How Should We Respond
A. Consistently
First, if the Body of Christ is to effectively address moral issues in the culture, it seems she must first address whatever moral problems she has within her own ranks. We cannot, with any integrity, speak to the culture about sexual immorality if we are just as guilty of some form of sexual immorality ourselves.
B. Compassionately
It is important that we repent of our hostility toward homosexual people and recommit to bold love.
C. Courageously
The church must repent of being intimidated by the gay rights movement and recommit to her prophetic role.
Within the gay rights movement, there is a militant and influential faction that has an agenda. What is frightening about their agenda is that it is committed not only to the normalization of homosexuality, but to the silencing of anyone who opposes that normalization.
Now, the first part of that agenda has largely been accomplished. Even the President of the United States argues their cause. And over the past 40 years, most of the institutions that influence American thinking have shifted to a pro-gay position: the psychiatric institution, the institution of education, the news media, and the entertainment industry.
The primary institution that still opposes the normalization of homosexuality is the church.
As the culture has consistently shifted to a pro-gay position, it has then turned to us, the church and said, Shift with us! And, by and large, we are saying, We cant. Hence, the tension.
Reason Six: The Biblical Passages Typically Used To Condemn Lgb Relationships Are Not Talking About Lgb Relationships:
While I’m not trying to sound like a Biblical scholar or know-it-all, it irks me how blind so many Christians are to the historical context of the stories from the Hebrew Scriptures and Christian Scriptures which are typically used to condemn gay people and the fact of being gay.
Below are the some facts about the Biblical time periods, in which the “Clobber Passages” were written. These texts are typically interpreted as saying: “The Bible clearly states that being gay is a sin.” Take note, as you might learn something new about Biblical ambiguities in the Scripture.
Why do I call these passages âridiculously-usedâ? Check out these passages :
Reasons God Loves Gay Christians
1.The term homosexual didnt exist until 1892. Some modern Bible translations say that homosexuals will not inherit the kingdom of God, but neither the concept nor the word for people with exclusive same-sex attraction existed before the late 19th century. While the Bible rejects lustful same-sex behavior, thats very different from a condemnation of all gay people and relationships.
2. Sexual orientation is a new conceptone that the Christian tradition hasnt addressed. Many Christians draw on their faiths traditions to shape their beliefs, but the concept of sexual orientation is new. Until recent decades, same-sex behavior was placed in the same category with gluttony or drunkenness as a vice of excess anyone might be prone to not as the expression of a sexual orientation. The Christian tradition has never spoken to the modern issue of LGBT people and their relationships.
3. Celibacy is a gift, not a mandate. The Bible honors celibacy as a good way of living Jesus was celibate, after all but it also makes clear that celibacy must be a voluntary choice. Requiring that all gay people remain celibate is at odds with the Bibles teachings on celibacy, which are grounded Scriptures core affirmation that Gods physical creation is good.
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God Is The Highest Authority
Our personalities, inclinations, reactions, orientations, viewpoints, opinions etc. are complex. Some of these are hardwired in our genes, whereas others are influenced by our environment, circumstances, education, upbringing, and other factors.
Societies, cultures and norms are continuously changing and evolving, but God and His Word and the Spirit in the Word remain unchanged. When God specifically forbade homosexual activity and other sexual immorality, it wasnt because He was unenlightened, naïve, or intolerant. The law was given because people had strayed from His original purpose and blessing. What was immoral by Gods standards then has not become moral today just because the majority tolerates and accepts it.
We are fortunate in this day and age that human rights and freedoms have been in focus, clamping down on oppression, abuse and injustice. Every person has the right to choose their own faith, outlook on life and way of life, and that must be respected. However, if we want to live as believing Christians, Gods Word cannot be ignored. The Bible gives us many promises, but also conditions, for a good and happy life. God is our Creator, and it is only His will, as expressed in the Bible, that is unchanging and perfect in time and eternity.
Bibles Stance On Homosexuality
EditorWayte quotes selectively from the national survey on sexuality about the prevalence of homosexuality. He is doing exactly what I reported in my personal viewdistorting the evidence.
He says that the Bible references to homosexuality clearly show that they are disapproving of homosexual activity . Experts in biblical interpretation believe that in biblical times there was no understanding of the modern view of homosexual orientation as mutually supportive and affirming., Wayte is right in saying that the Bibles stance is not to bash homosexuals. Leviticus chapter 20, verse 13 reads: If a man has intercourse with a man as with a woman, both commit an abomination. They must be put to death. So the Bibles stance is not just to bash homosexuals but to murder them. Why Wayte or anyone else wants to associate themselves with such barbarous and inhuman texts is beyond my comprehension.
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Are People Born Gay
I researched if people are born gay and I couldnt find any scientific evidence that would suggest that they are.
I did find this quote from the American Psychiatric Association, so I will include it here.
Some people believe that sexual orientation is innate and fixed however, sexual orientation develops across a persons lifetime.
For a second, imagine that there is a gay gene.
That would probably imply that there is a heterosexual gene too.
If someone has an attraction to the opposite sex, then is it okay for that person to pursue a sexual relationship with that person outside of the context of marriage?
Your answer will depend on your beliefs.
If you believe that you can do whatever you want with your sexuality, then theres no reason for you not to pursue your sexual desires.
But if youre a Christian who believes that you should honor God with your body and follow His commandments, then youre going to ignore those sexual desires and not act on them.
So as you can see, whether there is such a thing as a gay gene only matters on whether you think youre accountable to God for your actions or not.
What Does The Bible Say About Sexual Sins
If this is the first article that you read on this blog, then you might think that this site is prejudice against gay or transgender people.
But thats not true!
The Bible says that there are all sorts of sexual sins that many people commit and these include:
- Adultery or cheating on ones spouse
- One night stands
- Sex with a boyfriend or girlfriend
- Masturbation
- Sexual thoughts about someone that youre not married to
This blogs position is to take a Biblical stand that all of these sexual acts are sins that can keep you from entering heaven if you have not confessed Jesus as your Lord and Savior.
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Masturbation Apart From Lust
The primary reason masturbation is condemned within Christian circles is its association with lust. In contrast to that view, as I wrote in the previous chapter, masturbation can be done without any sexual imaginations, although that is probably rare, at least among men. Masturbation can also be done without lust by married persons who imagine their spouse . Some suggest that widows and widowers would not be guilty of lust to recall sexual encounters with their former spouses .
It is also suggested by some that masturbation can be done without lust by thinking of an imaginary future spouse, rather than an actual person. The late Dr. Richard Dobbins, a licensed Christian psychologist, prolific author of numerous books on family topics, and founder of Emerge Counseling Ministries, espoused that view. In his book, Teaching Your Children the Truth About Sex, in a chapter titled, Avoiding Traps with the Opposite Sex, he wrote:
In a later chapter of Dr. Dobbins book in which he addresses questions asked by parents, I found the following question and answer interesting:
Obviously, Dr. Dobbins believed that masturbation could serve as a preventative against sexual sin and that sexually fantasizing about an imaginary future spouse does not constitute lust by an unmarried person. Moreover, he believed that masturbation that is unaccompanied by such a sexual fantasy is perverse due to its complete self-focus.
Thentheres Leviticus 1: 22 Mosaic Law Prohibitions And Leviticus : 13 Mosaic Punishments For Violating Mosaic Law:
The ridiculousness of using Leviticus to condemn ANYTHING is simply in looking at what in the world the Book of Leviticus condemns.
Rules in the Bible were always tied to some sort of reasoning. In the case of this gay sex prohibition, a consistent thread in early Judeo-Christian understanding was that semen alone was considered unclean, because sex was ONLY meant to be procreative.
Check out what God does to Onan when he ejaculates outside of a woman in Genesis 38.
In the same passages where gay sex is condemned and punished, so is eating shrimp, crop co-mingling, eating rabbit, wearing linen and wool at the same time, and eating raw meat. So if youâre going to be a Biblical literalist, you might as well start sewing your own clothes and becoming a vegetarian.
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Three Passages From The Christian Scriptures :
-
Romans 1: 26-27 âPaul speaks of God’s disdainâ
-
1 Corinthians 6: 9 âPeople who will not Inherit the Kingdom of Heavenâ
-
1 Timothy 1: 9-10 âPaul speaks of Unrighteous Peopleâ
Taking a look at the first passage, the most oft quoted one from anti-gay Christian ministers, many people forget that the word ânaturalâ has two definitions:
How do we know which definition Paul is using here? Later on in the Book of Romans, Paul writes that God acted âcontrary to nature,â and what he means isnât that God acted âimmorally or against natureâs course,â but rather that God acted âunexpectedly.â
Understanding this, and the fact that no one could truly know whether Paul really knows what is scientifically innate and what is not, Paul calls these relationships âuncustomaryâ and âuncommon.â
Jesus did many âuncommonâ things in his time. One of which was initiating a conversation with a Samaritan woman, which was âuncommon,â because Jews never spoke to Samaritans, and Jews never spoke to other peopleâs women. Surely, we cannot think that just because something is âuncommonâ that it is âevil.â
The Book Of Genesis Chapter 19
When the city of Sodom and Gomorrah is mentioned, what immediately comes to mind are gay acts.
The biblical account talked about how the men of the city were attempting to forcibly have sex with two visiting angels who appeared as men.
It was clear from this gay mob that they wanted to know the two new men who were visiting their city.
The Hebrew word for know means that they wanted to have sexual intercourse with them.
It was in that light that Lot attempted to offer his daughters as an alternative which they turned down.
Their request plainly showed they were looking for much more than a social acquaintance.
Ezekiel 16:49-50 says, Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned they did not help the poor and needy. They were haughty and did detestable things before me
The Hebrew word translated detestable refers to something that is morally disgusting and is the same word used in Leviticus 18:22 that refers to homosexuality as an abomination.
Also, notice that the book of Jude verse 7 adds the following valuable insight:
just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire.
Jude also emphasizes the nature of their sexual desires: they pursued unnatural desire .
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What Is Our Definition Of Marriage
We believe that the term ‘marriage’ has only one meaning and that is marriage sanctioned by God which joins one man and one woman in a single, exclusive union, as delineated in Scripture.
We believe that God intends sexual intimacy to only occur between a man and a woman who are married to each other.
We believe that God has commanded that no intimate sexual activity be engaged in outside of a marriage between a man and a woman.
We believe that God offers redemption and restoration to all who confess and forsake their sin, seeking His mercy and forgiveness through Jesus Christ.
We believe that every person must be afforded compassion, love, kindness, respect, and dignity.
Hateful and harassing behavior or attitudes directed toward any individual are to be repudiated and are not in accord with Scripture nor the doctrines of the church.
Gen. 2:24 Lev. 18:1-30 Rom. 1: 26-32 1 Cor. 5:1-2 6:9 1 Thess. 4:1-8 Heb. 13:4 1 Cor. 7:10 Eph. 5:22-23 Mark 10:6-9
The Book Of Leviticus Chapters 18 & 20
The Holy book of Leviticus contains two authoritative pronouncements about gay acts:
You shall not lie with a male as with a woman it is an abomination.
Leviticus 18:22
And
If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination they shall surely be put to death their blood is upon them.
Leviticus 20:13
Now let us turn to the New Testament.
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Genesis 19 And Leviticus
The story of Sodom and Gomorrah in Genesis 19 is well known. This is where the terms “sodomite” and “sodomy” originate, and it has long been associated with biblical condemnation of male homosexual sex. It is, however, actually about gang-rape.
In this story, the men of Sodom seek to rape two visitors . Their host, Lot, defends them and offers them protection in his house, but offers his virgin daughters to be raped in their place.
It is a deeply problematic and complex story that warrants an article of its own, but what is clear is that sexual violence and rape is harshly condemned, and so God destroys the town with sulphur and fire.
Despite the linguistic history of the word “sodomite”, Genesis 19 has nothing to say about homosexuality or mutually consenting adults of the same gender expressing their desire and love.
Two of the laws of Leviticus seem more pertinent. They call a man lying with another man instead of his wife an “abomination”.
We should note first that the imagined scenario is a married man committing adultery with another male. It is not describing what we would understand to be a sexual orientation.
We might also note the inherent sexism here: women apparently don’t have the same desire or their sexuality is deemed too insignificant to be worthy of comment.
Banned likewise is wearing mixed-fabric clothing, interbreeding animals of different species, tattoos, mocking the blind by putting obstacles in their way, and trimming your beard.
How Are Homosexual Desires Unlike My Sinful Desires
But homosexual desires are also unlike other sins. Paul calls them dishonorable passions because they involve natural relations for those that are contrary to nature . Homosexual desires are different because of the way they contradict what nature teaches. I think this may be seen most clearly if we reflect on the question, What is the moral significance of the emotion of revulsion at the act of sodomy?
Christians do not base what we ought to do on what we feel like doing or not doing. Desires can be deceitful.
Im using the word sodomy not as equivalent to homosexuality, but as emblematic of the kinds of practices involved in homosexual relations in this case, a mans insertion of the organ through which life is meant to enter a woman, into the organ through which waste is meant to leave a man.
Neither the feeling of desire for sodomy nor the feeling of revulsion at sodomy is a morally reliable guide. That sentence is a Christian conviction. Christians do not base what we ought to do on what we feel like doing or not doing. Desires can be deceitful . Rather, we are to understand what the will of the Lord is . Gods truth, not our desire, points the way to freedom: You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free .
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Heres What You Can Conclude About Homosexuality According To The Bible
God never designed homosexuality, and it has never been in His original plan for humankind.
God desires all people engaged in a gay lifestyle to give their lives over to Him so that He can help them with their same-sex attraction.
If someone struggled with same-sex attraction and tried to quit on their own, then I can guarantee that at some point they will fail and fall into temptation.
The only solution is to become born again because when you do, then God gives you a new heart and a new desire to please Him.
You cant do it on your own. You will always need Gods help.