The sin of homosexuality
Image via WikipediaLet’s be straight with each other. Homosexuality turns our stomachs. It gives us the willies. As soon as we get beyond seeing them as a social group, and begin to consider the activities which earn them their name, we shudder. And then most of us feel bad. We feel bad because we want to be egalitarian about sin. We show that we are “with it” and still good Christians when we point out that adultery is just as bad as homosexuality. We think we can slop the world from calling us bigots if we also get after the straights. That’s why we blush at our repulsion at this sin.
Image via WikipediaWhat usually passes for sophistication today is the rejection of common sense, of what is natural. And it is natural to have our stomachs turned by homosexuality. It is a natural reaction because homosexuality is a decidedly unnatural action. Yes, all sins deserve eternal damnation and in that sense are equal. And yes, all sins are “unnatural” in the sense that they reflect our fallen, non-original nature. But, like Orwell’s animals, some sins are more equal than others. Or rather, some are less natural than others. Adultery is an abomination in that it distorts the natural place of sex. Homosexuality is a greater abomination in that it is a greater distortion. Bestiality (double shudder) is greater still on both counts (Lev. 18:22–23).The humble response to the sin of homosexuality is not to say, knowing no one will shudder, “Well I looked at the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue so I’m just as bad.” Better to call it what God calls it, a perversion and an abomination. And true humility requires that we respond with a shudder, “There, but for the grace of God, go I.”
We live under God’s grace. We live before His face, coram Deo. We are called, however, to live in a sense through His face, to see things as He sees things. And that means judging as He judges. When we do so we can be assured that the world will in turn judge us.
A day may be coming when we are jailed, beaten, locked up in psychiatric hospitals not for being homosexual, but for being “homophobic.” Such I will gladly suffer for my love for a Man, Jesus.
