Family Life

02.13.12 | Jay LaScolea

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Washington state joins 6 other states, including New York, and the District of Columbia by legalizing same-sex marriage. Last week a judge ruled in California that Proposition 8... The referendum that was approved by voters that defines marriage between one man and one woman... was ruled unconstitutional.  Come November there will be a number of other states that will put the gay marriage issue before voters. Joining me now for this week's "Pastor Chat" is Pastor Jeff McDowell from Centenary United Methodist Church in Bath, New York.  After listening to the podcast, join in on the discussion below.

Key Bible Passages about Homosexuality

Gen 19:5-8 ((a passage about the homosexual rape toward Lot’s family by men of the city of Sodom.))

"and they called to Lot and said to him, 'Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us that we may have relations with them.' But Lot went out to them at the doorway, and shut the door behind him, and said, 'Please, my brothers, do not act wickedly.'" The Greek word in the New Testament for homosexuality is literally "a sodomite."

Lev. 18:22 ((part of the Laws of God in Leviticus, prohibiting male homosexuality, listed next to adultery, human sacrifice to the god Molech, and bestiality.))

"You shall not lie with a male as one lies with a female; it is an abomination."

Lev. 20:13 (Homosexual acts are called “detestable” by God and requiring capital punishment.)

"If there is a man who lies with a male as those who lie with a woman, both of them have committed a detestable act; they shall surely be put to death."

Judges 19:22-25 (Men in Gibeah threaten to rape a Levite, and end up raping and killing his concubine.)

“The man seized his concubine, and put her out to them, and they knew her, and abused her all night until the morning.  And as the dawn began to break, they let her go.  And as the morning appeared, the woman came and fell down at the door of the man’s house where her master was, till it was light. And her master rose up in the morning, and when he opened the doors of the house … there was his concubine lying at the door of the house.”  (dead)

Rom. 1:26-27 (Paul describes homosexual practices as a part of wicked behavior in verse 18, and a result of worshipping the creature instead of the Creator, in verse 25.)

"For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural, and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error."

1 Cor. 6:9-11 (Paul lists homosexuals with fornicators, idol worshippers, adulterers, thieves, drunks, rioters, and robbers.  Some translations call homosexuals sexual perverts.)

"Do you not know that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God?  Do not be deceived: neither the immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor sexual perverts, nor thieves nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor robbers will inherit the kingdom of God.  And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God."

1 Tim. 1:9-10 (Paul lists homosexuals next to murderers, kidnappers, liars and perjurers.)

"realizing the fact that (civil) law is not made for a righteous man, but for those who are lawless and rebellious, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers and immoral men and homosexuals and kidnappers and liars and perjurers."

Jude 7 ((Jude refers to the sins of Sodom and Gomorrah as ‘gross immorality,’ resulting in divine punishment.))

"Just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them, since they in the same way as these indulged in gross immorality and went after strange flesh, are exhibited as an example, in undergoing the punishment of eternal fire."

Christian Marriage as a picture of Jesus Christ and His Church in perfect relationship with each other, is depicted beautifully in Ephesians 5:21-33.

²¹ Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.  ²² Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord. ²³ For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. ²⁴ Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.  ²⁵ Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her ²⁶ to make her holy, cleansing^[b] her by the washing with water through the word, ²⁷ and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. ²⁸ In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. ²⁹ After all, no one ever hated their own body, but they feed and care for their body, just as Christ does the church— ³⁰ for we are members of his body. ³¹ “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.”^{] 32} This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church. ³³ However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.