Homosexuality
More than ever before Christians need to take a firm stand for the truth related to homosexuality. Some Christians haven't done this because they only know that the Bible calls homosexual acts a sin. However, this in itself tells us quite a bit. Sin is a willful act and not an inherited genetic characteristic. We need to view homosexuality the same way we view adultery, fornication, bestiality, etc. All have devastating effects on the people who do them, but God can save them from their sin if they are willing.
Many Christian psychologists know much about homosexuality, but haven't spoken out in the past because it is very unpopular. The main reason for not having been outspoken is that our society has concentrated on stopping sexual abuse in children without being specific to the homosexuals. However, the trend in countries that have adapted the aggressive political thrust of homosexuals is undoing this by continually lowering the age for statutory rape. It is more than an attempt to prevent discrimination in employment. It is an effort to educate children to abandon the moral principles of their parents related to sexuality and make them vulnerable to homosexuality or any other lifestyle that a corrupt mind can think up.
Note that much of what our society has posed against homosexuality in the past is not true. People often view homosexuality as something someone is born with because they don't want to believe that they are capable of such acts. Much of the ridicule in the past is based on this false premise. Such thinking is really naive. It is not based on fact but on feelings developed within a perspective from a post-Victorian society without considering the experiences of civilizations from the rest of history.
God had a reason for including the Old Testament passages that have embarrassed some Christians. There are passages that show entire societies of people capable of very hideous sexual acts (Genesis 19:1-11, Judges 19:12-30). The decadent leadership and structure of their society rather than different than heterosexual genetics was clearly responsible for encouraging these actions.
The picture in Romans 1:24-32 is that people who are unrestrained by God's revelation and limit their actions only by their own desires degenerate to every action they can imagine. The history of Roman society in Paul's time reveals that he described it very accurately. Besides the gross immorality of many of the Caesars, it was common in the Roman army for men to bring boys with them to have sexual relations with them because there wouldn't be any women around. Perhaps this is the history of why the military has banned homosexuality. Permitting this behavior leads to an undisciplined army that rapes and pillages when it conquers an enemy city.
Note the argument male prisoners have given for allowing them to have sexual relationships with their wives or women friends while in prison. Their claim is that many of the rapes of young men and the homosexual acts between prisoners wouldn't happen if they weren't isolated from women. If we look at primitive societies where men show no moral sexual constraints, men perform sexual acts with anything and everything. We would be hard pressed to say that some people are born attracted to cows, others to sheep, others to horses, etc. Unrestrained sexual desires explain bisexuality in men, but what about homosexuals who have not desired sexual relations with a woman.
Homosexuals have accepted what society has told them that they are born that way because it takes away the responsibility of their actions. It is the basis they have to fight for equal rights. Dr. John Drakeford, who taught psychology of religion when I was at SWBTS, studied homosexuality in men with the conviction that the Bible was true so homosexuality had to be a sin. With this in mind he studied the case of men who never desired women. In his studies he became convinced that the root cause of homosexuality in men was men molesting boys when they were still young. It wasn't always forced. Sometimes men would offer boys money or other things to engage in homosexual activities. While this may not explain every case, it is certainly true often enough to cause great concern. Look at the testimonies on a web page called, Testimonies of Freedom from Homosexuality. Of the men, many of them tell of being molested at a very young age. In many of the testimonies, the men originally thought that they were born that way, but after being delivered from that lifestyle and looking back at their experience, now no longer believe that they were born that way.
Psychologists have labeled the developmental stage among boys and girls during the years just before puberty the homosexual stage. It is not really sexual in the adult sense, but it is a stage where boys ban together and shun girls. This is very common on the grade school playgrounds. At this stage a boy is very susceptible if molested. At this stage it is very common for boys to fantasize hostility toward girls. Bundy (the serial killer in Florida) blamed his viewing pornography that showed violence against women at this early age for him developing the sexual behavior of committing sexual violence against women to fulfill his sexual desires. Nobody told him this. He concluded it from his own experience. When molestation happened at such a young age, the homosexual's experience cannot tell him if he was born that way.
From the testimonies, ridicule only helped lock boys into homosexuality. Before they were old enough to have developed sexual desires, often it made them a target for homosexuals who were older than them. While I was in college, a fellow student got mad at me because I dated some of his girlfriends a few times. He started spreading rumors around that I was a homosexual. All of a sudden students involved in homosexuality started approaching me because they thought I did the same. Of course, at this age I was strong enough and firm enough in my convictions so that their approaches were never a threat, but think what this would be like for a young boy.
People are definitely not born monogamous. In fact monogamy seems to be limited to Christianity and societies impacted by Christianity. Of course, in a society with equal rights between men and women, one has to have either monogamy or no marriage at all. The reason our society has so many divorces is that people believe that they can depend upon inborn romantic feelings rather than a marriage commitment to hold a marriage together.
We cannot stand back and be silent while the homosexual agenda pushes to educate children to accept immoral life styles and pushes to continually lower the age that a consenting adult/child can legally engage in sexual activity with an adult. While standing for God's standard of limiting sexual relationships to a man and woman committed to a marriage relationship, we need to dispel ridicule and myths about homosexuality that lead a sinner into feelings of paranoia, of lack of responsibility, and of the inability to escape from that situation.
The Consequences of Equal Rights for Homosexuality upon Our Society
Links to another site that further discusses these issues:
Focus on the Family links:
Help for the Homosexual
Sharing the Truth in Love -- How One Man Overcame Homosexuality
A Letter From Dr. Dobson -- The Christian Response to the Homosexual Agenda
A Letter From Dr. Dobson -- Families Under Fire
In the Family & Marriage Issues Question Index:
What should be the attitude of the church toward homosexuals and homosexuality?
What does the Bible say about same sex marriages?
Can a gay person go to heaven?
Why should I save sex for marriage?
What are the consequences of sexual immorality?
How to receive a new life in Christ.
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