Biblical passages that speak against homosexual behavior
Genesis 19
This is a lengthy passage relating to the destruction of Sodom.
Leviticus 18:22, 24
Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind, it is abomination. Defile not ye yourselves in any of these things
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.
Deuteronomy 23:17-18
There shall be no whore of the daughters of Israel, nor a sodomite of the sons of Israel.
Thou shalt not bring the hire of a whore, or the price of a dog, into the house of the LORD thy God for any vow: for even both these are abomination unto the LORD thy God.
1 Kings 14:22, 24
And Judah did evil in the sight of the LORD, and they provoked him to jealousy with their sins which they had committed, above all that their fathers had done. And there were also sodomites in the land: and they did according to all the abominations of the nations which the LORD cast out before the children of Israel.
1 Kings 15:11-12
And Asa did that which was right in the eyes of the LORD, as did David his father.
And he took away the sodomites out of the land, and removed all the idols that his fathers had made.
1 Kings 22:42-46
Jehoshaphat was thirty and five years old when he began to reign; and he reigned twenty and five years in Jerusalem. . . .
And he walked in all the ways of Asa his father; he turned not aside from it, doing that which was right in the eyes of the LORD: . . .
And the remnant of the sodomites, which remained in the days of his father Asa, he took out of the land.
2 Kings 23:3, 7
And the king stood by a pillar, and made a covenant before the LORD, to walk after the LORD, and to keep his commandments and his testimonies and his statutes with all their heart and all their soul, to perform the words of this covenant that were written in this book. And all the people stood to the covenant. And he brake down the houses of the sodomites, that were by the house of the LORD, where the women wove hangings for the grove.
Romans 1:26-27
For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their woman did change the natural use into that which is against nature. And like wise the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another: men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet.
Hebrews 13:4
Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge.
The Bible clearly teaches no same sex marriage.
Biblical References in the Old Testament
Genesis 19; Judges 19:14
Leviticus 18:22 and Leviticus 20:13
Deuteronomy 23:17; 1 Kings 14:24, 15:12, 22:46; 2 Kings 23:7
Homosexual References in the New Testament
Romans 1: 26-29
1 Corinthians 6:9; 1 Timothy 1:9-10, Jude 7
Biblical Arguments Against Same Sex Marriage
1. God lists “homosexual offenders” among “the wicked” (1 Corinthians 6:9).
2. God lists “homosexual offenders” among those who He determines will “not inherit the kingdom of God” (1 Corinthians 6:9).
3. Historically, homosexuality has incurred God’s destructive wrath upon an entire city (Gen. 19:4-5, 11-13).
4. God’s word defines the men of Sodom as “sinning greatly” because of their men having sex with men (Genesis 13:13; 19:5).
5. God calls Sodom’s sin “sexual perversion” (Jude 1:7). Societies that remain in perversion (Sodom, Rome…) are on the road to destruction.
6. God’s word identifies husband-wife relations as “natural relations” and homosexual relations as “unnatural ones” (Romans 1:26-27) and “perversion” (vs. 27).
7. God’s word also rebukes those who “approve of those who practice” homosexuality (Romans 1:32).
8. Jesus declared that God had made them “male and female … a man … [and] his wife” (Matthew 19:4-5).
Uh… I don’t follow your argument.
I agree that homosexual sex (and lust) is sin.
It is not obvious to me that the talk in genesis about a man and his wife is normative, rather than merely descriptive. The strongest evidence against polygamy is the requirement or elders to be “one-woman men”… but even that would indicate that monogamy was ideal, not that polygamy is sinful.
It is also important to realize that there are two parts of marriage–the religious part and the legal part. It is possible to have one or the other or both. For example, I could have a christian wedding but fail to file the proper documents… or file the documents without any religious ceremony whatsoever…
The point is that
1) Christianity doesn’t have a monopoly on religious wedding ceremonies. If someone has some weird religion that permits gay marriage then a gay couple CAN be religiously married. Whether Christians think this is a “real” marriage or not is irrelevant.
2) A nation can give the legal status of “marriage” to whoever they want. This is parallel to the legal status of “business partners” or whatever. If a country wants to make it legal for same sex couples to enter into a binding arrangement with all the technical features of marriage then it has every right to do so.
There is NOTHING in scripture that suggests that Nations should not fabricate whatever laws they want with regard to legal relationships. The bible simply doesn’t address this.
The only Christian reason I can think for opposing gay marriage is that if we allow gay people to get married it binds them together in a way that makes it more difficult for them to behave chastely towards each other (since gay sex and lust is sinful). So I would strongly discourage gay Christians from marrying (or dating). They need to remain chaste. However, I see very little reason to expect NON-Christian gays to remain chaste regardless of whether or not they can get married. They lack the Holy Spirit to help them control their lust (and we Christians don’t seem to be perfect at controlling our lusts even with the Spirit’s help.)
So why in the world would we want to engage in a battle over something completely unrelated to scripture… i.e. the legal status of non-christian gay couples?
How about we spend 1% of the time we currently spend complaining and organizing and campaigning against gay marriage doing something ACTUALLY Christian…. like befriending and evangelizing gay people?
Which works better for helping gays overcome sinful temptations?
A legal ban on gay marriage
OR
The Holy Spirit indwelling them
I think the latter is a lot more valuable so I’m going to not waste my time trying to create a Law when I could be sharing the Gospel.
You make a good point about secular definitions of marriage. However, even if one were to agree that it is not the Church’s job to regulate national laws on secular issues, this obviously goes beyond mere legal status of relationships. The homosexual agenda seeks to protect homosexual behavior (not just tendencies), and gay marriage is just one of the steps in that plan. This is one reason for a concern.
Moreover, Christians should oppose immorality wherever it is found – in secular law as well as personal action. And a nation that protects gay marriage is pretty clearly condoning the behavior that goes along with it. (Note: biblical marriage is predicated on sexual union, so it is difficult to even make sense of a “marriage” without it.)
Your claim that “a nation that permits gay marriage is pretty clearly condoning the behavior that goes along with it” is false.
I don’t “condone” adultery or greed. But I also don’t favor a national law making either illegal.
The Corinithian Church was composed of “washed homosexual offenders” (I Cor 6:9-11). Paul didn’t try to get the Roman authorities to outlaw their behavior–he loved them and brought them into a saving relationship with Christ.