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Bible Clearly Condemns Homosexual Acts, Says Top Rome Scholar

By Gudrun Schultz

ROME, Italy, March 19, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Biblical condemnation of homosexual activity is unmistakable, and forms the foundation of the Roman Catholic Church’s insistence on heterosexuality, said a leading Biblical scholar with the John Paul II Institute in Rome.

In a two-part interview with Zenit News Agency, Father Jean-Baptiste Edart discussed the biblical teachings on homosexuality. Fr. Edart is co-author of Clarifications sur l’Homosexualité dans la Bible” (Clarifications on Homosexuality in the Bible), published by Editions du Cerf.

Citing texts from both Old and New Testament which explicitly prohibit homosexual activity, Fr. Edart said homosexual acts between members of either sex were considered “extremely grave, directly offending the divine Law. This teaching is perfectly consistent with Judaism of that time.”

He listed three passages from the Old Testament where to “lie with a male as with a woman” was called an abomination, wickedness, and “wanton crime”, and three passages from the New Testament that listed homosexuality and sodomy alongside fornication, adultery, idolatry, and other crimes-- homosexual activity was referred to as “degrading passions.”

Fr. Edart emphasized that it was the acting out of homosexual inclinations that were condemned in the Bible, not same-sex attraction itself.

“No distinction is related to a question of sexual orientation, or of circumstances of the act, nor is it indicated. It is the act itself which is condemned.”

The Biblical prohibition against homosexual activity “in no way is invalidated by questions of ‘tendencies’ or orientation It is every homosexual act in its materiality which is contrary to the divine will manifested in the beginning, whether imposed or consented.”

Referring to a New Testament passage from Romans, Fr. Edart said increasing levels of homosexual activity in society were understood to be a sign of God’s anger over faithlessness among the people (Rom 1:18-32.)

Despite the unmistakable prohibition against homosexual acts, Fr. Edart said it was important to remember that the Church demands respect for the dignity of every human person and condemns any unjust discrimination against those who experience homosexual attraction, calling on Christians to aid them in living chastely through offering community support and encouragement.

“The suffering of a homosexual person can be very great and not accessible to people who do not experience this situation….The homosexual person experiences an internal suffering, attested by psychological studies, but he also suffers from his confrontation with a world that very often will judge and condemn him,” Fr. Edart said.

“In the face of this situation, the Church, in fidelity to the Bible, recognizing that active homosexuality cannot be a good for the person, forcefully affirms, in the same fidelity to the word of God, that every person, regardless of his sexual orientation, has the same dignity and in no way must be the object of unjust discrimination. As every baptized person, homosexual persons are called to holiness and to live here and now a living relationship with Christ in the Church.

“It’s a long and difficult but possible path,” Fr. Edart said in closing. “It is certain that the development of homosexuality in our Western society is an appeal to Christians to create new places to help those who are wounded in their sexuality.”

See full Zenit interviews here:

http://www.zenit.org/english/

See related LifeSiteNews coverage here:

Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury Says Homosexual Sex Incompatible with Bible
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/aug/06082808.html

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