What does the Bible say about Homosexuality?

We are to be inclusive of sinners and exclusive of sin.

Homosexual acts (sodomy, etc) are portrayed by Christian Scripture as sinful. They are listed alongside the many heterosexual sins that people commit: adultery, fornication, etc. Those who commit homosexual acts are loved by God and can be forgiven by Jesus - just like all of those who sin in other ways - when those acts are confessed and repented of. Christians are to practice repentance for their own sin and then to preach a message of repentance to the world. 

'This message of repentance and forgiveness of sins 

shall be preached among the nations'

-Luke 24

The Act

The Bible doesn’t speak about ‘homosexuality’ - that is a new and abstract term that could refer to a person, a desire or an action. The Bible is more precise. It speaks about the action - it doesn't condemn one for having a sexual temptation be it homo or heterosexual in nature.
When Scripture does speak of homo-sex, it is never positive. This holds true in both the Old and the New Testaments. I will give two examples:

You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination. -Leviticus 18.22

The person is not an abomination - the act is. It is hard to imagine how it could be said any clearer. Getting this to say something else requires one to do some rather extreme gymnastics with the text. Some try to say  that since this verse is in the book of Leviticus, it doesn’t apply to us today. It only ever applied to the Levitical priests. ‘After all,’ some say, ‘the book of Leviticus also condemns the eating of pork and shellfish. We eat them. Why not enjoy gay sex as well? It's really ok.' 

This is an example of when a little bit of information is worse than none at all. Yes, part of the book is directed to the Levitical priests - hence the name of the book. But another section is directed to the whole nation of Israel. And yet another is directed to the whole world in the form of universal moral guidelines. Guess what section the homo-sex verse is in? The coming of Christ fulfilled all the prophetic separation laws that priests performed, but the moral law - the 10 commandments and related verses are still as relevant as ever. It's still as sin for me to lie or to commit adultery. Homosexual practice is in this section.

Read chapters 18-20. The prohibition on homo-sex is surrounded by verses that condemn incest, bestiality, adultery, etc. Also, it is in Leviticus 19 that we find the verse Jesus quoted, ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’ When Jesus quoted that verse in the gospels, none of his listeners ever responded, 'Hey Jesus, why are you telling us that? We're not Levites!'

The New Testament does not change the Old in this regard. 

Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. 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 and by the Spirit of our God.

 – 1 Cor. 6 (emphasis mine)

Some have said that these New Testament verses that talk about homosexuality have really all been translated wrong and actually refer to gay prostitution or pedophilia. This is either a conspiracy theory in the extreme or just a plain lie. Go buy a Greek-English dictionary for yourself - generations of Bible translators haven't been trying to trick you. It really doesn't mean that.

The good news we find here in Corinthians, is that people who practised this sin – and others - did repent and find forgiveness and acceptance from God. We hate homosexual acts because we love those who are destroyed by it. 

The Person

God wants you to be saved whatever your orientation. We all face various temptations. We experience desires to steal, to lie, to engage in homo-sex, to gossip, to download porn, to engage in paedophilia, to curse a ruler, etc. 

There are many sincere Christians who experience SSA (Same Sex Attraction - see here ). God loves them no less than any other Christian who struggles with other temptations. If you are a Christian who does not struggle with SSA, be prepared to give extra love, friendship and support to your brother or sister for whom homo-sex is a temptation. Yes, we should publically speak on this in church (see HERE)!

If you're not a Christian and you identify as gay, please know God’s ultimate desire isn’t to make you straight - the world is full of evil straights who are ignorant of God. If heterosexual acts could save people, this world would certainly be a lot more righteous!
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