After reading several interesting posts, I decided to share my views on several topics in a list format and in a clear and organized manner. I hope it will be helpful to everyone!

First of all, I am a seasoned pastor with a background in theology. I highly appreciate the contemplation and reflection on various themes in the Bible. However, I believe there is no reason to say that the Bible is wrong or outdated. The words of God are His words, spoken from His mouth and written by humans. Saying that the content of the Bible is wrong or no longer applicable involves two issues: either God did not accurately write the Bible, or God was wrong. Both of these statements do not conform to the doctrines of Christianity. If the Bible is not trustworthy, why should we believe it? If God is wrong, then is He truly God?

On the contrary, in the interpretation of the Bible, we can see a better example of a debate: those Christians who insist on the inerrancy of the Bible still have profound differences. William Lane Craig represents the biblical view of theistic evolution, John Lennox represents the viewpoint of the old-earth creationists, and Stephen Meyer represents the strict creationism. They all firmly believe that God accurately wrote the Bible, but they have different opinions. In my opinion, this is more meaningful than suggesting that we simply choose which parts to agree with and which parts to discard at will.

Regarding sex, I would like to discuss a few topics from the perspective of the Bible and invite everyone to have a discussion on the existing interpretations of the Bible.

Homosexuals and lesbians

Recently, there has been a discussion about whether women should be classified under the criteria for homosexuality as stated in the Bible. Additionally, some people believe that the criteria for homosexuality are either outdated, misunderstood, or incorrect.

1.Leviticus Law and Its Application to Males

The laws in Leviticus restrict "men having sex with men", but does this also apply to women? The answer is yes. You must apply the grammar rules of that time to understand its implied meaning. Although this law does not mention the gender of women, this does not mean that this law does not apply to them. In fact, in scenarios and situations where gender is ambiguous, language usually assumes the male gender, and we still do so to some extent. Due to various reasons, written language always starts from the perspective of male readers and mainly uses gender-specific vocabulary that reflects this perspective. Consider the following example: The Ten Commandments prohibit coveting one's neighbor's wife, but this law also applies to women who covet someone else's husband; we use the word "human" to refer to both men and women, and also use professional terms like "police" and "firefighter" to refer to both genders, but only one.

2. Greek terms in the New Testament

In the New Testament, the two terms referring to homosexuality are: Arsenokoitēs or Malakos, depending on the usage. The first term refers to all forms of general homosexuality. The Bible has never affirmed homosexuality; instead, it condemns it every time it mentions it. This includes lesbianism, as indicated by the context and application definitions both within and outside the Bible. Therefore, the Bible does not recognize lesbian sexual behavior. The second term refers to a specific act, dressing young men as women and placing them in temples for prostitution, although this is not always for prostitution. This indicates that cross-gender homosexual sexual behavior is also not recognized.

3. Morality

Some people might be willing to admit that the Bible does not endorse what happened at that time, but rather that the world has changed and God is indifferent to these matters. However, morality does not change along with cultural or economic changes. The moral standards of Christians cannot be that bad things are harmful and good things are pleasant, because many harmful things are still correct, while some pleasant things are actually wrong. Morality is not only about the consequences it brings, but also a manifestation of God's will. Martyrs gave their lives for God and did the right thing, but they were harmed as a result. People with kleptomania gained satisfaction and pleasure through stealing, but this is still wrong. Ethics are not based on human outcomes, but on God's authority.

4. Creating homosexuality

When God created the world and its natural order, it was perfect. It was only when sin entered that the world was cursed. From then on, although we are still indirectly created by God, we bear the imperfection of this world. We are born with imperfect bodies, sometimes we are born with diseases, all of us are born with harmful mutations, and all of us are born with sinful tendencies that are not from God. Therefore, claiming that God is your creator cannot excuse your desires, nor does it mean that God wants you to be the way you are today. We are free beings, able to do whatever we want in this world and prepare for the afterlife. Because we are creations of God and to excuse our desires (whether sacred or not) is to ignore the curse of sin. According to Apostle Paul, this means that the coming of Christ is in vain.

5. Gender education and gender equality

I think it's not wrong for women to teach each other about sex and for men to teach each other about sex. It all depends on the depth of the teaching. Simple discussions, even examples or demonstrations, are different from engaging in sexual activities together. However, there is a boundary between the two, and there is no boundary between education and sexual activities.

Prostitution and pornography

Some people question what the exact boundary is between pornographic and erotic works.

1.Ponia

This word is most commonly translated as "fornication" in the Bible. It refers to immoral sexual behavior. Although its most common meaning is premarital sex, in reality it encompasses any immoral sexual act, including incest, bestiality, adultery (although there is another word specifically referring to adultery), prostitution, and so on. The moral boundaries of fornication are based on knowing what is approved by God; the rest is pornea. Guided by the Old and New Testaments as the boundaries of sexuality, it is clear that premarital sex is disgraceful, extramarital sex is disgraceful, and certain types of sex within marriage (such as incest, bestiality) are also disgraceful. Fornication refers to all of these.

2. Masturbation

Self-pleasuring does not fall under the category of fornication. Although the Catholic Church wrongly cited Chapter 38 of Genesis, traditionally it was conflated with fornication. On the contrary, from the context, it seems that multiple scriptural passages, mainly from the Song of Songs, are promoting self-pleasuring. At least, the Bible advocates having sexual fantasies about one's lover, which is often the moral dilemma of self-pleasuring (Chapter 5, SOS). The only restriction is coveting other wives (or spouses). In principle, fantasizing about others is not wrong, unless they already belong to someone else. Once a person makes a covenant with God and marries another person, you cannot consider making a covenant with them again, except for a few exceptional cases such as being widowed.

3. Pornography

As mentioned before, pornographic works merely describe various sexual acts in any way. This includes all mediums, such as written form, visual form, artistic or painting form, and even descriptive form. The morality of pornographic works is parallel to the morality of all sexual acts, that is, marriage and sacred sexual acts are the determining factors for all pornographic descriptions. Considering that the Bible contains at least a small amount of pornographic content (Genesis, History Book, Proverbs, Song of Songs), it seems that there is indeed an acceptable form recognized by God. I believe the best use is for couples to jointly create and share pornographic works, whether through erotic works, audio samples, video recordings, photography, artistic interpretation... and so on. I even think that in an appropriate context, praising others' creations and drawing inspiration from them is correct, because this is exactly what God provides in the Song of Songs. Jealousy of others through pornographic works is bad and not recognized by God, and this is a boundary that is difficult to define in the human heart. Therefore, one must have self-awareness and know the difference between indulging oneself sexually and worshipping God.

4. Premarital sexual activity

Although some people have disputes over the issue of pre-marital sex in the Bible, I believe there are indeed clear examples of pre-marital sex mentioned in the Bible. First of all, it is worth noting that in Jewish culture, marriage consists of seven different rituals, and completing all these rituals may take up to a year. The period between these rituals is called the engagement period, and the best example of this might be Joseph and Mary. (Joseph had not yet had sex with his "wife" at that time, although strictly speaking, she was considered engaged because they had not completed the marriage procedures. This allowed him to casually divorce her because the only reasonable option for getting her pregnant, apart from marriage, was infidelity. Thank goodness, we know the ending of the entire story!) Scholars unanimously agree that the first two chapters of the Song of Songs took place during the engagement period, and the remaining chapters occurred during the formal marriage period. This means that behaviors such as kissing, hugging, and touching the breasts (possibly including oral sex) are beyond the scope of marriage but within the engagement period. There is still controversy over which behaviors are allowed and which are not, and this largely depends on one's faith. But it is certain that pre-marital sex is not approved by God, while the expression of strong love and various foreplay techniques are approved by God.