The actual quote is...
"nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God."
So by adding in effeminate and homosexual you've just proved everyone who says the religious just make it up as the go along correct.
The fact the word 'homosexual' didn't exist until 1892 is the giveaway.
The actual passage from 1 Corinthians 6:9 in the King James Version that Kedge has stated in previous debates he follows goes:
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,
However, the literal translation (according to Young) is:
have ye not known that the unrighteous the reign of God shall not inherit? be not led astray; neither whoremongers, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor sodomites,
The NSRV which is one of the more accurate English translations words it thusly:
Do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived! Fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, male prostitutes, sodomites,
The term being relayed as Homosexual is Sodomite, however the original context of the term Sodomite (as used by Paul) is that it refers to any sexual act that is not standard intercourse, it is not a substitution for homosexuality...this would include any immoral sexual act as defined at the time such as masturbation and oral sex and pederasty...whether it be with a man or woman doesn't matter, except obviously for the last. In fact in Greece there was no such thing as a Homosexual, there was no word for it and no definition for it, there was no reason because Pederasty was the essentially the only common form of male homosexuality that occurred, while adult homosexuality existed, it was rare and the Greeks of the time did not identify with the sexual orientation of the individual. So it is wrong to suggest that Paul was referring to adult homosexual acts as being immoral or forbidden in any of his Epistles, least of all Corinthians.
Another point that Kedge will ignore is that the passage is an instruction to the Church of Corinth who were reverting toward paganism and were seen (at that time) to be subverting the message of Christ to encompass the well known depravity and immorality that Corinth was renowned for and not a judgement on everyone, just the Christians in Corinth, he was (as Leviticus did) referring to what is known as Temple Prostitution, whereby sexual acts form the basis of worship, whether they are with men, women, or (in Leviticus) goats doesn't matter, the judgement is solely on the acts within the Church Worship itself, not the broader World. It is important to reiterate that in Paul's time the main form of male homosexuality was between Older Men and Young Boys (pederasty) as was the norm for such relationships in Greece to which Corinth was a gateway, this is seen as immoral today in our own culture and something that really irks me is that very simple misinterpretation has created an entire doctrine in many Churches. It isn't the Scripture that is at fault, but the people who, with their own bias, have interpreted the terminology to suit the agenda of the times.
I know that Kedge and any of the Catholics reading this will disagree with me, but that is my objective opinion based on my knowledge for what its worth.
He slipped the hook, though, the bugger.
