Posted on 06/30/2012 6:03:19 PM PDT by GiovannaNicoletta
By and large, the American culture is aggressively promoting the sinful lifestyle of homosexuality. In the midst of such pressure, many people who call themselves Christians are caving in and accepting this perverted lifestyle in spite of God’s clear teachings against it (Butt, 2003). Just recently, the country singer Carrie Underwood stated that her Christian faith lead her to support gay marriage (Nilles, 2012). In truth, the life and teachings of Jesus Christ could never be accurately understood to lead a person to conclude that homosexual marriage is moral (Miller and Harrub, 2004).
One of the most common arguments made in support of homosexuality is that Jesus Christ did not explicitly condemn the practice. Supposedly, since Jesus never stated specifically: “Homosexuality is a sin,” then His failure to denounce the lifestyle can be interpreted to mean that He approved of it. This reasoning is riddled with error.
First, Jesus explained to His followers that He did not have time to teach them everything they needed to know. He told them that the Holy Spirit would bring to their remembrance all that He had taught, and would include additional teaching that He had not had time to cover. He told His disciples: “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. However, when He, the Spirit of truth has come, He will guide you into all truth” (John 16:12-13). When we look to the inspired writings of the New Testament, we see the authors boldly and specifically condemning the practice based on the revelation they received from the Holy Spirit (Miller and Harrub, 2004). Thus, it is wrong to suggest that only the “words in red” are Jesus’ teachings. On the contrary, He foretold that more teaching would be done after His return to heaven due to the fact that the apostles “could not bear” all of it at the time.
Second, even if Jesus did not explicitly condemn the practice (though He actually did, as will be noted later), that certainly could not be used as evidence that He condoned the practice. For instance, where does Jesus explicitly state that bestiality is wrong? Where in the New Testament does Jesus state that polygamy is wrong? Where are the “words in red” that specifically condemn pedophilia? Are we to suppose that the Son of God condoned using crystal meth because there is not an explicit statement from Jesus’ mouth that says “do not smoke crystal meth?” The idea that silence from Jesus on a subject means He approved of or condoned the practice cannot be substantiated.
Finally, it must be considered that Jesus did, in fact, speak against homosexuality. On numerous occasions, Jesus condemned the sins of adultery (Matthew 19:18), sexual immorality (Matthew 19:9) and fornication (Matthew 15:19). These terms describe any type of sexual intercourse that is not within the confines of a marriage ordained by God. Jesus then proceeded to define exactly what God views as a morally permissible marriage. He stated:
Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning made them male and female, and said, “For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh”? So then, they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate. (Matthew 19:4-6).
By defining marriage as between one male and one female, Jesus effectively condemned all other arrangements, including but not limited to one man and two women, one woman and two men, three men and one woman, three men and three women, one man and one man, one woman and one animal, etc. You can see the overwhelming logic of such. For Jesus to have to explicitly condemn every assortment of genders and numbers would be absurd. When He defined marriage between one man and one woman, He clearly showed that such an arrangement is the only one authorized by God.
Several years ago a man named Cory Moore “legally married his 2004 Cherry ES-335” Gibson guitar (“Man Marries Guitar,” 2007). He said: “The day I got her, I just knew she was the one…. I know it seems weird, but I really love her—like, really love her, with all my heart. I just wanted to make it official” (2007). Are we to conclude that because Jesus never specifically condemned a man marrying his guitar then the Son of God approved of such? To ask is to answer. In 2006, 41-year-old Sharon Tendler married a dolphin (“Woman Marries Dolphin,” 2006). Jesus never said one word explicitly about refraining from marrying a dolphin. Does that mean His “silence” should be viewed as approval? Not in any way.
Homosexuality is a sin. It always has been, and it always will be. The inspired New Testament writers repeatedly teach that to be the case. Jesus explained that the Holy Spirit would bring to the inspired writers information that they could not handle at the time of His departing. In addition, Jesus did explicitly define marriage as being between one man and one woman. The ruse to suggest that Jesus approves of homosexuality because He never expressly condemned it cannot be sustained logically, nor can it be defended on any type of moral grounds. The person who presumes to claim to be a Christian, and yet supports homosexuality, misunderstands the teachings of Christ and needs to repent and stop approving of a perverted, destructive practice that Jesus condemns (Matthew 19:1-9).
Anal sex?
Raging degenerate lust is what ‘brings them together’ ... self control is a foreign notion to the sexual degenerate of any type. Look at sinkEmperor clintoon.
Thank you for enlightening me, I appreciate it.
My statement was in response to:
“Preaching to the perverted is like giving singing lessons to a pig.
It’s expensive, it doesn’t work, and it annoys the pig.
Pray for them, but don’t hold much hope. Few of them return from the madness they impart upon themselves.”
I’m an old lady. God, in His mercy, made Himself real to me when I was in my mid-20’s, my life was a disaster, and I was most deserving of God’s wrath.
In God’s mercy, when He saves us, God doesn’t open us up like a Christmas turkey, and show us the depth and weight of our sin. If He did it would destroy us. But over time and years God peels away the layers of our hearts like the layers of an onion. In that process, we more and more see our own depravity, the greatness of God’s love and mercy, and the tremendous price Jesus Christ paid on the cross.
The older I get, the more I love Him and understand what it means to get to the cross, because I see more thoroughly that “In me dwelleth no good thing.”
How can I possible call another sinner a “pig”, when I, myself, who calls myself a follower of Christ, and all the more accountable for that, and yet daily battle with indwelling sin?
Christ is the remedy for the worst of sinners. He is the only remedy for sin.
Have you ever thought about pinging me when you mention me in a post?
Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. (Matthew 5:17)
KJV
The old law explicitly condemns homosexuality.
“Jesus did explicitly define marriage as being between one man and one woman.”
At creation, God took the woman out of the man. In marriage, they are re-united. No room there for any other sort of “coupling”.
Perverted homosexuals think with a perverted mind. So yes, they will read something different.
You are Correct!
I didn't "Clarify" that exactly correctly did I?
Arab communities used the Torah but concentrated on a limited portion but exclusively on the Books of Moses, Noah, & Enoch. They were rather selective and did overlook portions of the fore mentioned books when it suited their view of the Jews. They also selected other portions out of the Torah when it suited their (version) of their reality.
I should have more inclusive in what I meant when I specified "Early" as it should have been "Pre" Islamic text.
My Humble Appologies.........
They are condemned, but it appeared that you were responding to GiovannaNicoletta and the article as if they agreed with the headline, which is not the case.
Long day, fuzzy thinking. Sorry
I thought you were referring to yourself as a pig. I guess I misinterpreted your comment.
Well,maybe not a pig, more of a Nutria...or a Vietamese pigmy pig... LOL!!!
The list of behaviors that Jesus did not specifically condemn would be very long. He failed to mention such offenses as,
Child abuse
Embezzlement
Blackmail
Rape
Kidnapping
Torture
Cruelty to animals.
Oh the list goes on and on. Does that mean if people start claiming that they were born with the desire to hurt baby bunnies we must affirm this behavior and call it good because Jesus did not say “hey put down that stick and leave the bunny alone!”? Didn’t think so.
The Scripture makes very clear there is only one form of sexual union sanctified by God and homosexual fornication ain’t it. Sodomy is one of the four sins that cry to heaven they are, willful murder, sodomy, oppression of the poor (especially the widow and the orphan) and defrauding a worker of his rightful wages.
All of this comes from admonishments in Scripture that such things are a great offense to God.
First ask yourself “Does God order anything but for our good and that of our eternal souls?” Then ask yourself “Why would a loving God who is all good forbid something that in the eyes of many in the world appears as a good and loving relationship?” Does God desire to keep us from being happy? Is the point of obedience to Him to become miserable?
Do we trust that God knows what traps are most dangerous for our souls? I do. Do we believe that what God deems as good is good and what He deems as bad is bad? I do. Do we believe God’s plan for our happiness goes for beyond the temporal fleshy happiness found in sexual behavior? I do. Do we believe that sex in its right order reflect a truth about the mystery of God? I do.
For Christians sex is much more than just a biological activity meant for procreation and pleasure. Within marriage it is an analogy of the Trinity, just as marriage shows us a truth about Christ and His Church.
Sterile, life denying sex which by its very nature is so and can not be changed from this is the antithesis of the full self giving, life affirming sex that God has blessed within marriage. That union is a positive and reveals a truth about the nature of God. It glorifies Him and His creation. It deepens the bond of the spouses and truly makes them one. Male and female, they are God’s image.
Homosexual sex can not do this. It is profane.
God wants so much more for those in such relationships. He wants them for heaven. Their sin has deceived them and the counterfeit love (I call it counterfeit because it is not sanctioned by God) keeps them from knowing true love. No doubt they were kind, loving and generous people but that can be said of many sinners. It is right to pray for them and hope they turn away from their sin. It is right to pray that they find eternal joy even if it means some earthly unhappiness. Continue to show them the love of Christ and help them know how much He cares for them. Maybe someday with His grace they will come to know Him too.
No problem. ;o)
“And that is why I rarely comment on these so-called religion threads. The was one the other day on the Rapture that I think Giovanna posted, and did so in a way that if you did not believe as she did you could be banned for presenting any ‘truth’ in the matter that did not agree with her.
I think she is the ‘Religion Moderator’ on Protestant threads. Salvation is the Mod on Catholic threads.
69 posted on Saturday, June 30, 2012 10:23:29 PM by GGpaX4DumpedTea”
Take your issues up with him. He strongly mentioned your name without pinging you, but you didn’t mind that, apparently.
“Have you ever thought about pinging me when you mention me in a post?”
Because of this post to me, I won’t be taking up for you, anymore.
So, bye!
..... Not to mention the latter half of Romans Chap 1.
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