Homosexuality and Gay Marriage (Part 1)

Homosexuality and Gay Marriage (Part 1)
Tim Haile, for the Parkway church of Christ

Defenders of homosexuality and gay marriage have traditionally gone to great lengths to avoid Bible teaching when making their case. However, Newsweek.com recently published an article that attempts to use the Bible in actual defense of gay marriage. Lisa Miller’s article was published December 6, 2008, and is entitled, “Our Mutual Joy.” The article contains numerous errors and Scripture misrepresentations. Before addressing her specific arguments, lest us see what the Bible does teach about homosexuality:

Genesis 18, 19 record events that transpired before the Law of Moses was given, during the patriarchal age. Angels in human form visited Abraham and confided in him that God intended to destroy the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah because of their sin. Upon seeing these “men” (angels) enter Lot’s house, the men of Sodom, both “young and old,” surrounded the house and called to Lot, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us, that we may have sex with them” (Gen. 19:4, 5). For those who claim that God incinerated Sodom and Gomorrah because of their “inhospitableness,” rather than their homosexuality, I cite Jude’s words in the New Testament. Jude wrote, “Just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire” (Jude 7).

Leviticus 18:22 - “You shall not lie with a male as with a woman: it is an abomination.” This passage is a part of Mosaic Law. Incidentally, the very next verse condemns bestiality. “And you shall not lie with any animal and so make yourself unclean with it, neither shall any woman giver herself to an animal to lie with it: it is perversion.” Homosexuality is classified with bestiality because both constitute sexual perversion. Under Mosaic Law these sexual sins were a capital offense. Leviticus 20:13 says, “If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed abomination; they shall surely be put to death; their blood is upon them.” Those convicted of this type of sexual immorality were to be executed. If we were under the OLD Testament Law today, society would be divinely obligated to execute all who engaged in homosexual and bestial behavior. Of course, we are no longer under the Law of Moses, with its requirements of physical punishment for various moral and ceremonial violations. However, we are under the New Testament, and it also condemns these types of sexual behavior as being sinful and wrong. More to come…

View past articles at http://parkwayarticles.blogspot.com. Please join us for worship and Bible study at our building located at 125 Hilltopper Ave, Bowling Green, KY 42101. We meet each Sunday at 10:00AM and 6:00PM for worship, and Sundays at 9:00AM and Wednesdays at 7:00PM for Bible study. Our radio program is aired each Sunday morning at 8:00AM on the WKCT 930AM band. Phone: (270) 842-2049 – Email: timhaile@mac.com. Visit www.parkwaychurchofchrist.com.