Translation help
Someone told me that in the original Greek, the Bible didn’t say to a man: do not lie with another man but that it says don’t lie with a boy (to prevent abuse). Please help.
It looks like your request is addressing Leviticus 20:13. The 1984 NIV rendered that verse this way: “If a man lies with a man as one lies with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable.” The 2011 NIV puts that verse this way: “If a man has sexual relations with a man as one does with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable.”
The Hebrew language, the primary language of the Old Testament, has several words that can be translated “man.” The Hebrew word that is translated “with a man” in the verse above refers to a “man” or a “male.”
Context will determine the particular shading of words. So, for example, the Hebrew word referenced can mean “boy” in some contexts. That is what we find in Jeremiah 20:15: “Cursed be the man who brought my father the news, who made him very glad, saying, ‘A child is born to you—a son!’” The context of that verse makes it clear that the Hebrew word is not speaking of a man but a male child.
The context of Leviticus 20 makes it clear that there is a contrast with “woman.” “If a man lies with a man as one lies with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable.” God designed sexual relations to take place between a man and a woman in marriage. Leviticus 20:13 condemns the practice of a man having sexual relations with another man as he would with a woman (in marriage).
People who support same-sex activity and same-sex marriage look for the Bible to differentiate between abusive same-sex relationships and consenting same-sex relationships: condemning the former but approving the latter. The Bible makes no distinction like that; it forbids and condemns all sexual relations that take place between men only and between women only.
While Leviticus 20:13 (and Leviticus 18:22) were part of the Mosaic code that governed Old Testament Israel, we find the same condemnation of same-sex activity in Romans 1:24-32 and 1 Corinthians 6:9-10.
With that last passage in mind, it is important to note that it is not particular sins that keep people out of the kingdom of God; it is impenitence and unbelief. God wants all to come to repentance and believe in him to enjoy salvation (1 Timothy 2:4; 2 Peter 3:9).