Tuesday, June 20, 2023



Homosexuality and the Bible

I am a great believer in letting the Bible speak for itself. And there is no doubt what it says about homosexuality. Even female homosexuality gets a blast. So for my own handy reference I have put together what I think is a full collection of the actual texts. I reproduce that list below in case it is of use to others than myself

The verses mostly benefit from being read in context but the quotes below should make a good start on that. I have used the King James Bible translation below as it is the most familiar but that can sometimes be a bit obscure. For instance, in the text about Sodom and Gomorrah you need to be aware that the word "know" was used as a euphemism for having sexual intercourse


Genesis 19:4-8 4 But before they lay down, the men of the city, even the men of Sodom, compassed the house round, both old and young, all the people from every quarter: And they called unto Lot, and said unto him, Where are the men which came in to thee this night? bring them out unto us, that we may know them. And Lot went out at the door unto them, and shut the door after him, And said, I pray you, brethren, do not so wickedly. Behold now, I have two daughters which have not known man; let me, I pray you, bring them out unto you, and do ye to them as is good in your eyes: only unto these men do nothing; for therefore came they under the shadow of my roof.

Leviticus 18:22 Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination.

Leviticus 20:13 If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them.

Mark 10:6-9 But from the beginning of the creation God made them male and female. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and cleave to his wife; And they twain shall be one flesh: so then they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.

Matthew 19:4-10 And he answered and said unto them, Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female, And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh? Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.

Romans 1:27 And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet.

1 Corinthians 6:9-11 Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.

1 Corinthians 7:2 Nevertheless, to avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband.

1 Timothy 1:8-11 But we know that the law is good, if a man use it lawfully; Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, For whoremongers, for them that defile themselves with mankind, for menstealers, for liars, for perjured persons, and if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine; According to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which was committed to my trust. For whoremongers, for them that defile themselves with mankind, for menstealers, for liars, for perjured persons, and if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine; According to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which was committed to my trust.

Jude 7 Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.

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Europe Envy: Few of Pathologies Destroying US Are Present in Any Comparable Degree There

Fewer blacks

This one of the saddest of the more than 1,000 columns I have written.

I am writing in Budapest after spending four days in Warsaw last week and four days in Munich two weeks before that.

To put this in context: I have traveled abroad every year since I was 18 years old—except for 2020, because of the “experts”-induced destructive, irrational, police-state lockdowns.

Thanks to all that travel, I have visited 130 countries.

All of my life, traveling abroad prompted ever more appreciation of America and ever more gratitude for living here. Every time I returned to the USA, I felt a surge of patriotism when I saw the American flag at passport control.

Something I could never have imagined has happened in the past few years. I have begun to envy Europeans. With few exceptions—most notably the U.K., the one English-speaking country in Europe—few of the pathologies that are destroying America are present to any analogous degree in Europe.

Here is an example: My wife and I and another couple hired a driver and an English-speaking guide in Warsaw. The guide was a woman of the left. Though we never raised any political subject, like leftists tend to do, she let us know her negative feelings about Poland’s conservative president, Andrzej Duda; Hungary’s conservative prime minister, Viktor Orban; and, of course, America’s former president, Donald Trump. She let us know that she hated all three of them.

But when I asked her if anyone she knew would say that men give birth or that children should choose their own sex, she gave me a confused look. “Who does that?” she asked.

Europe’s leftists loathe conservatives as much as the left in America does, are as anti-nationalism, are just as prepared to shatter the economic life of their countries in the name of environmentalism, support ever-growing state and EU power, and supported mandatory COVID vaccinations as much as the American left. But they are not prepared to tell first-graders they can choose their “gender,” remove the healthy breasts of girls who say they are boys, or have “all-gender” (as distinguished from unisex) bathrooms.

Few, if any, European countries are wracked by the trans tensions—such as whether sex is binary, whether children should be exposed to drag queens and whether they should be given hormone blockers—that are wracking American life. Even England has barred trans “women” swimmers from competing against women swimmers. As reported by Openly News, an LGBTQ news organization, “Swim England follows similar rulings by World Athletics, Scottish Rugby, FINA, England’s Rugby Football Union and the International Rugby League, all of which have banned trans women who transitioned after puberty from competing in female categories.”

The Wall Street Journal recently reported that a male JetBlue flight attendant wears a skirt while working on flights. That is also the policy of the British-based airline Virgin Atlantic, though I have not seen a photograph of a male Virgin Atlantic flight attendant wearing a skirt as I have a JetBlue flight attendant. And surely other U.S. airlines will follow. Will this take place on board European airplanes? Perhaps. But if you people-watch on the streets of European capitals, let alone in small cities, you will find that far more European women—including young women—dress as women than do women in America.

In other words, no matter how left the politics of European countries, few deny the male-female distinction as much as America does. In fact, in Europe, they appear to value it.

There are other ways in which life in Europe seems less tense than in America. In Munich, Warsaw and Budapest, I saw virtually no homeless people—and certainly no homeless encampments, no tents pitched on city sidewalks. Nor are children in European countries taught to loathe their own society as American young people are. And Europeans still venerate their statues.

Two years ago, even the woke New York Times acknowledged that Europe’s Left is different. Under the headline “Will American Ideas Tear France Apart? Some of Its Leaders Think So,” the article began:

The threat is said to be existential. It fuels secessionism. Gnaws at national unity. Abets Islamism. Attacks France’s intellectual and cultural heritage.

The threat? “Certain social science theories entirely imported from the United States,” said President Emmanuel Macron.

French politicians, high-profile intellectuals and journalists are warning that progressive American ideas—specifically on race, gender, post-colonialism—are undermining their society. “There’s a battle to wage against an intellectual matrix from American universities,” warned Macron’s education minister.

During the lockdowns in states such as California that were ruining small business, the economy in general, and the precious and irretrievable years of children’s youth in particular, I wrote a column about how I, a Californian, felt on a visit to Florida, where businesses were open, people ate in restaurants without masks, and my grandchildren attended school and other activities of normal childhood. I wrote that in Florida, I felt like I did during the Cold War, when I returned to the West after spending time in communist countries.

And now, for the first time in my life, I feel freer in Europe than in America.

That’s why this is one of the saddest columns I’ve ever written.

https://www.dailysignal.com/2023/06/06/why-i-feel-better-europe/ ?

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Modern feminism or Stone Age sexism? The Miss England contest sparks uproar by saying it might bring back the controversial bikini round

When I learned yesterday that the organisers of the Miss England beauty pageant have decided they 'won't bow to the woke brigade' and could bring back the competition's famous bikini round, I was thrilled.

It was the most female-empowering piece of news I have read for a very long time. When women are under attack from all quarters — from a lunatic gender ideology which dictates that we no longer have the right to call ourselves 'women' or 'mothers', to girls dying in custody in Iran after not wearing the hijab correctly and showing too much hair — it's about time we came out fighting.

And while some may see the reinstatement of the controversial swimwear round as a step back for the cause of feminism, I see it as a crucial step forward in preserving our culture and our freedom to choose exactly what we wear and when.

Women have posed in bikinis or swimsuits — and thereby displayed their freedom and femininity — since the very first Miss Universe was held in 1952.

In fact, two of the world's oldest beauty pageants — Miss World and Miss Universe — were actually created with the purpose of promoting swimwear: Miss World was originally called the Festival Bikini Contest.

So, quite apart from representing a woman's choice to wear what she likes, the swimsuit round is a crucial component of the beauty pageant tradition.

Older feminists argue that making women strut up and down a stage wearing anything, but especially a bikini, is demeaning and sexist.

But perhaps, before they start making decisions on behalf of these poor, defenceless and exploited women, they should ask them what they want.

That, after all, is what Angie Beasley, the female organiser of Miss England, is proposing to do. Crucially, this is no longer a decision made by and for men, nor an event run by them.

Indeed, support for re-instating the swimsuit round comes from a very surprising quarter: the very woman who campaigned to have it cancelled.

Former Miss England winner Katrina Hodge — dubbed the 'Combat Barbie', having served in the Army for 11 years, including tours of Afghanistan and Iraq — regrets toeing the party line back in 2010, when the most popular section of the competition was scrapped.

'I was young and naive and felt like a bad feminist for enjoying posing in swimwear,' Katrina says now.

'We were constantly being told by the 'feminists' trying to close down beauty pageants that it was wrong and objectifying us, and I felt pressured to go along with it.' Now, however, she feels that the campaign against the bikini round was 'misguided'.

'By successfully ending it, I took away women's choice and freedoms — I also made the competition highly boring,' Katrina admits.

It's a change of opinion that represents just how far feminism has come in the past decade — from condemning the display of female bodies to celebrating their strength and beauty.

Indeed, what old-school feminists don't acknowledge is the way the ideal female form has changed in the past 50 years — from soft and passively voluptuous in the 1950s and 1960s to powerful and muscle-bound today.

Look at the abs on women such as Gwyneth Paltrow, JLo and Davina McCall, or the lean, muscular strength of the Princess of Wales.

From the unapologetic sexiness of the Love Island contestants to the body-positive gorgeousness of pop stars including Beyonce and Adele, all of them deserve to be seen and displayed on their own terms.

Yet according to those who want to censor how women present themselves, they are being humiliated.

Would they rather all women were covered from head to toe? Maybe they should ask the women of Iran (and Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, the list goes on) what they would prefer?

And before some bore complains that beauty is only skin-deep and women are far more than their looks, well of course we are! But we are talking about a beauty parade here, which means, by definition, women are judged mainly on what they look like.

They have to prove they have a brain, too, but since when did simply wearing a bikini make you a bimbo?

Ironically, removing the swimsuit round felt to me rather like a radical form of mansplaining. Campaigners thought they knew better than the contestants themselves, when really they had no idea what the women taking part felt about it.

Well, now it is time to listen to the contestants. Any curtailment of our freedom of speech and choice is a dangerous thing.

Former Miss England Katrina Hodge says she felt like a 'bad feminist' for enjoying the way she looked and felt in a swimming costume.

But is there anything more anti-feminist than taking away a woman's joy and pride in her own body?

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Disney Never Learns: Another Expensive, Woke Animated Film from Studio Flops Hard

Once again, the company, through its Pixar subsidiary, is releasing a woke animated film aimed at kids — the third in roughly a year’s time. Once again, there were high expectations for it, so much so that the studio debuted it at the Cannes Film Festival. And once again, Disney looks to have a bomb on its hands.

According to a Saturday report from The Hollywood Reporter, “Elemental” — a Pixar-produced film with a thoroughly unsubtle message about social inequality in urban America — will only take home between $28 million and $32 million at the box office on its opening weekend.

This is even lower than the flop that had already been predicted for the film.

Last week, the entertainment news site The Wrap noted that projections for the film were in the $35 to $40 million range on opening weekend, which was still astoundingly low for a Pixar product. This is despite the fact “Elemental” also shared roughly the same exorbitant budget level as “Lightyear” — another expensive Pixar disaster, although one that didn’t flop as hard as “Elemental” is expected to in its first week at the box office.

The current numbers, if they end up on the low end of estimates, could make it the worst Pixar debut ever, even in non-inflation adjusted dollars. (The original “Toy Story” debuted at $29 million in 1995, long before Disney purchased the studio in 2005. In 2023 dollars, that calculates to $58 million in 2023.)

And no, let’s be clear: It’s not just because people are used to streaming movies now, they don’t want to go back into the theater, blah blah blah. Even another film with wokeness issues, superhero movie “The Flash,” was on track to generate $58 to $60 million over the weekend, according to The Hollywood Reporter — although this too was below estimates.

(While the legal issues facing the nonbinary star of “The Flash,” Ezra Miller, may have had something to do with it, both critics and audiences seemed to be confused and put off by the film, according to metrics cited by THR.)

Furthermore, Disney had put in an all-out effort to ensure audiences went to the theater to see “Elemental” in person.

“The studio has invested heavily in marketing campaigns, positioning Elemental as a must-see event for families in theaters. It’s one of the first films Disney has been trying to recruit theater-watching individuals for following the end of the pandemic,” geek-centric outlet Giant Freakin Robot noted.

“Premiering Elemental on the closing day of the Cannes Film Festival was another attempt by Disney to create buzz around the film. However, the movie received lukewarm reviews from the few critics who saw it at Cannes, failing to generate the desired audience excitement.”

So, why the flop? This time, critics and other box-office watchers seem willing to admit that pushing social messaging in viewers’ faces doesn’t make for good art.

“Set in a world where natural elements — earth, fire, water, air — coexist in a New York-style metropolis, each representing different social classes, the film—directed by Peter Sohn, from a screenplay by John Hoberh, Kat Likkel, and Brenda Hsueh — aims high with that central metaphor but is set immediately off-balance by its unwieldiness as racial allegory, an issue compounded by haphazard pacing and writing so flatly predictable it suggests a Pixar film authored by an AI algorithm,” wrote Isaac Feldberg in a two-star review at RogerEbert.com.

“At times bordering on the nonsensical, the film feels under-developed rather than universal, a colorful missed opportunity.”

Or, as a writer at DecentFilms put it: “When a significant part of the conflict in a cartoon about talking elemental beings turns on urban infrastructure problems, building code violations, and city bureaucracy, something has gone off the rails.”

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My other blogs. Main ones below:

http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM)

http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)

http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)

http://australian-politics.blogspot.com (AUSTRALIAN POLITICS)

http://snorphty.blogspot.com/ (TONGUE-TIED)

http://jonjayray.com/blogall.html More blogs

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