GAY TRUTH

English: Lot and his daughters flee Sodom, as in Genesis 19:17, illustration from "Sunrays" published 1908 by the Providence Lithograph Company (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) The witnesses of the Old Testament and ancient Jewish society have implications for a view of homosexual orientation and behavior that can be described as biblical: 1. Homosexuality violates the creation order and patterns for male and female roles and for marriage (Genesis 1–2). It arises from the same internal rebellion as did the Fall recorded in Genesis 3 . 2. Homosexual rape is the only sin described in the events surrounding the fall of Sodom as a special judgment of God ( Genesis 19 ). 3. That homosexual rape was the sin of Sodom is the only interpretation that fits the larger literary context and structure of the narrative about the covenant God made with Abraham. 4. Homosexuality is the sin of the incident at Gibeah (Judges 19–20). 5

Unlike Matthew Vines, I was not raised in a Christian home and believed homosexual, romantic relationships were not sinful. I became aware of my attractions toward other men when I was nine but hid them until I came out in my early twenties while in graduate school pursuing a doctorate in dentistry. My mother was devastated but through this incident, she became a Christian. Although her initial response was rejection, after coming to Christ she could do nothing other than love her gay son. After many years of running from God and rebelling against my parents, I was incarcerated for drug dealing and received the news that I was HIV+ . I found a Bible in the trash can and began reading it. I confided with a prison chaplain who told me that the Bible does not condemn homosexuality, and he gave me a book by gay historian, John Boswell . Like Vines, I too wanted to reconcile faith with sexuality. With that book in one hand and the Bible in the other, I had every reason to accept Boswell&#