‘It may be true that homosexuality is an orientation people are born with … but we all have a free will. We all have a choice whether or not to act on our sinful desires.’ To those who may wonder
‘It may be true that homosexuality is an orientation people are born with … but we all have a free will. We all have a choice whether or not to act on our sinful desires.’ To those who may wonder why many Christians oppose homosexuality, the main reason is found in the Bible.
The following quotes are from the New International Version of the Holy bible, from both the Old and New Testaments: Leviticus 20.13: “If a man lies with a man as one lies with a woman, both of them have done whats is detestable.” Leviticus 20.13.
Genesis 19:1-12: “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. ‘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.’ “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. Before they had gone to bed, all the men from every part of the city of Sodom – both young and old – surrounded the house. 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.’ “Lot went outside to meet them and shut the door behind him and said, ‘No, my friends.
Don’t do this wicked thing. 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.’ “`Get out of our way,’ they replied. And they said, ‘This fellow [Lot] came here as an alien, 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.
“But the men inside reached out and pulled Lot back into the house and shut the door. 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. 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, 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.’ “And after the angels let Lot and his family to safety, God destroyed Sodom.” Romans 1:26-27: “Because of this, God gave them over to shameful 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.” 1 Corinthians 6:9: “Do you know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither the sexually immoral nor idolators 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.” Jude 7: “In a similar way, Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding towns gave themselves up to sexual immorality and perversion. They serve as an example of those who suffer the punishment of eternal fire.” Often when Christians quote the Bible to illustrate God’s disapproval of homosexuality, they are labeled as hate-mongers and homophobes. For some Christians, such labels are, unfortunately, well-deserved. But for most, they are not.
When Christians truly give their lives to God, the Lord gives them a genuine love for all people, including gays. It is this love that prompts them, despite vicious verbal attacks from homosexual activists, to repeatedly warn those with ears to hear that it is not wise to defy God. It would be despicable to remain silent, just as it would be unconscionable to see a blind man about to walk off a cliff and do nothing to warn him.
I believe that God is real and that the Bible is his way of teaching us the right way to live. The Bible teaches that fornication and adultery are just as wrong as homosexuality, but adulterers and fornicators, unlike gays, haven’t formed a powerful lobby that is trying to convince the world that their particular brand of sin is a positive lifestyle that everyone should embrace.
I don’t want homosexuals controlling school curriculums and teaching my children that immorality is OK. I lived in the San Francisco bay area for many years and saw firsthand the deep sadness and grief homosexuality often creates in the lives it touches.
Of course, I’ve known homosexuals who are nice, cheerful people, but I’ve known nice adulterers and cheerful fornicators, too, and just because sinners are pleasant and happy doesn’t make their sin right.
We are all sinners (and I am one of the worst), but God requires we acknowledge our sin, repent and stop sinning, not pretend our sin is something to be proud of, something to be paraded and promoted, something the whole world should approve and applaud.
It may be true that homosexuality is an orientation people are born with. Adulterers and fornicators may also be born with a propensity to rebel against God. But we all have a free will. We all have a choice whether or not to act on our sinful desires.
Even though some people may feel they were born homosexual, so long as they abstain from same-gender sex, they can avoid that particular variety of sin. Abstinence is difficult, but not impossible. The question is what’s more important – pleasing oneself or pleasing God?
It is simply not true that gays and lesbians cannot change their sexual orientation. Many homosexuals, upon giving their lives to Christ, have experienced a profound change of heart that has enabled them to give up the homosexual lifestyle and find happiness in a marriage to someone of the opposite sex. I personally know such a person, and professional documentation that such change is possible can be found on the Internet at the following sites: http://www.leaderu.com/offices/rekers/index.html (Dr. George Rekers), http://www.leaderu.com/jhs/index.html (Journal of Human Sexuality) and http://narth.com/ (NARTH).
The following ministries (some run by former homosexuals) offer help for those struggling with homosexual feelings: For Catholics: Courage, c/o Church of St. John the Baptist, 210 W. 31st St., New York, NY 10001 (212-268-1010, http://world.std.com/-courage/, NYCourage@aol.com.
• For all others: Exodus International-North America, P.O. Box 77662, Seattle, WA 98177, (206-784-7798, http://www.exodusintl.org/), Homosexuals Anonymous, P.O. Box 7881, Reading, PA 19603 (610-376-1146, http://members.aol.com/hawedpage/index.html), and Love in Action, P.O. Box 753307, Memphis, TN 38175-3307, (901-542-0250, http://www.loveinaction.org/ Also, look on the Web for Kerusso Ministries, Outpost, Regeneration Ministry and Good News for Sexual Addiction.
Evelyn Cook lives in Kapa’a and is a freelance writer and author.
