THE SIN OF HOMOSEXUALITY
"Homo" is from the Greek word, homos, meaning
"same." Homosexuality is having a sexual desire for one of the
same sex. As applied to women, "lesbian" is derived from Lesbos,
the ancient Greek island supposedly inhabited only by women.
Another familiar term is "sodomy," which comes from the
notorious homosexual activity of the men of Sodom (Genesis 19).
This practice of ancient history is as modern as today's
headlines.
"No society has ever accepted homosexuality as a
'normal alternative'" (Baker Encyclopedia of Psychology, p.
522). Historically, it has been always "seen negatively
everywhere" (ibid., p. 523). It has always been accepted that
people did it, such as in Plato's classic Symposium, to many of
the Roman Caesars being gay. Fifty years ago in the U.S., one
could be arrested for "disorderly conduct" if they were caught
in homosexual activity. Humans are the only species of
creatures in nature that practice such.
GROWING ACCEPTANCE OF HOMOSEXUALITY
However, the "gay rights movement" seeks to
legitimize homosexuality as a normal, acceptable sexual
orientation, which one is born with and cannot help.
According to researchers Kinsey, Pomeroy and Martin
in 1948, less than 5% of the American population had a strong
homosexual drive and 5% were bisexual. Using Dr. Alfred Kinsey's
statistics, homosexuals regularly boast that a full 10% of the
U.S. population is gay. A gay advocate said he preached this
percentage to delude the public and politicians that "we are
everywhere" and homosexuality is "a legitimate lifestyle." These
are exaggerated numbers. A recent book, Kinsey, Sex and Fraud,
(published by Huntington House and written by Dr. Judith Reisman
and Edward W. Eiche, and edited by Drs. John H. Court and J.
Gordon Muir), exposes the fraud of how and why Kinsey arrived at
his 10% gay figure.
Kinsey interviewed a select sample of the male
populace, 25% of which were prison inmates, who had often
developed homosexual tendencies in prison, and deviant sex
offenders. In 1972, Dr. Wardell Pomeroy, Kinsey's research
colleague, admitted "that Kinsey's subjects were coached to give
answers to suit a hypothesis" (Michael Downs, "The 'Gay,' Myth,"
Rosemont Reminder). The result of this sampling was then
projected onto the general public and repeated ever since.
Kinsey knowingly distorted his sample, to give the desired
results to "respectabilize homosexuality."
A more recent scientific study was done at the
Battelle Human Affairs Research Centers in Seattle ("The
Shrinking Ten Percent, Time, April 26, 1993, p. 27). It is one
of the most thorough reports on male sexual behavior ever made.
It found only 1% of the 3,321 men surveyed, ages 39 to 20, were
exclusively homosexual for the past 10 years.
In 1968, the Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan
Churches began, which is composed mainly of homosexuals. Major
cities have to endure "gay pride week," which commemorates the
"Stonewall riots." In June 1969, there was a 3 day confrontation
between police and gays in New York's Greenwich Village, after
the police raided a gay bar.
In 1973, the American Psychiatric Association
removed homosexuality from its official list of mental
disorders. In 1975, the American Psychological Association
supported this change and urged in a news release that "all
mental health professionals to take the lead in removing the
stigma of mental illness that has long been associated with
homosexual orientations."
There is unrest in scattered public school systems,
such as New York City, because literature has been introduced in
the primary grades teaching that homosexuality is a normal,
acceptable lifestyle. The liberal mass media, in talk shows,
sitcoms, pop songs etc., touts homosexuals as nice, normal
people who just happen to have another sexual orientation.
Mainstream denominations are in turmoil due to the presence of
homosexual "pastors" in their churches. On January 19, 1992, the
governor of New Jersey signed into state law a statute
prohibiting churches from discriminating in the hiring or firing
of employees based on sexual orientation, which is supposed to
protect gays' civil rights. Hawaii, Massachusetts, Wisconsin and
the District of Columbia have a more general statute prohibiting
job discrimination against gays. Some fear it could be used to
sue churches who refuse to hire a homosexual or fire someone
later found to be gay. Hawaii's Supreme Court has approved the
legality of gay marriages. It is later than we think.
WHAT DOES THE SCRIPTURE SAY?
What does God think about the practice of
homosexuality? The Bible in both testaments strongly condemns
homosexuality as a wicked perversion of God's design of one man
and one woman in a loving, lifelong marriage (Genesis 2:18-25;
Matthew 19:4-5). The Law of Moses condemned homosexuals to be
stoned to death. "You shall not lie with a male as one lies
with a female; it is an abomination" (Leviticus 18:22). "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" (Leviticus 20:13).
Israel was not to learn and imitate the abominable,
immoral conduct of the surrounding Canaanite nations
(Deuteronomy 18:9). Among such practices was cultic homosexual
prostitutes, known as "dogs," who performed homosexual acts as
part of pagan worship (Deuteronomy 23:17; 1 Kings 15:12).
Sadly, such ungodliness arose in Judah with the moral decline of
Rehoboam's reign (1 Kings 14:24). Josiah's later reforms
included tearing down the houses of these religious sodomites,
which were "in the house of the Lord" (2 Kings 23:7).
In the New Testament, Paul clearly describes
homosexuality as one of the Gentiles' moral perversions in
rejecting God. "God gave them up to vile passions. For even
their women exchanged the natural use for what is against
nature. Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the
woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men
committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the
penalty of their error which was due" (Romans 1:24-27 NKJV).
God's law condemns homosexuality, along with murder and other
sins, as ungodly rebellion (1 Timothy 1:10).
Paul lists homosexuality among those sinful
practices that will bar one from heaven: "the unrighteous shall
not inherit the kingdom of God. Do not be deceived; neither
fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor
homosexuals, nor thieves...shall inherit the kingdom of God" (1
Cor. 6:9-10 NASB). "Effeminate" or "male prostitutes" (NIV)
translates the Greek word, malakos. It literally means "soft to
the touch." The Greeks used it metaphorically to refer to males
who played the passive role in homosexual acts. "Homosexuals"
translates arsenokoites, which literally means "male in a bed."
The Greeks used this word to refer to one who took the
aggressive role in a homosexual encounter.
Some of the Corinthians had engaged in homosexual
acts, but the powerful gospel cleansed and liberated them from
their ungodliness (1 Cor. 6:11). Sinful behavior can be changed
if the heart and mind and character is changed. Dr. James Dobson
reports a 70% success rate of homosexuals who seek counseling,
for moral reasons, to straighten out their sexual orientation.
Hence, it is not something your born with and cannot change. It
cannot be a "natural, normal sexual orientation," because if
everyone were homosexual, the human race would be extinct, in
due course, in one generation.
FIRERY OLD TESTAMENT WARNING FOR US
In warning against licentious false religious
teachers, Jude refers to the example of God's fiery judgment on
Sodom and Gomorrah's sins, which included homosexuality. "Just
as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them, since they in
the same way as these indulged in gross immorality and went
after strange flesh, are exhibited as an example, in undergoing
the punishment of eternal fire" (v. 7; cf. 2 Peter 2:6).
"Strange flesh" refers to homosexual activity. The only joining
of flesh approved of God is the union of "one flesh" in marriage
of a man and a woman (Genesis 2:18-25). In Genesis 19, the men
of Sodom surrounded Lot's house and called for the two
messengers God had sent to him. "Before they lay down, the men
of the city...surrounded the house, both young and old, all the
people from every quarter; and they called to Lot and said to
him, 'Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out
to us that we may have relations with them'" (Genesis 19:4-5).
How disgusting to see this mob panting for a homosexual orgy.
Their vile sins cried out before God for judgment (Genesis
19:13; 13:13). The city was utterly consumed by fire and
brimstone from heaven (19:24f). It is an example to us today!
God has not changed his view of homosexuality as a
moral abomination. Yes, He loves the sinner but He hates the
sin.
CONTRIBUTING FACTORS TO HOMOSEXUALITY
Homosexuality is not an inherited, genetic
orientation. "The genetic theory of homosexuality has been
generally discarded today" ( Masters, Johnson & Kolodny, Human
Sexuality, 1985, pp. 411, 412). Medical doctor James Dobson
observed, "Homosexuality often seems to result from an unhappy
home life, usually involving confusion in sexual identity." The
typical home where this happens is "where the mother is
dominating, overprotective, and possessive, while the father is
rejecting and ridiculing of the child" (Dr. Dobson Answers Your
Questions About Marriage & Sexuality, p. 111). Clinical
psychologist Joseph Nicolosi, author of Reparative Therapy of
Male Homosexuality, noted in a magazine interview with Focus On
The Family, "My work with over 200 homosexuals points to a poor
relationship with the father...a deep grievance or a deep hurt
in regard to their relationship with their father" (Citizen,
November 16, 1992, p. 14).
It seems homosexuality is a conditioned, learned
response. It usually develops from growing up in a painfully
dysfunctional family, especially with improperly modeled gender
roles of father and mother. This contributes to a confused
psychological and emotion orientation of one's sexual identity.
For example, when a child is 3-5 years old, Dr. E. M. Pattison
observes, "the child strongly identifies with the parent of the
same gender. Failure to successfully identify, due either to a
hostile relationship, absent or distant relationship, or other
conflict, leaves the child an incomplete and inadequate sense of
gender identity. Although other aspects of personality develop,
the child continues on into adulthood with the sense of being an
incomplete male or female. These children continue to seek
same-gender relations to strengthen their internal search for
gender identity." Also, "the child identifies with the parent of
the same gender in learning to relate to the opposite gender.
Hostility of one parent toward the other may impair cross-gender
modeling, as when the father hates the mother. Hence the son
learns that male associations are more desirable than relating
to women. Or there may be competitive jealousy. For example, a
mother may become jealous of her daughter relating to men.
Therefore the girl learns that she must restrict her
relationships to women" (Baker Encyclopedia of Psychology, p.
523).
Another possible influence contributing to
homosexuality is the confusion of sex roles in our increasingly
unisex society. Masculine and feminine behavior, hair length
and dress are often blurred. We must also remember to follow
God's guidelines for the role of father and mother in the home,
so our children will see the proper role models of masculine and
feminine behavior and interaction.
HOPE FOR THE HOMOSEXUAL IN THE GOSPEL
Homosexuality can be unlearned, if a person really
wants to please God and is given proper professional help. Like
God, Christians hate sin but love the sinner. Someone has said,
"God loves us as we are, but He loves too much to let us stay
that way." If the Corinthians could leave their sinful
homosexual lifestyle (1 Cor. 6:11; 2 Cor. 3:18), so can one
today. The gospel of Christ has the power to transform people's
lives (Rom. 1:16). "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a
new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things
have become new" (2 Corinthians 5:17).
If we can help you know more about the life-changing
power of the gospel, contact us at WFrankWalton@juno.com.
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