Leviticus 18:22 and 20:

Leviticus 18:22 states the principle: "You [masculine] shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination." The second (Lev. 20:13) adds the penalty: "If a man lies with a male as a woman, both of them have committed an abomination; they shall be put to death, their blood is upon them." The questions that one might want to ask at this point are: What was the rationale behind all those different instances of uncleanness? What made all those things abominations? Does the word abomination carry the same meaning for us today as it did for the ancient Hebrews? Can the meaning of the word abomination be universalised considering the fact that it was specifically presented from the Israelite holiness code, which:

reflects ancient Israel‟s concern for purity, which was understood quite objectively as the state of being clean and whole as opposed to

unclean and polluted? To be pure meant to be unblemished specimen of one‟s kind, unmixed with other kind (which would be pollution). Within this context therefore, defilement does not mean moral defilement but uncleanness in a literal physical sense. This is why the Holiness code prohibits such things as breeding animals with a different kind, sowing a field with two kinds of seeds, and wearing a garment that is made of two different materials (Lev 19:19).298

The fact is that the Old Testament does not make distinctions between moral goodness and ritual purity in the way Christians came to do after the destruction of the temple and the end of the ancient cult. Holiness in the Old Testament context is all embracing but, as for the modern Shona, a decision has to be made as to what parts of the old law still have relevance as guidance for us and in what way. One has to take into account the historically cultural conditionings of the Bible and link this with the other important questions about the exclusive truth and the universal normativeness of the Bible in matters of sexuality. Whatever the rationale was behind the ancient Hebrew purity laws, such thinking certainly can not be applicable in every context today. Such thinking is almost foreign even to the Shona. Therefore one cannot simply transfer it as a universal truth. Indeed, if one does so, one is likely to relinquish the truth. For example, the following injunctions from the Bible may not be applicable to the Shona, Leviticus 18:16 “You must not have intercourse with your brother‟s wife, that would bring shame on him”; 18:18 “You must not take a woman who is your wife‟s sister…”, the reason being that in the event of childlessness for either a man or woman, the culture has it that arrangements can be made so that a man‟s own brother can come in and assist so that children can be realised in his brother‟s house. The children that are born out of such arrangements belong to the impotent man. Likewise, for a woman who is infertile arrangements are made by the family to get her sister (if she has no sister or if the

298 _{Victor Paul Furnish, „The Bible and Homosexuality: Reading the Text in Context‟, in Jeffrey S. Siker, ed.,}

Homosexuality and the Church: Both Sides of the Debate. (Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press, 1994), 20;

Daniel A. Helminiak also notes that abomination was just another word for unclean and a violation of the purity rules that governed Israelite society and kept the Israelites different from the other peoples. Daniel A Helminiak,

sisters are all married her niece is asked to come in) and have children for her relative. The resulting children are well received by both the woman and her husband in good faith. Even though the Church does not receive into full membership this sister or niece, they are accepted as adherents until the death of their sister or aunt. But in the case of a brother who goes in to assist his infertile brother, the Church seems to be silent about its position.

A point to note here is that the “issue of homosexuality is not merely an exegetical one – that is, it is not merely a question of what the ancient texts meant. It is, more importantly, a hermeneutical issue, a question of how we understand the texts and appropriate them for our specific contexts. It is a theological – ethical issue, a question of how we as Christians think about ourselves and our conduct in relation to God.”299 Our decisions in most cases are influenced by the culture of which we are members.

5.3.1.3 Romans 1:26-27

In Romans 1:26-27, Paul sees homosexuality as idolatry, freely chosen by an individual, associated with insatiable lust and a violation of the created order as a result: “God has given them up to shameful passions... and are paid in their own persons the fitting wage of such perversion.” Thus, because they have not seen fit to acknowledge God, he has given them up to their own depraved way of thinking and this leads them to break all rules of conduct300.

299 _{Choon-Leong Seow, ed., Homosexuality and Christian Community (Kentucky: Westminster John Knox}

Press, 1996), x; See also Michael J. Clark. Defying the Darkness: Gay Theology in the Darkness (Cleveland: The Pilgrim Press, 1997), 12 – 15.

300 _{Richard Hays notes that the fundamental human sin is the refusal to honour God and give God thanks,}

consequently, God‟s wrath takes the form of letting human idolatry run its own self destructive course. Homosexuality then is not a provocation of the wrath of god (Rom 1:18) rather it is a consequence of God‟s decision to give up rebellious creatures to follow their own futile thinking and desires. 300 _{Richard B. Hays,}

„Awaiting the Redemption of our bodies: The Witness of Scripture Concerning Homosexuality,‟ in Jeffrey S. Siker, ed., Homosexuality in the Church: Both Sides of the Debate (Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press, 1994), 8.

Paul is here attacking deliberate perversion. That was the basis for the strong statements of condemnation. This makes it difficult simply to take over the statements and apply them to everyone who has a homosexual orientation. The potential is there to do a terrible injustice to those people who are homosexual by orientation. It would represent an inappropriate use of scripture because these were not the people the scripture had in mind.

However, in Zimbabwe homosexuality is portrayed mainly as a deliberate perversion, hence the negative attitude from the Church. For instance from our previous chapters we have noted instances where homosexual practice seem to be prominent: thus with the increasing numbers of street kids, cases of child sexual abuse are escalating; with the declining economy, there are growing cases of those in economic power sexually abusing their subordinates (inappropriate abuse of power); with the problem of AIDS at its peak, one can only imagine the kind of challenge the Church is facing301. Homosexuality is portrayed as relationships of abuse, desperation, inequality, impermanency, and humiliation. The media also seem only to focus on problematic homosexual relationships and practices giving the impression that all homosexual relationships are a deliberate pervasion. Thus, sources object clearly and solely to the abusive, dominating, demeaning practice of pederasty as the only expression of homosexual behaviour they know. The relationships manifest themselves as brutal sexual behaviour heavy with lust; they are not relationships of consenting adults who are committed to each other as faithfully and with as much integrity as any heterosexual couples. It is this context that contributes in shaping the people‟s understanding of the phenomenon hence the

301 _{Commenting on the current economic situation in Zimbabwe, Peter Stephens, a Methodist minister in Britain}

note that inflation was between 60,000 and 150,000. How would you cope if something you almost bought yesterday cost twice as much when you went to buy it today? Stephens asked. Some teachers and nurses have stopped going to work because transport would cost more than they earn. The expectation of life is now 34 for women with the huge rise of HIV/AIDS a major factor in this. Peter Stephens, „Peter Stephens Reports on a fact-finding visit to Zimbabwe: Where five loaves cost a month‟s wages‟ Methodist Recorder, 3 April 2008, 5. These are some of the basic facts that the Church has to face. It is in the midst of such economic problems, where some individual abuse the situation sexually by offering or demanding for sex in return for economic favours. Until such conditions improve genuine homosexuals will continue to suffer and the Church‟s dilemma worsen.

loud cry that it is a deliberate pervasion and a sin. The Church's objection is therefore that this is abnormal sexual behaviour which they cannot envision. Therefore, the Church‟s negative attitude to homosexuality, in this context seems to mirror Paul‟s approach in a number of ways.

Firstly, just like Paul it seems the majority of Shona are unaware of the distinction between sexual orientation, over which one has apparently very little choice, and sexual behaviour, over which one does have choice. They seemed to assume that those condemned are heterosexuals, and are acting contrary to nature, „leaving‟, „giving up‟, or „exchanging‟ their regular sexual orientation for that which is foreign to them. Paul knew nothing of the modern psychological understanding of homosexuals as persons whose orientation is fixed early in life, persons for whom having heterosexual relations would be contrary to nature, „leaving‟, „giving up‟ or „exchanging‟ their natural sexual orientation for one that is unnatural to them. In other words, Paul really thought that those whose behaviour he condemned were „straight‟, and that they were behaving in ways that were unnatural to them. The Shona have this strong belief that everyone is „straight‟, hence the enforcement of marriage. If, anyone is found behaving otherwise, there are corrective measures in place to make the individual straight. There seems to be no concept of homosexual orientation. Both interviews and questionnaires reflect that the concept is vaguely understood.302

The problem with assuming that all homosexuality is a willed condition is that it lets those of who are heterosexual not to have to wrestle with the reality of this complex phenomenon. It also allows heterosexuals to feel superior to those whom they believe are sinning when they could and should know better, thus creating a class system in both the Church and the society.

302 _{We are now hearing a lot about same sex relationships in Zimbabwe because many homosexuals are}