What The Bible Says About Sexual Relations
Its important to talk about sexual relations, because this is really what is most important to the Most High. Because the act of having sex holds great significance to our relationships.
The Paul tells us to flee fornication because it is a sin that we commit against our bodies. As you may or not know our bodies are the temple of God.
1 Corinthians 6:18
18 Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body.
In the preceding verse the importance of the our bodies is explained also:
1 Corinthians 6:15-16
15 Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ? shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them the members of an harlot? God forbid.
16 What? know ye not that he which is joined to an harlot is one body? for two, saith he, shall be one flesh.
The Most high gives us clear instructions in this area, about who our sexual preference should be. And we are told to have relations with the opposite sex.
Scriptures confirming this and tell us that a man should not lie with a woman a man as he lies with a woman.
Leviticus 18:22
22 Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination.
When sexual relations take place, this is when the bible says the act of homosexuality takes place. The bible refers to it as an abomination.
Any perverse thoughts and mannerism can be dealt with by fasting an praying. Read my post here.
Perhaps You Have Run Into This Argument
Perhaps you have run into this argument, common among progressives, anti-theists, and apostates alike. The presuppositions necessary for this position are that homosexual actions are inseparable from homosexual identity and that the Bible prohibiting same-sex behaviors therefore is a personal attack against the identity of the person. The argument is simply as follows,
Premise 1: The Bible didnt prohibit homosexuality as such until the RSV translation in 1946.
Premise 2: What the Bible was prohibiting previously to the RSV was slave/master relationships or pederasty.
Premise 3: Because the Bible didnt prohibit homosexuality as such until 1946, Christian ethics on sexuality are confused.
Biblical Passages That Mention Homosexuality:
Biblical passages that mention homosexuality:
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.
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.
I Corinthians 6:9 – 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.
1 Timothy 1:10 – For the sexually immoral, for those practicing homosexuality, for slave traders and liars and perjurers – and for whatever else is contrary to the sound doctrine.
Source: biblegateway.com
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Love In Every Season: Understanding The Four Stages Of A Healthy Relationship
Every relationship goes through four life-changing seasons: Spring. Summer. Fall. Winter. Each season plays an important role in taking your relationship to the next level. And depending on how you navigate each season, your relationship will either flourish and grow, or it will slowly die. Whether youre single, dating, engaged or married, join licensed professional counselor and relationship expert, Debra Fileta as she takes you on an eye-opening psychological and spiritual journey through the four seasons that she has observed in every healthy relationship.
V Conclusion: Loving In Truthmy Background
The Bible is realistic about human nature. It tells us that we all fall short of Gods standard of righteousness, and thus none are righteous before Him . All other religions of the world somehow offer the hope that by self-effort heaven may be achieved. The Bible does not do that. Instead the Bible gives us Gods humanly-impossible-to-attain standard.
But then God intervened. While it was impossible for me to overcome, it was not impossible for God. He used a combination of His Word that I was reading, and of messages that I heard on the radio to open my eyes to the rest of the truth.
My journal at this time goes from records of my continual failures each day, of my heart being so hard against God, of my struggling anguish, of the realities of my sinfulness, of knowing that I needed to repent yet could not in my cold-heartedness to all of a sudden ecstatically thanking God for His amazing love.
What happened? Over time I had realized my sinfulness in its awful self-destroying reality. I realized fully my incapability. I could not fix my life on my own. I could not earn Gods love, approval, or forgiveness. In my pride and self-sufficiency I needed to see the realities of my situation before I would or could humble myself enough to throw myself entirely on Gods grace. But as I did see those realities and surrendered myself to Him, He opened my eyes to also truly realize His love and grace.
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How To Please God Despite Having Same
The Bible says: Dont be controlled by your body. Kill every desire for the wrong kind of sex. To kill wrong desires, which lead to wrong actions, you need to control your thinking. If you regularly fill your mind with wholesome thoughts, you can more readily dismiss wrong desires. While you may struggle greatly at first, it can become easier. God promises to help you to be made new in the force actuating your mind.Ephesians 4:22-24.
The same struggle is faced by millions with heterosexual desires who wish to conform to the Bibles standards. For example, those who are single with little prospect of marriage or who are married to a partner who is unable to function sexually choose to control their sexual urges despite any temptations they might face. They are able to live happily, and those with same-sex urges can do so as well if they truly want to please God.Deuteronomy 30:19.
Bible Verses About Homosexuality
What does the Bible say about homosexuality? Are same-sex relations condemned in scripture?
Although homosexuality is explicitly addressed primarily in the Old Testament, there are related Bible verses also to be found in the New Testament. Throughout both halves, the Bible is clearly resolute in that homosexuality and same-sex relations are condemned as an abomination .
Not only is homosexuality described as unnatural behavior but furthermore an indication of severe wickedness and abandonment of God. Scripture warns us to be cautious of those who partake in sexual immorality, whether adulterous or homosexual.
However, the gospel of Jesus Christ offers redemption and salvation from the death of sin, including homosexuality, if we repent for our wrongdoing and believe in Him. There is always hope for those who have fallen into the snare of lust or hatred to find sanctification, hope, and eternal life in Christ.
Browse the many specific Bible verses about homosexuality in the collection of scripture quotes below:
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Biblical Verses Related To Homosexuality
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.
1 Corinthians 6:9-11
Or 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 effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God. Such were some of you but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.
1 Timothy 1:9
realizing the fact that law is not made for a righteous person, 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
1 Timothy 1:8-10
and immoral men and homosexuals and kidnappers and liars and perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound teaching, But we know that the Law is good, if one uses it lawfully,
1 Timothy 1:9-11
according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, with which I have been entrusted.
Romans 1:18-32
Romans 1:26-27
1 Kings 14:24
1 Kings 15:12
He also put away the male cult prostitutes from the land and removed all the idols which his fathers had made.
2 Kings 23:7
Challenge: The Bible Only Mentions Homosexuality Six Times
In an article about Fuller Seminarys new student group, OneTable, created to be a safe place for dialogue between LGBTQ students and the wider Fuller community, a student explains the shift in her beliefs about homosexuality:
In a blog post from this past spring, OneTables former presidentsimply identified as Samanthashared her personal story of growing up as a Christian, but eventually becoming more tolerant of the homosexual lifestyle. Through a week-long FTS/Young Life ethics course, she came to doubt her long-held belief that being gay was a sin.
I was shocked, absolutely floored, she wrote about the ethics course, to learn that the Bible only explicitly references homosexuality six times in both testaments combined. What!?!? How had no one ever told me that? I felt slighted by my faith communities and by the guidance and teachings they had offered me. When we watched For the Bible Tells Me So, I was moved to tears by the hatred and intolerance the gay community had suffered in the hands of the Church.
Remember that in this case, youre speaking to someone who is attending a seminary, so I think it would also be helpful to address the view of sexuality expressed throughout the Bible.
Lets hear how you would graciously respond to Samantha, and then Alan will give his video response on Thursday.
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The Bible Mentions Homosexuality 7 Times But Poverty 300 Times
here are really only seven passages in the Bible that refer directly to homosexual behavior, and none of them are associated with Jesus. Compare that to the more than 250 verses on the proper use of wealth or more than 300 on our responsibility to care for the poor and work for justice, and you appreciate quickly that homosexuality was not exactly a major theme of the Bible.
The precise estimates of how often the Bible mentions each of these vary. Nonetheless, that there is a big gap is pretty clear. What is less clear is that those seven passages actually prohibit homosexuality. Along with many other Christians I would argue they are either time specific injunctions that are no longer binding or bars on rape or prostitution. Whats more theres a double standard in how passages relating to sexual and financial morality are treated. Though shalt not lie with a man as with a women is generally taken as an inviolable rule, while go, sell your possessions and give to the poor is generally treated as at most as steer.
Whether or not one thinks homosexuality should be an issue for Christians, it evidently should not have become a defining issue. When choosing our priorities as a broad steer we should probably gravitate towards issues Jesus actually mentioned.
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Revisionist Scholars Argue The Bible Does Not Condemn Same
Revisionist scholars have published several recent books that argue the Bible does not condemn same-sex behavior. These include recent academic treatments like James Brownsons The Bible, Gender and Sexuality and Matthew Viness popular bookGod and the Gay Christian: The Biblical Case in Support of Same-Sex Relationships .
A magazine article doesnt allow sufficient space to address every revisionist argument, nor can I demonstrate the Bibles overwhelming positive evidence for sex being the unique one-flesh bond that exists only between men and women . Instead, Ill focus on the attempts to reinterpret the passages in Scripture that condemn same-sex intercourse.
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Kim Davis, the clerk of Rowan County, Kentucky, returns to her post soon, after spending five nights in jail and then a few more days recovering at home. A Pentecostal Christian, Davis says Gods authority instructs her not to issue licenses for gay marriage, even though the law compels her to. Presidential contenders, including Ted Cruz and Mike Huckabee, both fundamentalists, have praised her stance.
Its undeniable that the earliest scripture books, the ones Christians call the Pentateuch and Jews call the Torah, dont like same-sex relations. At the Garden of Eden, God decrees that a man will be the husband and a woman the wife. In Leviticus 18:22, the text states, You shall not lie with a male as with a woman it is an abomination. In 20:13, Leviticus specifies that both parties in male-male sex shall be put to death.
That seems open-and-shut, though one might wonder why Davis, Cruz, Huckabee and the like seek only to deny gays marriage, rather than execute them as God decreed.
Is It Unhealthy Or Unloving To Ask Someone To Suppress Their Sexual Urges
First, we ask people to do that all the time. It is unhealthy not to suppress your sexual urges. If someone has a desire for incest or rape, we all agree that those urges should definitely not be acted on. Additionally, the Bible is not asking people to suppress their sexual urges . It is asking them to confess their urges. It is asking them to take desires they have and give them over to Jesus so they dont have to carry them anymore.
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Will Homosexuals Go To Heaven
- As mentioned in the Interpretation and Questions section above, these verses have been translated from the original Greek into English in various ways, and there are uncertainties about which specific homosexual practices are intended.
- As stated in verse 11 of , all these sins are sins that God will forgive if a person repents.
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Historical And Cultural Perspectives
The history of Christianity and homosexuality has been much debated. The Hebrew Bible/Old Testament and its traditional interpretations in Judaism and Christianity have historically affirmed and endorsed a patriarchal and heteronormative approach towards human sexuality, favouring exclusively penetrative vaginal intercourse between men and women within the boundaries of over all other forms of human sexual activity, including autoeroticism, masturbation, oral sex, non-penetrative and non-heterosexual sexual intercourse , believing and teaching that such behaviors are forbidden because they’re considered sinful, and further compared to or derived from the behavior of the alleged residents of Sodom and Gomorrah. However, the status of LGBT people in early Christianity is debated.
A statement by the Bishops of the Church of England in 1991 illustrates a categorization and understanding of homosexuality, claiming that in ancient times “society recognized the existence of those, predominantly male, who appeared to be attracted entirely to members of their own sex.” which almost parallels that of modern ideation. The same study is careful to point out that “the modern concept of orientation has been developed against a background of genetic and psychological theory which was not available to the ancient world.”
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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.
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.