Posted on 06/15/2024 9:03:39 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
I'm sure you've heard this argument before. It's a common argument in LGBT-affirming circles. It goes something like this: Since Jesus did not specifically address homosexuality, it is assumed that he was accepting of it. This position is often referred to as the “silent argument.”
In this article, I aim to provide you with a biblically grounded and theologically sound refutation of the “silent argument.”
By examining Jesus's teachings on marriage, sexuality, and sin, we can clearly understand his beliefs and teachings. This will allow us to respond to the misinterpretations promoting Jesus as a gay-affirming Jewish rabbi.
Responding to the silent argument
It is poor reasoning to think because Jesus didn’t mention a particular sin or immoral evil, he somehow was for it. This is problematic for three primary reasons.
First, are we to assume that Jesus' failure to mention bestiality, rape, and incest explicitly implies his support of these immoral acts? Of course not. Even gay revisionists recognize the flaws and limitations of using “silence” as an indicator of Jesus' support for immoral behavior.
Second, the “silent argument” makes unwarranted assumptions about the cultural context of Jesus' time and attributes excessive importance to what Jesus' culture should have acknowledged and accepted as truth. But it wasn’t like parents were having kids coming out left and right like in our culture today. At that time, homosexuality wasn't a significant issue. It was widely understood that same-sex behavior was not in line with the Scriptures and was, therefore, forbidden for Jews to practice.
Third, the “silent argument” falsely assumes that the Gospel accounts encompass all of Jesus' teachings and views, which is a stretch. A close companion of Jesus even said at the end of his account, “Now there are also many other things that Jesus did. Were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written” (John 21:25). John uses a bit of exaggeration to emphasize that Jesus had plenty to say about a wide range of topics. This goes back to the point made earlier. If homosexuality were as prevalent and acceptable as gay revisionists claim, then indeed, we would have evidence of Jesus speaking directly to the moral issue in the affirmative.
But wait. Many gay revisionists like to cite the Sermon on the Mount as supporting their inclusive beliefs about sexuality. However, it's not a solid source to support their view. If there were many LGBT individuals in Jesus’ time and he was accepting of them, why then didn't Jesus deliver a “Gay Pride Sermon on the Mount.” That would have been the perfect opportunity to address the issue of homosexuality openly to help change people’s minds.
Yet, that’s not what Jesus did. What we actually see in the Sermon on the Mount is Jesus addressing the issue of lustful desires, teaching that those who look at another person with lust have already committed adultery in their hearts (Matthew 5:28). In Mark 7:21-23, Jesus takes it a step further and explicitly lays out specific lusts and sins, “For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.” Jesus used the Greek word porneia, which encompasses not only “sexual immorality” but also homosexual sex.
Based on these two passages alone, it is evident that we receive direct teachings from Jesus that are far from silent. Jesus' teachings stress the significance of self-control and the necessity to safeguard one's heart and mind against impure thoughts and sexual sin, which dishonor God.
What Jesus actually affirmed
A straightforward and honest reading of the canonical Gospels reveals that Jesus’ ministry, teachings, and self-understanding are firmly grounded in the Jewish Scriptures.
In Matthew 5:17-18, Jesus declares, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished.” In this statement, Jesus affirms the moral laws of the Old Testament, which include prohibitions against homosexual acts as outlined in Leviticus 18:22 and Leviticus 20:13. The consistency of the moral law in Jesus' teachings (as we just read in Matthew 5:28 and Mark 7:21-23) indicates that He supported these prohibitions.
There is, however, an attempt to counter the interpretation of Leviticus 18:22 and 20:13, which details homosexuality as an “abomination,” by suggesting that it refers only to pagan practices or rituals centered around temple idol worship. But that’s not what you see in the context of Leviticus. In Leviticus, Moses lists sexual tiers from bad to worse: 1. adultery, 2. homosexuality, 3. incest, and 4. bestiality.
These prohibitions are determined based on their rejection of the standard of moral living, especially regarding sexuality and marriage. In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus emphasized the sanctity and permanence of marriage as outlined in the creation account in the book of Genesis.
Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? So, they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate (Matthew 19:5-6).
Jesus couldn't have been more explicit about his beliefs and affirmations regarding marriage and sex. In Matthew 19, Jesus provides a clear blueprint for the sacred union of marriage and emphasizes the importance of sexual relations within the context of marriage. His teachings align with and affirm the moral standards set in the Mosaic law, upholding the purity and holiness of sexual relations within the bonds of marriage between a man and woman.
Considering Jesus's affirmation of the Jewish Scriptures, the creational model of marriage being between a man and a woman, and the call for repentance from all types of sin, including sexual sin, it is evident that Jesus did not need to address homosexual practices specifically. His teachings made it clear that he had high standards for sexuality, relationships, and marriage.
Jason Jimenez is the founder and president of Stand Strong Ministries and is a respected Christian-worldview speaker, and faculty member at Summit Ministries. He is the best-selling author of Hijacking Jesus: How Progressive Christians Are Remaking Him and Taking Over the Church, Challenging Conversations: A Practical Guide to Discuss Controversial Topics in the Church, and Parenting Gen Z: Guiding Your Child through a Hostile Culture.
If he didn’t, Paul certainly did, and no one can separate the writings of Paul, and the teachings of Jesus.
There is plenty in the OT and the NT about sexual sin.
Daughter recently got a new job working corporate IT. One of the aspects of her corporation's culture is the proliferation of sex between married men and women. (She is having her wedding soon, and is not participating.)
God promised Abraham that He would not destroy Sodom if ten righteous men could be found in it. When you go to church ⛪️ later this morning, look around you and realize that it is the proliferation of us, who are covered in the blood of Christ, baptized into His salvation, who by our existence keep our God from executing judgment upon the Sodom-ish society of today.
Amen.
I may try to visit a local church this morning. My pastor friend is preaching at one of his associate churches later this morning, Lord willing.
I had planned on going to his church but he won’t be there.
So I hope to go visit one that’s about 4 miles down the road.
God bless.
Absolutely
Ugh. I guess I have to get over myself but I really have a hard time reading any story having a title with Jesus and homosexuality in it. Maybe if I was a homosexual it’d be easier to deal with. But, alas....
It’s an idiotic, disingenuous argument. Didn’t need to talk about it because they were stoned to deal back then, conversation over.
Jesus said, “I and The Father are One.”
All the “whitewashed walls” screamed blasphemy.
Jesus rose from the dead and was seen by 300 people and further taught his disciples before being taken up back into Heaven.
God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, two cities frought with the abominable practice of homosexuality and all its permutations of vomitizing acts.
The next morn when Abraham went from out of his tent, he could see the aftermath of the destruction by the two angels (who visited him and brought news of Sarah’s upcoming pregnancy and birth of a baby boy [Isaac, “Laughter”]).
The smoke rose from the Jordan Valley, bombarded by the angels with fire and brimstone, like that of a furnace. Archaeological researchers today find small bits of human bone remains, round sulphur stones that burn with the light of a match, and layers of ash in the outlines of what could be the remains of the stones Sodom and Gommorah were built with.
There is a very intriguing and interesting YouTube video that really shows just how violent the fiery overthrow of those cities were.
Surely it shows Almighty GOD will not allow for such practices! And here in America it is flaunted and literally worshipped by those who do wallow in that abominable filth, dragging babies into the fray like putting a mere child on the frontlines of a bloody battlefield armed with its blankie and a Teddy Bear.
Using the Precious Gift of the Bow GOD set in the sky as a Promise never to flood the Earth with water to destroy it again (ahem, climate change goofs), GOD telling that the next and final destruction of both the Earth and heavens (elements) will be dissolved, with intense heat, burned up.
Perverting that Heaven-Sent Array of splendid and Glorious colors as the ‘flag’ representoure of their wickedness.
They’re elevating themselves to be equal with GOD, just as Lucifer did. Cast down with a third of the angels that too revolted. Desiring worship and promising violence to those who refuse.
There are angels bound with chains by GOD, because of their particular ferocity, on Earth in the depths of the Euphrates River and also in Hell.
A future of hellish destruction and eternal suffering awaits those who are unrepentant of this abomination. Disease rots them from the inside as a fulfillment of GOD’S wrath within their bodies. And it’s said, GOD never mentioned this wickedness. Then of course then THE I AM THAT I AM.
Welcomes it?
“He (Satan) is a liar and has been from the beginning,” His WORD tells us. Thousands of years ago this abominable plague was wiped off the earth with fire, and it will happen again. Any true scientist knows that the only way to completely eliminate an infectious vector is by conflagration (warfare and fire).
America needs a Nineveh Moment, all the way down to sackcloth and ashes and weeping and wailing in true repentance! GOD spared Nineveh, but it eventually was conquered. Ten faithful left in the city. Is HE sparing this geographic location of peoples that there is still Believers Salt left?
So very close is Christ’s Return! As in the time of Noah!
Only Noah and his family were saved alive in the Ark, and the Created Creatures GOD hand-picked and brought to and boarded it.
JESUS will soon snatch away HIS Believers! Have you understood what lies ahead so imminently for this country, for this world?
Call upon HIS NAME, believe that GOD raised him from the dead, and you will be saved. Repent, for the wrath of GOD will hit this earth with things so horrific, it’s never been seen before or will again! Don’t be a witness to it!
GET ON THE ARK!
“I did not come to change the Law but to fulfill it.
Not only, but God manifestly made man and women distinctively different yet uniquely compatible and complementary, and only joined them together in marriage - as the Lord Jesus Himself specified (Mt. 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. (Matthew 19:4-6)Conversely, what therefore God hath placed asunder, let no man joined together.
Thus all homosexual relations are fornication, and the Lord who condemned all fornication (Mark 7:21–23)
Moreover, homosexual relations have been tragically primarily responsible for approx. 80% of new HIV cases among men and approx, 800,000 American deaths, though such is not even the decisive reason why homosexual relations are wrong.
Yet there is still room at the cross for all who will come to God in repentance and faith, and trust in the Divine Son of God sent by the Father, the risen Lord Jesus, to save them on His account, by His sinless shed blood, and thus be baptized and live for Him. Acts 10:36-47
He also didn’t mention fracking or AR-15s.
Guess Jesus was OK with cannibalism, too.
Jesus really settled the issue when He said that God created then male and female and then established marriage.
Only read the title, but Jesus = God, so there’s that.
“I believe the Lord said relation are for the purpose of procreation”
Chapter and verse?
“Although children are a natural result of sexual intercourse between a husband and wife and are called “a gift of the LORD” (Psalm 127:3, New American Standard Bible), the Bible does not prohibit sexual relations within marriage purely for pleasure. Indeed, it encourages such union.
The idea that sex was dirty and evil was an idea that crept into Christianity from early Catholic teachers. Their compromise with the obvious reality that sexual activity was necessary to have children resulted in their teaching that sex should only be engaged in by married couples when they wanted to have children. Yet there is no such instruction in the Bible.
Genesis 2:24 says, “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh [have sex].” Proverbs 5:15-19 encourages couples to enjoy sexual pleasure together within marriage. Paul says that husbands and wives should render the sexual affection due each other—refraining only during times set aside for prayer and fasting (1 Corinthians 7:3-5).
No passage in the Bible forbids husbands and wives from having sex for pleasure when not trying to conceive children. There is nothing wrong with couples using contraceptive methods, provided they are not physically harmful, to postpone having children until the time of their choosing.”
A Marine buddy stood night guard with special optics in the Afghan outback. That culture is probably roughly similar to the one that Jesus lived in. Often, the Afghani men would go out and have wild, passionate encounters with their animals. I’m guessing that if men had encounters with other men in the time of Jesus it wasn’t part if the normal daytime culture. Cultural value-wise it probably rates up there with a sneeze. It lasts a moment, it’s over and you don’t make life changing or political policy or decisions based on your sneeze.
But as the world got rich, didn’t desperately need children as free farm labor, then men were able to cohabitate and develop a daytime culture from that aspect of their lives. The fact that Jesus didn’t mention homosexual relations is probably because he didn’t feel the need to talk about the sudden, violent expulsion of air from his lungs.
Jesus never mentioned smoking crack or fentanyl, but it doesn’t mean you should do it.
There are a ton of stuff Jesus never mentioned. I doubt he would approve of queers felching.
I think that we’re focused on the wrong thing here. Focusing on sin rather than salvation. Bring them to the foot of the cross and then let God do the rest. Point people to the miracle of salvation. God sent his son to dwell among us and demonstrated his authority over our reality by making the blind see, casting out demons, cripples walked and danced, the mute would speak and sing. Even death could not contain him, he broke out of the tomb! That is the miracle we should focus on. The story of the bible that God said to Abraham “I will provide the sacrifice”. And he did.
My opinion about peoples sins and lifestyles after that is nothing more than who I choose to associate with. I don’t see that Jesus really cared about what a terrible sinner anyone was. He embraced people who were without hope, healed them. He made miracles in their lives. Changed their minds, changed their hearts. That’s not something that we can do except through prayer. But certainly not through condemnation, hate spewing or even ‘truth telling’ as some may characterize it. We love to stand in the right with stones in our hands ready to bloody the head of the sinners amongst us. But who’s worthy to cast the first stone? You... or maybe You? Condemnation and accusing is what the devil does and it distresses me greatly to see people that I associate with participating in it. Maybe we should have a little faith in our Lord that he will finish the works that he started.
I guess i’m a bit of a gnostic, I may be wrong but that’s how I see it anyway.
The Ten Commandments didn’t mention it either...
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