Posted on 03/11/2004 5:53:16 AM PST by Theodore R.
The Bible and homosexuality
Posted: March 11, 2004 1:00 a.m. Eastern
© 2004 WorldNetDaily.com
Sen. John Kerry suggested to an audience in Mississippi recently that the Bible is ambiguous on the topic of homosexuality.
"Well, I know the deep beliefs, I respect, I'm a Christian, I've read the Bible, and I know you can find the clauses that go both ways," he said. "I'm not here to argue that with you."
Well, I'm here to argue with Kerry. The Bible is clear on homosexuality – Old Testament and New Testament: Homosexuality is an abomination.
Kerry may not believe it. You may not believe it. But the Bible states it clearly and unambiguously. And, despite what Kerry says, there are no "clauses" that suggest anything else.
Here's a brief Bible study for the man who would be president.
It begins in Leviticus 18:22 (KJV): "Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination."
That seems pretty clear to me. Maybe Kerry has another interpretation. The chapter goes on to state that people who commit these acts, and others God considers abominations, causes the land itself to be defiled.
Then, in the New Testament, Paul writes in Romans 1:22-27:
Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things. Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness 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.
I'm still waiting for any Bible student to show me even one verse that suggests a more "tolerant" view of homosexuality.
Generally speaking, the best they can do is to suggest Jesus Himself never spoke out against homosexuality.
There are two problems with that statement:
First, Christians believe Jesus came not to overturn the law but to fulfill it. They believe He is the Word – its living fulfillment. They believe He is eternal and part of the Godhead that created the Heavens, the Earth and Man. Therefore, Jesus never contradicted any of the law. He quoted from it. He taught from it. He explained it. He affirmed it.
Second, Jesus did speak out, as recorded in Matthew 19:4-6:
And he answered and said unto them, Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female, And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh? Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder. Here Jesus had an opportunity to explain any middle ground in this issue of men and women. As if to underscore the point, he did later provide something of an exemption for eunuchs – men who do not have testicles. But he doesn't suggest God made homosexuals, lesbians, transgendereds, transvestites or bisexuals.
Kerry likes to be on both sides of all the issues. But that's difficult when it comes to God's unambiguous Word on relations between men and women. Maybe Kerry can let the American people in on which "clauses" he's found in the Bible that would justify homosexuality as anything other than an abomination.
You can choose to believe the Bible. You can choose to disbelieve it. But you cannot say it says something it does not say.
My point is exactly that. Those that claim literal translation cannot remove the filter of their brain. This is basic human communication theory (also a theory by the way for the lurkers and spectators).
God chose this stiff necked people. Woe to anyone who persecutes them.
On that I agree. I was just again pointing out that it is not possible to pursue a literal Biblical interpretation under a THEOLOGICAL scenario, much less a SCIENTIFIC one.
Great answer -- thanks.
Of course, the science part doesn't apply here.
But when someone claims to be able to directly understand the Bible, I feel duty-bound to remind them that their fallibility might be showing.
True, we must tread carefully. And it's alright NOT to have definitive knowledge in any area. Such is the beginning of wisdom.
But we CAN and DO understand many things. The Bible can be clear. Not everything is in doubt or unclear. Proper conduct w.r.t. to sexual immorality is one of those areas in which the Bible is most emphatic. Paul makes an argument from natural revelation in the 1st chapter of Romans. And of course we have God's explicit revelation in Leviticus 18. Men cannot say "We did't know."
Indeed. The general and direct meaning of the Bible in terms of our spiritual life and habits should be crystal clear to all but those who refuse the Message.
Christ set the high bar on how to live a moral life in God's Love, with His Life and His Words. The Bible provides additional directions to try to reach that bar.
What clauses? Santa Claus?
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