Many Christians believe that “homosexual behavior” is the worst of sins and that God hates homosexuals,based on Leviticus 18, 22 and Leviticus 20:13, where same-sex intercourse is called an “abomination.”

Does the Bible really justify this conclusion? Do we know what abomination really means? Let’s see if the rest of the Bible sheds light on the matter by checking out a few other “abomination” texts. I have used the King James Version of the Bible for this purpose .  (Other versions do not use the word abomination as much. For instance, the NIV does not use the word abomination for sexual sins.)

Sexual sins of any kind are considered “abominations” to the Lord in the King James Version. (See Leviticus 18: 18 – 30, paying particular attention to verses 27 – 30, which refer to “all these abominations” after various kinds of sexual activities apart from marriage have been mentioned.) A similar list is repeated in Leviticus 20, concluding that God’s people ought not to do these things “after the manner of the nations which I cast out before you.” We find that the levitical laws also forbade remarriages of divorced couples, after the wife had been married to another man,  even if the second husband died, calling such an act an “abomination.” (Deuteronomy 24: 1 – 4)

When we consider that Christ amplified these laws to include the lustful thought, who is without sin to cast the first stone?

Dishonest business practices are named as an “abomination” in Deuteronomy 25: 13 – 16, Proverbs 11: 1 and  Proverbs 20: 10. It seems that scrupulously honest business practices are required of any professing to be the Lord’s people.

Do our practices pass the careful scrutiny of the Omniscient One?

Oppressive treatment of others and a  haughty attitude are considered as “abomination” in Proverbs 3: 31 – 32, and a “froward heart” (KJV, the Amplified Bible translates this as “willfully contrary in heart”) is again mentioned in Proverbs 11:20. I wonder if some of the attitudes of conservative Christians towards gay people might not fall into these categories of “abominations.”