Whatever Commandment There May Be

By Davian Aw

How should the overarching message of Christianity inform our response to the moral issues of our time?

This book challenges the belief that homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teachings, providing intelligent, witty and meticulous study of the contextual and historical background behind those parts of Scripture.

The book also addresses some of the harmful myths and misconceptions about the LGBT community that still pervade many Christian circles, and calls for the church to respond in a way that exemplifies the love that Jesus stood for; even - perhaps especially - when we disagree.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Davian Aw
• Release date: Jun 30, 2018
• ISBN: 9780463633939

Davian Aw

Davian Aw is a Singaporean writer whose short fiction and poetry – for which he was nominated for the 2018 Rhysling Award – have appeared in a number of local and international publications. He serves on the worship team at Free Community Church and was co-facilitator for its 2015 run of Living Water, a support group for gay Christian men seeking to reconcile their faith and sexuality. He was baptised at FCC on Easter 2018

Book preview

Test all things; hold fast what is good.

– 1 Thessalonians 5:21

Whatever Commandment There May Be

A Christian response to homosexuality

(2025 Online Edition)

By Davian Aw

On behalf of Free Community Church

In loving memory of

Rev Dr Yap Kim Hao

Scripture quotations marked NIV are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Scripture quotations marked NKJV are from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked NASB are from the New American Standard Bible® (NASB), Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation Used by permission. www.Lockman.org

Scripture quotations marked ESV are from The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Contents

​Preface 4

Genesis 19: Sodom and Gomorrah 6

Mutual Love and Consent 11

Leviticus 18:22 and 20:13 14

Biology 21

Romans 1:26-27 23

Arsenokoitai and Malakoi 31

The Anatomy of Sin 40

Reparative Therapy and the Obligation of Celibacy 46

Temptation 56

On Suicide, Depression and Promiscuity in the LGBTQ Community 62

All the Law and the Prophets 68

Maximal Justice 73

Mere Christianity 76

About the Author 79

About Free Community Church 80

​ Preface

In 2014, the National Council of Churches Singapore (NCCS) published a book by Dr. Roland Chia called Homosexuality: Questions and Answers. I was deeply unsettled by its propagation of dangerous and often baffling myths and misconceptions about homosexuality, many based on logical fallacies and what seemed to be wilful misunderstandings of the experiences of LGBTQ people.

Whatever Commandment There May Be was my response to that book. It was published in 2018, and mailed out to all the Christian churches in Singapore with the encouragement, support and funding of the late Rev Dr Yap Kim Hao.

It has been 7 years since. I am grateful for how churches are no longer as openly hostile to LGBTQ people as they used to be. Uncritical condemnation of homosexuality nonetheless persists, while US-fuelled transphobia – unfortunately beyond the scope of this book – is on a disturbing rise. Many LGBTQ Christians still experience considerable distress at the thought that God does not love and accept them as they are, as the majority of churches here continue to teach.

I decided to make this book freely available online in the hope it may help someone who needs it. There are many other excellent books on this subject, but they are: 1) quite long; 2) cater mostly to a Western audience; and 3) you can’t legally download them off the internet.

I want to thank all the pastors and friends who took their time to vet the earlier editions of this book and provide me with invaluable feedback. I’ve made some edits to this edition for clarity, conciseness and accuracy.

As before, I acknowledge my limited understanding and human fallibility. Regardless of where we may disagree, I recognise that my fellow Christians are on the same journey as I am to live out the lives that Jesus calls us to.

I believe, in the end, we’re all seeking the truth.

Davian Aw

January 2025

​ Genesis 19: Sodom and Gomorrah

Let’s jump right in and start with Genesis 19: the first of six passages in the Bible typically cited to condemn homosexuality. We read here of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.

The chapter begins with two male travellers – actually angels – arriving in the city of Sodom. A man named Lot graciously opens his home to them. That night, all the men of the city surround the house and demand that Lot bring out those men so that they can have sex with them. Lot refuses, whereupon they threaten to treat him worse than those men, and try to break down his door.

The traditional assumption is that Sodom was destroyed for homosexuality. After all, those men wanted to have sex with men. I made the same assumption as a kid; I was so scandalised by the explicit mention of gay sex in the Bible that it overshadowed all the other context of the passage. Yet, looking at the whole picture, it is impossible to see this as anything other than attempted gang rape.

Nothing in this story suggests sexual attraction. Rape is a sexual act, but one not about sexual fulfilment as much as the violent domination of another person. Conquering soldiers in the ancient world would often rape their defeated enemies – not because they found them irresistibly attractive, but because it was a way to further humiliate and emasculate them. A modern equivalent would be prison rape. The perpetrators are not acting out of attraction, let alone love. Their intent is to violently harm another person.

Lot begs the men not to do this wicked thing. He offers his virgin daughters to them instead, somehow considering that less wicked. It would be easy to assume that homosexuality was thus the wicked thing he was referring to. Yet not only would gay men have been completely uninterested in his daughters, but Lot himself explains his actions in the very same paragraph (bolds mine):

"Look, I have two daughters who have never slept with a man. Let me bring them out to you, and you can do what you like with them. But don’t do anything to these men, for they have come under the protection of my roof."

– Genesis 19:8 (NIV)

Lot did not say, for raping women would be a lesser sin than consensual sex with men. His concern instead was that these were his guests to whom he had promised protection, and he was determined to keep his word even