Homosexuality

by Rev. Richard A. Bolland

as published in the Pagosa Springs Sun (10-16-03)

        The primary task of any reputable theologian is two-fold:  First, he must say no more than the Scriptures say, and second, he must say no less than the Scriptures say.  In studying of the Holy texts, which are God’s inspired, inerrant and infallible Word, a theologian is bound to always give the text the benefit of the doubt even when contrary to popularly held views.  That is what good theologians do.  Human reason (while helpful, but not always dependable), must be subservient to the clear Word of God.  The popularity of a biblical position on any given matter is not at all a matter for consideration.  It is what God says that counts!

        All of this is preliminary to what has become a most difficult area of concern in western culture.  This past summer has brought three events of note with respect to human sexuality.  First was the election and confirmation of Rev. V. Gene Robinson, an avowed and openly homosexual man, to the position of bishop in the Episcopalian Church U.S.A.  Second, was the action taken by the Ontario Court of Appeals which changed the definition of marriage from, “…the voluntary union for life of one man and one woman” to “…the voluntary union for life of two persons to the exclusion of all others.”   Third, the Canadian Parliament passed legislation which defined “hate crimes” to include the voicing of a religious conviction that homosexual behavior was sinful in the eyes of God.  Even prior to these actions, the matter became local here in Pagosa Springs, when the complaint of one homosexual man resulted in the removal of a plaque hanging on the wall of the County Clerk’s office which defined marriage in conformity with the providence of Ontario’s original definition.

        As a theologian bound to the authority of Holy Scripture, I will now write concerning what God’s Word says regarding this “hot button” issue.  I do so understanding that were I to write these words in Canada, I would be subject to arrest and imprisonment.  Additionally, I write these words knowing that if I lived in Canada, I would write them anyway.

        God’s Word clearly describes homosexual behavior to be sin.  In Genesis 19:5-8, the men of the city of Sodom demand to have sex with the angels being hosted by Lot in his home.  In the text it says:  “Lot when outside to meet them and shut the door behind him and said, ‘No, by friends.  Don’t do this wicked thing.”  In Leviticus 18:22, God issues this command, “Do not lie with a man as one lies with a woman; that is detestable.”  Later in Leviticus 20:13, God says, “If a man lies with a man as one lies with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable.  They must be put to death; their blood will be on their own hands.”  In St. Paul’s letter to the Romans the apostle echoes the previous divine sentiments by describing homosexual acts in this way:  “Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another…God gave them over to shameful lusts.  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.  Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion.” (Rom. 1:24-27)  In I Corinthians 6:9, God’s Word reads:  “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 …will inherit the kingdom of God.”  (I Cor. 6:9-10)  These passages are not exhaustive, only illustrative.

        God created Adam and Eve and established the model for the Holy Estate of Marriage.  God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone.  I will make a helper suitable for him…so the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs and closed up the place with flesh.  Then God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man and he brought her to the man…for this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.”  (Gen. 2:21-24)

        What we have known for millennia is true.  Marriage is the union of one man and one woman for life.  This and this alone was the divine intent and command.  This and this alone is truly marriage.

        Homosexual behavior is a sin.  Its impact on the family, (which is the basic institution for all cultures), can only bring harm to everyone concerned and to the nation which embraces this perversion of God’s divine intention.  But like all sin, Christ lived, suffered and died so that even this grievous sin might be forgiven along with all others.  Such forgiveness is provided by the grace of God, not because we have earned it or deserved it.  Such grace also avails for homosexuals, but one cannot openly continue in sin and claim to be truly repentant!  Such repentance is simply a lie. 

        We cannot continue to call that which is immoral, “moral.”  We cannot continue to call the abnormal, “normal.”  We cannot continue to flaunt the design and will of God without consequence.  We cannot redefine the holy estate of marriage as something that it is not just because such thinking has become popular.

        Marriage is exactly what God has established it to be:  The union of one man and one woman for life.