Homosexuality multimedia
Before sin entered the world through man's disobedience, heterosexual marriage was the only sexual relationship that existed on earth. It was after man's fall that such things as polygamy (Genesis 4:19), adultery (Genesis 12:17), prostitution (Genesis 38:15), and rape (Genesis 34:2) entered the world. Homosexuality was also an obvious development - as seen by the way it gripped the society of ancient Sodom (Genesis 19:4-5).
Why, then, do so many people insist that they were born homosexuals? Many times in our lives, events happen to us that are out of our control. It is how we deal with these events that will decide our future and how we react to other situations. Young boys sometimes encounter homosexual feelings because their fathers ignored them, thus driving them to side with their mothers and eventually emulate their mothers' sexual desires. Some people deal with homosexual feelings because they were molested as children.
The point here is that many people "feel" they are homosexuals - because their desires lean in that direction. These feelings may be reinforced by a childhood experience, an unkind comment from a schoolmate, or by parental rejection. But it does not mean that the person was born a homosexual - any more than people are born murderers, thieves, adulterers, or chronic liars.
Although a person may "feel" that his or her homosexuality is natural and normal, we must realize that feelings can mislead us. In the book of Jeremiah, we are told:
"The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick; Who can understand it?" (Jeremiah 17:9).
What we may "feel" is right is not necessarily morally right. We cannot trust our feelings to tell us how to live. The bottom line here is that we must live according to the principles of God's Word, and not according to our feelings. 2
"Can a Person Be a Christian and a Homosexual?"
There is no question that the Bible condemns homosexual behavior in both the Old and the New Testaments. Let's look at two examples:
"You shall not lie with a male as one lies with a female; it is an abomination" (Leviticus 18:22).
"Or do you not know that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, not idolators, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, shall inherit the kingdom of God" (I Corinthians 6:9-10).
A Christian is a person who lives in obedience to the teachings of Jesus Christ, regardless of the personal sacrifice, recognizing Christ's teachings to be ultimate truth. Such obedience is made possible when a person is "born again" as a result of faith in what Christ did on His cross to redeem sinful man. After being born again, a person is enabled to abandon all things which God declares to be sinful. As proof of his faith, a true Christian will no longer live in a state of continual sin. He will no longer be a slave to sin and he will turn from and give up all evil ways. Though a Christian may struggle with sin and temptation in different forms, he will no longer live a lifestyle which is contrary to God's Word. This is clear in the following passage:
"No one who is born of God practices sin, because (Christ's) seed abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious: anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love his brother" (I John 3:9-10).
No one can be a Christian and remain a practicing homosexual - it is a direct contradiction of God's Word. The very nature of Christianity is that it transforms people to live like Jesus Christ.
"Can Homosexuals Be Changed into Heterosexuals?"
Absolutely. The Bible says that there is hope and freedom for the homosexual. In the previously mentioned passage from I Corinthians 6, we are told that neither the sexually immoral, nor the idolator, nor male prostitutes, nor homosexual offenders will inherit the kingdom of God. But in the verse which immediately follows that passage, we read,
"And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of God" (I Corinthians 6:11).
Jesus Christ can change any person - regardless of the type of sin they have been involved in. No sin is to big for God to forgive. The homosexual, like anyone else, simply needs to believe in the transforming power of Christ.
Dorm Bible Study Column
- by Glenn Dunehew
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