GAY TRUTH

A response to Brad Chilcott.  Homosexual sin - the Law and the Old Testament Biblical support for legislation respecting homosexuality is not without importance, even for those who disregard the authority of the Bible. The Old Testament was the most important force in shaping the ethics and legislation of Western Europe and especially the United States and Canada.2 The Old Testament law’s position on homosexuality. Yet, this legislation takes its foundational principles from an ethic that derives from religious truth. The ethical system of the Bible rests on a creation ethic, which affirms that God created humankind as male and female in His own image and likeness (Gen. 1:26–27).  Created humanity bears the divine image as a rational, moral, and spiritual being. Human life is sacred. Society from the beginning has used legislation to punish murder because it destroys something sacred. From the Flood onward, God has ordained capital punishment for murder to preserve the divine

Although Jesus did not speak explicitly about homosexuality, His implicit references amount to a condemnation of homosexual activity and thought.  Such implicit references exist in references to Sodom , and they complement His teachings on the nature of marriage, on inward purity, and His insistence on upholding the righteous standards of the Law. The New Testament speaks with one voice on this subject. Many terms in the lists of vices found in the New Testament correspond closely to language in earlier Jewish literature where writers cite or discuss Sodom and its sin(s). Some terms in the lists of vices are broad enough to include homosexuality, or the words are associated with homosexuality elsewhere. Other references are so narrowly phrased, using such terms as bdelygma and kyōn, that they can hardly refer to anything else. Opponents might charge that this study reads into the vice lists references to same-gender activity and thought.  This, of course, is a danger

Narrow and specific Biblical references to homosexuality.  These include bdelygma and kyōn. The term bdelygma occurs only in the list in Revelation 21:8, where it is a participle (ebdelygmenois). It is a term found frequently in contexts where same-gender activity occurs.  Indeed, Leviticus 18:23 and 20:13 use the term to forbid sodomy explicitly as an “abomination,” and 20:13 commands that the death penalty be exacted on offenders. It is the only sexual vice that both of these chapters so identify as an “abomination.”  The word translates the Hebrew toʿeba. Anomia and anomēma translate toʿeba in Ezekiel 16:2, 49–50, 58, and Isaiah 1:13 uses bdelygma to compare Judah to Sodom . In the intertestamental literature, the verb form (“detested”) occurs in Ecclesiasticus 16:8, where the author identifies the people of Sodom as “detested for their pride ” (cf. 15:13; 17:26; 41:5, where this term may again refer to sodomy). Again, bdelygma is the term the author employs in 49:2: “

Even more explicit connections are possible through terms associated with homosexuality in earlier literature.  For example, it has been argued in this volume (p. 79) that the word hyperēphania, “arrogance,” seems an appropriate description of homosexuality because it refers to the attitude underlying the behavior. The ancients perceived this as well (see its use in Mark 7:22; Rom. 1:30; 2 Tim. 3:2). Female and male same-gender sexual activity is in the context in Rom. 1:26–27.  Ezekiel explicitly cites arrogance as the sin of Sodom ( Ezek. 16:49, 56; cf. “haughty” in v. 50). Ecclesiasticus detests the “pride” of the people of Sodom (16:8) and affirms that “pride begins with sin, and the man who clings to it will rain down abominations” (10:13).21 The Sodomites acted “insolently” (3 Macc. 2:5), and the wicked priests of Israel are “arrogant” pederasts and those given to bestiality (T. Levi 17:11). Another term associated with homosexuality is lawless (anomos; 1 Tim. 1:9). Co

Jesus is considered by scholars such as Weber to be an example of a charismatic religious leader. (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) In addition to his comments about Sodom, Jesus spoke strongly about sexual ethics. He set forth monogamous, permanent, heterosexual marriage as the norm to be practiced.   He reinforced the inherent opposition of God to divorce by restricting it at least as narrowly as did Moses, if not more so (cf. Deut. 24:1–4; Matt. 5:31–32; 19:3–12).  In His citation of Genesis 2:24, He cites the narrower translation of the LXX, with its addition of the word two to emphasize that only two people, one man and one woman, can make the one-flesh of marriage.  Only then, in the union of man and woman, does marriage take place. This union gains greater significance from the fact that both male and female are necessary to reflect the divine image (Gen. 1:27; 5:1–2). Homosexuality inherently violates the standard of marriage and the divine image. Jesus reinforces t

The Destruction Of Sodom And Gomorrah, a painting by John Martin (painter), died 1854, thus 100 years. (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Christ on Sodom Perhaps the most convincing implicit references to homosexual conduct and orientation occur where Christ mentions the city of Sodom and events surrounding its destruction.   Christ makes six references to Sodom, including parallel texts (Matt. 10:15; 11:23–24 [2 x]; Mark 6:11; Luke 10:12; 17:26–37). Jesus said more about Sodom than did any other New Testament teacher. The statements fall within three categories. Matthew 10:15 Jesus sends out His disciples to teach and preach and do miracles throughout the cities of Israel. They are to shake from their feet the dust of any house or city that rejects them or their words; those who reject will come under severe judgment (v. 14). The pattern for this judgment is the utterly devoured cities of Sodom and Gomorrah . This is a clear object lesson describing God ’s disapproval and re

Australia : Refugee activist leads his church out of Australian Christian Churches into apostasy.   Adelaide ’s Activate church, led by well-known refugee advocate Brad Chilcott, has left the Pentecostal Australian Christian Churches (ACC) network, because he rejects the clear biblical prohibitions on homosexuality. Chilcott wants to place homosexuals into leadership responsibilities in the church. “When we decided to keep our people who are in LGBT relationships in leadership we knew it would lead to this sort of conversation,” Chilcott said.  “Leaving ACC was a mutually agreed decision.…it was about allowing those who identify as active homosexuals full participation in church the same as everyone else.” The ACC responded to Activate leaving with a statement: “The Australian Christian Churches (ACC) is a movement of Pentecostal churches in voluntary cooperation and our congregations welcome anyone to attend any of our services in over 1,000 churches across Australia. The fo