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Sex Texts from the Bible: Selections Annotated & Explained (SkyLight Illuminations)

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This book lists many Bible passages referring to sex, and many that may be referring to sex, but the commentary is extremely brief, and appears to be primarily unsubstantiated personal opinion. E.g., "The individual human body was a symbol for the whole community. The genitals were the community's doors and windows. When a man penetrates a woman, he is literally entering her and figuratively coming into the community." This opinion is not explained, rather, this conjecture is supposed to be the explanation. There are no citations, and no references. The very limited commentary in this book is based on English translations, and not the original Hebrew or Greek.

Most people spend their life reading a Bible that has been twisted throughout time by erroneous translations and interpolations. When you see the horrors committed by scribes during translations and interpolations you begin to understand why this World has gone wrong.

The Bible is a book full of violence, war, rape, incest and the whole works, people read it and forget that those are not the original words nor it is a book to be used as a Life Guide or as a Self-Help Book.

It is time to have a true translation of the Bible and that we start seen the Bible as a book full of inconsistencies and not as the purported word of God.

Reading this book gives an unusual understanding of the "Good Book".

If you've been irritated by conservative religious types using bible verses out of context to support their hateful attitudes towards sexual conduct that they don't agree with, you must have this book. It is the definitive source of info showing the bible's discussion of sex in full context, with excellent commentary. You will mow them down when they bash gays, sodomites and others who like sex. Ausgeseischnet!!

"Sex Texts from the Bible" is a demonstration of the consequences of a low view of Scripture. There is a multitude of problems, theological and otherwise, which are readily apparent in the discussion but they all have a common root: a fundamentally different view of Scripture than that of historic, orthodox Christianity.

By "low view of Scripture" I mean little or no regard for the inspiration of the text. This intentional disregard for the Holy Spirit's influence over the biblical authors leads to two categories of faults in Hornsby's work: no qualms with distorting the words of Scripture and a flawed understanding of its purpose. These two products of a low view of Scripture are the foundation of the theological errors in the work.

Distortion of the Message of Scripture

Hornsby begins distorting the Bible by making false dichotomies which are contrary to the broader theological concerns of the Bible: "Today, many folks for whom the Bible is a central part of their lives also have close gay friends. How do they balance the commandment to 'love your neighbor' with the commandment to kill gay men?" In this one demonstration there are two falsehoods. First, the commandment to kill gay men was for the administration of the Jewish government only. It does not apply to Christians in any way except for its implication that homosexuality is offensive to God. Secondly it creates a false dichotomy between loving our neighbors and the sinfulness of homosexuality. Hornsby views the Bible primarily through the lens of sexuality and sees it as a tool of sexual exploitation. She acts as if homosexuals and other sexual sinners are the only, or at least primary, sinners condemned by the Bible when in fact all are sinners (Rom 3:23) and Christians continue to sin (Romans 7). The difference between Christians and non-Christians is not their views or practice of certain sexual habits but turning from the love of evil (John 3:19) to hating that sin within their lives (Rom 7:18b-19).

Hornsby's low view of Scripture allows her to distort the teaching of the Bible without hesitation. She declares the Bible "surprisingly non-judgmental on topics" including prostitution, polygamy and incest when it is clearly evident in even cursory readings of Scripture that those very things are condemned with passion. She also claims that narratives such as the rape of Tamar by Amnon were "intended primarily as allegorical commentary on the spiritual state of the Israelites" and may not be "binding upon our personal lives." Even if the narrative were only figurative, the fact that it implied a negative state of the Israelites' relationship with God is evidence that the sexual behavior described, rape in this case, was an abomination. Moral metaphors do not work unless the symbols used within them have moral meaning.

She even makes claims which clearly contradict the biblical witness. For instance, she claims that "the Bible does not explicitly forbid sex between a father and a daughter" yet incest is clearly condemned by God's word (Lev 18:6). Hornsby's disrespect for the Bible is tangible as she concludes that passages condemning prostitution are actually ambivalent to it.

Hornsby is either unwilling or unable to discern the difference between the writings of the apostles and early heretics. She frames the discussion of Jesus' sexuality around the teachings of the Gnostics who were condemned both in the New Testament and by the early Church councils. Additionally, the Gnostics to whom she refers did not bring about the teachings in question regarding Mary Magdalene until at least the late second century. Writings from heretics centuries after the New Testament was written can hardly be considered a part of the biblical witness of sexuality. Instead of pointing out these problems, Hornsby deliberately builds her argument from it.

This is followed by the conclusion that today's "frenzy" over the continuation of the Gnostic's heresy in today's popular fiction that Jesus was sexually active is a result of our having "been conditioned to believe that sex and Christianity... are incompatible." Such a claim is not offensive because Christianity is incompatible with sex but because it has drastic implications on the life of Christ which are incompatible with the testimony of the Gospels.

Distortion of the Purpose of Scripture

Hornsby's true view of Scripture is easily discerned. She claims that "the Bible's authors were pretty much men writing for men on how to control the sexuality of women." This denies the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and pretends that the primary purpose of the Bible and Christianity itself is a temporal power grab and sexual exploitation.

Continuing this line of thought, Hornsby consistently credits cultural elements of Ancient Near Eastern society as the source of inspiration of Scripture. She routinely calls sex crimes from adultery to rape "property crimes" instead of moral crimes. As we have already seen, she ignores the obvious language and symbolism the Bible uses to condemn sexual crimes in a moral sense so she is left with nothing but a temporal crime with only cultural norms to guide its governance. She is internally inconsistent with her portrayal of such crimes, though. In one breath she claims that adultery is "stealing" the property of another man and that the grater crime of rape of a man's wife is identical: "essentially stealing from your neighbor."

Many times when Bible scholars present their work, those who believe in direct dictation of the Bible rather than inspiration, attack the methodology and conclusions of scholarship. Unable to accept the Bible as having any other influences than God they find it problematic to admit any cultural and time conditioned aspects to the scriptures.

This is unfortunate. They would have you believe the human authors played no role in the composition and transmission of the text. They imagine God merely using the authors' hand to write the text but no his mind. It is a supernatural work with no real natural origins. All of this weakens the Scriptures for those who think and not merely believe.

If you use the facility of reason then this book will serve you. Thinking and questioning are not sinful. As St. Augustine states " God can not hate in you the one faculty (reason) that he gave you that separates you fom the animals.". A thinking believer is not a contradiction. For some, it appears impossible. This work will draw you closer to text, the times, and the culture that the biblical writers knew and used to express profound insights and truths.

It is very well written book, no one can deny the truth. A must read book.

Careless babble from the book:

"When you consult the Bible on culturally and temporally specific practices like polygamy, it just doesn't work."

Cuz u said so. What arrogance that the author thinks they speak for 100+ million baptists and presbyterians and hundreds of millions of catholics.

It then says,

"The Bible should not be the only marriage manual for us today."

Who said it should be? Where does the Bible say, "Thou shalt have no other book explaining anything."? Awful.

It then says,

"Our social customs about meeting, marrying, and having sex, (not always in this order),"

Wow, how deep, did you hear that people, it's not always in that order. Rolls eyes. It then says,

"along with what is in our hearts, should be our fundamental guide today-the Bible should be a supplementary guide."

Cuz u said so.

1. Who cares what you believe?

2. What matters is what God says is the truth and he doesn't say, "Whatever golden beauty believes is true cuz she believes it". There is only one true way according to the Bible and if you teach a false way you will end up in Hell if you don't stop:

"All have turned aside, they have together become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one." - Psalm 14:3

"Everyone has turned away, they have together become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one." - Psalm 53:3

"We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way" - Isaiah 53:6

"All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away." - Isaiah 64:6

"The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?" - Jeremiah 17:9

"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faithand this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God, NOT BY WORKS, SO THAT NO ONCE CAN BOAST." - Ephesians 2:8-9

"he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy." - Titus 3:5

"if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned!" - Galatians 1:8