Homosexuality (Sin, Homosexuality, and Love Part 2)

    As I mentioned at the beginning of my last post, this is a topic that I am loathe to address. There are reasons why I haven't talked about this before, mainly that I think the debate in Christianity over the question of homosexuality comes from a misunderstanding of Sin and Love. The former I addressed in the former post and the latter will be addressed in the subsequent post.

    All that said, since the debate around this issue is growing more and more rabid and I have been unable to extricate myself from it, I now feel it is necessary to explain what the Bible says, at least as far as I understand it. Hence this particular post. My goal is to explore two things: first to see what the Bible itself says regarding the morality of homosexuality and secondly to begin to explore how as a church and body of believers to deal with the issue. The latter part of this discussion will be more fully vetted in the following post on love.

    Before we dive in, I feel it necessary to explain two key points first. One is that my word is not the final word. The Bible's word is. This post is about what the Bible says regarding the morality of homosexuality; all discussion should be rooted in the Word of God. If my conclusion is wrong, then show me from the Bible. Don't debate simply because you disagree with my perspective. If you don't believe in the Bible or aren't a Christian that's your choice, but don't whether or not the Bible is right. This discussion is not about that; this discussion is about what the Bible actually says so that we as Bible-believing Christians can know what to do.

    Secondly, I need to point out that I myself am not gay. Neither do I have close friends that are gay (at least to my knowledge). At the same time, to my knowledge I don't have friends that are vehemently anti-gay. Other than people repeatedly asking my opinion and answer on the question, I have no vested interest in the debate one way or the other. While this gives me the advantage of being fairly objective on the issue (I have no particular axe to grind), I am fully aware that I have no inkling as to the struggles that homosexuals, particularly homosexual Christians, go through. I cannot speak to nor understand that pain; neither do I claim to.

    So with that in mind, what does the Bible say regarding homosexuality? As I often do, the first place to start is the beginning with Creation. After all, the Edenic world is the ideal world and it is for the ideal world that we ought to be striving for. And in the Garden of Eden, Yahveh created one man (Adam) and one woman (Eve) literally for each other with the task (among many others) to populate the earth.

    There is a trite and somewhat derogatory saying thrown around by anti-gay activists that "God created Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve." While the implications of this statement are demeaning, there is factual truth to it. Yahveh could have created a male companion for Adam. He could have created the first two people women. For that matter, he could have created multiple Eve's or multiple Adam's. But he didn't. He created one man for one woman.

    Secondly, Yahveh specifically commanded Adam and Eve to populate the earth. This was a key part of their responsibility as regents of this world. This is also very difficult to do for homosexuals (read, impossible). Again, Yahveh could have created both sexes with the possibility of bearing children. But he didn't. By his design it takes one of each to create life.

    The Divine ideal is crystal clear: a monogamous, heterosexual, life-long, committed marriage. Now the implications of this go far beyond just homosexuality, especially in other parts of the world; divorce and polygamy particularly spring to mind. These are issues that are not the subject of this post, but have major complications of their own.

    One may point out that we don't live in an ideal world. After all, Yahveh created Adam and Eve heterosexual and there are people who are born gay. This is true. But I have to ask, does that change Yahveh's ideal? Hardly.

    Let's skip ahead a few books to Leviticus 18:22: "Do not lie with a man as one lies with a woman; that is detestable." We can assume that this rule works both ways; women, don't sleep with women like you would with a man.

    Okay, so this describes homosexuality and calls its practice "detestable." Note that the Bible calls the practice of homosexuality wrong. It does not say that if you are attracted to members of the same sex that that is wrong. A subtle, but important difference.

    Back to the text; the Bible doesn't really leave any gray area here. Here it condemns homosexuality, plain and simple. After all, this is in the middle of a series of commands titled in my Bible "Unlawful Sexual Relations." Among them are adultery (duh), just about any kind of incest (Yahveh is quite thorough in covering all the bases), bestiality, certain times to avoid sex (a woman's period), and even polygamy, then a commonly accepted practice, to an extent. Oh, and Yahveh throws in a "don't sacrifice your kids" command for good measure.

    Now when I use the text, people raise two objections: one, wasn't this just for the Jews and two, aren't we picking and choosing which rules we follow?

    The answer is largely the same for both. In specific regards to the first objection, a study of the context answers that simply enough. Chapter 18 begins with an admonishment to "not do as they do in Egypt where you used to live, and you must not do as they do in the land of Canaan, where I am bringing you. Do not follow their practices." The same chapter ends with "Do not defile yourselves in any of these ways, because this is how the nations that I am going to drive before you became defiled. Even the land was defiled; so I punished it for its sin, and the land vomited out its inhabitants. But you must keep my decrees and my laws. The native-born and the aliens living among you must not do any of these detestable things." Clearly Yahveh intended these laws to apply to both Jew and non-Jew alike.

    As to the second objection, there are several points to consider. First, what are people referring to by "picking and choosing"? What I mean is, which rules are we picking to follow and which rules do we disregard? Most people reply with the sacrifices and feasts or with wearing clothes made of two types of fabric.

    First, the context of this passage ought to be considered. Chapters 17-20 of Leviticus make up what is called the Holiness Code, or a series of codes and laws that were to be applied to both Hebrews (ancient Jews) and non-Hebrews alike. Sacrifices and feasts and mildew laws are not part of this code, specifically applying to Hebrews only. It is true that the rather random and obscure law referring to the two types of cloth are part of the Holiness Code. However there is further context to be considered.

    In the early Church of Acts, similar questions were being asked about which rules were to be followed and which were not. In response to this growing (and divisive) debate, the Church held a special council in Jerusalem to resolve this issue, recorded in Acts 15. To summarize the debate, the Church leaders decided that the following items ought to be followed: refrain from eating food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meet of strangled animals (all in reference to Leviticus 17), and from sexual immorality (in reference to Leviticus 18). Two things to note from this: first, nothing past chapter 18 is referenced and second sexual immorality ought to be understood as all forms of sexual immorality discussed in the Old Testament, including homosexuality.

    Finally, exactly which sexual rules do we actually disregard? I mean, do any of us honestly consider incest or adultery or bestiality or polygamy okay? What about taking rival wives? Of course not. The closest we get to an "acceptable" sexual practice is having sex with a woman during her period, which strikes me as a) revolting and b) women, are you really "feeling it" that time of month?

    It is precisely because so many people (in the secular setting) consider homosexuality okay that we do debate the issue. We don't hesitate to condemn any of the others, so why does homosexuality get a pass? Biblically and logically that makes no sense. I mean what if a brother and sister, both adults, realize they are deeply in love with each other and want to get married? Would we condone that relationship? Again, of course not. We would be disgusted. Again I ask, what is difference between the two? Neither are considered acceptable relationships according to the Bible, yet one (homosexuality) is treated with controversy yet the other is outright condemned by everyone, regardless of religious beliefs.

    For Christians, this strikes me as an odd hypocrisy, one that few people acknowledge. Most people complain that gays and lesbians are singled out while adulterers and porn addicts get a free pass. Again, this is definitively not true. Among Christians no one questions that these are wrong whereas Christianity is split on the issue of homosexuality. As a result, homosexuality is merely more visible than these other sexual sins and so gets more attention. But I challenge you to observe what happens if a person walks into a church and openly admits to either being addicted to porn or having an affair and watch the fire and brimstone rain down. This is especially true of affairs, which often shatter and divide churches like little else.

    But I digress into the next post's topic. The point is that biblically, it makes no sense to single out homosexuality as "okay" while assenting to all the others. Such a belief is inconsistent at best and open rebellion by vaunting what we as humans want over Yahveh's commands at worst.

    As noted above, the New Testament church continued to Old Testament belief of condemning the practice of homosexuality. In addition to the Council of Jerusalem, Paul adds a more specific condemnation in his first letter to the Corinthians, "Do not be deceived: the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanders nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God."

    There are two points to be noted here. Again, the practice of homosexuality is condemned, not being homosexual. This point cannot be stressed enough: while the Bible clearly condemns the homosexual practice, nowhere does it condemn a person who is inherently homosexual.

    The following verse helps us transition to the second part of this long post. "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."

    Salvation is no respecter of persons, meaning it is available to all. Adulterers, idolaters, thieves, and yes, homosexuals, all have access to the gift of salvation. It does not matter what you have done, Christ's death still covers you and gives you a new birth in the kingdom of God.

    But salvation is no respecter of persons, meaning it demands the same things from all. Just as adulterers, idolaters, and thieves must submit themselves to the rule of Yahveh. We don't think that it would be okay for someone to keep on worshipping Zeus in addition to Yahveh. Nor would we approve of someone continuing to thieve as if nothing had changed. Can we honestly say that someone is really saved, i.e. someone who has become a member of the kingdom of Yahveh that continues an extramarital affair with no intention of stopping? I doubt it. Again I ask why would we give homosexuality a pass? It does not follow.

    I do not deny this is a hard teaching, just as I readily admit that I cannot fathom the difficulty of this teaching. As I said before, I am not gay and so can't truly understand. Yet none of that changes what the Bible says. Clearly it condemns the homosexual lifestyle, though just as clearly not condemning the person.

    Still it is hard. This dooms the homosexual to a life bereft of the companionship that the rest of us have the opportunity to enjoy. It demands that those who have a partner separate on becoming a Christian. But again, it is what it is.

    Christ has promised us many things, but an easy life is not one of them. Indeed, Christ has promised us, all of us, that the life of the Christian is a hard one. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus informed those who wished to follow him that they would be persecuted. In John 6, Jesus calls himself a bread that everyone should (the exact meaning of this is a topic for another post) and many of his disciples deserted him because his teachings were too hard for him. In several places, Christ describes the cost of discipleship; it is a high price. His disciples grumbled that Jesus rather stringent teaching on divorce a teaching too hard to accept.

    Jesus does not promise an easy life; what he does promise is strength to overcome whatever hardships we will face. In the quoted passage above, Paul writes that the Corinthians were the evildoers that don't inherit the kingdom of Heaven. But Christ had saved them and sanctified them. Now this doesn't mean that they were "cured," that homosexuals were suddenly straight. For some this may happen, for most it will not.

    But Yahveh will give you the strength to bear the hardships of life. At the end of the Great Commission in Matthew 28, Jesus promises to be with us to the end of the world. In his final discourse with his disciples at the Last Supper in John, Jesus repeatedly promised the Holy Spirit to be with us, the same Holy Spirit given to those who truly follow Christ. In 1^st Corinthians, Paul writes that those who no temptation will be sent our way that Yahveh does not provide a way of escape.

    If you have sworn your loyalty to him, he is responsible for you as well. And true to his word, he will help you if you are willing to follow his commands. So the real question is do you really trust Yahveh? Are you willing to live under his rule and trust that he will help you through life? Is Jesus really the Lord of your life?