Expert: Dr. Billy Kryger - 12/7/2011

Question
Dr. Kryger,

I'm currently a college student at a state university and, as expected, I've been faced with many opportunities to defend my faith and views on social issues and the like. I'm in the midst of a long-running debate with my roommate on the topic of homosexuality. He is also a Christian, but is a very kindhearted person and his vision tends to be clouded by his view that everything in life, including God, should be 'fair'. For a long time, that was his entire argument, but I recently challenged him to come up with something concrete upon which to base his position. He believes that, since God causes people to be born into homosexuality (another issue we've debated), then it must not be a sin, because God wouldn't create someone in the position where he/she has no option but to sin. Of course, I explained that it is the action, not the temptation, that constitutes sin, and that all people have the option not to act upon their sinful tendencies. In any case, when confronted with all the Biblical evidence of the sinfulness of homosexuality, he came up with this:

http://forums.canadiancontent.net/christian-discussion/84710-homosexuality-not-s

The author of this blog has produced some sort of evidence that, he suggests, proves that the verses condemning homosexuality were mistranslated from the original Hebrew/Greek. I obviously have no background in either so I can't perform an evaluation of his claims. My response was that I personally believe that scripture is infallible and that a translator with pure intentions would have been divinely inspired to produce an accurate translation of the text, but he wants more. I'd appreciate it if you could share your thoughts on the matter.

Thanks, Ben.

Answer
Ben:
    Thank you for your question and for your patience.
    Although I studied Greek and Hebrew I am by no means a Biblical language scholar.  So if you were wanting me to refute the arguments made by your roommate on the basis of the validity of the translations offered in the blog I can't do that.  However, even a casual reading of the blog you referenced would not require proficiency in Greek and Hebrew to be refuted.  The basis of the arguments presented is that there are only a few verses in the Bible that condemn the practice of homosexuality therefore God must not have been interested in the subject or He would have moved the translators to devote more space to it.  The fact is if God said something ONE time that is enough to take heed to it.  If God said only ONE time that homosexuality was sinful that ought to be enough.
    Ben, I agree with you that the "scripture is infallible and that a translator with pure intentions would have been divinely inspired to produce an accurate translation of the text".  If that is not sufficient for your roommate then nothing we say will convince him.
    I will study on this some more and get back with you on follow-up.  Sorry I couldn't be more help other than to confirm what you've already told him.