I Know Its a Sin, but is it really that bad?
Lesson 2 Homosexuality
The Sin
God’s command and plan for the physical union of men and
women.
Genesis 1:27-28
So God created man in his own image, in the image of God
created he him; male and female created he them. And God blessed them, and God
said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue
it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air,
and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.
Genesis 9:1
And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be
fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth.
From the very beginning, the command of God was for man and
woman to be married and have children. There is no other type of sexual union
hinted at or allowed in these commands.
Biblical Passages dealing with Homosexuality
Leviticus 18:20-30
Moreover thou shalt not lie carnally with thy neighbour's
wife, to defile thyself with her. And
thou shalt not let any of thy seed pass through the fire to Molech, neither
shalt thou profane the name of thy God: I am the LORD. Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with
womankind: it is abomination. (Heb. to’ebah, something morally disgusting)
Neither shalt thou lie with any beast to defile thyself therewith: neither
shall any woman stand before a beast to lie down thereto: it is confusion
(perversion). Defile not ye yourselves
in any of these things: for in all these the nations are defiled which I cast
out before you: And the land is defiled:
therefore I do visit the iniquity thereof upon it, and the land itself vomiteth
out her inhabitants. Ye shall therefore
keep my statutes and my judgments, and shall not commit any of these
abominations; neither any of your own nation, nor any stranger that sojourneth
among you: (For all these abominations
have the men of the land done, which were before you, and the land is
defiled;) That the land spue not you out
also, when ye defile it, as it spued out the nations that were before you. For whosoever shall commit any of these
abominations, even the souls that commit them shall be cut off from among their
people. Therefore shall ye keep mine
ordinance, that ye commit not any one of these abominable customs, which were
committed before you, and that ye defile not yourselves therein: I am the LORD
your God.
Commentary
The perversions mentioned here and in verse 23 can not
produce offspring, and thus they defeat the purpose for which mankind was given
such responsibility and capability. This, therefore, is rebellion both against
God and against a God-ordered society. - The Wycliffe Bible Commentary.
The sexual sin of homosexuality is in the same section that
prohibits incest, bestiality and child sacrifice. If we would not accept the
other sexual sins then why would we accept homosexuality? All these sexual sins
are considered a perversion to God and the reason He drove the inhabitants of
the land of Canaan out before the Israelite. These sins bring God’s judgment
upon the entire nation, not just the individual.
The implication of these verses is also that violation of
the sexual code pollutes both the people and the land, requiring a cleansing
process that will drive them out and allow resettlement by the Israelites. -
The IVP Bible Background Commentary – Old Testament.
"Detestable" (Leviticus 18:22). The word used here
to describe homosexual acts is Ê¿ebah. It expresses strong revulsion, and is
used of practices that are morally rather than ritually disgusting to God.
Prov. 6:17-19 lists seven other Ê¿ebahs, including "hands that shed
innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked schemes," and "feet that
are quick to rush into evil." To God, homosexuality is hardly an
"alternative lifestyle." - Bible Reader's Companion.
Jude 1:7
Even as Sodom and
Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to
fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example,
suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.
Romans 1:24-28
Wherefore God also
gave them up to uncleanness (dishonorable, degrading passions) through the
lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between
themselves: Who changed the truth of God
into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who
is blessed for ever. Amen. For this
cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change
the natural use into that which is against nature: And likewise also the men, leaving the
natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men
working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of
their error which was meet. And even as
they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a
reprobate (depraved, debased) mind, to do those things which are not convenient
(not fitting, should not be done, not proper);
Commentary:
Romans 1:26-27. Also God gave them over to shameful lusts
(lit., "passions of disgrace"). This involved, as the text states,
both sexes engaging in homosexual instead of heterosexual relationships. Women
deliberately exchanged natural relations (with men in marriage) for unnatural
ones (with other women). This is the second "exchange" the
unregenerate made (cf. v. 25). Men... were inflamed with lust (orexei,
"sexual lust," used only here in the NT and differing from the more
common word for lust in v. 26).
The words translated women and men in these verses are the
sexual words "females" and "males." Contemporary
homosexuals insist that these verses mean that it is perverse for a
heterosexual male or female to engage in homosexual relations but it is not
perverse for a homosexual male or female to do so since homosexuality is such a
person's natural preference. This is strained exegesis unsupported by the
Bible. The only natural sexual relationship the Bible recognizes is a
heterosexual one (Gen. 2:21-24; Matt. 19:4-6) within marriage. All homosexual
relations constitute sexual perversion and are subject to God's judgment. Such
lustful and indecent acts have within them the seeds of punishment (due
penalty). - The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures by
Dallas Seminary Faculty.
1 Corinthians 6:9-10
Know ye not that the
unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither
fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate (men dressing and
acting like women), nor abusers of themselves with mankind (Grk. arsenokoitÄ“s –
from two words male and bed, homosexuals), Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor
drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.
1 Timothy 1:8-11
But we know that the
law is good, if a man use it lawfully;
Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the
lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and
profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for
manslayers, For whoremongers, for them
that defile themselves with mankind (homosexuals), for menstealers, for liars,
for perjured persons, and if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound
doctrine; According to the glorious
gospel of the blessed God, which was committed to my trust.
The Bad
Homosexuals molest children at far higher rates than
heterosexuals.
Homosexuals comprise perhaps two to three percent of the
population, yet according to the Journal of Sex Research, homosexual pedophiles
are responsible for 33% of all child sex offenses. Homosexuals molest children
at 10 times the rate of heterosexuals, and that’s at a minimum.
Homosexual May Be Made but not by God
People become homosexual because they were sexually abused
as children or there was a deficiency in sex-role modeling by their parents.
Initial sexual experiences have a powerful imprinting affect on the psyche of
young children. Being abused by a same-sex adult leaves a child enormously
confused and conflicted about his own sexuality. And counselors have long
observed a connection between distant fathers, overbearing mothers, and
homosexual tendencies in males who grow up in such households. One study has found that 70% of all gay men
were sexually abused as boys.
Homosexuals don’t live nearly as long as heterosexuals.
According to an extensive study of the homosexual community
in Vancouver, B.C. published in the International Journal of Epidemiology,
active participation in the homosexual lifestyle will rob an individual of a
significant portion of his life span. Say the researchers, “[L]ife expectancy
at age 20 years for gay and bisexual men is 8 to 20 years less than for all men.”
In fact, they observe that participation in the homosexual lifestyle knocks
life expectancy for a Canadian male back to what it was in 1871.
The Centers for Disease Control reports that homosexuals are
50 to 60 times more likely to become infected with AIDS than other groups.
The FDA will not allow a male to donate blood if he has had
sex even one time with another male in the last 33 years. The risk of
contaminating the nation’s blood supply is simply too great. The FDA cannot
afford to be politically correct when it comes to the nation’s health.
And the CDC (Centers for Disease Control) has found that of
all the males who have been diagnosed with HIV/AIDS in the history of the
epidemic, 91% of them got it either through having sex with other males or
through injection drug abuse.
Citing a 1999 report released by the Institute of Medicine,
the homosexual newspaper The Washington Blade notes that "various studies
on Lesbian health suggest that certain cancer risk factors occur with greater
frequency in this population. These factors include higher rates of smoking,
alcohol use, poor diet, and being overweight." Elsewhere the Blade
also reports: "Some experts believe Lesbians might be more likely than
women in general to develop breast or cervical cancer because a disproportionate
number of them fall into high-risk categories."
In a study of the medical records of 1,408 lesbians, the
journal Sexually Transmitted Infections found that women who have sexual
relations with womenare at significantly higher risk for certain sexually transmitted
diseases: "We demonstrated a higher prevalence of bv (bacterial
vaginosis), hepatitis C, and HIV risk behaviors in WSW as compared with
controls."
Homosexuals are more prone to be mentally ill and to abuse drugs and alcohol.
Even the pro-homosexual Gay and Lesbian Medical Association
admits that homosexuals “use substances at a higher rate than the general
population,” have “higher rates of alcohol dependence and abuse,” and are
subject to higher rates of “depression and anxiety.” Homosexual activists
attempt to blame homophobia for this, but the same trends are evident even in
Scandinavian countries where homosexuality has received virtually unanimous
societal approval for decades.
The Journal of the American Medical Association concluded as
follows: “The findings support the assumption that people with same-sex sexual
behavior are at greater risk for psychiatric disorders," which include
“mood disorders” and “anxiety disorders.”
The New York Times declared, “Studies have indicated that gay
men are more likely than the general population to have health problems like
substance abuse, depression and some infectious diseases.” The Times added that
a study published in the American Journal of Public Health “found higher rates
of substance abuse and major depression among men with male sexual partners
than among heterosexual men.”
The Massachusetts’ Department of Public Health, probably the
most pro-homosexual health department in the country, published what it called
a “look at health disparities based on sexual orientation.” The report revealed
significant disparities among people who identified as homosexual or bisexual
in the areas of access to care, self-reported health status, anxiety,
depression, suicide ideation, smoking, binge drinking, illicit drug use, sexual
assault victimization, intimate partner violence, disability, obesity, asthma
and heart disease.” Who is the AFA to argue with the Massachusetts’ Department
of Public Health?
The pro-gay website PrideSource referred to the LGBT community
as “a community that has higher rates of mental health and substance abuse
problems.” And the website gaywired.com, in its list of “Ten things gay men
need to know,” says, “Gay men use substances at a higher rate than the general
population,” and adds, “Depression and anxiety appear to affect gay men at a
higher rate than in the general population.”
A study published in Nursing Research found that lesbians
are three times more likely to abuse alcohol and to suffer from other
compulsive behaviors: "Like most problem drinkers, 32 (91 percent) of the
participants had abused other drugs as well as alcohol, and many reported
compulsive difficulties with food (34 percent), codependency (29 percent), sex
(11 percent), and money (6 percent)." In addition, "Forty-six percent
had been heavy drinkers with frequent drunkenness."
The Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychologists reports
that lesbian women consume alcohol more frequently, and in larger amounts, than
heterosexual women.[65] Lesbians were at significantly greater risk than
heterosexual women for both binge drinking (19.4 percent compared to 11.7
percent), and for heavy drinking (7 percent compared to 2.7 percent).
Although the Journal of Consulting and Clinical
Psychologists article found no significant connection between male homosexuals
and alcohol abuse, a study in Family Planning Perspective concluded that male
homosexuals were at greatly increased risk for alcoholism: "Among men, by
far the most important risk group consisted of homosexual and bisexual men, who
were more than nine times as likely as heterosexual men to have a history of
problem drinking." The study noted that problem drinking may contribute to
the "significantly higher STD rates among gay and bisexual men."
Violence in Lesbian and Homosexual Relationships.
A study in the Journal of Interpersonal Violence examined
conflict and violence in lesbian relationships. The researchers found that 90
percent of the lesbians surveyed had been recipients of one or more acts of
verbal aggression from their intimate partners during the year prior to this
study, with 31 percent reporting one or more incidents of physical abuse.
In a survey of 1,099 lesbians, the Journal of Social Service
Research found that "slightly more than half of the [lesbians] reported
that they had been abused by a female lover/partner. The most frequently
indicated forms of abuse were verbal/emotional/psychological abuse and combined
physical-psychological abuse."
In their book Men Who Beat the Men Who Love Them: Battered
Gay Men and Domestic Violence,D. Island and P. Letellier report that "the
incidence of domestic violence among gay men is nearly double that in the
heterosexual population."
Compare the Low Rate of Intimate Partner Violence within
Marriage. Homosexual and lesbian relationships are far more violent than are
traditional married households:
The Bureau of Justice Statistics (U.S. Department of
Justice) reports that married women in traditional families experience the
lowest rate of violence compared with women in other types of relationships.
A report by the Medical Institute for Sexual Health
concurred, It should be noted that most studies of family violence do not
differentiate between married and unmarried partner status. Studies that do
make these distinctions have found that marriage relationships tend to have the
least intimate partner violence when compared to cohabiting or dating
relationships.
No one is born a homosexual.
No researcher has ever even claimed to have discovered the
“gay gene.”
It is not a “normal” love or lifestyle.
Studies indicate that the average male homosexual has
hundreds of sex partners in his lifetime:
A.P. Bell and M.S. Weinberg, in their classic study of male
and female homosexuality, found that 43 percent of white male homosexuals had
sex with 500 or more partners, with 28 percent having 1,000 or more sex
partners.
In their study of the sexual profiles of 2,583 older
homosexuals published in Journal of Sex Research, Paul Van de Ven et al., found
that only 2.7 percent claimed to have had sex with one partner only. The most
common response, given by 21.6 percent of the respondents, was of having a
hundred-one to five hundred lifetime sex partners.
A survey conducted by the homosexual magazine Genre found
that 24 percent of the respondents said they had had more than a hundred sexual
partners in their lifetime. The magazine noted that several respondents
suggested including a category of those who had more than a thousand sexual
partners.
In his study of male homosexuality in Western Sexuality:
Practice and Precept in Past and Present Times, M. Pollak found that "few
homosexual relationships last longer than two years, with many men reporting
hundreds of lifetime partners."
Promiscuity among Homosexual Couples. Even in those
homosexual relationships in which the partners consider themselves to be in a
committed relationship, the meaning of "committed" typically means
something radically different from marriage.
In The Male Couple, authors David P. McWhirter and Andrew M.
Mattison reported that in a study of a hundred-fifty-six males in homosexual
relationships lasting from one to thirty-seven years,
Only seven couples have a totally exclusive sexual
relationship, and these men all have been together for less than five years.
Stated another way, all couples with a relationship lasting more than five
years have incorporated some provision for outside sexual activity in their
relationships.
Conclusion
In 1947, Sociologist and historian Dr. Carle Zimmerman, in
his book Family and Civilization, noted eight factors that have preceded the
downfall of EVERY major civilization:
1. Marriage lost its sacredness; it was frequently broken by
divorce.
2. Traditional meaning of the marriage ceremony was lost.
Alternate forms and definitions of marriage arose, and traditional marriage
vows were replaced by individual marriage contracts.
3. Feminist movements appeared, and women lost interest in
child bearing and mothering, preferring to pursue power and influence.
4. Public disrespect for parents and authority in general
increased.
5. Juvenile delinquency, promiscuity, and rebellion
accelerated.
6. People with traditional marriages refused to accept
family responsibilities.
7. Desire for and acceptance of adultery grew.
8. Increased tolerance for sexual perversions of all kinds,
particularly homosexuality, with a resultant increase in sex-related crimes.
Few, except the most radical or ignorant, would argue that
the Bible condones sexual perversion of any kind. The Bible standard
established by God is a man and a woman joined in marriage bring children into
this world. It seems to be the right and natural thing simply because it is.
Upon this foundation all institutions have been built and the stronger the
family, the strong the institutions built upon it. Without a strong family
foundation no society, civilization or nation will long stand. Homosexuality is
a sin but it is also a form of suicide by a person, or a nation.
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