Aineas quoted & wrote:
Rom 1:26-27 - 26 For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural, 27 and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in
their own persons the due penalty of their error. NAS
He is addressing the fact men and women have exchanged God's natural design for what is not natural...”
Response: Everytime a religious homophobe quotes Paul’s letter to the Romans regarding homosexuality, the quotes starts with verse 26 which states:
“...For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural, 27 and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another...”
Conveniently, the “For this reason” is not identified in verse 26 nor in the succeeding verses. However, if we backtrack what the homophobes pole vaulted over in the preceeding verses to verse 26, the “For this reason” is CLEARLY identified.
Voila!
Rom. 1: “...22 Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, 23 And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image ( IDOLATRY) made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things. 24 Wherefore God also gave them up to
uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves: 25 Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature( IDOLATRY) more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen. 26 For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: 27 And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men...”
What Paul is ranting about being a sin is IDOLATRY NOT HOMOSEXUALITY. He’s ranting that HOMOSEXUALITY is the punishment (For this reason) God gave to mankind for committing the sin of
idolatry.
Got it? Get it.
Now proceeding to the topic of homosexuality in nature or as religious homophobes like to repeat like budhist parrots reciting their mantras that homosexuality is "contra natura" against nature, let me point out the followng:
This pet phrase, "contra natura" translates "against nature" as if homosexuality is against the laws of nature. Abundant empirical evidence betrays this premise that homosexuality is "contra natura" is FALSE.
In Bruce Bagemihl’s 572-page book, “Biological Exuberance: Animal Homosexuality & Natural Diversity, nominated in 1999 for a Pulitzer Prize, contains 200 years of scientific observations animal behavior in hundreds of species both in the wild & in captivity of homosexuality in animals from insects to reptiles, to birds to mammals, including the most intelligent species such as primates & dolphins.
There are many documented scientific observations in Bagemihl's book of animals engaging in homosexual acts in the wild even in the presence of abundant sexual partners of the opposite sex, therefore, homosexuality is a natural sexual orientation in the animal kingdom which is not the result of cultural conditions such as sexual identification due to parental role models or lack thereof.
The Bighorn Sheep is the U.S. live in sexually segregated herds for all of the year except for the rutting season when males seek the females. However, the rest of the year, male-to-male sexual copulation is the norm among male Bighorn Sheep. Not always is a dominant or older male the mounter but will allow themselves to be mounted by younger males.
From online magazine, Science Daily, Date: 2004-03-09 at
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/20 ... 073256.htm
“...Biology Behind Homosexuality In Sheep, Study Confirms...
...A study published in the February issue of the journal Endocrinology demonstrates that not only are certain groups of cells different between genders in a part of the sheep brain controlling sexual behavior, but brain anatomy and hormone production may determine whether adult rams
prefer other rams over ewes...
"Same-sex attraction is widespread across many different species." said Roselli, whose laboratory collaborated with the Department of Animal Sciences at Oregon State University and the USDA Agricultural Research Service's U.S. Sheep Experiment Station in Dubois, Idaho.
Kay Larkin, Ph.D., an OHSU electron microscopist who performed laboratory analysis for the study, said scientists now have a marker that points to whether a ram may prefer other rams over ewes.
"There's a difference in the brain that is correlated with partner preference rather than gender of the animal you're looking at," she said.
About 8 percent of domestic rams display preferences for other males as sexual partners.
Scientists don't believe it's related to dominance or flock hierarchy; rather, their typical motor pattern for intercourse is merely directed at rams instead of ewes...”
Furthermore, God in his infinite wisdom also created lesbian lizards.
See http://www.nerve.com/Regulars/ScienceOf ... -19-00.asp
“...On a parched, wind-swept lakebed in southeastern Arizona, within earshot of the trucks hurtling by on Interstate 10, a strange experiment of nature is playing itself out —— an experiment that might shock moral conservatives but should delight lesbian separatists everywhere. Two species of whiptail lizards have interbred, producing a new, all-female species. These animals have sex with each other and produce baby lizards without any help from males. And the babies grow up to be lesbian too.
Zoologist David Crews of the University of Texas at Austin discovered the
unusual sexual behavior of Cnemidophorus uniparens, as the all-female species is called, in the late 1970s, and has been working on them ever since. Crews doesn't use the word "lesbian" —— he prefers the neutrality of scientific jargon like "parthenogenetic unisexual pseudocopulators" —— but it's hard to ignore the parallels...”
Well, Crews may not use the word "lesbian" but I betcha plenty of homophobes would call these natural creatures of God sodomites.