IS HOMOSEXUALITY A LEGITIMATE LIFESTYLE?
Romans 1:26-32
BTCC 3/2/03
IMAG: VIDEO FOX REPORT – 2:22
BEGIN:
“But first on Fox Tonight, the hit Broadway musical ‘Rent’ debuts in Owensboro tonight.”
Members of the Trinity Baptist Church holding signs:
DYKES SATANS WHORES
THIS WAY TO HELL
FAGS BURN IN HELL
GOD HATES FAGS
DOG SHOW INSIDE
GAY IS NOT OK
WARNING LAST CHANCE
ADAM OR APE
Those on other side of street chanting:
“Jesus teaches love! He doesn’t teach hate!”
Poster: Love all God’s kids
Reporter: “Do you think it’s fair to base a decision on something you haven’t seen?”
Demonstrator: “Well, uh…life in general is not fair.”
END IMAG VIDEO
We showed this Fox News clip for one reason:
• Gay bashing in the Name of Jesus Christ has got to stop
Is homosexual behavior a SIN?
• That’s exactly what we’re here to find out today
o But when you read the Bible – what was Jesus’ reputation when it came to sinners?
Jesus was a “FRIEND” to sinners!
• Sooner or later…every true Christian who is a careful student of the Bible…
o …will want to share that reputation with Jesus
BTW…
• If you ARE a Christian, what are YOU?
o A sinner – saved by the GRACE of Jesus Christ
• I don’t know about you, but I don’t want a bunch of people from the local church standing in front of my home holding up signs listing MY sins and calling ME names!
Listen to what one male homosexual wrote several weeks ago and gave me permission to share with you today:
QUOTE:
“why would i want to be a part of an organized religion that is so arrogant and self-absorbed that they cannot relate to those they’re trying to reach? i’m not attacking bethel temple specifically, but am basing that statement on stereotypes, assumptions, and past experiences."
END QUOTE
We are going to speak the TRUTH about homosexuality, today –
• But we’re going to obey Ephesians 4:15 in the Bible and speak the truth in LOVE
Ushers passing out teaching notes…
Today’s message: “IS HOMOSEXUALITY A LEGITITMATE LIFESTYLE?”
WHY are we addressing this subject? 3 reasons:
#1 – Going verse-by-verse through the Bible Book of Romans
o This is a key passage in Romans Chapter1
o It is our commitment to you that we will not dodge any subject God cares about – regardless of whether or not it is politically correct
• I’m you’re pastor – not a politician
#2 – Since there is so much confusion on this issue, it is our goal to establish once and for all what the Bible says about homosexuality
#3 –My hope at the close today is that:
o The people of this church will walk out of here with a new understanding and compassion for our homosexual relatives and friends
• And that the gays who are present today will walk out of here with new hope
Here’s an E-mail I received a while back…
• …from a lesbian in another city:
QUOTE:
“Dear Steve,
“I’ve heard a lot of good things about you. But what I heard that has made me come to you for advice is that you are a compassionate man.
"I am a gay person involved in a relationship with another gay person. We both were raised in the church and like going to church. I love Jesus and so does my friend. We consider ourselves Christians.
"However, others don’t consider us Christians because of our sexual preference. We are not out in the open with this and if you met us you would just think we were like two other women that go to church. You would never know we are gay.
"I never hear preachers talk about gay people but am told we are all going to hell. I am told that one can’t be a Christian and also be gay. Can you please tell me your thoughts on this?
"It is easy for people to tell gay people to get counseling, pray, read the Bible and stay away from their mates. But could you stay away from your wife and pray to love a man? It would be tough, huh? You can’t even think about doing that, right? Well, neither can I. That is the only comparison I can make that could really get you to feel what it’s like on my side of the fence.
"My salvation is important to me. I know what John 3:16 means. I know Jesus died for me and I believe God sent Him to do this. It doesn’t say, ’whosoever believeth in Him and is not gay shall not perish, but have everlasting life.’
"Where do people get all this from? Could you please give me your thoughts on this hell-bound destiny for gay people?”
END QUOTE
Fair enough.
• Let’s start getting some answers:
o Romans 1:18-32 [p. 796…Zchurch virtual Bible]
Give overall perspective of the Romans passage
On the first page of your teaching notes, might want to write this down:
GOD DESIGNED THE GIFT OF LOVEMAKING EXCLUSIVELY FOR THE OPPOSITE SEX
Genesis 2:18, 22, 24/Leviticus 18:22
“The LORD God said, ‘It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.’ Then the LORD God made a woman…and he brought her to the man. For this reason a man will…be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh…Do not lie with a man as one lies with a woman; that is detestable.”
BEGIN IMAG 01: ADAM AND EVE
The word “suitable” in the Genesis passage
• Comes from a combination of two Hebrew words
o Another way to translate these two Hebrew words is:
• “Equal to…but opposite”
• God said Adam needed someone who was “equal to but opposite”
o To meet this need, God literally had to create A FE-male –
• — a being who was “equal to but opposite” him –
• — NOT another male
IMAG: END PIC
Let’s make something clear from the very start:
• I do not have the right to say that someone’s sexual preference is legitimate or illegitimate
o BTW…neither do you – NO human being does
• There is only ONE Who has that right:
o God – the Maker of us all
• He created us – He OWNS us
o What’s more – He INVENTED sex
He owns the PATENT on sex!
• And only HE has the right to tell us how we may – or may not – use His invention – which is the human race!
God loves variety and creativity
• He loves it when we get creative with His gifts – that’s behaving like He does!
o The only reason God limits our variety is when a variation we come up with is inherently harmful
• At that point, He says, “Hey – THAT’S one you don’t want to do!”
IMAG: 02 PIC OF FOODS
For example, God gave us the gift of EATING
• He allows for HUGE variety in tastes, ingredients…cooking methods
o The only rules He puts on our eating are – don’t eat something poisonous, because it harms the body
• And don’t eat too much or too little – because THAT harms the body
o Otherwise – if you want to dine on steak or asparagus or bamboo shoots or snails GO for it!
IMAG: END PIC
Same way with sex
• God loves variety
o There’s nothing you can think up sexually that He hasn’t already thought of
• The only things He says DON’T do sexually are things that are poisonous – the things that will hurt you
So where is this VAST ARENA of sexual safety located?
IMAG: 03 BEGIN PIC OF HUSBAND AND WIFE
• In marriage – between a man and a woman
o God says, “So long as it violates neither of you and involves no one else – GO for it!
God says, “That’s why I gave you this incredible gift! Enjoy!”
Now, what falls OUTSIDE of God’s sexual safety zone?
• Sex with animals
o Sex before marriage
• Sex with somebody to whom you are NOT married
o Any sexual act that is detestable to your mate – because that wouldn’t be loving
• Dwelling in your THOUGHT life on any kinds of sex God says is poisonous – which immediately rules out pornography
o And sex with someone of the SAME sex – man with man or woman with woman
IMAG: END PIC
Of all the ways you CAN have sex…
• Why does God rule out this tiny handful of ways?
o Because they’re poisonous
Look at the top of page two in your notes: “What the Bible says about homosexuality”
There are some people out there – including some clergymen and women –
• …who say that the Bible is unclear about homosexuality
o As you look at these verses, what do YOU say?
• Are these verses really open to some other interpretation?
o What part of “no” don’t we understand?
• Some Bible verses can be taken several ways
o Some Bible verses are open to interpretation
• But not THESE, are they?
o These are unequivocal
So what if you happen to be a HOMOSEXUAL?
• Does that mean God HATES you?
o NO!
Write this down on page 1 of your notes:
JESUS LOVES HOMOSEXUALS
John 3:16
"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
Did Jesus die for homosexuals?
• Yes!
Did ALSO die for liars and thieves and drunks and gluttons and slanderers and greedy people?
• Yes!
Did He die for all HETEROSEXUAL sinners –
• For men who cheat on their wives – and wives who cheat on their husbands?
o Yes!
Now follow me carefully:
• If I have a relationship with Jesus that is based on LOVE…
o Is it believable for me to claim that I love Jesus…
…Even though I persist in doing the exact OPPOSITE of what He tells me to do?
• No.
o In John 14:15, Jesus says: “If you love me, you will obey what I command.”
Let’s see how this works:
• John 8:3-11 [p. 757]
Jesus is love – and here’s what love looks like:
#1 – No condemnation
#2 – Leave your life of sin
Why does Jesus want ANYBODY to quit sinning?
• To rob us of a good time?
o No – to keep us from destroying our lives!
Look on the back page of your teaching notes:
In addition to Scripture, here are just a few of the reasons those of us who truly care about our homosexual family members and friends are willing to help them return to God’s created design for sexuality:
o Lesbian breast cancer rates are 300% higher than for heterosexual women1
o Hospitalization rates for homosexuals are 450% higher than for the general population2
o Lesbians experience a 336% greater incidence of significant depression in their lifetimes2
o Lesbians abuse alcohol 30 times as often as heterosexual women2
o Lesbian women attempt suicide twice as often as heterosexual women.3
o Homosexual men attempt suicide 6 times more than heterosexual men.3
BEGIN IMAG: 04 Homosexual Longevity Chart
o 1 of 5 lesbians live to age 65 or older (compared to 4 of 5 married, never-divorced women)4
o 1 of 10 male homosexuals live to age 65 or older (compared to 8 of 10 married, never-divorced men)4
Former Education Secretary William Bennett corroborated Dr. Cameron’s findings on ABC Television’s “This Week”
• “This is tough news,” said Bennett.
o I’M STILL QUOTING WILLIAM BENNETT: “It’s not pleasant to hear. But it’s very important, and it’s part of telling the truth.” Homosexuality “takes 30 years off your life.” END QUOTE
Four days ago, I spoke directly with Dr. Paul Cameron, who published this research
• Dr. Cameron referenced a recent government study by Stall and others, published in the American Journal of Public Health
o This was a government-sponsored random survey of nearly 3,000 homosexuals – they did their best to obtain a representative sampling of the homosexual community
• But they were able to find only 6% who were above the age of 60 –
o a figure that is certainly consistent with Cameron’s earlier findings – which many homosexuals have bitterly disputed
_______
1Associated Press, “One in Thee Lesbians Face Breast Cancer,” Desert Sun, 5 February 1993, 1.
2Stanton Jones, Ph.D. and Mark Yarhouse, Psy.D: in their book, “Homosexuality”
3Bell, A. And Weinberg, M. (1978). Homosexualities: A study of diversity among men and women. New York. Simon & Schuster.
4Cameron, et al; “The longevity of homosexuals” Omega 1994;29:249-72; cited in the Nebraska Medical Journal; Psychological Reports; Lancet; Science; the Eastern Psychological Association
IMAG: END PIC
In addition to the health risks, there’s the terrible feeling of being misunderstood.
• Listen to a little more of what the male homosexual we met earlier E-mailed this week:
QUOTE:
“you know i don’t really get along with or agree with most of the gay people i’ve met. so it’s important to note that there is not a warm, welcoming community that absorbs lost souls who feel as if they don’t fit in elsewhere…i work in a conservative community and am surrounded with straight, religious, married people every day and other than "will and grace" will not have contact with other gay people for months at a time. it saddens me that people imagine a gay lifestyle as wild daily orgies with heavy drinking, cross dressing, and techno music. i wear a tie to work, teach high school, come home to an empty house, grade papers, watch a little TV and go to bed by 11. wild, isn’t it? “
END QUOTE
So where does the truth lie?
• Somewhere in between the extremes
o The majority of homosexuals don’t live full time in the middle of the bizarre nightclub scene portrayed in Matrix I
• But neither is it exactly Ozzie and Harriet…
BEGIN IMAG: 05 “THE ADVOCATE” MAGAZINE COVER
One of the largest gay magazines in America is “The Advocate”
• They surveyed their readership – 2,500 male homosexuals returned their questionnaires (average age 38)
o 2% had had sex with just one man
Fifty-seven percent had more than 30 male sex partners
o 35% had more than 100 homosexual partners
________________
[The Bible and Homosexual Practice, (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2001), p. 455]
IMAG: END PIC
Dr. Robert Kronemeyer writes:
• “Lesbian relationships are likely to be more stable and lasting than those of males.”
o Still, “Most…[lesbian] unions last three years or less.”
Yvonne Zipter – herself a lesbian wrote an article for Chicago’s gay journal – “Windy City Times”
• Title of her article: “The Disposable Lesbian Relationship”
o Listen to what she says: “…‘The lasting lesbian relationship’ is a ‘mythic entity.’ ” [Windy City Times, (December 15, 1986), p. 18]
All of this leads to a terrible loneliness, to isolation
• Listen to our male homosexual friend:
QUOTE:
"you have no idea how this effects my life. the drive towards [living in a city] where i don’t know anyone, no expectations, where i won’t be an embarrassment. why do you think i avoid ever living in evansville? why i contemplate alternative careers every single day? why i’m friends with mostly females? why i want to live in a bigger city? why i’ve tried repeatedly, failingly, to have serious relationships with girls? why i keep you guys at arm’s length, waiting for the day when i’m no longer considered acceptable company? yes, the religious aspects bother me. and i have lots of questions for God.”
END QUOTE
IMAG: 06 PIC OF TENNESSEE WILLIAMS
Pulitzer Prize winner Tennessee Williams – playwright, fiction writer, poet, and essayist
• “The Glass Menagerie,” “A Streetcar Named Desire,” “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof”
o Describes his own terrible loneliness as a homosexual:
QUOTE: "I live from day to day attending Group Theatre rehearsals, walking about town, eating, meeting people, falling into bed now and then with or without an accomplice. I ache with desires that never are quite satisfied. This promiscuity is appalling really. One-night stands. Nobody seems to care particularly for an encore. END QUOTE
• [Lyle Leverich, Tom: The Unknown Tennessee Williams, (New York: Crown Publishers, 1995), p. 347]
IMAG: 07 PIC OF TENNESSEE WILLIAMS STAMP
In 1994, The U.S. Postal Service honored Tennessee Williams as a great American Playwright
• Fame – yes
o But listen to the pain to that took the joy out of his fame:
• QUOTE: “The cold and beautiful bodies of the young! They spread themselves out like a banquet table, you dine voraciously and afterwards it is like you had eaten nothing but air.” [ibid., p. 424]
o “I shall have to go through the world giving myself to people until somebody will take me.” [ibid., p. 366]
• STILL QUOTING TENNESSE WILLIAMS:
o “I don’t think it’s sex I want. It is the dread of coming up alone to this little room at night. And going to bed and turning my face to the wall.” END QUOTE [ibid., p. 477]
IMAG: END QUOTE
Satan has a poison pill for everybody
• If you’re a talented business person –
o He may tempt you with greed
• If you’re an intellectual –
o Satan may tempt you with pride
• If you’re a pastor –
o Satan may try to get you to adopt a holier-than-thou attitude
• If you’re a gifted male athlete –
o Satan may tempt you with lots of women who are willing to have sex with you
• If you’re a highly creative, sensitive, artistic person –
o Satan may do his best to draw you into the gay lifestyle
Listen once more to our male homosexual friend:
QUOTE:
it is so much a part of who i am, and many of the parts i’m proud of (tenderness, sensibility, communicative, sharing, open - things many straight men don’t possess or are afraid to express) that i don’t want to rid myself of them. i guess it all comes down to whether it’s a choice or not. and i know you believe that it is. i feel that the choice is being true to yourself [—] or living despite yourself."
END QUOTE
You can feel his pain, can’t you?
• Go to page 2 of your teaching notes…bottom of the page:
“Hasn’t science proved that homosexuality is biological and not a choice?”
• To date, all the studies that have been done on this subject are flawed, nonreplicable, or inconclusive.
o But even if a biological basis for homosexuality is proved someday, it doesn’t change the question: “Should I give in to my homosexual feelings?”
• Many scientists believe that some people are genetically predisposed to depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, diabetes, alcoholism, drug addiction, even criminal behavior.
o But that does not make such conditions normative or desirable. No one would suggest that if you discover you are biologically susceptible to mood altering drugs that you should give in to your cravings and abuse these substances. Instead, you are urged to overcome your destructive lifestyle and discover how to make healthy alternative choices.
If you discover that you have what feels to you like an inborn tendency toward homosexuality -- should you GIVE IN to it?
• No.
o Why not?
• Well, in addition to all the data we’ve already seen…
Go back to page one of your teaching notes and write this down:
HOMOSEXUALITY IS A SIGNIFICANT SIN
1 Corinthians 6:18/Romans 1:25-27
“Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a man commits are outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body….They exchanged the truth of God for a lie…Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another.”
So first of all, the Corinthians passage makes it clear that:
• If I sin sexually – ANY kind of sexual sin (heterosexual as well as homosexual) –
o –is WORSE than many other kinds of sin
Secondly, the Romans passage implies that as bad as sexual sins of all kinds are…
• It ESPECIALLY breaks God’s heart when we turn His created order UPSIDE DOWN –
o —by having sex with somebody of the SAME sex
Finally – in spite of everything you hear in the media –
Write this down on page 1 of your notes:
HOMOSEXUALS CAN CHANGE
Jeremiah 32:27
"I am the LORD, the God of all mankind.
Is anything too hard for me?
We’re talking about the the power of GOD, here!
Look at p. 2 in your teaching notes:
• Under “What the Bible says about homosexual relationships”
o Move down to the 4th Scripture passage:
1 Corinthians 6:9-11
“Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders 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 Corinthians 6:9-11)
What a stunning list of really tough sins that God has ALREADY freed people from – including homosexuality!
Look across to page 3 in your teaching notes:
• Under, “Respected scientific studies show that homosexuals can change their sexual orientation”
o The Kinsey Institute reports that 84% of the homosexuals they studied had shifted their sexual orientation at least once; 32% of them reported a second shift, and 13% reported five changes, during their lifetime, in their sexual orientation.
Wood and Dietrich. The AIDS Epidemic (Portland: Multnomah, 1990), p. 238.
• After treating more than 100 homosexuals, Dr. Irvine Bieber concluded that, “a heterosexual shift is a possibility for all homosexuals who are strongly motivated to change.”
o Bieber, Irving. Homosexuality: A Psychoanalytic Study (NewYork: Basic Books, 1962), p. 318-319.
• Drs. Wood and Dietrich confirm that, “all studies which have attempted conversions from homosexuality to heterosexuality have had significant success.”
o Wood and Dietrich. The AIDS Epidemic (Portland: Multnomah, 1990), p. 238.
So what’s the bottom line?
• Married sex between a man and a woman is an EXPRESSION of God’s creation
o …and has God’s blessing
• Sex between two people of the SAME sex is a DIRECT DENIAL of God’s creation
o …and LOSES God’s blessing
But listen to God’s promise:
• Jas 4:7, “Resist the devil and he will flee from you.”
o In 1 Corinthians 10:13, God says:
• “No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.”
It’s not a sin to be tempted –
● The Bible says even Jesus was tempted in EVERY WAY that we are!
● THINK about it!
So we’re ALL tempted
● The key is to refuse to give in to that which breaks the heart of God
By the way – remember the lesbian I quoted at the beginning today – the one who said:
"It is easy for people to tell gay people to get counseling, pray, read the Bible and stay away from their mates. But could you stay away from your wife and pray to love a man? It would be tough, huh? You can’t even think about doing that, right? Well, neither can I. That is the only comparison I can make that could really get you to feel what it’s like on my side of the fence.”
Remember her? I shared with her some of what I’ve shared with YOU today…
• Several months later, she and her lesbian “mate” made the decision to obey God and END their lesbian relationship
• I repeat: Homosexuals CAN CHANGE
BEGIN IMAG 08: “HOW TO RESPOND TO MY HOMOSEXUAL FRIEND”
What do you do if you have friends or family members who are homosexual?
1. Affirm your love for them
2. Share the gospel with them – we all need Jesus to change
3. Don’t enable them
4. Pray for them
5. Never stop believing in God’s power to transform their lives
BEGIN IMAG 09: “WHEN YOU’RE READY TO CHANGE”
What if you’ve committed one or more homosexual acts?
1. Don’t try to change your desires – only God can do that. Instead, turn your desires over to Him.
2. Be sure you have given your life completely to Jesus.
3. Make it your total focus to get close to God.
4. Confess homosexual behavior as sin.
5. Stop all homosexual behavior.
6. Whenever you have a sinful thought, replace it with a God-honoring thought.
7. Change your people, places and things – don’t put yourself in a position of vulnerability.
8. Beg God for His protection.
9. Get help from one of the organizations that help homosexuals change.
END IMAG PIC
Turn to back page of your notes…and go to the bottom:
Organizations that help homosexuals who want to change:
• Exodus International - (206) 784-7799
• Regeneration - (410) 661-0284
• Homosexuals Anonymous - (215) 376-1146
• NARTH - (818) 789-4440
• International Healing Foundation (301) 805-6111
IS homosexuality a legitimate lifestyle?
• No.
• But with God’s help –
o Your new life in Christ CAN be
Bow heads
• Salvation
• Christian:
o “Jesus, help me respond to my homosexual friends the way you responded to the woman taken in adultery:
‘I don’t condemn you…but with God’s help, you CAN change!’ ”
Out in lobby –
• A few copies: “A Pastoral Conversation with a Lesbian”
