The following student report was submitted by Ambassador League Agent Emily M. during the 2007-2008 League.
Biblical Research on "Homosexuality"
Gay marriage is one of the big issues being discussed today from state legislatures to federal courts. Why should Christians disapprove of homosexuality? Why would we want to deny gay couples their "right" to be married?
It starts with the sanctity of marriage. As I wrote in another bible study, God created Adam and Eve, male and female; he made them for each other. God created marriage from the beginning, in Eden, when everything was perfect, to be one man and one woman. He created it that way just like he made the earth go around the sun and the moon orbit the earth. If the earth suddenly stopped orbiting the sun, the world would be in serious trouble. In much the same way, the Lord tells us in scripture to keep marriage the way He created it, or there will be consequences of the most serious kind.
The bible does indeed clearly say that homosexuality is a sin, in no uncertain terms. Churches that say there is nothing wrong with homosexuality either don't read their bibles, or don't believe in the bible as the authoritative word of God. Leviticus 20:13 (NIV) says, "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." That may seem pretty rough to our human eyes, but it certainly makes the point loud and clear.
It is also clear that God will bring judgment on those nations that accept sexual perversity. Leviticus 18:24 (NIV) admonishes the Israelites after a long list of such sexual perversity, "Do not defile yourselves in any of these ways, because this is how the nations that I am going to drive out before you became defiled. Even the land was defiled; so I punished it for its sin, and the land vomited out its inhabitants." There are many sins, and in every nation there is great sin every day, but homosexuality seems to be one of the few sins that God will destroy a nation for. Genesis 19 describes the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, which was destroyed because of its wickedness, and rampant homosexuality. Homosexuality will inevitably destroy a nation, because it is the antithesis of godly marriage, sexuality, and family. The family is the most basic form of government, families constitute the basis of society. Without a God-honoring marriage, or a godly family, the most basic form of government, is gone. Thus, homosexuality will knock out all the foundations of good government, and turn God against a nation as well. That is why many Christians oppose making gay marriage legal. Homosexuality is such a destructive force, that if our country were to condone the practice, it may not be long until there is no USA to say one thing or the other about it.
God not only punishes the nations that practice homosexuality, but the individuals who practice it as well. Romans 1:26-27, 32 (NIV) it says, "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... Although they knew 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." There are people who say that diseases that come from this practice, like AIDS, are a misfortune, but not a judgment or punishment. This verse where it says that they, "received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion," seems to say that such ailments are indeed a "due penalty." It is true, there are many infected with these diseases that have never done anything wrong, but the diseases have their origin in sin.
So, can a homosexual be a Christian? As unpopular as it is to say, I don't think one can be a homosexual and a Christian; it has to be that one was a homosexual, and is now a Christian. God loves all people, but He hates the act of homosexuality, and can a man say that he loves God and then knowingly do what is perverse to Him? In James 1:22-25 (NIV) it says "Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it-he will be blessed in what he does." James clearly says that if we listen to the word and don't do what it says, we are deceived. Deceived? Deceived about what? Salvation? Yes. Jesus said in a parable, "Everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash." The man whose house was destroyed wasn't ignorant of the way he ought to go, he knew Jesus's words, he just didn't put them into practice. Plus, Paul says in
I Corinthians 6:9-10 (NIV), "Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: [there's that word again] Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes, nor homosexual offenders... will inherit the kingdom of God." That doesn't mean that there is no hope for people who have done these things, in fact the very next verse says, "And that is what some of you were. 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." God will save us from our sins and clothe us with righteousness; however, we absolutely cannot keep on wallowing in our former filth. When we are saved, it means we are forgiven and need to make a 180° turn, and completely renounce the old life we led. We are human, and fallen, so we do fail in our attempts, but we have to at least try, with God's help, to lead a new kind of life. Churches that accept homosexuality, are putting the people they are supposed to be guiding and shepherding at great risk, in a literal life or death situation.
In the end, the bible clearly states that homosexuality is a sin. Through history, it has destroyed both nations, and lives. Jesus can and will save the homosexual, but that person has to be willing to renounce what is hateful to God. Homosexuality is a big issue today, so it is important that Christians find out what the bible has to say about it, so that they will not be deceived.
