As some of you may know, last year I was invited to a conference of young Christians to share my testimony. As the theme of the conference was the Biblical perspective on relationships and sexuality I decided to also expound on the theology behind why Christians consider homosexuality a sin and counter the arguments commonly used by pro-gay 'churches'. I wanted to highlight the arguments that homosexual theologians use and share my thoughts on why they are incorrect. There was a time when I believed many of these arguments myself. I was just reading through some of the notes I used and thought that it may interest some of you so decided to post it here. In the interests of trying to keep the post length down I will try and be as brief as possible.
The Beginning
Firstly, before one looks at the scriptures which specifically mention homosexuality and talking about what God is against I feel it is important to look at the scriptures to see what God is for. In the book of Genesis we read about God creating mankind. In Genesis 2 when God created Eve it says in verses 23-24: 'The man said, “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called ‘woman,’ for she was taken out of man.” That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh.
Jesus also reiterated this in Matthew 19:4-6 when he said: “Haven’t you read,” he replied, “that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’ and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh? So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.”
From this it seems the Bible is clear that God's intention for relationships is between male and female. God created men and women for each other.
Old Testament Prohibitions
Leviticus 18:22:Do not have sexual relations with a man as one does with a woman; that is detestable.
Leviticus 20:13: If a man has sexual relations with a man as one does with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable. They are to be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads.
Pro-gay theologians would argue that the prohibitions against homosexuality in Leviticus no longer apply because we disregard many of the other old testament laws such as dietary laws amongst others. However, this argument fails to address the distinction between the moral and ceremonial law. The ten commandments are just as valid for us today as they were in old testament times for example. Beyond that, one only has to read the rest of Leviticus 18 to see that there are prohibitions to be found against incest, beastiality and child sacrifice. Would anyone wish to argue that these verses no longer apply either? Why single out the verse about homosexuality and say that no longer applies but the rest of the chapter does?
Yet even if one completely disregards all of the old testament, homosexuality isn't talked about in much of a better light in the new testament.
New Testament Prohibitions
Romans 1:24-27: Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error.
1 Corinthians 6:9-11:Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
The passage in Romans is possibly the most upfront and blatant descriptions of homosexuality found in the Bible. It is also the one passage that specifically mentions female homosexuality. It is also the passage that pro-gay theologians have attempted to pervert more than any other. The argument that they came up with is so asinine that anyone with any understanding of the Bible can see the error.
Pro-gay theologians tend to focus on the terms 'natural' and 'unnatural'. The argument goes that this passage is condemning those who are 'naturally heterosexual' engaging in homosexual acts but not those who are 'naturally homosexual' from engaging in them. This peculiar argument is then twisted to say that this passage of scripture also condemns those who are 'naturally homosexual' engaging in heterosexual sex.
Looking at the wider picture of Romans chapter 1 really helps us to see the context of these verses. It seems to be from the perspective of God looking down on our broken, fallen world and seeing the sin that we are involved in because we have turned away from Him. In fact reading Romans 1 gives us a very accurate picture of us as a society that applies just as much today as it did 2,000 years ago. For this reason I believe that it is very clear this passage is condemning homosexuality as a perversion of what God intended for us.
In the passage in Corinthians, pro-gay theologians once again try to argue that it doesn't mean what it says by attacking the translation from the original Greek words. Yet if one has already considered what the Bible has said about homosexuality up to this point then any argument against the meaning of the words becomes worthless. For in addition to any mention of homosexuality this passage clearly mentions the 'sexually immoral'. Sexual morality is established throughout scripture as being between a man and a woman in the confines of marriage.
On a more personal note what I love about the passage in Corinthians is that it concludes with 'Such were some of you'. This clearly shows that people can and do change. This provides hope for the homosexual, but not just for them but for all sinners. As the Christians here on TOL can testify, God saved and changed each one of us. He can do it for others too, if they want Him. But whilst people come up with arguments as to why the Bible doesn't say what it does and does say what it doesn't, making excuses for their sinful behavior then they cannot find forgiveness. People can only change and be forgiven if they want to.
To read the Bible without adding our own ideas we can only come to the conclusion that homosexuality is a sin. Pro-gay theologians have to come up with arguments that add their own ideas to scripture. In closing I will leave you with this thought that my Dad taught me a while ago in regards to how we look at scripture:
If the literal sense makes sense,
Seek no further sense lest it result in nonsense.
Great stuff, Pete. I have highlighted the profound statements in this post.
