A BIBLICAL VIEW OF HOMOSEXUALITY

There are many stories of people who leave the church because they think or have been told that God hated them because they were attracted to the same sex. The pain of these men and women for whom Jesus died is so palpable and heartbreaking.

Could it be that we have been misinterpreting Scripture when it comes to their salvation? Could it be that there is some new understanding of the Bible that would allow us to affirm committed, same-sex relationships?

We find today a spate of books, videos, articles and blogs that tell us that the good news of Jesus is that you can follow Him and enjoy a committed, homosexual relationship too. And some of the authors of these books, videos, articles and blogs claim to be committed Christians themselves.

God's Word is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path (Ps. 119:105). It is "living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart" (Heb. 4:12-13).

If we will humble ourselves before the Lord, keeping our focus on Him, He will guide us through His Word about what He has to say about homosexual practice. We must let Him guide us so we can separate truth from error and biblical revelation from emotion.

THE WORD OF GOD FORBIDS HOMOSEXUAL PRACTICE

It's clear that the vast majority of those who have changed their views on what the Bible says about homosexuality and now believe in "gay Christianity" have done so based on either their own same-sex desires and attractions or their interaction with "gay Christians" who challenges their assumptions.

These persons have not changed their thinking based on study of the Scriptures alone, since no new textual, archeological, sociological, anthropological or philological discoveries have been made in the last 50 years that would cause us to read any of the biblical texts differently.

It is not that we have gained some new insights into what the biblical text means based on the study of the Hebrew and Greek texts. Instead, people's interaction with the Gay community has caused them to understand the biblical text differently. This means that, rather than interpreting their sexuality through the lens of the Scriptures, they are interpreting the Scriptures through the lens of their sexuality. This is a guaranteed path to deception.

The Word of God, which represents His heart and will for His creation, is absolutely clear on the subject, prohibiting all forms of homosexual practice. This is so clear that a number of leading gay and lesbian theologians acknowledge that they can only justify "gay Christianity" by rejecting the full authority of Scripture.

THE BIBLE IS A HETEROSEXUAL BOOK

Gay theologians often make reference to the so-called "clobber passages" in the Scriptures, by which they mean the main verses the church has used to clobber them over the head with the Bible.

They raise two main arguments against the use of these verses. First, they claim that the verses have been mistranslated, misinterpreted or misused and so, in reality, these Scriptures do not prohibit monogamous, committed, homosexual relationships. Yet they cannot offer any new evidence to back this claim, since none exists.

Second, and perhaps more importantly, they point out that out of more than 31,000 verses in the Bible, there are between six and eight "clobber passages" consisting of a total of less than 25 verses.

How important can it actually be? And why does the church make such a big deal about something that God's Word hardly addresses? Isn't this evidence of homophobic attitudes in the church rather than a careful representation of God's heart as expressed in His Word?

The following illustration that puts the so-called "clobber passages" in a larger context. Let's say you buy a new cookbook featuring healthy dessert recipes, none of which use sugar. In the introduction to the book, the author explains her reasons for avoiding sugar products, telling you that you will find sumptuous, sweet dessert recipes, but all without sugar. And so, throughout the rest of the book, the word sugar is not found a single time. Would it be right to conclude that avoiding sugar was not important to the author? To the contrary, it was so important that every single recipe in the book makes no mention of sugar. It is exactly the same when it comes to the Bible and homosexuality.

There are a few, very strong, very clear, references to homosexual practice, every one of them decidedly negative and then not a single reference to homosexual practice throughout the rest of the Bible. It is not part of God's "recipe" for humanity.

Throughout the Bible, the only relationships that were acceptable in God's sight or considered normal for society were heterosexual relationships, and so homosexual practice was either irrelevant (because it had nothing to do with the God-ordained relationships of marriage and family and society) or, if mentioned, explicitly condemned.

To give just one example out of hundreds, when a gay couple reads the Word of God and they come to Paul's words in Ephesians 5:22, 25, "Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. ... Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her," they cannot relate to those words the way a heterosexual couple relates to them, since they do not have a true husband-wife relationship. These are the only kinds of romantic and sexual relationships that God speaks of, and that is the only kind of marriage He recognizes or blesses: a man and woman coming together in a lifetime commitment before Him.

GENDER COMPLEMENTARITY IS OF FOUNDATIONAL IMPORTANCE

Despite recent attempts to downplay this truth, male-female complementarily is part of God's foundational design. As we see in Genesis 1-2, it is out of Adam that God forms Eve, the two of them uniquely complementing each other, to the point that when Adam sees his helper and counterpart, he exclaims, "This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman [Hebrew 'ishah], because she was taken out of Man ['ish]" (Gen. 2:23). It is because the woman was taken out of the man that the very next verse says this: "Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh" (Gen. 2:24).

Genesis is teaching us that because the woman was taken out of the man, the two are now joined back together as one in marital union, each one uniquely complementing the other. There's not a word here yet about reproduction or procreation, simply about union (even if procreation is the presupposed outcome).

Only a man and a woman can be joined (rejoined!) together in this way. A man plus a man or a woman plus a woman cannot possibly share the same union as a man and a woman, since they do not share the essential of fundamental sameness and difference.

In the words of a man who lived as a homosexual all his life but has recently found the Lord, "Even an atheist can understand the lack of anatomical complementarity and therefore biological purpose in male-to-male or female-to-female sexuality."

JESUS KNEW EXACTLY WHAT WAS INSIDE PEOPLE, INCLUDING THEIR "SEXUAL ORIENTATION."

We are told today that biblical authors did not understand sexual orientation and that they had no concept of committed, long-term same-sex relationships. What the biblical authors rejected, we are told, was man-boy relationships, or male prostitution, or homosexual promiscuity. All these sinful practices were certainly rejected, but biblical authors like Paul were certainly aware of long-term, male-male relationships.

Hebrews 4:13 states that "no creature is hidden from [God's] sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account." And it is this God who inspired the writers of the Scriptures. Are gay theologians willing to say that God didn't understand modern-day, still-evolving concepts like "sexual orientation"?

Are they willing to say that Jesus, who literally looked into the hearts and souls of human beings didn't understand that certain people were "gay"? We're not talking about the writers of Scripture understanding modern science. We're talking about them—including Jesus Himself—understanding human nature. Anyone who professes to be a gay Christian, get alone with God and ask yourself, "Did God create and design me to be with the same-sex or the opposite sex?"

THE GOSPEL BRINGS GOOD NEWS TO HOMOSEXUAL MEN AND WOMEN

Gay theologians say that the traditional gospel message is a "bad tree," bringing forth the bad fruit of depression, apostasy and even suicide among gay men and women. To the contrary, the message of the gospel brings forgiveness, freedom, hope and deliverance, as countless thousands of ex-gays, who no longer practice homosexuality can attest.

Those who are same-sex attracted, the Word of God encourages you not to define yourself by your desires but to put all your effort into knowing God and finding intimacy with Him one day at a time, not rewriting the Bible to suit your sexual attractions but casting yourself on God's goodness and mercy. You will find Him to be absolutely trustworthy, totally understanding and more than enough to meet your every need.

Let us, then, not waver in our biblical stance, knowing that is the truth that sets people free (John 8:31-32).