Forbidden
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A biblical perspective on Lesbian & Gay issues
This piece is not for the squeamish. My purpose is to explore why the Bible admonishes believers to abstain from giving themselves to longings for same-sex sexual activities. Such necessitates elements of vividness about sexual acts that are foreign to many. I can appreciate the concerns of those who might take issue with such frankness. Yet, anyone who has read the entire Bible and studied the corresponding histories of its various periods has likely found that it doesn’t pull any punches in regard to the extent to which mankind has fallen prey to the powers of sin and Satan in the sexual arena. Such things as the groves, weeping before Tammuz and putting noses to the branch that are mentioned in the Old Testament all pertained to hideous sexual rites. The fact that there are biblical prohibitions against same-sex unions and bestiality indicate that such are more common temptations than some might imagine. Since some particulars about those interrelated depravities appear in this article, super sensitive saints might want to skip the subtitle, X-Rated section. (Lev. 18:22-23, Deut. 7:5, Ezek 8:14 & 17)
Anger does not beget righteousness
(Jam. 1:20)
Over the years, I’ve become convinced of two things in regard to homosexuality. If grassroots America really knew what happens behind closed doors; they might be more cautious about expressing nonchalant, if-you’re-happy-I’m-happy attitudes. They’d likely be appalled enough to entertain higher levels of disgust. Secondly, conservative sectors of the Church have been amiss in the degree to which they’ve targeted the LGBT secular community for acute condemnation. (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexuals, Transgender)
God has called us to win the world. Condemnation, alienation and vehemently antagonistic volleys are not to be the Church’s mode of operation. Our proverbial “hate the sin and love the sinner” claim has borne precious little fruit. Hate is a strong word. When expressed about matters that individuals rightly or wrongly reckon as part of their identities, it’s almost impossible for such not to be spoken with elements of harshness and received with offense. Any far-right fellowship that hired a detective agency to find Lesbians and Gays, who feel charitable warmth from Christians, could windup disappointed and bankrupt.
Significant numbers of L & G groups have reacted with aggressive vindictiveness that goes ballistic at the mention of traditional Judeo-Christian values. Nonetheless, there are times when homosexual communities exhibit notable attitudes of tolerance toward Conservatives. Key West, Florida is infamous for its alleged Gayness. The present mayor happens to be a married and fully heterosexual husband and father. He pastored one of the city’s Evangelical fellowships for years. He also happens to be one of my closest friends. Knowing full well who he was and what he represented, the Gays gave him their support and he’s now in his second term. All they wanted was a competent civic leader who would insure their basic rights as American citizens and who would support fare-shake, equal opportunity polices. Sadly, the number of hatefully inflammatory emails that the mayor gets from irate fighting fundamentalist from across the nation is shameful. They act as though he’s accountable to them to instantly institute rulings that will legislate sexual behavior. No democratically elected official has that measure of authority. Were he not already a believer, there is nothing in those emails that would convince him that Christians are loving people and that Christianity is a worthwhile pursuit.
Homophobia
Many pulpiteers incite their congregations with homophobic sermons. All too often such inclines adherents to assert that public schools, business institutions and the military would be best served if homosexuals were barred from employment. The claim is that somehow the presence of Gay people will pollute the workplace and put children and heterosexuals at greater risk of sexual harassment. On a per capita basis, it’s heterosexuals, not homosexuals, who are most often prosecuted for lecherous assaults on children and for the sexual harassment of co-workers. Most any institution that provides equal opportunities for all can testify that those of homosexual orientation are among their most creative and reliable employees. Discriminatory demands by religionists on secular communities are unjust, unchristian, unbiblical, un-American and counterproductive for evangelistic purposes. If you want to persuade someone that God is love and that His people are a wonderful family; but you initiate the conversation by insulting their lifestyle and are known to advocate job discrimination; whatever you say next is really going to have to be clever.
Be at peace with all - Mind your own business
(Rom. 12:18 & 1 Pet. 4:15)
Such things are unbiblical and unchristian because the New Testament does not encourage Christians to judge and condemn the people of the world. The unconverted are condemned already and God will judge them for continually ignoring His whispers within their consciences. Believers are charged to monitor the behavior of fellow Christians, not that of secularists. When addressing aberrant sexual behavior within the Church, the Apostle Paul emphatically stated that it was not his place or ours to do the same in regard to those outside/those of the world. (1 Cor. 5:9-13) The Christianity of the New Testament insists that believers mortify all longings for forbidden sexual acts. (Col. 3:5) It does not condone bizarre practices among unbelievers, but it does anticipate that sinners will act like sinners. The early disciples fully understood something that many present-day saints don’t. Sinners have few inclinations for change and no empowerment to do so until the Holy Spirit has graced them with repentance and transformed their hearts into that of the Lamb by the cleansing Blood of Calvary. (1 Cor. 6:9-13) (The context of the Grk. words translated in the KJV as fornication and uncleanness; and as sexual immorality in newer translations encompasses every form of forbidden sex acts from adultery on through to homosexuality and beyond to bestiality.)
The passages in the Old Testament that prescribe the death penalty for inappropriate sex acts pertain to Jews who were under the Law of Moses. Such applied to their bondservants; and anyone residing within the borders of ancient Israel (Sodom and Gomorrah were in the Promised Land). (Lev. 20:13-16) Israel had a sacral/Religious-State government. America does not have a Church-State form of rule. Present-day believers have no more right to dictate moral policies to democracies than the Christians of old did to the Roman Empire. The whole known world of that era was steeped in homosexuality, pedophilia and lewd rites of every description. Such had been intricate aspects of both Greek and Roman culture for centuries before the Advent of Christ. The poetess Sappho of the 4th Century BC first referred to female homosexuals as Lesbians. She did so because of the abundance of women co-habiting with women on the Isle of Lesbos. In comparison to the Mediterranean world of the Bible, contemporary Western societies have barely scratched the surface of decadence. Yet, we do not find a single New Testament example wherein the early disciples specifically made public denouncements about the aberrant practices of their native cultures. Early believers corrected their own knowing that sexual escapades that are acceptable to the unsaved should not be so much as mentioned by the Redeemed. (Eph. 4:17-20, 5:3)
Protesters might have a lot to hide
It could be that the weaknesses of those responsible for commissioning the translation of the King James Version of the Bible and creating the paintings on the ceiling of the Vatican in Rome were somewhat prophetic. King James had a male sexual partner who was the Duke of Buckingham and Michelangelo was just as Gay as the day is long. We snap and snarl at homosexuality in the world, while it thrives within the Church. Both the Catholic and Protestant ends of Christianity are equally guilty of continuously producing, harboring, protecting and promoting people of same-sex orientation. Homosexual pedophilic predator priests are routinely shuffled from parish to parish. The president of the huge National Association of Evangelicals was recently exposed as the lover of an ex-male prostitute in Denver. A primary spokesman for the prophetic movement is only now being disciplined for a Gay lifestyle after years of unchecked travel with effeminate younger men. Not far from our nation’s capitol there is a mega-church that is pastored by a fellow who has been in and out of homosexual episodes for 25 years or more. On more than one occasion, I’ve personally counseled homosexuals and secret cross-dressers who served on the staffs of Campus ministries and as musicians in some of the most well known Christian bands. The number of Gay individuals in the Black Gospel Music industry and in the Old-time Gospel singing groups that transverse the Bible-Belt is scandalous. Tulsa Oklahoma’s Gay community is in full bloom. Many of the students from Conservative homes arrived at the local Christian institutions Gay and stayed that way. After graduation many elect to stay on in Tulsa. The abominable truth is that it’s the Church that’s in trouble; all the while it’s projecting its maladies as though the unconverted were solely guilty. I would challenge anyone who disagrees to question members of the homosexual community of your city. You might sadly find that they get plenty of action from some of your married clergymen and their parishioners; and from more than a few young people whom you might consider your most promising and gifted. The painful reality is that we are in the place of those depicted in Rom. 1:32-2:1. We condemn others for the very practices that we habitually commit.
Origins
There might be reasonable explanations about how religious people can windup with Gay and Lesbian children. Studies suggest that there are consistent correlations between aloof and abusive fathers and the potential for children to develop homosexual tendencies. Such is not inevitable, but it is common. Dad is aloof and incapable of showing reasonable affection to his wife and kids. Fuel is added to the fire in that mom and dad disagree about the importance of spiritual fervency and church attendance. It’s a point of continuous contention and mom escapes to church with the kids in tow at every opportunity. Between the father and his wife and kids, it becomes a him-and-us abusive situation. Johnny begins to act more like mom than dad and goes looking for male affection in the wrong ways and places. Suzie grows up thinking men are untrustworthy and scary and seeks female companionship. Most anyone who goes to church is familiar with similar scenarios.
Against nature
From a biblical perspective homosexual acts are forbidden because they are against nature. That phrase does not preclude that there aren’t rare instances wherein some are naturally/genetically predisposed to be attracted to those of the same sex. In the natural dimension, nature indicates the ability to reproduce after like kind, as did Adam and Eve. Any form of same-sex union that cannot produce offspring solely through that union is against nature.
According to Rom 1:26-27, there is a hint that it was women who first exchanged their natural sexual functions for those that were against nature and that the men quickly followed suit. It somewhat like Eden wherein Eve was the first to eat of the forbidden fruit and Adam followed. Lesbian and Gay sex acts have been practiced in every corner of the globe since time immemorial. Africa, the Far East, the Middle East, Europe and the aboriginal tribes of the Americas; none were exempt.
In regard to Christianity, the arguments about whether homosexuality is genetic or acquired are moot points. Even in the rare instances where a person is born with that desire, they have no more of a legitimate right to express it, than they do other prohibited propensities. Some people are born with a weakness for alcohol and others with the potential for murderous rage. Those who continually vent those desires and do not repent will lose their place in the kingdom of God. (Gal. 5:19-21) If anyone is born with an intense weakness for a specific sin, God requires that they quench it. It is not life threatening to do so. One can go to heaven with unfulfilled, sinful desires. No one can see God, unless they have denied their unlawful passions in the active pursuit of holiness. (Col. 3:5, Heb. 12:14)
X-Rated section
Gay men and Lesbians satisfy one another through oral stimulations such as fellatio, cunnilingus and annilingus. Both practice mutual masturbation and anal and vaginal fisting. Emergency room workers and ambulance drivers are all too acquainted with fisting traumas. It’s not at all unusual for men to come in partially disemboweled by rough fisting at the moment of orgasm. Both men and women come in with objects stuck into their body cavities. It’s not rare for such to be a hapless declawed rodent that got loose from a Gay or Lesbian partner’s control. Gay men also practice anal sex and Lesbians engage in tribadism.
Certainly, all of the aforementioned give credence to the Bible’s assertions that homosexuality is against nature and unclean as well.
Why is it wrong?
The Devil hates God, but is powerless to do Him harm. He therefore seduces mankind through the power of sin and demonic spirits to abuse one another via defiling acts. One of the titles for the human organs of speech is, one’s glory. (Ps 16:9, Ja. 3:10-11) Such are to be instruments to glorify God and to imitate His creative abilities through words of faith. It is particularly satisfying to Satan for men and women to use otherwise sanctified physical organs for despicable practices. For this reason evil concupiscence/forbidden sexual longings are equated with idolatry. (Col. 3:5)
The intimate relationship between married, non-same-sex couples is holy. It shadows the union between Christ and His Church through faith in the atoning work of Calvary. The intimate oneness and knowing of one another spirit, soul and body achieved through the act of marriage symbolizes the optimums of the same that Jesus and His Bride are to desire one with the other. (Ephes. 5:25-32) Unlike human marriage, the Lord’s infinite love for His own is expressed without sexual union. As a mystical and spiritual union, it has ever-increasing glories that surpass anything possible in the natural realm. Gay and Lesbian activities defile the Blood of the Covenant wherewith Jesus purchased His eternal companion, the Church. All of such are sinful. (1 Cor. 6:9-10, 15-20, Heb. 10:22, 29, 12:14, 1 Jn. 3:2-3)
At salvation, the conscience is washed clean by the Blood of the Lamb. Slight ventures into any forbidden area in thought or deed should produce instantaneous pangs of conscience. That sensitivity is the essence and propagator of experiential holiness. Rebellion against cultivating such sensitivities through purposed discipline unto holiness carries eternal risks. (Rev. 21:7-8)