Homosexuality and Christianity: Can the two really mix? Can a practicing homosexual be a Christian? Those are the questions that smack us in the face a lot these days.

Homosexuality and Christianity

In order to come to the right conclusions on this matter, we must ask a few other relevant questions. First of all, is the Bible a true and faithful record of both the will and plan of God Almighty? To that I must answer yes, absolutely. You may disagree. If so, then until you come to terms with the fact that the Bible is the very Word of God and carries the weight of His Divine authority, we don’t have much common ground to discuss this matter on.

The second question we must ask, once the first one is settled, is what does the Bible have to say about homosexuality?

Many will undoubtedly think this article to be unkind, un-loving, or the favorite term of these days, “hateful”…but if the first important question is answered right, then the second can be clearly seen, then there is no question as to the original question: Can a Christian be a homosexual or is homosexuality a sin?

What does the Bible say about homosexuality?

Bible and Homosexuality
What are the arguments against gay marriage?
Arguments Against Gay Marriage

Now, let’s let God speak through His Word, the Bible…

God’s Creative Plan

First of all, notice that the first married couple on the planet was male and female. That is, God set the pattern for marriage and family up in the beginning, “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.” Genesis 1:27-28.

Then the details of God’s creation of man and woman are revealed in a parenthetical passage, chapter 2, and God’s intention for marriage and family is clearly revealed: “Therefore shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.” –Genesis 2:24. Many might read the passage and say that Adam was just proclaiming this because he was speaking in verse 23 and the Bible never specifies who says verse 24, but I believe that if we look closely, we can see that most likely God made this proclamation directly, but if not it is still expressed as his clear intention because this is God’s inspired Word.

I believe that God declares verse 24 because Adam did not have a father and a mother to leave, so how or why could he make such a proclamation? Secondly, the sense of this verse is that of an emphatic Divine declaration, which explains the “one flesh” relationship. Can I stop here and say that the human anatomy points out very clearly the intention of the intimate parts, and that is not exclusive to the human race. In order to keep this from really digressing or insulting the reader’s intelligence, I’ll say no more on the anatomy issue.

What was Sodom and Gomorrah’s primary sin? Homosexuality – See for yourself:

Next, please direct your attention to a passage of scripture which says, “But the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners before the Lord exceedingly.” –Genesis 13:13. Now, if no other references were made to the men of Sodom, we would have to admit that this could mean they were guilty of any type of sin, and actually they were probably guilty of a whole host of sins, because sin produces a digression into more sin and more wickedness, but we must note that whatever sins these men were guilty of, the Word of God says they were “wicked” (strong term) and “sinners before the Lord exceedingly” (more strong language).

Then as we progress into the book we come to chapter 18 and verses 20 & 21, “And the Lord said, Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous; I will go down now, and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it, which is come unto me; and if not, I will know.” I have to stop here and point out God’s mercy and longsuffering. God knew what was going on in these cities, He’s God! But He is so merciful and willing for every sinner to repent of their sin and trust Him that He sent His ambassadors, two angels, to observe first hand what was happening.

Anyway, here is what happened next (after Abraham intercedes for Sodom), “And there came two angels to Sodom at even; and Lot sat in the gate of Sodom: and Lot seeing them rose up to meet them; and he bowed himself with his face toward the ground; And he said, Behold now, my lords, turn in, I pray you, into your servant’s house, and tarry all night, and wash your feet, and ye shall rise up early, and go on your ways. And they said, Nay; but we will abide in the street all night. And he pressed upon them greatly; and they turned in unto him, and entered into his house; and he made them a feast, and did bake unleavened bread, and they did eat. But before they lay down, the men of the city, even the men of Sodom, compassed the house round, both old and young, all the people from every quarter: And they called unto Lot, and said unto him, Where are the men which came in to thee this night? bring them out unto us, that we may know them. And Lot went out at the door unto them, and shut the door after him, And said, I pray you, brethren, do not so wickedly. Behold now, I have two daughters which have not known man; let me, I pray you, bring them out unto you, and do ye to them as is good in your eyes: only unto these men do nothing; for therefore came they under the shadow of my roof. And they said, Stand back. And they said again, This one fellow came in to sojourn, and he will needs be a judge: now will we deal worse with thee, than with them. And they pressed sore upon the man, even Lot, and came near to break the door. But the men put forth their hand, and pulled Lot into the house to them, and shut to the door. And they smote the men that were at the door with blindness, both small and great: so that they wearied themselves to find the door. And the men said unto Lot, Hast thou here any besides? son-in-law, and thy sons, and thy daughters, and whatsoever thou hast in the city, bring them out of this place: For we will destroy this place, because the cry of them is waxen great before the face of the Lord; and the Lord hath sent us to destroy it.” -Genesis 19:1-13.

Now, I have heard many say that it is not clear that the sin of Sodom was homosexuality. I beg to differ! Their sin was homosexuality among other things. If we read what is said in its context and understand it that way, we cannot but conclude that these men of Sodom wanted to have sexual knowledge of the 2 angels of God. Notice that Lot met them at the gate and began to immediately plead with them to stay with him rather than abide in the street all night. Why? Because he knew the intentions of the wicked men of Sodom.

Follow the story now. The angels agree to stay with Lot in his home. They have a feast and everything is fine, until all of the men of the city, old and young gather at the door and demand to see these men that came to Lots house that night. I have heard some say that because verse 4 ends by saying, “…all the people from every quarter:” that there were women and children present therefore the context does not restrict itself to homosexuality. Well, ok, even if there were women and children present, sexual deviancy knows no bounds once it has past a certain point. These men were exceedingly wicked in God’s sight! Do you think they care who is around when they practice their sin of homosexuality? Nope. Besides, the entire context still points to homosexuality being the clear visible sin of the people. They went on to ask in they could “know” the men. Some so called scholars claim that this was just the common term “know” and that these folks just wanted to greet these strangers and learn who they were, but read the context…Lot knew their intentions so he slams the door in their faces and begs them to “do not so wickedly”!

If these “friendly townsfolk” just wanted to get to know these strangers on a friendly casual level, why did Lot jump on the defense and slam the door in their face and beg them not to do so wickedly? The answer is that he knew their intentions were homosexual knowledge of these men, and get this: The Bible never specifically commands against homosexuality in a clear spelled out manner prior to these events, but Lot understood that it was exceedingly sinful behavior! Lot knew that homosexuality was wrong!

Also, if these were just friendly townsfolk wanting to get to know these strangers on a social level and sip coffee and eat doughnuts, then why did the wicked thought cross Lot’s mind to offer his 2 virgin daughters to these sexual predators in order to satisfy their burning lust?

You can’t take an honest look at this passage and tell me that this is not what was happening! Some contend that if that was the case, then it proves that these men were not homosexual because Lot offered his daughters. “What would homosexuals want with his daughters?”

You have to understand that Lot was backed in a corner and obviously wasn’t thinking clearly in the first place or he would have tried to protect his whole family and the strangers in the first place, but he had grown so accustomed to the sin of the city that he even began to think on a depraved sinful level of reasoning himself and would do almost anything to get these people to back down.

Please don’t get the impression that I am taking up for Lot. He certainly is to blame for putting himself and his family in this situation in the first place because in Genesis 13:13, that we quoted earlier, God plainly states that these people were wicked, and in the very verse before we are told that this was the place that Lot chose to dwell. So, he was by no means innocent.

Then notice that the men of the city make it even clearer that their intentions were evil, by telling Lot that they would do worse to him than they had planned for these men. Need we say more?

Also notice that in verse 8, when Lot is begging the men not to do so wickedly, he says, “for therefore came they under my roof.” Now anyone who knows anything about context, knows that when you see the word “therefore”, you have to ask yourself what it is “there for”. “Therefore” points us back to what Lot has just said. He is saying that because he knew the wicked intentions of the townspeople, he begged the strangers not to stay in the street all night, because he knew what would happen to them.

Then the angels pulled Lot out of danger, smote the men with blindness, and they still tried to find a way in the door so that they could gratify their sinful desires!

The angels told Lot to get his family and his stuff and get out because they were definitely going to destroy the city. Keep in mind that they were originally sent there just to investigate, but it was obvious now that they could not even find ten righteous men in the city, for God vowed to Abraham that He would not destroy the city if He could find just 10 righteous men.

The prevalent sin of Sodom and Gomorrah was obviously homosexuality.

The Clear Command of Scripture

Now we jump into a time warp into a time when God is laying out the ground rules for the children of Israel. He dictates to Moses what is sinful and what is not sinful, or what pleases God and what does not. God is very precise and very clear in this area of scripture, so pay attention. Leviticus 18:22 says, “Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind it is abomination.” It could not be clearer that to “lie with mankind as with womankind” is speaking of sexual behavior and specifically condemning homosexuality.

The passage is crystal clear. There should never be a misunderstanding of what this verse is saying.

Leviticus 20:13 emphasizes the seriousness of this sin and its intended penalty, “If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them.” Now let me be clear here that I am not advocating in any way, violence against homosexuals today.

You say, “But if you believe that God has pronounced judgment on this sin, then you are saying that.” No, I am not, because we live under a different system of government than they of the Old Testament, but God still has a way of carrying out His death sentences, and today, sadly, they come in the form of sexually transmitted disease and AIDS.

All sin also brings death to the soul and spirit of man because the will of God is pushed away by indulging in something that is an abomination to God. This includes all sexual sin, not just homosexuality, so if you’re “shacking up”, committing adultery, fornication (sex outside of marriage), or other sexually deviant behaviors which we care not even to mention. We will reap what we sow in this life, and though we may ask forgiveness and get it, the scars are irreparable.

What does the New Testament have to say?

Romans 1:24-32 states, “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 recompense of their error which was meet. And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient; Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers, Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, 31 Without understanding, covenant breakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful: Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.”

This passage clearly speaks of deviant sexual behavior, more specifically, homosexuality. Verse 24 tells us that God gave them up to uncleanness.

Does this mean that God made them do this? Certainly not, but notice it says “through the lusts of their own hearts”. God merely got weary of dealing with them like He did many times with the nation of Israel and gave them up unto their own sins so that they would reap the fruit of the seeds of sin that they were sowing and when Israel was brought to their lowest point by their disobedience, many times they came back to God.

Notice how the text says that they “dishonor their own bodies between themselves”. Then it goes on to say they changed the truth of God into a lie. That is exactly what a person does who denies that the Word of God teaches clearly against homosexuality. They turn the truth of God into a lie.

Look at verses 26 & 27: “…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…”

Let me pause here and say that the Greek word translated unseemly there means “an indecency” or “a shame”. It is painfully clear that the context of this passage is talking about men and women dishonoring their own bodies in acts of homosexuality.

It is crystal clear, yet many “scholars” and church going homosexual advocates deny it. Well, they are addressed in verse 28, “And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, (that is the true Biblical God – my explanation) God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient.” That word “convenient” means “becoming” or “fit”. They are so depraved that they are doing things that aren’t fit for a creature of God to do.

Conclusion:

The God of the Bible who is a God of love, but He is also a God of righteousness. He has laid out His plan, His purpose and His will in His Word, the Bible. It is very clear that God’s plan does not in any fashion include homosexuality.

Homosexuality, like so many other behaviors running rampant today is clearly sinful and abominable in God’s sight, therefore one cannot possibly be a Christian (Christ like) and be a homosexual at the same time, just like a man cannot be a murderer and a Christian (Christ like) at the same time.

But there is hope! If you are curious as to what that hope is click here to take a simple test that will tell you the good news at the end of the story: Take Test and Find out Good News

There are many groups that will help you to overcome homosexuality. Yes, homosexuality is a choice. Here is one of the best:

Exodus International is dedicated to helping people overcome homosexuality.

Books helping people understand and deal properly with the issue of homosexuality:

This book is written directly to the person struggling with homosexuality:

Desires In Conflict
A practical and informative book for women who struggle with lesbianism (homosexuality):

Out of Egypt
Hope and freedom for males sturggling with homosexuality or for those who know someone who is.

You Don’t Have To Be Gay
Mike Haley of Focus on the Family answers the questions most often asked about homosexuality:

101 Frequently Asked Questions about Homosexuality

Out of Egypt
Jeanette Howard

You Don’t Have to Be Gay
Jeff Konrad

Helping People Step Out of Homosexuality…
Frank Worthen

101 Frequently Asked Questions About…
Mike Haley

A Christian perspective on homosexuality…
Daniel W Puls

Beyond Gay
David Morrison

Coming Out of Homosexuality
Bob Davies

Counseling the Homosexual
Michael R. Saia

Craving for Love/ Relationship Addiction…
Briar Whitehead

Crisis in Masculinity
Leanne Payne

Dark Obsession
Timothy Dailey

Homosexuality and the Politics
Jeffrey Satinover

Homosexuality
Stanton L. Jones

But there is hope

If you are curious as to what that hope is click here to take a simple test that will tell you the good news at the end of the story:

Take Test and Find out Good News