fisherking01
10-14-2006, 06:57 PM
“The Bible and Homosexuality”
by Dr. Bob Rogers, Pastor
First Baptist Church
Rincon, Georgia
Ecclesiastes 3:7 says there is a time to be silent and a time to speak. During the summer of 2003, political correctness ran rampant over biblical correctness like a steam roller in the public media. Canada approved gay marriage, the Supreme Court banned anti-sodomy laws, and the Episcopal Church gave official approval to an openly-gay bishop and allowed liturgies to bless same-sex marriage (although there was strong opposition from more conservative Episcopalians). I believe God’s wrath is aroused and it is time for all Christians, not just conservative Episcopalians, to speak up for the truth.
At the same time, Ephesians 4:15 reminds us to "speak the truth in love." As a young man, I was homosexually abused. It only happened once, but I'll never forget it, and at one time it was hard for me to preach on this issue without anger. Bitterness is also a sin. But I have confessed that, and I will seek in this message a balanced approach, speaking the truth, but speaking it in love.
1. THE BIBLE CONSISTENTLY CONDEMNS HOMOSEXUALITY AS SIN
From the homosexual sin of Sodom in Genesis 19 we get our term for homosexual sin, “sodomy.” Throughout scripture sodomy is condemned. All Scriptures New Internatinal Version (NIV), unless otherwise noted.
Genesis 19:4-8
They called to Lot, "Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so that we can have sex with them." Lot went outside to meet them and shut the door behind him and said, "No, my friends. Don't do this wicked thing. Look, I have two daughters who have never slept with a man. Let me bring them out to you, and you can do what you like with them. But don't do anything to these men, for they have come under the protection of my roof."
Leviticus 18:22
"'Do not lie with a man as one lies with a woman; that is detestable.
Leviticus 20:13
"'If a man lies with a man as one lies with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable. They must be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads.
Judges 19:22-23
While they were enjoying themselves, some of the wicked men of the city surrounded the house. Pounding on the door, they shouted to the old man who owned the house, "Bring out the man who came to your house so we can have sex with him." The owner of the house went outside and said to them, "No, my friends, don't be so vile. Since this man is my guest, don't do this disgraceful thing.
1 Kings 14:24
There were even male shrine prostitutes in the land; the people engaged in all the detestable practices of the nations the LORD had driven out before the Israelites.
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 of 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 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 indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion.
1 Corinthians 6:9-10
Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders 10 nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.
2. SO HOW DO HOMOSEXUALS JUSTIFY THEIR BEHAVIOR BY THE BIBLE?
1) The Sin of Sodom Argument
Gay activitists claim that Ezekiel 16:49 says the sin of Sodom was social injustice, not sexual. But Ezekiel 16:50 goes on to say they did detestable things, and Jude 7 specifies those detestable things were sexual immorality.
Ezekiel 16:49-50
"'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. Therefore I did away with them as you have seen.
Jude 7
In a similar way, Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding towns gave themselves up to sexual immorality and perversion. They serve as an example of those who suffer the punishment of eternal fire.
2) The “outdated like slavery” argument
Gay activists claim that some ethical commands of the Bible are outdated. They love to say, “The Bible tells slaves to obey their masters, and people now know that was wrong. Likewise, it’s wrong to condemn homosexuality.”
This argument depends on a dangerous view of scripture. If you can dismiss scripture just because the culture considers it outdated, you’re on a dangerous slope. How can you believe anything in the Bible with such an attitude?
Not only that, but gay activists twist scripture to come up with this reasoning.
It is twisting scripture to claim that because slaves were told to obey their masters that the Bible was supporting slavery. The Bible was merely instructing Christian slaves in how to behave in their situation. It was not endorsing slavery. In the little New Testament book of Philemon, Paul urged Philemon to free his slave Onesimus. And slave trading is condemned as sin along with homosexuality in 1 Timothy 9:10.
1 Timothy 1:9-10
We also know that law is made not for the righteous but for lawbreakers and rebels, the ungodly and sinful, the unholy and irreligious; for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers, for adulterers and perverts, for slave traders and liars and perjurers-and for whatever else is contrary to the sound doctrine.
NOTE: The Greek word used for “perverts” in the NIV is translated “homosexuals” in the New American Standard Bible and Holman Christian Standard Bible, and "sodomites" in the New Revised Standard Version and New King James Version. The word means a man who defiles himself with another man. The word translated “slave trader” means one who kidnaps another man to enslave him.
3) The “gay examples in the Bible” argument
Same-sex friendships in the Bible such as between Jonathan and David or Ruth and Naomi are said to be models for homosexual relationships. This is twisting scripture to fit the gay agenda. Nowhere does the Bible say these friendships were sexual in nature.
4) The “male nor female” argument
This argument reinterprets Galatians 3:28. Galatians 3:28 says, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”
Gay activists point to this verse to claim that people can be Christians, whatever their sexual orientation, whether “male or female.”
Gay activists are reading into this passage something that simply is not there. Paul clearly was saying that both men and women are equal in Christ. This in no way says or even implies that males who prefer males or females who prefer females are equal in Christ.
But gay activists cleverly respond, “but God made homosexuals that way, they can’t change, so it is just like being male or female.”
This popular statement by gay activists is contradicted by scientific and psychological research and by the testimonies of many former homosexuals that they did change.
Scientific claims that gays are born with a genetic difference are based on faulty research. If homosexuality were truly genetic, then all identical twins would have the same sexual orientation. However, only about half of the time when a homosexual has an identical twin is the twin also homosexual. If it’s genetic, why don’t all identical twins have the same sexual orientation? (Exodus International FAQs page, exodus-international.org/exodus_faqs.shtml)
New Directions has a report that summarizes 31 studies done on sexual orientation that found 45 people who completely changed from homosexuality to heterosexuality, 86 homosexual people who “acquired” heterosexual behavior, and 287 homosexual people who had partial shifts toward some heterosexual desires and attractions.
The research shows that change is not easy, but people can change. (“Homosexuality and the Possibility of Change,” newdirection.ca/a_change.htm)
Most important of all are the testimonies of people who have experienced freedom from homosexuality by Christ. Their struggles to overcome homosexuality are not easy nor all the same. But through Christ, and through loving Christians, they are finding freedom from homosexuality.
Check the web page of Exodus International, www.exodus-international.org, for many testimonies of people who have found freedom in Christ from the gay lifestye.
Ephesians 3:18 speaks of the amazing love of Christ: “how wide and how long and how high and how deep is the love of Christ!” That love is long enough to reach the homosexual who has run from God for many long years. That love is deep enough to reach down into the filthy gay lifestyle and lift any person up to forgiveness.
Dr. Bob Rogers, Pastor
First Baptist Church
201 E. 6th St.
Rincon, GA 31326
by Dr. Bob Rogers, Pastor
First Baptist Church
Rincon, Georgia
Ecclesiastes 3:7 says there is a time to be silent and a time to speak. During the summer of 2003, political correctness ran rampant over biblical correctness like a steam roller in the public media. Canada approved gay marriage, the Supreme Court banned anti-sodomy laws, and the Episcopal Church gave official approval to an openly-gay bishop and allowed liturgies to bless same-sex marriage (although there was strong opposition from more conservative Episcopalians). I believe God’s wrath is aroused and it is time for all Christians, not just conservative Episcopalians, to speak up for the truth.
At the same time, Ephesians 4:15 reminds us to "speak the truth in love." As a young man, I was homosexually abused. It only happened once, but I'll never forget it, and at one time it was hard for me to preach on this issue without anger. Bitterness is also a sin. But I have confessed that, and I will seek in this message a balanced approach, speaking the truth, but speaking it in love.
1. THE BIBLE CONSISTENTLY CONDEMNS HOMOSEXUALITY AS SIN
From the homosexual sin of Sodom in Genesis 19 we get our term for homosexual sin, “sodomy.” Throughout scripture sodomy is condemned. All Scriptures New Internatinal Version (NIV), unless otherwise noted.
Genesis 19:4-8
They called to Lot, "Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so that we can have sex with them." Lot went outside to meet them and shut the door behind him and said, "No, my friends. Don't do this wicked thing. Look, I have two daughters who have never slept with a man. Let me bring them out to you, and you can do what you like with them. But don't do anything to these men, for they have come under the protection of my roof."
Leviticus 18:22
"'Do not lie with a man as one lies with a woman; that is detestable.
Leviticus 20:13
"'If a man lies with a man as one lies with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable. They must be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads.
Judges 19:22-23
While they were enjoying themselves, some of the wicked men of the city surrounded the house. Pounding on the door, they shouted to the old man who owned the house, "Bring out the man who came to your house so we can have sex with him." The owner of the house went outside and said to them, "No, my friends, don't be so vile. Since this man is my guest, don't do this disgraceful thing.
1 Kings 14:24
There were even male shrine prostitutes in the land; the people engaged in all the detestable practices of the nations the LORD had driven out before the Israelites.
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 of 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 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 indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion.
1 Corinthians 6:9-10
Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders 10 nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.
2. SO HOW DO HOMOSEXUALS JUSTIFY THEIR BEHAVIOR BY THE BIBLE?
1) The Sin of Sodom Argument
Gay activitists claim that Ezekiel 16:49 says the sin of Sodom was social injustice, not sexual. But Ezekiel 16:50 goes on to say they did detestable things, and Jude 7 specifies those detestable things were sexual immorality.
Ezekiel 16:49-50
"'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. Therefore I did away with them as you have seen.
Jude 7
In a similar way, Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding towns gave themselves up to sexual immorality and perversion. They serve as an example of those who suffer the punishment of eternal fire.
2) The “outdated like slavery” argument
Gay activists claim that some ethical commands of the Bible are outdated. They love to say, “The Bible tells slaves to obey their masters, and people now know that was wrong. Likewise, it’s wrong to condemn homosexuality.”
This argument depends on a dangerous view of scripture. If you can dismiss scripture just because the culture considers it outdated, you’re on a dangerous slope. How can you believe anything in the Bible with such an attitude?
Not only that, but gay activists twist scripture to come up with this reasoning.
It is twisting scripture to claim that because slaves were told to obey their masters that the Bible was supporting slavery. The Bible was merely instructing Christian slaves in how to behave in their situation. It was not endorsing slavery. In the little New Testament book of Philemon, Paul urged Philemon to free his slave Onesimus. And slave trading is condemned as sin along with homosexuality in 1 Timothy 9:10.
1 Timothy 1:9-10
We also know that law is made not for the righteous but for lawbreakers and rebels, the ungodly and sinful, the unholy and irreligious; for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers, for adulterers and perverts, for slave traders and liars and perjurers-and for whatever else is contrary to the sound doctrine.
NOTE: The Greek word used for “perverts” in the NIV is translated “homosexuals” in the New American Standard Bible and Holman Christian Standard Bible, and "sodomites" in the New Revised Standard Version and New King James Version. The word means a man who defiles himself with another man. The word translated “slave trader” means one who kidnaps another man to enslave him.
3) The “gay examples in the Bible” argument
Same-sex friendships in the Bible such as between Jonathan and David or Ruth and Naomi are said to be models for homosexual relationships. This is twisting scripture to fit the gay agenda. Nowhere does the Bible say these friendships were sexual in nature.
4) The “male nor female” argument
This argument reinterprets Galatians 3:28. Galatians 3:28 says, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”
Gay activists point to this verse to claim that people can be Christians, whatever their sexual orientation, whether “male or female.”
Gay activists are reading into this passage something that simply is not there. Paul clearly was saying that both men and women are equal in Christ. This in no way says or even implies that males who prefer males or females who prefer females are equal in Christ.
But gay activists cleverly respond, “but God made homosexuals that way, they can’t change, so it is just like being male or female.”
This popular statement by gay activists is contradicted by scientific and psychological research and by the testimonies of many former homosexuals that they did change.
Scientific claims that gays are born with a genetic difference are based on faulty research. If homosexuality were truly genetic, then all identical twins would have the same sexual orientation. However, only about half of the time when a homosexual has an identical twin is the twin also homosexual. If it’s genetic, why don’t all identical twins have the same sexual orientation? (Exodus International FAQs page, exodus-international.org/exodus_faqs.shtml)
New Directions has a report that summarizes 31 studies done on sexual orientation that found 45 people who completely changed from homosexuality to heterosexuality, 86 homosexual people who “acquired” heterosexual behavior, and 287 homosexual people who had partial shifts toward some heterosexual desires and attractions.
The research shows that change is not easy, but people can change. (“Homosexuality and the Possibility of Change,” newdirection.ca/a_change.htm)
Most important of all are the testimonies of people who have experienced freedom from homosexuality by Christ. Their struggles to overcome homosexuality are not easy nor all the same. But through Christ, and through loving Christians, they are finding freedom from homosexuality.
Check the web page of Exodus International, www.exodus-international.org, for many testimonies of people who have found freedom in Christ from the gay lifestye.
Ephesians 3:18 speaks of the amazing love of Christ: “how wide and how long and how high and how deep is the love of Christ!” That love is long enough to reach the homosexual who has run from God for many long years. That love is deep enough to reach down into the filthy gay lifestyle and lift any person up to forgiveness.
Dr. Bob Rogers, Pastor
First Baptist Church
201 E. 6th St.
Rincon, GA 31326