguments with feminists.
No society that ever tolerated homosexuality ever treated women as equals.

[Travis McGee]

Ditto polygamy. Women always wind up as slaves. Always.

[TexasRepublic]

“Of course, the lib in question didn’t have the biblical knowledge to understand what I was talking about.”

I’ll bet not. Most people wouldn’t. I presume you are referring to Isaiah’s prophesies. He was either a time traveller, or Someone was telling him the future.

[Biggirl]

From God via the Jewish faith.

[Mrs. Don-o]

I'm pretty sure Prager, being a God-believing Jew, would say God created marriage. It's also true that He had His message carried forth civilizationally, through the Jewish people.

Though I'm not quite sure what happens to Polygamy, Biblically. The Patriarchs and Kings were not one-woman men. And this is never explicitly repudiated. It does seem, historically, that polygamy had become rare among the Jews--- if it had not faded out entirely --- by the Christian era.

I read articles on this a while back in the Jewish Encyclopedia online (both on Monogamy and on Polygamy) and --- if I'm remembering correctly -- over the centuries just before and just after the time of Christ (though they didn't describe the timing that way) it gradualy disappeared. There wasn't a General Council of some kind that specifically rejected it. Polygamy simply became, for most of Judaism, a moot point. Anybody have more information on that?

[onedoug]

http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/12260-polygamy#anchor3

[jjotto]

http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/558598/jewish/Does-Jewish-Law-Forbid-Polygamy.htm

The Jewish Encyclopedia is not really a Jewish source. A similar source that is Jewish is

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/index.html

[Mrs. Don-o]

Thanks for this reference. Polygamy seems to have been mainly a “king” thing.

[Mrs. Don-o]

Thanks for these references. It’s an interesting history.