Why is it that some people discriminate against queers and some churches and conservative Christians are so against the LGBTQIA+ Community? This leaflet provides some of the answers. Part of the problem is that some churches teach that the Bible, God’s Word, says that homosexuality or being queer is a sin. This teaching is WRONG! This leaflet explains 7 specific Bible scriptures often called the “CLOBBER PASSAGES” because they are used by conservative Christians to “clobber” the LGBTQIA+ Community. When these 7 scripture passages are read without knowledge of context, history, and original intent, it’s easy to jump to the WRONG conclusion that God doesn’t approve of same-sex or queer relationships. Using the words literally, as they appear in the Bible, to condemn all queer people, is a MISINTERPRETATION of the original scriptures and the initial purpose of why they were written. FIRST, a look at 2 AMAZING Bible scriptures that are AFFIRMING and ENCOURAGING for the LGBTQIA+ Community.

1. GOD LOVES YOU!!
GOD LOVES ALL OF THE
LGBTQIA+ COMMUNITY!!
This leaflet looks at THE BIBLE with a
positive view for all Queer people!!
You will be introduced to 2 BIBLE SCRIPTURES
that are AFFIRMING and UPLIFTING for the
Queer Community and 7 BIBLE SCRIPTURES
that are supposedly critical of queers.
We’ll debunk the all-too-common myth that
the Bible is anti-queer.
Please know that MANY CHURCHES
SINCERELY WELCOME everyone who is a
part of the Rainbow Spectrum (The
LGBTQIA+ Community).
Remember that God LOVES YOU just as
much as any straight person!!

2. Why is it that some people discriminate against queers
and some churches and conservative Christians are so
against the LGBTQIA+ Community?
This leaflet provides some of the answers. Intolerant people
dislike the LGBTQIA+ (lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, transgender,
queer, intersex, asexual, plus others along the gender identity
spectrum) Community because they simply don’t understand that
God created a wonderful spectrum of types of people. These
people who are against queers want to feel superior and think of
sexual minorities as inferior. It’s a human tendency to fear and
reject things we don’t understand. Many anti-queer individuals
hang onto the narrow-minded concept that the only acceptable
relationship is between a man and a woman. They perpetuate the
false and the irrational idea that queer relationships are a threat to
straight marriages. And here’s the biggest problem; conservative
Christians refuse to accept and somehow can’t understand that
queer people are BORN THAT WAY! They assume that queer
people can change their sexual identity or sexual preference with
prayer, counseling and to simply modify their behavior. How
WRONG they are!
Another part of the problem is that some churches teach that the
Bible, God’s Word, says that homosexuality or being queer is a
sin. This teaching is WRONG! This leaflet explains 7 specific
Bible scriptures often called the “CLOBBER PASSAGES”
because they are used by conservative Christians to “clobber” the
LGBTQIA+ Community. When these 7 scripture passages are
read without knowledge of context, history, and original intent,
it’s easy to jump to the WRONG conclusion that God doesn’t
approve of same-sex or queer relationships. Using the words
literally, as they appear in the Bible, to condemn all queer people,
is a MISINTERPRETATION of the original scriptures and the
initial purpose of why they were written.

3. FIRST, a look at 2 AMAZING Bible scriptures that
are AFFIRMING and ENCOURAGING for the
LGBTQIA+ Community:
You may not know this, but when Jesus was answering questions
about divorce, he talked about eunuchs (men who had been
castrated). Eunuchs, back then, would have been considered a
sexual minority and, in some cases, might have been basically like
a queer man.
Matthew 19: 11-12 But he (Jesus) said to them, “Not everyone can
accept this teaching, but only those to whom it is given. For there
are eunuchs who have been so from birth, and there are eunuchs
who have been made eunuchs by others, and there are eunuchs
who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom
of heaven. Let anyone accept this who can.”
The last category to which Jesus may have been referring when he
said, “eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake
of the kingdom of heaven,” would include men, such as Roman
Catholic priests, who take a vow of celibacy in order to serve
God. The second category, when Jesus said, “eunuchs who have
been made eunuchs by others,” would include those who are
incapable of fathering children due to castration or injury. The
first category that Jesus describes, “who have been so from birth,”
could be seen as including men with effeminate characteristics and
behavior similar to how we define gay or queer men today. Keep
in mind that by inference Jesus could also be referring to lesbian
or queer women or other individuals on the Rainbow Spectrum,
“who have been so from birth”. (Let’s face it, this is exciting
news!) When Jesus said, “Not everyone can accept this teaching,
but only those to whom it is given,” Jesus seems to imply that he
did not expect the Jewish leaders of the day to understand this
teaching. Many conservative leaders still do not understand today.
So here it is in black and white, in the Bible:
JESUS ACKNOWLEDGED THAT THERE ARE PEOPLE
WHO ARE SEXUAL MINORITIES AND THAT THEY
ARE BORN THAT WAY!!!

4. The Second Scripture that is ENCOURAGING to the Queer Community
is from the book of Acts in the New Testament about how God chose an
Ethiopian eunuch (a sexual minority) as the first Gentile (a non-Jew) to be
recorded in the Bible as being baptized and converted to Christianity.
Acts 8: 26-40 (Summary due to space limitations.) Then an angel of the Lord
said to Philip (Philip was one of the original 12 disciples of Jesus.) “Get up
and go to Jerusalem”. Traveling along the road, Philip came across an
Ethiopian eunuch who was in charge of the entire treasury of the Ethiopian
royal court. The Holy Spirit told Philip to join the eunuch who was seated in
his chariot reading the Bible. The eunuch had questions about the scripture he
was reading and Philip answered his questions and explained that Jesus was
the long-awaited Messiah, the son of God. The eunuch asked if Philip could
baptize him. This African man who was a eunuch (a sexual minority) became
the first recorded non-Jew to be baptized and converted to Christianity! The
LGBTQIA+ Community should be thrilled to know that the first non-Jewish
convert was part of the Rainbow Spectrum!!
NOW, A LOOK AT THE 7 “CLOBBER” PASSAGES:
The first two Bible stories are summarized due to space limitations. Along
with each scripture will be historical context and explanations that originated
from scholars who have studied these passages.
1. Genesis 19:1-14, 24-26: In summary, this story from the
Bible’s Old Testament is set in the sinful city of Sodom. The story
says that all the men in that town came to the home of a man,
named Lot, intending to rape two male visitors. But Lot was able
to protect the visitors by, among other things, offering them his
own daughters -- thus implying that the townsmen were straight.
Ultimately, God decided to destroy Sodom because of its sins. The
story has long been misinterpreted as anti-gay, on the assumption
that the men of the town were homosexuals. However, Bible
scholars say the story was actually intended to teach about the
importance of HOSPITALITY to the stranger, a common theme
in the Old Testament. The story really has nothing to do with
homosexuality. Instead, it is an example of how NOT to treat a
visiting stranger.
2. Judges 19:1-30: This Bible story is like the story of Sodom
(above). Townsmen (presumably straight) plot to rape a male
visitor. Like the story of Sodom, this story was written to teach
the ancient Jews how NOT to act, by showing the townsmen’s
extreme inhospitable behavior. Again, the townsmen’s behavior has
mistakenly been interpreted as somehow related to homosexuality,
but this Bible story is not in any way related to consensual
homosexual or queer relationships.

5. 3. Leviticus 18:22: You shall not lie with a male as with a woman: it is an
abomination.
4. Leviticus 20:13: If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of
them have committed an abomination; they shall be put to death; their
blood is upon them.
These texts from the book of Leviticus were part of “The Holiness Code”
which had as its main purpose to set laws to keep the Jews separate and
different from the surrounding cultures. During this time other cultures
participated in agricultural fertility rites in their temples that involved
different forms of sex, including male-to-male sex. In addition, the Jews
focused on a text from Genesis that decrees to “be fruitful and multiply” so
laws were written to encourage procreation. The Jewish culture saw this
change of sexual partners as mixing the strictly defined roles of man and
woman. The definition of the word abomination was very different from how
we use the word today. “Mixing of kinds” according to Jewish laws was
defined as an “abomination,” in the same absurd way that the laws claimed
that mixing different kinds of seeds in a field or mixing different materials to
make cloth, were defined as an “abomination” and against Jewish laws. We
have left these old Jewish laws behind us, long ago. Times have changed and
cultural guidelines have changed.
5. Romans 1:26-27: For this reason, God gave them up to degrading
passions. Their women exchanged natural intercourse for unnatural,
and in the same way also the men, giving up natural intercourse
with women, were consumed with passion for one another. Men
committed shameless acts with men and received in their own persons
the due penalty for their error.
The behavior Paul (a follower of Jesus and author of the book of Romans in
the New Testament of the Bible) was addressing here is explicitly associated
with idol worship (probably temple prostitution) and with heterosexual
people who searched for pleasure and broke away from their natural sexual
orientation or their natural ways of having sex (both male and female) and
participated in promiscuous sex with anyone available or used methods not
culturally accepted. In the surrounding culture it was common for men of
a higher status to take sexual advantage of male slaves or male prostitutes.
Here Paul is instructing his readers to keep pure and honor God. Paul was not
talking about homosexuality and didn’t have in mind specifically prohibiting
consensual same-sex relationships because they were never considered in his
cultural context.
6. I Corinthians 6:9-10: Do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit
the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived! Fornicators, idolaters,
adulterers, male prostitutes, sodomites, thieves, the greedy, drunkards,
revilers, robbers—none of these will inherit the kingdom of God.

6. Paul’s list (The author of 1 Corinthians was the same as for the book of
Romans, previously discussed. He wrote the original texts in Greek.) of
sinners includes malakoi and arsenokoites. Malakoi means “soft” and is
interpreted as male prostitutes. Arsenokoites is difficult to translate, but it
probably referred to a male using his superiority to take sexual advantage of
another male. Paul is right to condemn these abusive sexual activities, but
this has nothing to do with consensual same-sex or queer relationships.
7. I Timothy 1:8-11: Now we know that the law is good, if one uses it
legitimately. This means understanding that the law is laid down not
for the innocent but for the lawless and disobedient, for the godless and
sinful, for the unholy and profane, for those who kill their father
or mother, for murderers, fornicators, sodomites, slave traders,
liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to the sound teaching that
conforms to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which he entrusted to
me (Paul, the author).
This passage is similar to the I Corinthians text, above. Conservatives are
using this list of words to justify their discrimination against the LGBTQIA+
Community. This time it is a list of sins (as opposed to a list of sinners as
in the previous passage) and includes the Greek words pornoi, arsenokoites
and andrapodistes. Pornoi most likely refers to a male having sex outside of
marriage. Arsenokoites can be defined as male same-sex relationships that
involved exploitation, inequality or abuse. Andrapodistes can be translated
as “slave traders.” Scholars believe that the three terms were often used
together in that slave dealers (andrapodistes) would be acting as pimps for
captured boys (pornoi) who would be taken advantage of by powerful men
(arsenokoites). When the Bible was written, it was more common for
powerful men to take sexual advantage of other men. It’s understandable why
Paul used these Greek words to address the sinful ways among powerful
straight men, but this Bible passage has nothing to do with consensual same-
sex relationships or queer individuals in a caring relationship.
Don’t forget that GOD LOVES YOU,
no matter who you are and who you love!
This leaflet was written by Janet Edmonds
Janet is a member of Bethesda United Methodist Church, in Maryland, which
has joined the Reconciling Ministries Network (RMN) that works for justice
for people of all sexual orientations and genders within the United Methodist
Church.