Born that Way? The largest battle being fought in America today is between some churches and the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) community. These two sides have been at war for many years and neither has given in or let down. One side, churches, believes whole-heartedly that homosexuality is a sin and should not be accepted in society today, mostly illustrated through homosexual marriage. On the flip side, however, homosexuals believe that they are an oppressed minority that just wants to feel like they belong somewhere. They would like the right to marry whomever they please and at whatever the cost. The whole situation is caused by tradition versus conformation in some churches, and the effect of this is a battle between two …show more content…
It has been used so rarely in the ancient Greek literature that no one actually knows what it exactly translates to; however, we do know its components. Arsen translates to the word “male,” while koites translates to “bed” (Vines 116). Typically, koites has a sexual connotation about it, so linguists have associated arsenokoitai to mean something along the lines of “men who sleep with other men” (116). Vines, however, uses the word “understand” to illustrate a valid argument. Understand’s components consist of two words: “under” and “stand,” but the word itself has nothing to do with neither the act of being under something nor the act of standing. Although the word arsenokoitai has been used so rarely in history, there have been several instances in ancient Greek text that may point us in the direction of discovering this elusive word’s true meaning. A text known as the Sibylline Oracles has survived all these years and might even give us clearer context clues to help define arsenokoitai. Arsenokoitai is used in the following context: “Do not steal seeds. Whoever takes for himself is accursed to generations of generations, to the scattering of life. Do not arsenokoitein, do not betray information, do not murder” (Vines 117); furthermore, the Sibylline Oracles continue later to address sexual acts, but arsenokoitai is not used in this section of the literature. How can we use this word to address sexual offenses if it is used address primarily economic and social laws? Similarly, the same incident occurs in another text: the Acts of John. Arsenokotai is used to condemn a primarily economic injustice opposed to a sexual one (118). Now, we must look to see if the meaning of the two words used together differs from them being used