The Bible and homosexuality

The penis and vagina were clearly designed to work together, as a part of what the Bible calls a 'one flesh' relationship. Genesis 2 defines heterosexual marriage as, ideally, the lifelong setting for this. However, why should a homosexual relationship offend God, especially when it may bring so much fulfilment? I wonder if it's because in the Genesis narrative we see much more than a lifelong monogamous relationship of love? Perhaps even more than a potentially procreative relationship? Perhaps God also originally intended sex (ie an orgasm) to be mankind celebrating the very act of God's creation? It is not simply a means of procreation or of expressing love. Therefore any sex outside this ideal, profanes God's purposes for sex, no matter how loving and pleasing it may be from a human point of view. In a sense it's a 'spiritual' or 'theological' prohibition, rather than a 'sociological' one.

This is why Paul mentions male and female homosexual acts in Romans 1, alongside many other examples of human disobedience, resulting from the Fall. Ways in which we "..exchange the truth of God for a lie and worship created things, rather than the Creator" (Romans 1:25). I guess Paul wants to show us why we need the Gospel. An often misunderstood biblical reference to homosexuality is in 1 Corinthians 6:9-11. Paul lists behaviour, which is not compatible with God's Kingdom, including idiolatry (pride), greed and stealing. He then uses two Greek words, often translated as 'homosexual offenders' and 'male prostitutes' (NIV). The first word is unusual, but similar to one in the Greek translation of Leviticus 18:22. It describes the behaviour of a man (probably a 'macho' personality) using another man sexually as if he (the other) was a woman. Such behaviour was not uncommon in the Greek culture and the 'macho' person concerned would not necessarily have been disrespected. However, the other Greek word describes the behaviour of a man submitting to the aforementioned homosexual behaviour. In other words, the more passive partner, not necessarily a 'male prostitute'. This person would have been ridiculed and not respected in Paul's culture.