Thou Shalt Never

As I was thinking today about the "Thou shalt nevers" of the Bible, it occurred to me that I cannot remember very many blanket prohibitions. Every time I can think of that there is a command to never ever do something, it is a subcategory that is forbidden. Despite the way that many people quote the 10 commandments, number 8 says "You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor" [in a trial], not "You shall not lie". Most of us, after all, have lied before without feeling that it was wrong. Most of us agree that we should not murder, but fewer agree that we should never ever kill. The new testament has volumes to say against drunkenness, but even Christ drank wine.

Most evangelicals today would label pornography as a "Thou shalt never", but I wonder if it would still be sinful for a man or a woman to give their spouse a naked photograph of themselves as a joke on Valentine's Day. Masturbation is hotly disputed today, but I wonder, in the most extreme case, how it can be sinful for a man to do the test at a fertility clinic. Lust is called adultery of the heart in the Sermon on the Mount, but "attraction" and "chemistry" are at least close cousins of lust that bring two people together before they make the commitment of marriage.

So the first question is this: When Christians say that homosexuality in all its manifestations is sinful, is this a specific or a broad statement? In other words, where does it fall if you were to create a spectrum with a specific statement on one end, such as, "Having sex with a married person is sinful," and a broad statement on the other, such as, "Heterosexuality is sinful." Depending on how you play with the words, you could say, "Having sex with a person of the same gender is sinful," or "Homosexuality is sinful." One sounds specific and the other sounds broad. Which do you believe that it is?

If it is a specific statement, then are there any exceptions at all? These might be similar to, "Pornography is sinful, unless it is exchanged willfully between married partners in a non-degrading manner."

If it is a broad statement, then can anybody think of a precedent for such a broad prohibition? This might be similar to what some pacifists believe, such as, "Killing is always always sinful."

Joshua