09.07.2013

• Homosexuality and The Bible

  Homosexuality And The Bible
  What God Has Already Declared

  Source: NowTheEndBegins.com

  

  We live in a day and age where God's opinion no longer matters, and where man's opinion and human relevatism is the standard of the day. Sin is no longer sin, it's a "disease", and rehab has replaced true biblical repentance.

  Gay rights and gay marriage have become the clarion issue of our day, and what gets decided on and what laws get passed will well determine our future as a nation. Every dispensation of man in the bible ends in failure. The awesome promise of a perfect creation mentioned in Genesis 1 ends with Joseph dead and buried in a coffin in Egypt.

  The Law Of First Mention In The Bible

  "The law of first mention may be said to be the principle that requires one to go to that portion of the Scriptures where a doctrine is mentioned for the first time and to study the first occurrence of the same in order to get the fundamental inherent meaning of that doctrine. When we thus see the first appearance, which is usually in the simplest form, we can then examine the doctrine in other portions of the Word that were given later. We shall see that the fundamental concept in the first occurrence remains dominant as a rule, and colors all later additions to that doctrine. In view of this fact, it becomes imperative that we understand the law of first mention."
  source - Biblical Research

  The law of first mention in the bible is important because it usually sets the tone for every other place in the bible where that doctrine will appear. The very first place that the mention of homosexuality shows up is in Genesis 9, where we see the misdeeds of Ham towards his father.

  "And Noah began to be an husbandman, and he planted a vineyard: And he drank of the wine, and was drunken; and he was uncovered within his tent. And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without. And Shem and Japheth took a garment, and laid it upon both their shoulders, and went backward, and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces were backward, and they saw not their father's nakedness. And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done unto him." Genesis 9:20-24

  It is obvious from the passage that Ham's sin was more than simply seeing his father naked. If all Ham had done was looked, then Noah would have had no idea that had happened in his drunken state. Are you aware of your wife "looking at you" while you sleep? No, you are not. But Noah awoke from his wine, and the memories came flooding back that his son, Ham, had taken advantage of him and enagaged in sexual intercourse with him while he was passed out.

  Because of what Ham did, he and his generations to come were cursed. So we see that the very first time homosexuality is mentioned in any context in the bible it is connected with a curse.

  
  The Sin Of Sodom And Gomorrah

  A few chapters later in Genesis, we read about the sins of a place known as Sodom and Gomorrah. The bible says that the people in those cities had commited grevious sin, and God called them all wicked:

  "And the LORD said, Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous; I will go down now, and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it, which is come unto me; and if not, I will know." Genesis 18:20,21

  Now, before we comment on Sodom and Gomorrah, please note the following:

  The word "sodomy", which is connected with a sexual act of anal intercourse between two men, comes from the biblical account of the city of Sodom being destroyed by God because of homosexual behaviour. The word "sodomite" is a slang term for a gay man who engages in homosexual acts with other men.

  In Genesis 19, we see that two angels have come to pull Lot and his family out of Sodom. They lodge with Lot in his home for the evening, and as soon as this is noised abroad, there comes a crowd of men to Lot's house, demanding that the two angels be handed over to them for sexual purposes.

  "And they called unto Lot, and said unto him, Where are the men which came in to thee this night? bring them out unto us, that we may know them. And Lot went out at the door unto them, and shut the door after him, And said, I pray you, brethren, do not so wickedly." Genesis 19:5-7

  This second mention of homosexuality in the bible, like the first mention, ends badly. We all know the story...the angels tell Lot that he must take his family and flee because God is planning on destroying both Sodom and Gomorrah for their wickedness.

  "For we will destroy this place, because the cry of them is waxen great before the face of the LORD; and the LORD hath sent us to destroy it." Genesis 19:13

  Homosexuality In The New Testament

  People very passionately debate over the two passages we have mentioned from Genesis, saying that neither passage is a direct indictment against homosexuality, only against violent behaviour. So, let's go to the New Testament to see how God is dealing with the topic there.

  "For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet."
  Romans 1:26,27

  Here we see in Romans the acts of both male and female homosexuality mentioned. The Holy Spirit, writing though the Apostle Paul, minces no words about the topic. God here labels homosexual activity with the term 'vile affections' and says that the practice is 'against nature' and unnatural.

  No where in the entire bible is homosexual activity ever mentioned in a good or postive way. It is always connected with a curse, sin, judgment or destruction. The bible offers no stories of homosexual unions or gay marriages. Marriage in the bible, which was ordained by God, is always between a man and a woman.

  So you have a choice.

  You can agree with what God has written in the bible, or you can rebel against it and claim any one of a number of reasons why what is in the bible doesn't apply to you. But understand one thing. Whether or not homosexuality is a choice is besides the point. God says that it is a sin that needs to be repented of. The bible does not say that people were created as homosexual anymore than it says that people were created to do any other sin of any kind. The "I was born this way" argument receives no support in the pages of scripture.

  God created a man and woman, and He gave them the gift of sexuality. Homosexuality appears exactly 6 chapters after the fall of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, but it does not happen in the time in which God says that things were perfect and right. Homosexuality shows up after sin had entered into the world, and the world itself had been cursed.

  Christianity cannot be reconciled with homosexuality anymore than it can be with drunkenness, murder, fornication or gossip. You cannot have both as they are opposed to each other.

  You must choose.

  Related Articles:

  - Examining Homosexual Myths
  - Hope, Change, and Early Death
  - Is Homosexuality A Sin?

  Clinton urges Supreme Court to overturn DOMA
  
  (CNN) – Former President Bill Clinton, who signed the Defense of Marriage Act into law in 1996, is now calling on the Supreme Court to rule the same law unconstitutional.

  

  Bill Clinton and Barack Obama are leading the charge to push gay rights and gay marriage.
  
  The law, which defines marriage as a legal union between a man and a woman, denies federal benefits to same-sex couples in the nine states where same-sex couples can now legally wed.

  "On March 27, DOMA will come before the Supreme Court and the justices must decide whether it is consistent with the principles of a nation that honors freedom, equality and justice above all, and is therefore constitutional," Clinton wrote in an op-ed published online Thursday night by The Washington Post. He continued: "As the president who signed the act into law, I have come to believe that DOMA is contrary to those principles and, in fact, incompatible with our Constitution."

  When it first became law, Clinton wrote "it was a very different time." He added that many supporters of the bill believed its passage would "defuse a movement to enact a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage, which would have ended the debate for a generation or more."

  Under those circumstances, he wrote, the bill came to his desk, opposed by 81 out of 535 members of Congress.

  Fast forward to 2013, and the climate is much different. Nine states (plus the District of Columbia) have passed laws allowing same-sex marriage and public opinion polls shows a majority of Americans think it should be legal.

  According to a CBS News poll conducted last month, 54% of Americans think same-sex couples should have the right to legally wed, while 39% oppose same-sex marriage.

  Looking back, Clinton said he had hoped DOMA would not provide an excuse for discrimination. "I know now that, even worse than providing an excuse for discrimination, the law is itself discriminatory," he wrote. "It should be overturned."

  Same-sex couples who are legally married in the United States are still denied "more than a thousand federal statutes and programs available to other married couples" because of the law, he wrote.

  While he previously opposed same-sex marriage, Clinton went public in 2009 with a change of heart.

  "I was against the constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage nationwide, and I still think that the American people should be able to play this out in debates," Clinton told CNN's Anderson Cooper in September 2009. "But me, Bill Clinton personally, I changed my position."

  "I am no longer opposed to that," he added. "I think if people want to make commitments that last a lifetime, they ought to be able to do it."

  In his op-ed, Clinton wrote that "while our laws may at times lag behind our best natures, in the end they catch up to our core values."

  "I join with the Obama administration, the petitioner Edith Windsor and the many other dedicated men and women who have engaged in this struggle for decades in urging the Supreme Court to overturn the Defense of Marriage Act," he wrote. source - CNN

  
  Obama Weighs In On Gay Marriage

  

  Washington (CNN) -- In a preview of a major constitutional showdown at the Supreme Court over same-sex marriage, the Obama administration said on Friday that a federal law denying financial benefits to legally wed gay and lesbian couples is unconstitutional.

  The Justice Department filed the first of a series of briefs in a pair of cases dealing with the multilayered issue, outlining the executive branch's positions.

  The high court will hear oral arguments next month on the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), a 1996 congressional law that says for federal purposes, marriage is defined as only between one man and one woman.

  The DOMA law will be defended by House Republicans, after Obama concluded the law was unconstitutional.

  Traditionally, that role would fall to the solicitor general's office. But Obama, in an election-year stunner, said last May that he supported same-sex marriage.

  The president had already ordered Attorney General Eric Holder not to defend DOMA in court. That raised the question of whether any party could rightfully step in and defend the law.
  source - CNN
  

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