Expert: Dr. Billy Kryger - 6/21/2011

Question
Hello,
  I just read an article in a newspaper from a recent grad of Yale Divinity School who says that homosexuality is OK with God because only one man, the apostle Paul says it is sin and Paul also says in 1 Corinthians 11:14-15 that it is a shame for a man to leave his hair grow long or a woman cut hers short.  He said if Paul was so petty about hair length he was not qualified to judge homosexuals and if he is wrong about hair length he is also wrong about homosexuals.  This is very confusing.  While I see this grad trying to cut the bible up into acceptable and unacceptable pieces why does Paul say this about hair and does this grad have a point?

Answer
Don:
    Normally I wouldn't say this about anybody, but that thinking is absolutely ludicrous.  The fact is that you can make the Bible say whatever you want by pulling several verses out of context and lumping them together.  In addition Paul was not the only one that deals with homosexuality.  There are several passages that deal with it:  Genesis 19:5; Leveticus 18:22-28; Deuteronomy 23:17-18; Judges 19:22; 1 Corinthians 6:9; Ephesians 4:19; Ephesians 5:12; 1 Timothy 1:10; Judges 1:7, 10.  Furthermore, to try to cut the Bible up into "acceptable and unacceptable pieces" is a very dangerous thing to do.  It is an invitation for God's hand of judgment to fall upon you.
    As to the passage you mentioned, Paul is simply saying that a man ought to look like a man and a woman like a woman.
    Hope this helps, Don.  God is not the author of confusion and man trying to prove his superiority over God--which this article is doing--is a vain endeavor at best.