Homosexuality: What are we to think about it?
What a controversial subject this has become in my lifetime! Opinions have certainly changed about it. But as always, what does God tell us through the Bible that we’re to believe about it? What are His standards, and shouldn’t His standards become our standards? Have His standards changed from what they’ve always been? Regarding the subject of homosexuality, it is important for God’s people to understand that His standards have always been the same. However, God’s ceremonial policies and requirements have changed from time to time. For instance, didn’t God once require animal sacrifices from His people? It’s His moral principles that never change, not these others. So, what are His moral principles regarding homosexuality?
Leviticus 18:22
22 Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination [TOEBAH = inherently evil]. [Emphasis added]
There are some who speak of homosexuality as a disease, but the Bible defines it as sin. Others will say, but didn’t His policy on this change in the New Testament? If you mean for our time, it did not, and here’s the evidence of that.
Romans 1:26-27
26 For this cause God gave them up unto vile [ATIMIA = passions of dishonor] affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature:
27 And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly [ASCHEMOSUNE = shameful], and receiving in themselves that recompence [ANTIMISTHIA = a corresponding reward] of their error [PLANAO = a forsaking of the right path] which was meet [DEI = proper or appropriate]. [Emphasis added]
Therefore, it becomes clear that such activities are forbidden of God. And if you have any doubts about the seriousness of it, we should note how violators of this were to be treated. Under the Law God gave to Israel, homosexuality was not only a sin but a crime punishable by death. In Israel, God brought forth legislation to forbid all expressions of sexual immorality among His people. Homosexuality was but one of them.
Deuteronomy 23:17
17 There shall be no whore of the daughters of Israel, nor a sodomite of the sons of Israel. [Emphasis added]
Leviticus 20:13
13 If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them. [Emphasis added]
The fact that the one who commits homosexuality is worthy of death is also taught by our apostle, the apostle Paul.
Romans 1:32
32 Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them. [Emphasis added]
Some wish to make the assertion that some people can’t help themselves because they are born homosexuals. Is that true? Yes, it is, but only in the sense that we’re all born sinners with a variety of ways we tend to express it. There’s a sense in which some people are born worriers, some are born with a propensity to envy, and others are born liars. But all this says is that we’re all born sinners who express it in a variety of ways and, therefore, we are also in need of a Savior.
Romans 3:23
23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; [Emphasis added]
Romans 6:23
23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. [Emphasis added]
We’re not only born sinners we are also born with volition, having the ability to choose. We don’t have to sin. Sin of any form can be avoided. There’s a sense in which this is especially true for believers. Note the commands that have been given to us. How ridiculous it would be for God to give us such commands if we were totally incapable of obeying them. When the idea is presented that people can’t help themselves in dealing with certain sins, it is a lie. The reason the sin is not successfully addressed is that the guilty party is not willing to seriously address it.
Romans 6:12-13
12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.
13 Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. [Emphasis added]
Doesn’t this apply to people who are prone to homosexuality as it does for anyone? Of course! And how is it that we’re to gain the strength to resist the temptation to sin? It is the same with this sin as it is with any other. We’re to take steps to acquire standards from the Word of God and resolve to apply them.
Psalm 119:11-12
11 Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.
12 Blessed art thou, O Lord: teach me thy statutes. [Emphasis added]
1 Corinthians 10:13
13 There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it. [Emphasis added]
Can it be any plainer than that? What a wonderful promise that is for anyone to apply regarding any form of sinfulness! But it is only when the Word of God comes to be embedded in our thinking that we gain the ability to potentially resist any and every form of temptation, including homosexuality.
Homosexuality is just one of many forms of degeneracy that can come forth as a manifestation of a people’s resistance to the authority of God. Such was the case for Israel as it can be for any nation or individual.
1 Kings 14:23-24
23 For they also built them high places [for idolatrous worship], and images, and groves, on every high hill, and under every green tree.
24 And there were also sodomites in the land: and they did according to all the abominations of the nations which the Lord cast out before the children of Israel. [Emphasis added]
Toleration and legalization of such activities makes it no less an abomination before God. Sodomy is a serious matter and should be treated as such. It should never be tolerated in any society. It should never be seen as an acceptable “alternative lifestyle.”
Evil people argue for the legalization of lawlessness in the name of “freedom.” However, where there is true freedom there must be a strong system of law that guards the basic institutions of life, such as that of the home and family. Homosexuality stands as a threat to these. Where it is permitted, the Bible-believing Christian is portrayed as an insensitive pervert and a threat to society. However, homosexuality is a direct attack upon the divine institution of marriage and that of the family. If everyone practiced it, it is quite logical to assume that it would lead to the complete destruction of all mankind. This is apparently why God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. As doctors often remove a cancerous area of one’s body to preserve the rest, so God performed in a similar way with these two extremely corrupt cities. Their remains are now located at the bottom of the south end of the Dead Sea. Regardless of what some might think, this was done as an expression of God’s love to provide for the preservation of mankind.
Genesis 19:24-25
24 Then the Lord rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven;
25 And he overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground. [Emphasis added]
Israel’s leadership was always praised of God for removing and restraining the practice of homosexuality.
1 Kings 15:11-12
11 And Asa did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord, as did David his father.
12 And he took away the sodomites out of the land, and removed all the idols that his fathers had made. [Emphasis added]
2 Kings 23:7
7 And he brake down the houses of the sodomites, that were by the house of the Lord, where the women wove hangings for the grove. [Emphasis added]
The blame for homosexuality is to be borne by the individual practicing it, as well as certain ones in their environment who knowingly or unknowingly promoted it. We have other examples of this sort of thing in the Scriptures. They all serve as warnings to us about what we allow to go on in our household.
1 Samuel 3:13
13 For I have told him that I will judge his house for ever for the iniquity which he knoweth; because his sons made themselves vile, and he restrained them not. [Emphasis added]
Homosexuality is promoted in children by their parents when certain conditions exist in the child training process. Here are some examples of that.
For Boys and Girls—
–Teaching that homosexuality is a legitimate lifestyle.
–Teaching that people should be tolerant of homosexuality.
–Teaching that laws against homosexuality are a threat to freedom.
–Failing to establish masculine and feminine distinctions.
In hair:
1 Corinthians 11:14-15
14 Doth not even nature itself teach you, that, if a man have long hair, it is a shame unto him?
15 But if a woman have long hair, it is a glory to her: for her hair is given her for a covering. [Emphasis added]
In clothing:
Deuteronomy 22:5
5 The woman shall not wear that which pertaineth unto a man, neither shall a man put on a woman’s garment: for all that do so are abomination unto the Lord thy God. [Emphasis added]
The choices we all make are always a reflection of our priorities. If your priority is in doing the best you can as a believer, you’ll gladly work to be able to make the right applications. Otherwise, you’ll quite naturally seek to find some justification for your decisions. This has been man’s pattern ever since the time of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. As believers we’ll be evaluated for the applications we make. Always be mindful that the eternal rewards we will be given will be a perfect reflection of the decisions we made in the application of God’s Word.
2 Corinthians 5:10
10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad. [Emphasis added]