Signs of Sodom:  Confronting Homosexuality

Introduction

     I remember when the word "gay" was either a popular female name or described a happy, free-spirited mood or person.  No more.  Now, "gay" more likely is the chosen generic word to denote either male or female homosexuality; note that it has been deliberately crafted -- a euphemistic substitute -- to deliver a softer, less offensive expression.  How clever and skillful, one of many cunning devices designed to both justify and vindicate a depraved, perilous lifestyle -- one that threatens the sanctity of the family, church, and nation.

     I also remember when neither homosexuality nor its participants was a topic of public discussion.  They remained out of sight, out of mind.  No more Today, homosexuals are not only emerging from the closets, they're coming out of the woodwork!  Joining the political ranks of women and minorities, who distinguished themselves in the battle for gender and civil rights, the homosexual community has amassed its forces to champion gay rights.

     The issue of homosexuality is no longer just a hot topic for aspiring journalists or reporters.  Practicing homosexuals and their proponents have subtly and effectively catapulted the gay controversy into premier limelights.  It has become a burgeoning subject on TV talk shows, dramas, sitcoms, late night entertainment, as well as television journalism programs and the big silver screen.

     Because of these disturbing trends and their widespread implications, the homosexual question must be viewed with urgent concern by the church.  There are a number of matters that are often avoided by ministers and religious leaders, but the homosexual land mine is one noisy, demanding societal movement that requires a biblical response.

Overview

     So, why has the homosexual controversy become so heated and menacing, especially within religious circles?  One reason is that human sexuality intensely touches all of us, so it is nearly impossible either to be neutral or to be cautiously rational when dealing with sexual issues.

     Another cause for the homosexual explosiveness is that a prevailing moral consensus to which generations have subscribed -- that both homosexual predisposition and activity are a corruption of God's ethical intent and law -- is now under vicious, relentless assault.

     And, a third reason for the homosexual turbulence is that we are generally unaccustomed to approaching sex as a real religious theme.  Although we practice it, fantasize about it, joke and worry about it, seldom are we experienced in gathering the whole realm of sexual phenomena into religious study and thought.  Moreover, neither the church nor the nonprofessional person has been greatly assisted by the confusion and contradictions within the medical and psychological communities as to whether homosexuality is or is not a correctable irregularity.

Questions and Answers

Maybe a couple of questions and answers will help.

Why are we NOW exposed to so much about homosexuality?

• First, the progressively permissive sexual revolution, which began in earnest 40-years ago, initiated a new sexual exposure and vulnerablity -- including homosexuality -- that incorporated both talk and action. 
• Second, movie- and TV-viewing became the number one leisure activity.  Thus, both news and entertainment media successfully impaired and numbed the general public to all forms of immoral and atypical conduct via non-critical, repetitive viewing.
• And third, our diverse society fosters the reduction of inter-group conflict through "political correctness," which simply means that disparate (separate) convictions and opinions -- including moral ones -- are equally valid.  To that end, people are enlisted in anger management, gender- and racial-sensitivity courses, and also lifestyle-acceptance classes; the intent of the latter is to blueprint a way to cultivate approval, or at least tolerance, for homosexuality as just another ordinary way of living.

Are gay people born homosexuals?

• Among professional groups, this is called "constitutional" homosexuality.  If genetic homosexuality is true, then according to biogeneticists, such "maladaptive" clustering in the embryo that is incapable of reproduction, and therefore unable to perpetuate the species, represents a deviation from the genetic norms.  Nevertheless, compassion for such a condition does not mean, or require, endorsement!  Additonally, this would only confirm that homosexuality appears to be what Scripture consistently maintains that it is -- a distortion of God's creative will and intent.  Each of us must fuction within the limits of a life that we did not choose, each os us has some impairment, but each of us is also responsible to God for what we do with the life-gift that we have been presented.
• A second viewpoint involves not genetics, but termed either sexual orientation or preference, which suggests thoughts, feelings, and behavior.  It is claimed that homosexual attraction begins preconsciously so early in one's personality formation that it is stubbornly instilled for life.  It does appear that strong homosexual orientation is rooted in powerfully damaging psychological and emotional environments and becomes an unconscious adaptive step to protect a threatened personality.
• Which point of view is correct?  I don't know.  Maybe both.  There is no harmony even among clinicians and therapists that homosexuality is either "constitutional" or a personality dysfunction; nor is there agreement that it is either a correctable or an irreversible aberration.

Miscellaneous Considerations

     In all of the hype and fire of this whole contentious ordeal, let us remember that the homosexual is free to embrace the same loving mercy, divine grace, and redemptive power as the heterosexual.

     Walking in the Spirit toward a righteous life in Christ, nonetheless, is no easy task for any of us.  God's disposition of compassion and grace is not without cost.  "Cheap grace" doesn't exist; there is no way to redeem or liberate oneself without nailing the old person to the cross.  God's love is no pat on the head but a refining fire because of the responsible freedom that he bestows upon all of us in making life choices.

     Repentance is a good, rich, old word.  It is the regenerative force that produces the will, courage, and perseverance to recover, heal, and change our lives by God's power through Jesus.  And that includes those with homosexual tendencies who, out of their sorrow and contrition, can draw on the Lord's strength and determinacy of forbearance and clemency either to change or to adapt to God's will.

Biblical Injunctions

     Without lengthy theological treatise, exposition, or interpretation, just what does the Bible say about homosexuality?

     The horrific evil of the ancient twin cities, both of which are now believed to lie buried beneath the briny sediment of the Dead Sea, became so universally infamous that the name of one of those cities remains synonymous with sexual activity among members of the same sex -- sodomy (Gen. 19:1-11).

     Now, consider the following passages:

• Do not lie with a man as one lies with a woman; that is detestable (Lev. 18:22).
• If a man lies with a man as one lies with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable.  They must be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads (Lev. 20:13).
• You must not bring the earnings of a female prostitute or of a male prostitute into the house of the LORD your God to pay any vow, because the LORD your God detests them both (Deut. 23:18).
• Because of this, God gave them over to shareful lusts.  Even their women exchanged natural 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 indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion (Rom. 1:26-27).
• Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God?  Do not be deceived:  Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God (I Cor. 6:9-10).
• We also know that law is made not for the righteous but for lawbreakers and rebels, the ungodly and irreligious; for those who kill their fathers and mothers, for murderers, for adulterers and perverts, for slave traders and liars and perjurers -- and for whatever else is contrary to the sound doctrine (I Tim. 1:9-10).

     The obvious thread that runs so true throughout the scriptural testimony is that every time homosexual practice is mentioned it is both explicitly and implicitly condemned as sinful and deviate behavior.  The only way to negate this decisive biblical authority is either to ignore it or to grossly reinvent the Scriptures!

Conclusion

     After God created man, he observed that something was not right, so he created a perfect, complete mate, suitable in every way for man -- and it was not another man!

• Heterosexual marriage is, by God's primordial design and approval, the mystical union of two uniquely different kinds of human beings, male and female, different in personality, temperament, social function, and aspiration -- all assembled into the physical icon of sexual distinction.
• This grand relationship becomes a living parable, a concrete model that represents to the world at large the spiritual union of Christ and his followers.

     In summary, homosexuality is wrong because it is both unnatural and ungodly.  The person with homsexual inclinations has but one moral option outside of heterosexual marriage; ironically, it is the same moral obligation confronting a devout single heterosexual -- a celibate, chaste, and pure life before God.  Through such a challenging committment, one learns to value obedience over gratification and to serve God rather than serving one's own carnal lusts.

--Paul Killom