GAY TRUTH

MOVE FROM HOMOSEXUAL TO HETEROSEXUAL ORIENTATION Christians have often countered Trajectory 1 with what we can refer to as Trajectory 2, which moves the person from a homosexual orientation (the basis of a gay identity) toward a heterosexual orientation (the basis of a heterosexual identity).  From a Christian perspective, what are we to make of attempts to change sexual orientation? Understandably, a person would consider attempting to change since Christians view heterosexuality as normative. At the same time, the assertion that heterosexuality is normative is no guarantee that sexual orientation can change. As we parse out these different trajectories, I want to explore how they might respond to a key verse from Scripture that is often cited in these discussions: 1 Corinthians 6:11.  After Paul lists several sinful behaviours, he declares, “And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ a...

Homosexuality seems to have existed more widely among the ancient Greeks than among any other ancient people. Excursuses 3 and 4 provide substantial quotations of Greek sources relating to the place and forms of homosexual behaviour. From those sources it is apparent that the predominant form of homosexuality was pederasty between men and boys.  The ethics of Greek love for boys was based upon “an aesthetic and religious foundation,” and it was sanctioned by the state. It was a supplement to marriage and an important factor in education, so it was decidedly bisexual.  Not surprisingly, women objected to such sexual diversions. Pederasty goes back forty-five hundred years in ancient Egypt and occurs in Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey. Solon issued laws to prevent slaves from having connections with free-born boys. The rape of boys was an established “custom.” The Greeks even used boys for paying tribute.54 However, the Greeks knew and practised additional forms of same-gender behavi...

Another approach views Romans 1 from the standpoint of the philosophy of moral argumentation. Pim Pronk concludes that Paul by his use of nature, does not refer to the normative creation order but to the social conventions of his day, or to the biologically natural.17 This is consistent with the relationship of theology and morality.  The reasoning of the “whole human community,” not revelation or theology, determines the proper human response to homosexuality or any other moral concern.  Theology cannot tell us what God’s will is for us. The exegesis of Romans 1 can affirm that homosexuality is sin in a given time and culture, but it cannot tell us whether this is normative and definitive for people today who read Paul’s statements. This issue is the concern of hermeneutics.  Theology is not the epistemological source of the knowledge of good and evil; it exists only to affirm the idea that moral reasoning is God’s will. Moral education, critical thinking, and rational ...

  From the op-ed pages of the New York Times comes “ The Secret History of Leviticus ,” an improbable essay by Idan Dershowitz. A scholar of the Hebrew Bible and a junior fellow at the Harvard Society of Fellows, Dershowitz has written for the Times a popular version of the academic argument he published recently in the journal Hebrew Bible and Ancient Israel . The Book of Leviticus contains two prohibitions against homosexual acts, the first of which (18:22) states: “You shall not lie with a male as though lying with a woman; it is an abomination.” According to Dershowitz, “before Leviticus was composed, outright prohibitions against homosexual sex … were practically unheard-of in the ancient world.” But he proposes that “an earlier version of the laws in Leviticus 18 permitted sex between men,” albeit tacitly. Supposedly, the laws were revised by a later editor to include the prohibition, and to “obscure any implication that same-sex relations had once been permissible.” Dersh...

Bruce always had to tell a lie. He was always living that lie. Every day he always had a secret. From morning till night. Caitlyn doesn’t have any secrets.… I’m free. Bruce Jenner/Caitlyn Jenner Defining the Issue The American Psychological Association defines transgender as “an umbrella term for persons whose gender identity, gender expression, or behaviour does not conform to that typically associated with the sex to which they were assigned at birth.”1  A transgender person’s sense of being male or female differs from their birth sex. This means a transgender person may be born with the genitalia of a boy, but considers himself to be a girl. Conversely, a transgender person may be born with the genitalia of a girl, but considers herself to be a boy.  When a person who is born male desires to be a female, the person is called a “trans-female” or “trans-woman.” When a person who is born a female desires to be a male, the person is called a “trans-male” or a “trans-man.” The ...

The right to marry is a fundamental right inherent in the liberty of the person.… Same-sex couples may exercise the fundamental right to marry. The United States Supreme Court, Obergefell v. Hodges (2015) Defining the Issue On April 1, 2001, the Netherlands became the first nation to legalise same-sex marriages. Since then, a tidal wave of change has swept across different nations, and most Western countries now allow same-sex marriage.  In 2015, the United States Supreme Court mandated that same-sex marriage be legal in all fifty states in the Obergefell v. Hodges decision. The ruling was especially controversial because the majority of states had laws limiting marriage to one man and one woman, laws usually passed by referendum of the citizens themselves.  Many Christians consider the Obergefell decision a case of judicial overreach and hope to see it overruled by a more conservative court at some point in the future. There are numerous arguments cited in favour of same-sex ...

A pro-abortion and pro-gay medical lecturer has returned her Australia Day award in protest at the decision to give the country’s highest honor to tennis great Margaret Court. Caroline de Costa was given the Order of Australia (AM) in 2014 for her work in women’s reproductive health (abortion)  But she decided to return the award after Court was appointed a Companion of the Order of Australia (AC) earlier this week. Professor de Costa said as a medical practitioner, and as the mother of a gay son, she did not wish to be associated with an organization that condoned the views of Court. She is not biased. She set out her "you must think my way or else you are a bigot" reasons in a letter to Governor-General David Hurley. Court had already been recognized for her tennis achievements and charity work with an Order of Australia in 2007. Over the intervening fourteen years, she has used her position as a public figure to espouse God's correct and healthy views on sexuality, and...

  Matters related to homosexuality and LGBT issues fuel many debates. The debates are often heated because they involve foundational issues that intersect with morality, politics, and law, and are both personal and public, involving foundational issues about the meaning of sex and marriage, rights and freedoms, the interpretation and application of Scripture, and an understanding of gender and identity, among other things. Underlying these and other aspects of the debate are very different worldviews and different understandings of human beings. In terms of Christian ethics, much of the recent debate has centered on an interpretation of Scripture and its implications for human sexuality and sexual behavior. Some, in light of changes in how homosexuality is understood, along with cultural pressure for LGBT equality (including equal recognition of same-sex relationships), have reconsidered what the Bible has to say about homosexuality, marriage, and other issues.  In particula...