“I’m not interested in the rhetoric of theologians. I’ll stick with the Bible... You’re straining at a gnat.”
That is a very confrontational response you are using to someone who basically agreed with you other than a small BUT important issue. Jesus said these words (i.e. “straining at a gnat”) to His enemies who were trying to murder Him.
“Read Romans 1:28 of the King James Version (KJV) again.”
Verses 26 and 27 refer to homosexual lust and sexual activity. These come BEFORE verse 28.
So, as I said homosexuality is NOT the same thing as a reprobate mind.
A reprobate mind is even worse than that particular sexual perversion.
Rightly dividing the word of truth is not straining at a gnat.
Titus 1:16
They profess that they know God; but in works they deny him, being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate.
Notice how it describes “every good work” in this verse.
As in Romans 1, a reprobate is devoted to evil. A reprobate is completely turned upside down in his or her thinking and perception of morality. A reprobate, according to this text, is “filled with all unrighteousness”. They are not struggling with sin but delight in it, and devote themselves to it. Certainly this includes sexual perversions such as homosexuality, but it also includes other sins like murder and rebellion.
There are homosexual people who are still trying to do good deeds and seek to please God. Romans 1 describes those in this state as worshipping and serving the creation more than the Creator. It is not that they do not attempt to serve or please God. They simply care more for the pleasures of the world than God. Of course their religion and good deeds will avail them nothing without repentance and submission the Gospel of Christ. But there is a very important distinction between people in this state, who sometimes do respond to the Gospel (see 1 Corinthians 6:11) and those who are reprobate and eternal enemies of the Gospel.
Romans 1:28
And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient.
This describes a specific transition by an individual or group from engaging in sexual perversion to reprobation. It is the true nature of atheism, which is not really a skepticism or denial of God’s existence but more of a hatred and contempt for it. Homosexuality, as you have correctly described it, is a judgment from God. It is also a final warning for an individual or group, such as a nation, that the final stage of moral decline before destruction has already happened. Reprobation is that final stage.
Peter describes them thus:
2 Peter 2:2-3
And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of. And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not.
What is promised here is “swift destruction”.
In the cases of the days of Sodom and the days of Noah, which Christ compared to the last days before His return, humans were engaging in, or attempting to engage in, sexual activity with angels. This can only be categorized as “reprobation” and leaves nothing but impending doom. Noah typifies the extent of the coming destruction of the world—in totality. Sodom typifies the type of the final destruction—with fire.