letters to surfers

I keep hearing about sex with animals. What does the Bible say about this?

by Robert Brow (www.brow.on.ca)

According to Jewish law judges were required to assign the death penalty in seven specific cases of sexual aberration (Leviticus 20:10-16). In each case the crime involved sexual penetration, and two or three witnesses were required to prove it (Deuteronomy 17:6). Which meant that capital punishment for sexual sins was very rare.

Two of these seven crimes were the sexual penetration of a female animal by a man, or a woman who let herself be mounted by a male animal (Leviticus 20:15-16). What horrified Paul was that, as a result of the decline of Greek civilization since the Golden Age, these seven categories of sexual penetration (for which capital punishment was assigned by Jewish law) were blatantly practiced in Roman households (Romans 1:26-27). What is astonishing to us is that this was only the second step down in a declining civilization (Romans 1:24, 26). The third step down was the public approval (Romans 1:32) of these and other sins such as covetousness, murder, hatred of God, insolent pride, rebellion against parents, heartless ruthlessness, etc (Romans 1:29-31).

The solution is not disapproving from the sidelines, but realize that once Christians have adopted the language of 1 Corinthians 7:1-16 and Ephesians 5:25-6:9, all the crimes listed in Leviticus 20:10-16 and Romans 1:24-32 are undercut at the root. That does not mean that Christians don't ever slip and fall, but they know enough to look to the Holy Spirit to create the needed love in their heart.