Posts

Showing posts with the label homosexual

Is the Bible’s Teaching about Homosexuality Offensive?

Image
Male and Female, God Created Them The Bible is unequivocal on the question of homosexual sex. First, men sleeping with men is prohibited in Jewish law (e.g., Lev. 18:22; 20:13). This does not prove the case for Christians. Many Old Testament laws are specifically declared not binding in the New Testament (for example, food restrictions). But the logic of opposite-sex marriage and the prohibition on homosexual sex are reaffirmed multiple times.1 Let’s start with Jesus’s framework . Jesus is sometimes caricatured as a prophet of free love, unconcerned about sexual ethics. But his teaching on sexual morality was consistently stricter than the Old Testament law.2 For instance when the Pharisees asked Jesus whether a man may divorce his wife “for any cause,” he replied: Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, “Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one fles

How the Supreme Court’s sex discrimination cases could affect BYU and hundreds of faith-based colleges

Image
A diverse coalition of faith-based college leaders say they feel like the Supreme Court holds the fate of their institutions in its hands this term. They’re closely following a high-profile trio of sex discrimination cases about whether federal employment nondiscrimination law protects gay and transgender employees. And yet, none of the employers involved in the cases are religious institutions. So why are faith-based schools so concerned? In a legal brie f filed Friday by the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities, Brigham Young University and 40 other religious schools, campus leaders explain how the cases could change life as they know it. They argue that a ruling in favor of a broad interpretation of sex discrimination could devastate their ability to operate in accordance with their beliefs. “Student housing standards would face new pressure. Affiliated clinics and hospitals could be compelled to provide religiously objectionable medical procedures. A religious unive

Homosexuality and Bad Bible Interpretation

Image
When Matthew Vines’ book God and the Gay Christian came out in 2014, I could hardly have imagined how much of an impact it would have among evangelicals. Nevertheless, it has had an impact. Some of the high-profile evangelicals (e.g. Jen Hatmaker) who have come out affirming gay marriage have done so on the basis of arguments found in Vines’ book. Among the ideas from Vines’ book that I still see gaining purchase among evangelicals is a particular hermeneutical oddity that Vines draws from Jesus’ teaching about “trees” and “fruit” in Matthew 7:15-20, where Jesus says, Every good tree bears good fruit; but the bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. So then, you will know them by their fruits. Whereas Jesus applies this to false teachers, Vines applies the principle in a way that goes against the way Jesus intended it. Vines writes,

A Gay Writer Who Forgot Almost Everything Jesus Said

Image
The statement was so remarkable I had to read it several times before I was sure my eyes were not deceiving me. It turns out the author meant exactly what he wrote, namely that, “Only once in the recorded life of Jesus does he lay upon the human a requirement.” Yes, this is the stated opinion of Jonathan, writing on Medium. He quotes the words of Jesus, in John 13:34, “I give you a new commandment, to love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.” And he notes that Jesus reaffirmed this in John 15:12: “My commandment is this — to love one another just as I have loved you.” Writes Jonathan, “The ‘commandment’ is singular. That means there’s one.” He finds affirmation for this position in the writings of Paul (Galatians 5:6) and John (1 John 3:11, 3:23, 4:7, 4:11, 4:12; cf. 2 Jn 6), adding his own (quite bizarre) interpretations to a number of biblical texts along the way. His thesis, described in the title and subtitle of his article (which i

Living with Regret: How One Man's Sex Change 'Fixed Nothing'

Former Olympian Bruce Jenner has been hailed a hero by some in the LGBT community for his recent sex-change surgery and name change to Caitlyn. But one man who has changed sexes twice says that the transgender movement has left a trail of misery in its wake. Author and speaker Walt Heyer has experienced sex-change regret first hand."The surgery fixed nothing - it only masked and exacerbated deeper psychological problems," Heyer wrote in an article on Public Discourse. "If more people were aware of the dark and troubled history of sex-reassignment surgery, perhaps we wouldn't be so quick to push people toward it," he said. Is sex-change surgery the answer to gender dysphoria? How should the Church respond to transgenders? "We need to be mindful that the Church is a hospital for broken people. And as such, we need to be the people who administer assistance and guidance to those people who are suffering," Heyer said. "We don'

I lived as a sexually active gay man. By God’s grace I’m now married with 3 daughters

Image
Sixteen years ago, Brian Wheelock was fully immersed in the homosexual lifestyle of pornography, lust, and self-gratification. Despite being convinced that he was "born this way" and that his identity was as a "gay man," he sensed deep down inside that he was unhappy and that he had been created for something more.  "To me it was empty, and a place of depression for me where I just wasn't fulfilled," Wheelock told a crowd of ex-homosexual and ex-transgender men and women at the  Second Annual ‘Freedom March’  in Washington D.C. on the weekend.  That's when he made a promise to God that changed his life forever.  “Leaving homosexuality was not easy,” Wheelock said.  “Leaving a life of sexual sin, pornography and lust and self-gratification was even more difficult. But I knew the Lord was showing me that the life I was living was not his best for me.  He had more. Much more. But how could I leave a lifestyle that had become my ident

Gay Pride is not the enemy

Image
Here we are at the time of the San Francisco gay pride parade. LGBTQ+ people will be proudly demonstrating and asking society to celebrate their gay and transgendered lifestyles. I know that the church will have mixed reactions to this display of pride. Some will turn their noses up at the idea that anyone could possibly be proud of such an abhorrent lifestyle. Others will be glad that their homosexual friends are finally able to find some peace and acceptance.  They may even wonder if being gay isn’t as bad as the Bible seems to suggest. But as for me, I was that boy who grew up having only sexual desires for males and none for females, being made fun of and called “faggot” on the playground, going through life feeling there was something deeply wrong with me at my uttermost core.  If one day, I had decided I couldn’t take it anymore and I came out of the closet—the most vulnerable, dangerous, and potentially isolating thing I could possibly do—but was then welcomed with op

Hypocrisy of Human Right Campaign (Gay)

Image
Last week, Senator Lindsey Graham gave a resounding defense of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, standing up for his character and calling out Democrats who laid in wait to sabotage his nomination with last minute, unfounded, allegations of sexual misconduct dating back several decades. Graham's defense of Kavanaugh garnered international media coverage. To get even with Graham for his principled defense of Kavanaugh, the leftist "comedy" program Saturday Night Live lampooned Graham, calling him a "queen," implying that the South Carolina bachelor Senator is gay. They meant this as an insult, something designed to damage him in the court of public opinion. Now get this: The nation's leading pro-gay group, the grossly-misnamed Human Rights Campaign (HRC), said…nothing. So being anti-gay is now OK, provided the attack comes from the left. If it were to come from a group on the right, there would be calls for national boycotts, investigations, pro

What does the Bible say about homosexuality?

Image
The  Bible  doesn't speak of homosexuality very often; but when it does, it condemns it as  sin .  Let's take a look. Leviticus 18:22 , "You shall not lie with a male as one lies with a female; it is an abomination." 1 Leviticus 20:13 , "If there is a man who lies with a male as those who lie with a woman, both of them have committed a detestable act; they shall surely be put to death. Their bloodguiltness is upon them." 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 , "Or do you not know that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God ? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, 10 nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, shall inherit the kingdom of God." Romans 1:26-28 , "For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural, 27 and in the same way also the men abandoned