Sodom: The Forgotton Lesson
by J. W. Jepson, D.Min.
Life In Christ Center, 3095 Cherry Heights Road, The Dalles, Oregon 97058(541) 296-1136
copyright © 1998 by J. W. Jepson
All rights reserved, including the right to grant the following permission and to prohibit the misuse thereof:
The Author hereby grants permission to reproduce the text of this article, without changes or alterations*, as a ministry, but not for commercial or non-ministry purposes.*Permission is given for publication of excerpts and condensed versions.
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(First published in The Pentecostal Evangel, July 23, 1978)
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Homosexuality is the choice to follow a sexual attraction toward people of the same sex. Experiencing occasional homosexual feelings does not make one a homosexual. What makes a homosexual is the choice to follow those feelings.
Homosexuals, then, are not a third gender, or a distinct ethnic group. They are ordinary people who have chosen to obey homosexual desires and develop such relationships.
Several conditions contribute to homosexual tendencies. One is an individual's physiology, including biochemistry. Some men are less masculine and some women less feminine than most. The result is an increased susceptibility to homosexual attractions and temptations.
But susceptibility is not surrender. A person with homosexual feelings is not a homosexual unless he or she yields to them. Your physiology does not make you a homosexual unless you let it. The saying is true, "Homosexuals are made, not born." A feminine-type man is a man. A masculine-type woman is a woman.
Also contributing to the problem is the sex-role confusion resulting from an emphasis on unisex (clothing, hair styles) and uniformity between the sexes. The effort to eliminate bias and discrimination tends to go too far, to ignore the factual differences between the sexes and the roles for which each is naturally best fitted.
Female domination in the home contributes to homosexuality, particularly in men. A boy who is dominated by his mother and who sees his father so dominated runs a higher risk of slipping into homosexual attitudes and practices. Not having a clear domestic example of what a man and a husband should be, he can grow up without a correct idea of what he himself is.
The opposite extreme is harmful too. A boy dominated by his father can grow up feeling inadequate, sub-masculine. Every boy needs to develop a good masculine self-image. For this he needs an attainable real-life model, preferably his father. The same holds true for girls, the feminine model being preferably mother.
Other factors contributing to the problem are "gay" demands, increasing efforts by the institutions of society (government, education) to condition the public to accept homosexuality as a normal life-style, the materialistic view of man and the resulting downgrading of marriage, the demand for absolute personal autonomy in so-called "private" practices, and rejection of the authority of the Scriptures.
The Bible is God's Word, and it has much to say about homosexuality.
Sodom is the classic case study. Genesis 13:13 says that "the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners before the Lord exceedingly." Chapter 19 tells what this wickedness was. The men of Sodom (and they were men) were intent on homosexual rape. Their perversion had developed to its violent stage. When that happened, God destroyed the city, warning all succeeding generations that He regards sodomy as intolerable, a moral cancer that demands radical social surgery to save society.
Ever since, Sodom has been a symbol of moral perversion and its consequences.
Another occurrence, sometimes overlooked, happened at Gibeah (Judges 19:22-25). Frustrated in their homosexual attack, the men of Gibeah turned instead to a woman, raping her repeatedly so that she died.
Male homosexual prostitution is forbidden in Deuteronomy 23:17,18 (such persons are termed "dogs," an expression of utter contempt). Homosexuality is condemned in Leviticus 18:22: "Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with woman-kind: it is an abomination." Under the Mosaic law it was punishable by death, as we read in Leviticus 20:13: "If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death: their blood shall be upon them."
The practice was associated with decline of ancient Israel (1 Kings 14:24), and renewal included the uprooting of the sin (1 Kings 15:12; 22:46; 2 Kings 23:7).
In Romans 1:24-28 homosexuality is seen as one of the worst and most degrading of the immoral practices of pagan societies. They "dishonor their own bodies between themselves" (v. 24), "men with men" committing indecencies and suffering the due results (v. 27).
In 1 Corinthians 6:9,10 homosexuality is listed among the sins that will keep people out of heaven. In 1 Timothy 1:9-11 homosexuals are included among those who are under the condemnation of the Law, and the practice is pronounced contrary to sound doctrine according to the gospel.
Homosexuality is included in the term "lasciviousness" (shameful and disgusting practices expressing total surrender to perverted passion) in Mark 7:22; 2 Corinthians 12:21; Galatians 5:19; Ephesians 4:19; 1 Peter 4:3; and Jude 4. It is included also in the term "uncleanness" in Ephesians 5:3; Colossians 3:5; and 1 Thessalonians 4:7.
Jude 7 says that Sodom, Gomorrah, and the surrounding cities "are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire."
Second Peter 2:6-10 categorizes the homosexual conduct of Sodom and Gomorrah as "filthy" (v. 7) and "unlawful" (v.8). Verses 9 and 10 say that God will "reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished; but chiefly them that walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness...."
Sexual perversions such as homosexuality are a consummate affront to God and His natural order.
Homosexuality is biologically unnatural. it outrages God's natural purpose in sex.
The practice is psychologically damaging. It robs people of self-respect and human dignity. It is socially disintegrative, a threat to stable order. It undermines the home and seeks to replace the stability of heterosexual marriage with a shallow, transcient "affair" that is unable to provide the basis for a total and permanent interpersonal relationship. It is dehumanizing and enslaving, dethroning reason and placing subhuman passion in control.
It is a threat to society, therefore, and should not be sanctioned by any institution, public or private.
"Gay rights" has become a catch-phrase. "Presumptuous are they...." (2 Peter 2:10). Of course, demands are not necessarily rights.
Homosexuals do not have a right to force their presence on others. Employers have a right not to hire persons they believe morally unqualified. Parents have a say in who shall be authority figures in the lives of their children (e.g. teachers). Christian institutions have a right not to be forced to employ persons who violate Christian morality.
Government has no sanction to use public funds to condition the public to accept homosexuality as a normal, alternative life-style. If public education campaigns against the teachings of the Bible, separation of church and state is violated.
The disorder and violence inherent in homosexuality exhibited itself at Sodom and at Gibeah. It is beginning to do so in modern society. No nation can survive moral anarchy. If it sows to the flesh, from the flesh it will reap corruption.
Sin always dishonors God and ruins people. That is why God, who loves people, is opposed to sin. For the same reason we who love God and people must also be opposed to sin. We oppose homosexuality because it dishonors God and degrades people. We hate the practice because we love the people it dehumanizes.
In other words, in opposing homosexuality we should always love the homosexual. It is easy to feel disgusted at sin, to get mad at evil. If we get carried away by our feelings, we can become hard, reviling, vituperative. Instead, we must always speak the truth in love (Ephesians 4:15; 2 Timothy 2:24-26). Homosexuals are sinners for whom Christ died. God loves them and wants to save them. So must we.
The first step in helping people who have a problem is to get them to face the fact that they have a problem. That is why accepting homosexuals' behavior as normal or tolerable makes a solution to their problem more difficult. It is a disservice to the homosexual. It harms the homosexual just as accepting the alcoholic's behavior as normal harms the alcoholic. That is not true compassion.
Like any sinner, the homosexual needs: (1) to face the problem, (2) to want to change, (3) to change.
In other words: "I'm a sinner. I'm tired of sin. I'm through with sin." That is repentance, Anything less is merely playing games.
We must turn to God from sin, and the way to God is Jesus Christ. The solution to sin, including the sin of homosexuality, is the blood of Jesus. We cannot save ourselves. Christ alone can save us, and He will if we surrender to Him in faith.
Jesus Christ can deliver any person from homosexuality, help that person establish a positive sexual identity and orientation consistent with his or her natural sexuality, and give that person true acceptance with self, with society, and (most of all) with God.
After stating that homosexuals shall not inherit the kingdom of God, the Bible goes on to declare triumphantly, "And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and by the Spirit of our God" (1 Corinthians 6:11).
That is the good news. When we surrender unconditionally to Jesus Christ, He blots out our sins, whatever they are, and makes us pure and clean.
If you are unsaved, He will save you from all your sins. If you let Him, He will change you into the person you really can be and want to be--a new you in Jesus Christ.
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