Let’s assume for the moment that the argument put forward by homosexuals is correct, and they really are born this way. The assertion today is, if they were born this way, then it is wrong to expect them to change. They can’t change who they are.
OK, for the sake of discussion, let’s accept that premise.
There is even scripture to back it up.
Psalm 51:5 says, “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.” Sin is an inbred part of the human condition. It is part and parcel of who we are by birth and by inclination.
We are predisposed to lie, cheat, gossip, kill, fornicate, adulterate, and steal - just to name a few. The name of the sin doesn’t matter; the fact of the matter is that the predisposition to do these things is part of who we are.
Using the logic put forward by the homosexual lobby, then, we shouldn’t designate anything as illegal. After all, the person who engages in these, or any number of other things, all labeled sin in the Bible, is simply following the inclination with which they were born.
But we don’t think like that. We expect people to change their predisposition to conform to societal, and more importantly, moral and Biblical norms. We expect them to stop stealing, or lying, or cheating, or fornication, or killing - all of the things that are labeled as sin in the Bible. And we have no problem saying that GOD can change them. After all, that is why God sent His Son, Jesus, to die for us - to deliver us from our sins (“...the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age...”,Gal. 1:3-4)
Homosexuality is no different than any other disposition labeled by the Bible as sin.
The Bible clearly teaches that homosexuality is sin. Leviticus 18:22 says, “You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination.” That doesn’t get much clearer. Oh, but you say, that was the OLD TESTAMENT; we live under the NEW TESTAMENT, and it doesn’t say anything like that. For me to accept that line of reasoning first requires me to believe that Malachi 3:6 (“For I the Lord do not change...”) and James 1:17 (“...the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.) are wrong, and God’s character is variable and changing. Since God says His character doesn’t change, I have to reject that line of reasoning.
OK, so lets play along for a moment and see what the New Testament tells us.
Romans 1 tells us that, because man rejects the revealed Truth of God contained in His Word AND in creation (verses 18-21) and professes himself to be wise according to his own ideological and intellectual constructs - setting himself up as the ultimate measure of truth (verses 22-23) - GOD GAVE MAN UP (verse 24). What was one of the many results?
“Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen. For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.” (verses 24-27)
Men having intercourse with men and women having intercourse with women. Today this is known as homosexuality. That is the NEW Testament teaching. Paul doesn’t stop there, though. He goes on to say in 1 Corinthians 6:9-10,
“Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.”
Wait a second, Paul explicitly names homosexuality in these verses. Yes, he lists a whole lot of others as well (remember what we said at the beginning about other sins?), but he specifically names homosexuality. But wait a minute - I thought all sins were the same! Paul puts that notion to rest in this chapter as well. Take a look at verses 13 and 18:
“The body is not meant for sexual immorality...Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body” (verses 13, 18).
Yes, all sins are reprehensible to God, but He takes special exception to sins of a sexual nature - that’s not MY interpretation, those are the explicit words of God through the Apostle Paul!
So let’s go back to where we began. We are all predisposed to different sins. In that respect, homosexuality is no different than any other sin. But just as we expect people to change, to stop practicing all of the other sins we listed previously, SO THE BIBLE SAYS THERE IS HOPE FOR THE HOMOSEXUAL! Regardless of what is being spouted by psychiatrists and psychologists today, one’s predisposition can be changed.
You see, 1 Corinthians 6 doesn’t leave us in our sin without any recourse or hope of redemption. Remember verses 9-10, the verses that specifically name homosexuality along with the laundry list of other sins? These verses are followed by verse 12:
“And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God” (bolding added).
The Bible, contrary to politically correct social theory, tells us that, just as it is possible for our predisposition toward all other sins to be changed, SO CAN ONE’S PREDISPOSITION TOWARD HOMOSEXUALITY!!! Is this just my interpretation? NO! Read the verses for yourself!
You see, there is no parallel between homosexuality and being African-American, even though this is one of the strongest arguments used by the homosexual lobby to garner support. And the article published by ABC News tells us that there are many African-American pastors - even those who regularly advise the President - who aren’t buying it (“Obama calls pastors to explain gay marriage support; black churches ‘conflicted' by president's decision”). Being black - or yellow, or red - is not a sinful predisposition. Christ didn’t die to save one from being a different color. But the Bible tells us that He DID die to save us from our sinful dispositions so that we could live lives that please God. He saved us to DESTROY our old dispositions so that He can give us NEW ones, dispositions that desire to follow the revealed Truth of God’s Word. As Paul tells us in Romans 5:6-7,
“Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead is freed from sin.”
As this debate continues to unfold, there are many who assert that this has nothing to do with religion, or Christianity, or the Bible, that the Bible really doesn’t spend a lot of time addressing it - as if God has to say something many times in order for us to take Him seriously. And after all, Jesus didn’t say anything about homosexuality. You’re right. He didn’t. When given the perfect opportunity to change the one-man/one woman paradigm, as recorded in Matthew and Mark, He went right back to the truth given in Genesis 2:23-24,
“Then the man said, “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.” Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.”
Is this about hating homosexuals? No. This is about loving them by giving them the Truth of God’s Word. You see, Proverbs 26:28 tells us that ”A lying tongue hates its victims, and a flattering mouth works ruin.” We don’t accuse the doctor of hating us when he or she gives us truth that we would rather not hear. We acknowledge that they are looking out for our welfare. If we accept this as true in the context of human wisdom, then how much more true is it when the wisdom we share is of DIVINE origin?
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