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Is
Homosexuality Sinful?
Eric
V. Snow
Here
are the standard texts for why conservative Christians believe that homosexual
behavior needs to be repented of, like other sexual sins outside of monogamous
heterosexual marriage. Notice also that
there are no positive references to homosexual behavior in Scripture, unlike
the case for heterosexuality within marriage.
The overarching reason for this is that God is in the process of making
beings like Himself through humanity, as per Genesis 1:26-27; Ephesians 4:13,
which is arguably the theme of the bible.
Same sex partners can’t do this naturally. Furthermore, the essence of traditional marriage is
complementariness, in which women do one thing and men do another in different
sex/gender roles, which is why “sameness” feminism is the ideological origin
for same-sex “marriages.”
So
let’s work our way through the standard Scriptures on this subject that say
homosexual sex is always sinful.
Leviticus 18:22: “You shall not
lie with a male as one lies with a female; it is an abomination.” Leviticus 20:13: “If there is a man who lies with a male as those who lie with a
woman, both of them have committed a detestable act; they shall surely be put
to death. Their bloodguiltiness is upon
them.” Romans 1:24-28, NKJV: Therefore
God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor
their bodies among themselves, who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and
worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed
forever. Amen. For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even
their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. Likewise also
the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one
another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves
the penalty of their error which was due. And even as they did not like to
retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do
those things which are not fitting.” I Corinthians 6:9, NKJV: “Do you not know that the unrighteous will
not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor
idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites. I Timothy1:9-10: “Law is not made for a righteous man, but for those who are
lawless and rebellious, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and
profane, for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers, and
immoral men and homosexuals and kidnappers and liars and perjurers, and
whatever else is contrary to sound teaching.” Jude 7: “Just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them, since
they in the same way as these indulged in gross immorality and went after
strange flesh [a term which condemns homosexual relations in general, not just
forcible ones; Genesis 19:4-7], are exhibited as an example, in undergoing the
punishment of eternal fire.”
Of
course, liberal theologians will bend and twist the plain meaning of these
texts to escape them, but in any honest examination of such debates, the plain,
normal meaning of these texts is what God meant. Such liberal “Christian” scholars, despite all of their
impressive credentials, skills and abilities, are like those Paul mentioned in
Romans 1:23: “Professing to be wise,
they became fools.” To claim that the term
“homosexual” didn’t exist in the ancient world is irrelevant, based on the
principle, if it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, it is a duck. The behavior is condemned, so therefore, the
ones doing it are under the same judgment regardless of what label is being
used to describe it.
Joe
Dallas, who used to believe in this kind of liberal reasoning, later on
repudiated it. His book, “The Gay
Gospel: How Pro-Gay Advocates Misread
the Bible,” is useful for analyzing how the bible can’t be interpreted in the
way that liberal Christians think it should be on this subject.
Notice
that the main way theological liberals dodge these texts is to engage in
eisegesis as opposed to exegesis, by reading into the texts supposed
qualifications and limitations as to the types of homosexual activity being
condemned. They will claim that general
condemnations of homosexual sex are supposedly only about cult prostitution,
pederasty, rape, prostitution, idolatry, etc., without any warrant for doing
so. However, the texts themselves
quoted above don’t say any of this.
One
liberal argument used to try to escape the texts in Leviticus is to argue that
they are only about having a catamite or pedophilia, but that contradicts the
standard meaning of the Hebrew words translated “male” (“zakar,” Strong’s
#2145) and “female” or “woman” (Strong’s #802). The word “zakar”, according to Vine’s Word Dictionary “emphasizes
‘maleness’ as over against ‘femaleness’, this word focuses on the sex of the
one so named. . . . . The word can be used no only of an ‘adult
male’ but also of a ‘male child’ (Lev. 12:7).”
So the Hebrew word “zakar” refers to men and boys, not exclusively to
boys. So then, if liberal theologians
claim these texts only refers to boys, they are simply wrong.
In
I Corinthians 6:9, Paul uses two different Greek words to refer to condemn
homosexual activity. “Arsenokoites”
(Strong’s #733) means, “a male who practices homosexuality, pederast, sodomite”
(Bauer-Arndt-Gingrich Greek-English Lexicon, p. 109) and “One who lies with a
male as with a female, a sodomite” (Thayer’s, p. 75). The other term, “malakos” (Strong’s #3120) is a little narrower,
since it aims at the effeminate “soft” type of homosexual: “of pers. Soft, effeminate, esp. of
catamites, men and boys who allows themselves to be misused homosexually,”
(Bauer-Arndt-Gringrich, p. 488), “effeminate, of a catamite, a male who submits
his body to unnatural lewdness” (Thayer’s, p. 387). To claim, between these two terms, that there also is homosexual
behavior that they don’t condemn is absurd.
The
basic principle here concerning any kind of sin is to love the sinner, but hate
the sin. For example, consider this text (I john 3:15): "Everyone who
hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life
abiding in him." True, this text
is in particular about loving other members of the faith, but the principle
applies more broadly, since Christians shouldn’t hate other people even when it
is just thoughts in their own minds. So
we can say something is a sin, such as homosexual sex, drunkenness, abortion,
neglecting the poor, fornication, etc., but that doesn't mean that Christians
should hate unrepentant people. God is a holy and pure God, so He wants
everyone to obey His law and to be perfect as He is (Matthew 5:48). In particular, Jesus told Christians to love
our enemies (Matthew 5:43-44). That
would include homosexuals who hate Christians.
Those
who argue that the Old Testament law shouldn’t be used to condemn homosexual sex
are confusing the moral and ceremonial laws.
The moral law is still binding on Christians, such as the Ten
Commandments but much of the ceremonial law isn’t. The law related to sexual morality hardly changed in substance
between the testaments anyway.
Now,
if being homosexual is the result of heredity, does that excuse this
behavior? It should be noted that any
number of sinful tendencies may be innate to one degree or another. We all have an evil human nature that we
need to fight and overcome if we wish to please God. It has been argued, for example, that becoming alcoholic is
partially genetically based, such as concerning how well a person’s body
metabolizes alcohol. But we wouldn’t
want to argue that becoming drunk is permissible even if this line of reasoning
is true.
So
why do homosexuals normally say that they were born that way? Well, their feelings are normally the result
of certain dysfunctional family dynamics.
Long ago, before liberal political correctness totally took over the profession
of psychology, the Drs. Biebers’ study was published, which explained the
disturbed family dynamics that helped to form homosexuality in children. The normal dynamic in a family that produces
one or more homosexual children lies in the combination of a domineering,
subtly seductive mother paired with a weak, passive, but still present
father. The alternative family dynamic
that often produces homosexual sons is a tyrannical, abusive father, which
produces in some sons that they don’t want to be that way. Very few homosexuals have a good view or
relationship with their fathers; normally, they simply hate them or at least
refuse to have a close or even civil relationship with them as adults. Often, if a family has multiple children,
the mother’s subtly seductive role focuses on the youngest child (if a son) if
the family or perhaps the only child who is a boy. There’s actually very little good, reproducible medical evidence
that there’s a “gay gene.” The LaVey
study’s results, for example, haven’t been reproduced the last I heard, which
wasn’t hardly decisive to begin with.
Furthermore, consider this key point:
There’s an incredibly amount of evidence that being born with XY or XX
chromosomes has an enormous influence on life, including on thinking, not just
on anatomy. Yet we have this absurd
leftist claim, elevated to a civil right even these days, that sex/gender is
more changeable than sexual preference/orientation. However, it’s been long observed that confusion about gender and
sex roles leads to homosexuality also.
It’s no coincidence that the transgender movement is associated with the
homosexual political movement, since the origin of the latter psychologically
is really in the former.
So
Christians should work with homosexuals to encourage them to repent, such as
through small groups using some adapted version of “ten step” programs and/or
accountability partners. Merely judging
and condemning simply isn’t enough if we really want homosexuals to live
happier lives as repentant Christians.
For example, if we know someone is an alcoholic and he wants to repent
and leave that dysfunctional way of life behind, how do we work with him? We need to love the sinner but hate the
sin. However, we shouldn’t whitewash
sin either and say that it isn’t sin.
Jesus didn’t condemn the woman caught in adultery, but told her also to
go and sin no more.
For more serious, running sins that can ruin people lives
spiritually and even physically, such as alcoholism, drug addiction,
unrestrained gambling, sexual sins of all kinds (including pornography, same
sex attraction, etc.), Christians struggling with these problems may need to
form small groups or find accountability partners to discuss their problems and
how to overcome them. Although it isn’t a church, the approach of
Alcoholics Anonymous can be applied in small, informal groups as small as two
or three people so people can gain the emotional help and direction by being
directly accountable to others. Many people simply can’t overcome
serious addictions individually through prayer and fasting alone; they need
other people who support them and guide them through the process of leaving the
old sinful way of life behind. We need to hold each other
accountable individually, although that’s often best done one-on-one or in very
small groups (James 5:16, 19-20; Matthew 18:15-16). It can be very
hard to tell other people, even when it’s done privately and with carefully
chosen words, about their sins, but it’s necessary at times.
For
some practical guidance homosexuals who wish to change may wish to look up
another book by Joe Dallas’, “Desires in Conflict” for more about how to
reconcile living as a Christian with same-sex desires. Dr. Joseph Nicolosi’s “reparative therapy”
has valuable insights as well for those who are seeking help in overcoming the
problem of homosexual desires.
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Evil? Click here: /Apologeticshtml/Why Does God Allow Evil
0908.htm
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Christian teaching from ancient paganism? /Bookhtml/Paganism influence issue article
Journal 013003.htm
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Conder Round 2.htm
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Does
the Bible teach blind faith? Click
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