Resist the call the conform!

In today’s state of affairs of cancel culture and social issues on every agenda, the thinking and interpretation of marriage and heterosexual relationships have come to a tipping point. It’s caused division in families and yes, division in churches. The best way to break down any topic worthy of this type of division, is straight to the scriptures. Not reading between the lines or under the auspice that times were different then, but truly by the word of God that doesn’t change. God didn’t expect believers to alter the meaning of his word 1000 years ago and he doesn’t intend for that to happen today. His word is timeless. Once you start down the path of reading what you want into scripture, then they are no longer scripture. You might as well pick up a book at the local bookstore in the fiction section and start living your life by that as your basis for faith. If you put aside your notions of what you want the Bible to say, and truly research the topic with an open mind, God will reveal his intentions.

In God’s Law, condemnations of same-sex practice are given throughout the Bible. In Leviticus 18:22 and 20:13 and in Romans 1:24-32 these references are made amid echoes to the Genesis creation that both male and female same-sex practice are treated as sinful. Further references to the sinfulness of same-sex practice can be seen in 1 Corinthians 6:9 and 1 Timothy 1:10.

The Scriptures are, therefore, consistent in their prohibition of same-sex sexual activity, across different periods of salvation history and within different cultural settings. Although the Scriptures are clear on sexual ethics, they also tell us that the prospect of forgiveness and eternal life is held out for anyone who turns from sin and puts their faith in Christ (Mark 1:15), no matter how they may have fallen short of his good design for sex and marriage.

I am convinced that the Bible leaves no room whatsoever for confusion or ambiguity where homosexual behavior is concerned. The Scripture both explicitly and implicitly regards it as falling outside of God’s intention in creating man and woman as sexual beings who bear His image as male and female.

As for same-sex “marriage,” there is no place for it within the context of a Christian worldview. According to the Bible, marriage is heterosexual by definition. Jesus, when expressing his understanding of the scriptural foundation for the divine purpose and design in marriage, referred to its origins in the Creation account: “From the beginning of creation, God made them male and female. For this cause a man shall leave his father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh…” (Mark 10:6-8, quoting Genesis 2:24). Jesus Christ further upholds this definition of marriage in Matthew 19:5, as does the Apostle Paul in Ephesians 5:31. Any and all sexual activity which takes place outside of this context is treated as sinful, what Jesus calls ‘sexual immorality’ in Mark 7:21

“The Bible prohibits all kinds of sexual promiscuity – heterosexual as well as homosexual.”

The clarity of God’s truth on this matter remains unchanged. Logical consistency demands that individuals and groups who want to reinterpret Scripture to sanction free sexual expression among homosexuals should extend the same concession to heterosexual singles; and, in fact, some have already taken this next step. But none of this can alter the facts: there is simply no scriptural support for endorsing sexual immorality (i.e., sexual activity outside the bond of heterosexual marriage) for anyone, no matter what his or her personal sexual feelings may be.

There are several texts often cited by Christians to condemn homosexuality: Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 19:1–11), Levitical laws condemning same-sex relationships (Leviticus 18:22, 20:13), two words in two Second Testament vice lists (1 Corinthians 6:9–10; 1 Timothy 1:10), and Paul's letter to the Romans (Romans 1:26–27). Some believe that these do not refer to homosexual relationships between two free, adult, and loving individuals. They describe rape or attempted rape (Genesis 9:20–27, 19:1–11), cultic prostitution (Leviticus 18:22, 20:13), male prostitution and pederasty (1 Corinthians 6:9–10; 1 Timothy 1:10), and the Isis cult in Rome (Romans 1:26–27).

Genesis 19:1-13

19 The two angels arrived at Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gateway of the city. When he saw them, he got up to meet them and bowed down with his face to the ground. 2 “My lords,” he said, “please turn aside to your servant’s house. You can wash your feet and spend the night and then go on your way early in the morning.” “No,” they answered, “we will spend the night in the square.” 3 But he insisted so strongly that they did go with him and entered his house. He prepared a meal for them, baking bread without yeast, and they ate. 4 Before they had gone to bed, all the men from every part of the city of Sodom—both young and old—surrounded the house. 5 They called to Lot, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so that we can have sex with them.” 6 Lot went outside to meet them and shut the door behind him 7 and said, “No, my friends. Don’t do this wicked thing. 8 Look, I have two daughters who have never slept with a man. Let me bring them out to you, and you can do what you like with them. But don’t do anything to these men, for they have come under the protection of my roof.” 9 “Get out of our way,” they replied. “This fellow came here as a foreigner, and now he wants to play the judge! We’ll treat you worse than them.” They kept bringing pressure on Lot and moved forward to break down the door. 10 But the men inside reached out and pulled Lot back into the house and shut the door. 11 Then they struck the men who were at the door of the house, young and old, with blindness so that they could not find the door. 12 The two men said to Lot, “Do you have anyone else here—sons-in-law, sons or daughters, or anyone else in the city who belongs to you? Get them out of here, 13 because we are going to destroy this place. The outcry to the Lord against its people is so great that he has sent us to destroy it.”

Some say this is more of an example of rape and punishment put forth in the Bible. A reference as to the actions that were going on in the times and inform us that times back then are not very different than we see in the world today. I think it is more of a reference as to how perverted Sodom had become and why God wanted to destroy it. These were the very actions that were happening in Sodom on a regular basis. If we look close…..look in the news, we are the modern day Sodom.

Leviticus 18:22

22 “‘Do not have sexual relations with a man as one does with a woman; that is detestable.

Leviticus 20:13

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.

Yes these laws from Leviticus are that, laws. Many say those were for that age and time. That Leviticus also said you couldn’t eat pork but today we eat pork and that hasn’t caused a division in the church. But I say, that God put forth laws to live by and laws for how to worship. These are very distinctly different types of laws but spoken in the same vain and authority in Leviticus. The problem with that analysis, is that Jesus changed how we worship. We could never live up to the standards of worship as described in the Old Testament. We kept falling short so our loving God sent the ultimate redeemer to help us and to save us from ourselves. So the laws of how we worship were transformed. However, how we live is a different matter. Jesus didn’t relax any of those laws. He spoke of eye for an eye and tooth for a tooth. We all as believers still follow and try to abide by the 10 commandments. Those were “old” laws but yet we treat them as the gospel and they rule our lives. That’s why laws of how we live need to be preserved. Can we live up to all, of course not. Once again, that’s why we have Jesus. However, the act of not attempting to live by these type of laws and to become better Christians is how we fall short and do not create that life of obedience to our Creator.

1 Corinthians 6:8–10

8 Instead, you yourselves cheat and do wrong, and you do this to your brothers and sisters. 9 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 10 nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.

1 Timothy 1:8-11

8 We know that the law is good if one uses it properly. 9 We also know that the law is made not for the righteous but for lawbreakers and rebels, the ungodly and sinful, the unholy and irreligious, for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers, 10 for the sexually immoral, for those practicing homosexuality, for slave traders and liars and perjurers—and for whatever else is contrary to the sound doctrine 11 that conforms to the gospel concerning the glory of the blessed God, which he entrusted to me

Romans 1:18-28

18 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, 19 since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20 For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse. 21 For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles. 24 Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. 25 They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen. 26 Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. 27 In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error. 28 Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done. 29 They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; 31 they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy. 32 Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.

The key part of Paul’s writings seems to be in Romans where Paul writes: "God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error." Being human, we fail at most things and think we know better of how to live our life. In todays age, you hear so and so deserves this or that and think of you first mentality. We were doing it then and we do it today. These shameful lusts for the pleasure of self. This is frustrating to God so Paul basically writes that God released us to our shameful lusts. He was fed up with our lack of obedience and not seeking him first. So he said fine……your actions will be on your own hands. Do want you want but come judgement day, don’t expect me to look the other way. We will be judged for each deed, action and word. Unless…….you guessed it. We accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior and seek to follow him and be like him. He is our shepherd, teacher, friend and redeemer. However, we must try to turn from our sinful ways and recognize when we sin and ask for his forgiveness. When we ask, it will be granted.

This set of scriptures are from the New Testament and written during Jesus time on earth. Meaning, one can’t present the argument that Jesus was all about love. That as long as you do anything in the name of love, that you would be following the teachings of Jesus. Yes, that is true but Jesus was also about obedience. Obedience in loving the Father with all our heart, mind, body and soul. Following His commandments and doing all things through love. We should be honest about all things and when calling a spade a spade, delivering that message with love.

Another way to answer this question is to pose another one: Why write about homosexuality, and not about theft, or greed, or drunkenness, or reviling, or swindling? I mention these sins because the Bible lists them alongside homosexual practice as sins that will keep us out of the kingdom of God (1 Corinthians 6:9–10), unless we are forgiven and justified by faith in Christ (1 Corinthians 6:11).

No sin must keep a person out of heaven. None. What keeps a person out of heaven is the unrepentant pursuit of sin, and the rejection of God’s provision for its forgiveness in Jesus’s death and resurrection.

Homosexual desires are like and unlike other sinful desires. Other sinful desires in most of us including myself are pride, anger, impatience, judgment of others. I have little doubt that my own brain wiring and genetic makeup are part of what inclines me to these sins. I can’t prove it. It just seems obvious. When people say that your were born one way or another, I would tend to agree with them. However, how you address those desires and actions are what’s important. You can give into them or rebuke them and pray to God for help in living the life he wants you to live.

You see, regardless of the physiological roots of those desires, it does not remove the reality of my corruption and guilt. This is true even though these sinful desires arise unbidden and fully formed in my heart. I do not choose them. I do not plan for them. I do not want them. They simply present themselves in ways that I strongly disapprove of and regret but hard to escape. They are part of my natural genetic makeup. However, I realize they are sin and pray to my creator to forgive me of my shortcomings. Apart from Christ, they are who I am. Once again, the words of Paul could be referenced here to provide clarity. Paul said in Romans 7: 19 For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do--this I keep on doing. 20 Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. 21 So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me.

By God’s grace, I turn against them. I renounce them. By the blood of Christ, and by the power of the Spirit, and for God’s glory, I seek to obey Colossians 3:5: “Put to death . . . what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.”

I would classify homosexual desires in the same way as other sinful desires that is embedded within us. They may or may not have physiological roots. The desires need not be chosen, planned, or wanted. They are simply there. We either engage them as the sin they are, or we make peace with them and risk our souls into eternity. In this sense, homosexual desires are like my sinful desires. I am just as likely to perish from embracing anger and self-pity as my neighbor is from embracing homosexual desires. That’s how serious all sin is.

When I set out on this research, I wanted to do so in the spirit of an open mind. I found this piece on what the Bible says in “support” of same sex marriage. In my opinion, mostly on what they want it to say about same sex marriage and thus my responses on their findings (my responses in red).

What follows represents a summary of critical biblical scholarship on the issue. Critical biblical scholarship draws on a range academic disciplines including literary criticism, archaeology, history, philology, and social science to offer the most plausible, historically grounded interpretation of the Bible. It is not simply a matter of personal belief or citing official church doctrine.

Australian scholars are among leaders in the field when it comes to sexuality and the Bible. William Loader has written several books on the matter and this Anglican collection of essays is also excellent.

When it comes to homosexuality there are, at most, six passages of the Bible that are relevant. So what do these passages say?

The story of Sodom and Gomorrah in Genesis 19 is well known. This is where the terms “sodomite” and “sodomy” originate, and it has long been associated with biblical condemnation of male homosexual sex. It is, however, actually about gang-rape.

In this story, the men of Sodom seek to rape two visitors (who are actually angels). Their host, Lot, defends them and offers them protection in his house, but offers his virgin daughters to be raped in their place.

It is a deeply problematic and complex story that warrants an article of its own, but what is clear is that sexual violence and rape is harshly condemned, and so God destroys the town with sulphur and fire. Despite the linguistic history of the word “sodomite”, Genesis 19 has nothing to say about homosexuality or mutually consenting adults of the same gender expressing their desire and love.

This misses the point of why God wanted to destroy the cities to begin with. It was because of sexual immorality that he sent angels and to warn Lot to leave the city before it is destroyed. This sexual immorality was a problem and God was intent on destroying it at its root cause. The exchange of what the gang of men were wanting to do to the angels was only another indication of how they were living their lives. This story in the Bible is not about condemning rape. Although it should be condemned as well, rape wasn’t the rampant problem is Sodom, it was sexual immorality itself.

Two of the laws of Leviticus (18:22 and 20:13) seem more pertinent. They call a man lying with another man instead of his wife an “abomination”.

We should note first that the imagined scenario is a married man committing adultery with another male. It is not describing what we would understand to be a sexual orientation. We might also note the inherent sexism here: women apparently don’t have the same desire or their sexuality is deemed too insignificant to be worthy of comment.

Again, we need some context. Yes, this verse clearly condemns adulterous homosexual sex in calling it an “abomination” (to'ebah), but here some of the other things also called an “abomination” in the Bible:

Egyptians eating with Hebrews; Jesus teaching was to love one another as yourself. He got rid of this Hebrew law and ate with sinners and gentiles alike.

having an image of another god in your house; Last time I checked, this is still a problem. Don’t do it and unfortunately, an idol can take many forms. We should try to eradicate those from our lives.

sacrificing your child to the god Molech; Really, how did this one make their list. Of course God doesn’t want us to practice any worship in this manner to God himself or any other God.

having sex with your wife when she is menstruating; Well that’s just gross.

taking your wife’s sister as a second wife; and Also not permitted today in the western world.

eating pork. A form of worship sacrifice that once again, Jesus negated with his presence.

Banned likewise is wearing mixed-fabric clothing (worship), interbreeding animals of different species(still considered wrong unless its in the sick mind of scientist who like to play God), tattoos (still considered to be a defamation of your body by some, God will judge that), mocking the blind by putting obstacles in their way (Well that’s just mean and should be condemned), and trimming your beard (worship law).

As you can see, there is quite an assortment of ancient laws, some of which seem to make good sense (such as no child sacrifice) and others of which the majority of Christians no longer keep (such as eating pork and wearing a wool-silk blend).

To claim one set as timeless truths while ignoring the others is patently hypocritical and goes against the grain of the text itself.

These attitudes find their way into the New Testament in various forms. 1 Corinthians 6:9-10, and 1 Timothy 1:10 list a wide group of people who will not “inherit the Kingdom” without changing. Paul is using a standard list of vices here to make a wider rhetorical point.

Where some English translations might include “homosexuality” on this list, the translation is not that simple, which is why various English words are used (adulterer, immoral persons, prostitutes). Still all sins so what is your point?

The Greek word malakoi in 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 means “soft” or “effeminate” and captures the Graeco-Roman distaste at a man taking a “female” role. In the Bible it is commonly used to describe fancy clothing, and outside the Bible was a term for cult prostitutes.

The word arsenokoites is rarer. Scholars have debated whether it refers to male prostitution or pederasty or something else. To translate it “homosexual” is problematic for two reasons: it is unlikely Paul had any concept of sexual orientation and he was certainly not describing a committed adult relationship. There you go, using a made up human description for something that is not part of God’s plan. Paul didn’t know of sexual orientation because it is a made up description to legitimize one’s ability to have sexual desires that are not intended by their creator.

In Romans 1:26-27, Paul condemns people swapping out their usual partner for one of the same gender. He claims this is a result of idolatry and uses is as part of his argument for why one should only follow (his) God.

It is typical of the strong “them and us” rhetoric of the ancient world, serving a larger argument and is not a statement on sexuality per se. As New Testament scholar Sean Winter summarises:

Paul shares a stereotypical Jewish distrust of Graeco-Roman same sex activity, but is simply not talking about loving partnerships between people with same sex orientation.

We need to put all this in perspective. These are six verses out of more than 31,000 verses or roughly 0.016% of the text. In contrast, the Bible contains more than 2,000 verses about money (and related issues of greed, wealth, loans, and property), and more than 100 specifically on one’s obligation to care for widows. Some things don’t need to pounded in our heads. Love of money is a sin that impacts us all. We don’t all have same sex desires.

In other words, monitoring and proscribing human (homo)sexual activity is not a particular concern of the Bible when compared to the overarching demand for justice, economic equality, and the fair treatment of foreigners and strangers. For certain Christian groups to make this the decisive Christian issue is simply a misreading of biblical values.

Lest readers think the Bible is against sexuality generally, there is an entire biblical book devoted to celebrating human sexual desire. Written in the style of a Mesopotamian love poem, the Song of Songs (sometimes called Song of Solomon), speaks positively of both female and male sexual yearning.

Serious Christians cannot ignore the Bible. They can, however, make sure that they interpret it with all the tools available to them, that they examine their own biases, and stop over-simplifying the issues. Oh, but it is that simple. The problem is when people start interpreting, they interpret it to their biases as a means to justify what they want to think. Thus we should not try to interpret the Bible and accept that it is what it is. It’s like science and scientific research. Given enough data points, one can dissect the data enough times to draw whatever conclusions to support what their hypothesis is.

The Bible offers a wide variety of marriage arrangements, many of which we no longer condone. It never condemns same-sex marriage, partly because it simply does not address the issue directly. No but defines marriage as a man will leave his father and mother and take a wife. That’s pretty much a definition of marriage so any variation is condemned.

It does, however, give us an ethic to guide how we treat one another: an ethic based upon God’s generous love and a profound concern for justice. Finally something I can agree with in this write up.

My Summary:

In summary, I find no merit to the other side of this argument. It seems to me to be an attempt to make the scripture read in a way that supports your predisposed position. That is not the reason for scripture. It is a map and guidebook on how God wishes us to live. We might not like what is says because being an obedient follower is hard. It means we don’t take the easy road, we take God’s road. I always come back to what I think is one of the key scriptures in the Bible. In Romans, Paul writes “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.” This literally means what it says. Just because the world “changes with the times” and wants us to embrace progressive views so they we are more inclusive, that does not make the ways of the world the right way. We must use the Bible as our only source of how to live if we want to be one with God. So I implore all to be open and honest about all sins. We are all sinners and if we want to be obedient followers, we must recognize our sins and ask for our forgiveness. Saying that our actions and ways of living are keeping up with the times actually drives us away from God and not towards our eternal home.