I was browsing the internet yesterday, looking for a funny meme I could share with my friends, and I stumbled across one of the pages of “funny sign” pictures. You know the type? The ones that have bigoted Americans holding up signs like “We Speek English!” There was a section of these pictures that showed anti gay rights protests. The one that caught my eye was the picture of a boy, about thirteen years old, holding up a sign that said, “God hates fags. Rom. 9:13”.
It really got me angry mostly because that is simply not true. Let me explain.
I’ve been trying to figure out where I stand on “the issue of homosexuality”. First, I have to consider what is going to shape my opinion. If I accept everything and reject nothing, my opinion is worthless. Conversely, if I try to decide what I believe without any outside input, my view will be skewed, sinful, and pretty much downright wrong. So where am I going to look for answers? First on the list, and most important, is the Bible. As a Christian, everything I think and believe should be most heavily influenced by what the Bible has to say about it. So let’s take a look.
Old Testament:
Leviticus 18:22- Do not have sexual relations with a man as one does with a woman; that is detestable.
Leviticus 20:13- If a man has sexual relations with a man as one does with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable. They are to be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads.
That’s about all in terms of direct mention of men having sexual relations with each other. Now there are a ton of references to Sodom and the Sodomites, and yes, one of the only instances that we see the Sodomites in the Bible is when they are trying to convince Lot to let them rape the two angels (in male human form) who have come to destroy them. Needless to say, the Sodomites had a lot of sins in their lives, and homosexuality was one on a long list of sins for which they were being destroyed.
One other thing to mention is that these two verses are from Leviticus. Yes it’s the same book that says Israelites can’t cut their hair, wear different fabrics at the same time, or let blind people go to church (That last one is a terrible translation of the passage btw). I’m not going to go into a lot of detail about why Leviticus is important (because it is, and should not be disregarded), but I would be foolish to base my entire life, in this dispensation, on only Leviticus.
New Testament:
Romans 1:27- Paul describes practically all of the wicked things men do and lists homosexual acts as one of them.
1 Corinthians 6:9-10 “Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men, nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.”
1 Timothy 1:10 – The sexually immoral, men who practice homosexuality… are contrary to sound doctrine.
There are a few other lists that mention sexual immorality and how much God detests it. But these passages are the only ones I’ve found that are explicit on Homosexuality.
What do I draw from this? Homosexuality is a sin.
There’s no way around that point.
DON’T STOP READING!!! I’m not done!
Homosexuality IS a sin, but it’s pretty much synonymous with any other sexual immorality.
That means lust, fantasizing (lust again), pornography (lust again), affairs (sin achieved through lust), bestiality (lust for animals), the lust goes on and on. Homosexuality is really the sin of lust for someone of the same sex as you, and then acting on that lust. So, while the Bible does not have a lot of specific things to say about Homosexuality, it is VERY clear about lust and acting on sexual urges prior to marriage. The verses listed below are just a few from the New Testament.
Matthew 5:28
1 Corinthians 6:18
Galatians 5:16
1 John 2:16
1 Peter 2:11
Now the question is brought up about homosexual marriage. I’m not going to spend a lot of time on this, because I think it’s self-explanatory that since I believe homosexuality to be a sin, I think condoning it and to a certain extent encouraging it, is also a sin, so I will try to be clear and concise.
The Bible always refers to marriage as between a man and a woman. God created husbands to be the head of their wives. They are to love their wives as Christ loved his bride the church. Marriage is for one man and one woman and that’s all.
As for the courts redefining marriage, I don’t think it’s any of their business. Marriage is a religious institution, not a governmental one. I think the government should provide “civil unions” for any two people (including homosexuals) who want one, and the rights given to married couples will be transferred exclusively to civil unions.
But I digress…
Second on the list of where to look for answers is logic and order. Homosexual sex just doesn’t make sense.
Granted I can’t speak from experience on any kind of sex, but I do see a design present in the human body. All the way down to the microscopic level, human beings and their functions almost always have specific purposes. The male and female anatomies are designed to complement each other in a sexual union. Two male or two female anatomies are not.
Sex is a gift from God to be enjoyed in specific ways and homosexual acts aren’t on the list.
Add to that the damage caused to the rectum and anus by homosexual acts as well as the higher percentages of STD’s spread through homosexual acts than heterosexual, I have to come to the conclusion that something is askew with homosexual sex.
The third thing on the list of where to look for answers is family and friends.
This one is a little bit tricky. I have talked about homosexuality with a lot of my friends and family members and I have heard a whole bunch of opinions ranging from one end of the spectrum to the other. I honestly haven’t found a common denominator in any of their arguments. Everyone I know thinks something different for a different reason. There was very little consensus, just a lot of unfounded opinions from all sides of the issue.
What I did learn from talking to everyone, or at least learn to remember, is that we are all human. Humans are plagued by the disease of sin. Everyone’s got it, and there’s only one cure.
So, where do I stand? Looking at all of this I have to conclude at least one thing: homosexuality is wrong.
Now is when I explain the title of this post. “God loves Gays.”
This is true.
God loves homosexuals. What he hates is homosexuality.
This is an important distinction. Nowhere in the bible does it say that homosexuality is a worse sin than looking at pornography, having an affair, or going for fourths at dinner every day. It’s our society that has changed the degree of this particular sin.
What we need to do is remember that homosexuals are people made by God whom God loves, bearing his image, but marred by sin, just like everyone else.
The problem comes when we try to excuse the sin and accept it or justify it.
Just like the late night pornographer needs to stop looking at porn, and the obese glutton needs to curb his appetite, the homosexual needs to stop having homosexual sex.
Just like a lot of other sins out there, Satan takes a wonderful thing that God created (sex) and twists it into something evil. Our society, however, thinks something different. In certain situations we have let sin become a permissible lifestyle, and on top of that we have condemned those who say otherwise.
Nowadays if you are against sin you must, for some reason, be against the sinner. That’s not what God thinks.
God hates greed, not the greedy. God hates gluttony, not the glutton. God hates lust, sloth, wrath and pride, but He loves the lustful, lazy, wrathful and prideful souls who are walking around on this earth stuck in a cycle of sin and lies that Satan, and their own natures, have created.
God hates homosexuality, but he loves homosexuals like crazy.
That’s what I want to do. I want to love gay people. I want to love them so much, and love them God’s way, so that they can’t help but wonder why. I don’t want them to think I’m tolerant of their sin, or that I think they should not fight against it, but in the end it’s not my job to condemn them for it or treat them differently than all the other sinners out there.
Paul made it clear in his first letter to the Corinthians that we should not be condemning those outside the church. Of course they’re sinning, they’re sinners!
Homosexuality inside the church is a different story, but for those homosexuals out in the world, it’s my job to do three things: pray for them, love them, and be aware of and open to opportunities to help them receive a new life in Jesus Christ.