LGBTQ+

LGBTQ+

This is a very broad topic

We could talk about male and female differences and similarities in the Bible
Or about LGBTQ
Or about roles of men and women in the church or family

LGBTQ

Here is one of the questions I got from youth group:

I have a gay friend
What does the Bible say about the matter
How do I be a light in this world without being part of the world
I don't want a biased/opinionated answer; I'd just like verses

I want to tackle these questions and others that will arise on the way
Just like last week, this is a huge topic that deserves more time than 45 minutes

I can only give you a brief outline and I hope that you will continue to grow and study God's word on your own time
Also, there is a ton that I cannot cover today but I hope that I can model how to approach this topic and the Bible in general and that you will be able to use similar methods in your own studies

*Pray that God would give discernment to the youth to accept all that is true, reject everything false, and divide fact from opinion
In the question about homosexuality the person mentioned that they had a gay friend

Is that ok?

Luke 15:2

Jesus was a friend of sinners
But Jesus never condoned sin or participated in sin
So as long as we can befriend without compromise it is fine

Sodom & Gomorrah

What sin are these cities famous for?
Genesis 13:13

The men were very wicked
The writer uses a more generic term translated as 'people' when referring to groups of people

Genesis 11:6
Genesis 14:16
Genesis 14:21

Genesis 18:20-21

Here again the greatness of Sodom and Gomorrah's sin is mentioned

Lot strongly urges the angels who come to Sodom to sleep in his house rather than on the street

Genesis 19:1-3

This could be generosity
However, he also tells them to leave quickly which makes it seem like Lot thinks that this is a dangerous place

Genesis 19:4

Notice that only the men of the city surround Lot's house
It is not a small crowd

They aren't just at the door, they surround the house

Genesis 19:5

Different translations translate it differently but they are all trying to translate "know them"

Is that in a get acquainted kind of way like exchanging business cards or does it refer to a sexual euphemism?
The Hebrew term is yada which is primarily non-sexual but can be sexual depending on context

Genesis 4:1,17,25

Since a child was the result we conclude a sexual overtone

Judges 19:25

The word rape is yada in Hebrew

So what does the context tell us?

Genesis 19:6-8

Lot calls their desires wicked

This is the same Hebrew word that God used to describe the city earlier on

The same word 'yada' is used here when lot was talking about his virgin daughters not knowing a man

So clearly yada in this context refers to sexual acts
Before moving on in the story, how could Lot have offered his own daughters to be raped by the entire village?

Perhaps Lot knew that these men only wanted other men and would never take Lot up on his offer because they were only into other men

Genesis 19:9
Genesis 19:10-11

Notice that they are so consumed with desire that blindness doesn't make them quit trying!

Objection to the traditional understanding of this event:

"The rest of Scripture, Old and New Testament, does not identify the sin of Sodom as homosexuality, but instead speaks of inhospitality, mistreatment of the poor, and other general sins of behavior as the basis of God's judgement. This silence regarding homosexuality proves that the traditional reading is in error."

Ezekiel 16:48-49

Biblical response

Just read the next verse (Ezekiel 16:50)

The word abominations is the same word used in other passages dealing with homosexuality

Leviticus 18:22
Leviticus 20:13

So homosexuality (as well as other sins) were what God punished Sodom and Gomorrah for
Jude 6-7

Jude sees Sodom and Gomorrah as cities punished for their gross immorality
The people went after unnatural desire

Could this refer to angels rather than other men?

Angels do qualify as unnatural desire but the men did not know that they were angels

They saw them as men

2 Peter 2:4-10

Peter speaks of the men of Sodom and Gomorrah living filthy lives
Their sin is sexual in nature

Another objection

"The story of Sodom and Gomorrah is irrelevant to homosexuality because it does not address loving, monogamous relationships. It is only decrying gang rape and violence, nothing else."

Biblical response

Gang rape is always wrong
Also with forced violence whether sexual or not
However, violence is not mentioned unlit Lot offers his daughters to them

2 Peter 2:8 says that their sin was a daily occurrence (not just the event with the angels) and the Bible does not give any hint that they were perpetually violent in their relationships (like having gang rapes all the time)

Before moving on

Notice that Genesis 19 needed to be studied to correctly understand what was so bad about them

We too should study diligently to know what the Bible truly teaches on any given topic

Leviticus

Leviticus 18:22
Leviticus 20:13
These verses are fairly self-explanatory. However, there are some objections given
Objection 1:

These passages don't apply to us. They applied to OT Jewish people

In other words, homosexuality was forbidden back then and for Jews only. After all, we ignore dietary laws as being just for the past. After all, we are not under Law, but rather under grace.

Biblical response

Leviticus 18:22-30

Notice that nations who were not part of Israel or Jewish were punished and considered sinful for practicing homosexuality

So Leviticus 18:22 must apply to all nations, not just Jews

Mark 7:19

The reason we now ignore dietary laws is because the Bible specifically says we can, not because we just want to
Nor was any other nation punished by God for not keeping dietary laws (unlike homosexuality)
Nowhere in the Bible does it change the Leviticus stance on homosexuality

Are there portions of Leviticus that no longer apply to us today?

Yes
But these are to be determined by God's Word alone
"Since God gave us His Word, He is the only One who has the right to annul or repeal it"

For instance, bestiality is condemned in Leviticus 18:23 (just one verse after homosexuality)

It is mentioned in Exodus 22:19, Leviticus 20:15, and Deuteronomy 27:21
But nowhere outside of the law of Moses is it mentioned yet I assume we would all agree that it is still just as wrong even though it is part of the law of Moses

This is part of a huge topic and cannot be fully discussed today for the sake of time

Just because at least one part of Leviticus (dealing with dietary restrictions) can be ignored does not mean that all of Leviticus can be thrown out

Matthew 22:39

Here Jesus is quoting Leviticus 19:18

Objection 2:

Leviticus only prohibits a particular type of homosexuality

In other words, it was not dealing with 'committed' and 'loyal' relationships. And it is in the context of religion, not everyday life.

Biblical response

The argument is based on unfounded assumptions

Are committed and loyal homosexual relationships really good?
Was Leviticus only dealing with violent or promiscuous homosexual relationships?

This kind of argument doesn't work in other contexts either

The Bible talks about child sacrifices to gods

The Bible condemns child sacrifice (Leviticus 18:21)
Does that mean that it is acceptable in not religious circumstances?

Romans 1

So far we have only been dealing with male homosexuality (the G in LGBTQ)
This verse broadens the Bibles condemnation to the L in LGBTQ
Before Paul gives the good news of salvation, he spends the first 2.5 chapters dealing with the bad news which provides the need for salvation
Context:

Romans 1:18-20
Romans 1:22-23

Romans 1:24-27

Words like 'lust', 'impurity', and 'dishonoring' indicate that God does not approve of these deeds
They receive a penalty for doing these deeds which also points to them being wrong

What is that penalty?

Possible theories

They continue to sin and become trapped and addicted to it
Their final punishment after death
AIDS

I find this the less likely since AIDS affects non homosexuals and doesn't even affect all homosexuals

Perhaps it is a combination of the above

Objection 1:

"What is 'natural' in Romans 1:26-27 refers to whatever is natural to the individual rather than what God sees as natural for everyone. So this is not a reference to homosexuals but rather to heterosexuals who engage in homosexuality"

Biblical response

This passage is dealing with people rejecting God and His truth, not their own sexual preferences

"Paul did not know about the loving, consensual homosexual relationships people have today"

Counter response
We know from the rest of Scripture that Paul came from Tarsus (a major Roman city) and was well trained, a learned man, and familiar with Roman and Greek culture.

Plato's Symposium was written centuries before Paul wrote Romans
In it he showed that the ancients were well aware of all the elements of modern homosexual behavior, even though they didn't use the exact same words
Plato made reference to male homosexuality, lesbianism, the claims of some to be born as a willing mate of a man, the concept of mutuality, permanency, gay pride, pederasty, "homophobia", motive, desire, passion, etc.

Source: Homosexuality: Contemporary Claims Examined in the Light of the Bible and Other Ancient Literature and Law

Paul probably knew about these things

Biblical response

2 Timothy 3:16

The Bible is God breathed so since it came from God then it doesn't matter what the human author did and did not fully understand

There are other objections but for time's sake I will not get into them

1 Corinthians 6:9-10

Notice that Paul starts by saying "do you not know" which implies that this was common knowledge to them already
The Greek word translated as homosexuality is arsenokoites

The Septuagint (LXX) was the Greek translation of Paul's day and it translated Leviticus 18:22 & Leviticus 20:13 as a split compound of the word (arsenos koiten)

Home + school = homeschooled

Don't miss the hope that this passage gives all homosexuals

1 Corinthians 6:11

Paul says that homosexuals can be saved just as much as any other sinner
They could now look back at sins that were no longer theirs

1 Timothy 1:8-10

Again, for the sake of time I do not want to examine all the objections and responses

Feel free to study these on your own

Other common objections

"The words homosexual and homosexuality are not found in the Bible"

Biblical response

Although the English words are not found the Paul uses a word that means men lying in bed with other men
Also the Bible describes the act clearly several times as we have already seen
The Bible does not use the word Trinity but we believe it describes it clearly
Other sins such as pedophilia are not mentioned by name at all in the Bible which is not an excuse to consider it morally acceptable

"All you need is love. This is consensual. We aren't harming anyone"

Love is central and it is important that whatever we do, to do it with love

The Bible even tells us to love our enemies (Matthew 5:44)

d

New Testament

Matthew 5:27-28

Notice that when it comes to sin (sexual sin in particular) it is not only wrong to commit the deed, but it is also wrong to desire it or actively think about it

So far we have focused on the L & G

But before lumping all the letters together as sin lets verify that they can be grouped that way

Isaiah 5:20
Proverbs 17:15

B

This is prohibited under the L & G

T

Deuteronomy 22:5

This verse condemns cross dressing
Notice how cross culturally general this verse is

It does not say men can't wear dresses or that women can't wear pants
In Biblical times men did wear something like dresses

That was acceptable because that was what men culturally wore

God made us

Psalm 119:73
Psalm 100:3
And we know that God is perfect so He doesn't make mistakes
But some babies are born with missing limbs or limited mental capacities
We don't have a problem trying to add artificial limbs or give medicine to help their brains
So why should we have a problem with Transsexuals 'fixing' their gender issues?

T's think they need to transition based on their thoughts

Proverbs 3:5-6

People throughout the Bible had bad and misleading thoughts

The Bible never separates our gender from our sex

In the Bible, people are either male or female from birth

If switching genders were possible then how could homosexuality be wrong since whenever two men were together one of them could turn into a woman mentally making it heterosexual

Now we are going to focus on the nonexistent H in LGBTQ+

Sexual sins in general (mostly focused on heterosexual)

Geek word "Porneia"

Definition:

Sexual immorality, fornication, marital unfaithfulness, prostitution, adultery, a generic term for sexual sin of any kind

Matthew 15:19
Acts 15:20
1 Corinthians 6:18
Ephesians 5:3
1 Thessalonians 4:3

Matthew 5:27-28

Adultery
Lust

Matthew 19:4-6

Polygamy

Objections to the Bible's stance on Homosexuality

"Christians are commanded to love everyone and condemning homosexuality is not loving. In fact it has done tremendous harm to many fine LGBT people. If we are to love our neighbor as our self then we must affirm our LGBT brothers and sisters."

There is a book by Patrick Chapman called "Thou Shalt Not Love: What Evangelicals Really Say to Gays"
Biblical response

Jesus is God and God is love
Therefore Jesus is the essence of love and yet He spoke out against sin
Therefore sharing the truth in love is not an oxymoron
Ephesians 4:15

"Jesus taught you not to judge"

Matthew 7:1 & Romans 2:1

Matthew 7:2-5

We should not judge hypocritically
But once we are not in sin then we can judge our brother

Matthew 7:6

This requires a judgement call
Matthew 7:15-16

Matthew 7:24
John 8:15-16

Our judgements should line up with what God says is right and wrong

Don't judge without strong evidence

Deuteronomy 17:6
Example:

It is not wrong to be tempted (Jesus was) but it is wrong to dwell on temptation (lust, greed, envy)

Can we assume that someone who is tempted dwells on it as well without clear evidence?

Titus 3:2

Don't judge in a meanspirited way

1 Peter 5:5

Arrogant judgement is wrong

Proverbs 19:5

Deceitful judgement is wrong

Wrong types of judgement:

Unfair judgement
Superficial judgement
Hypocritical judgement
Unfounded judgement
Prideful judgement
False judgement

Mark 6:17-19

John the Baptist publicly condemned the actions of Herod

Jonah called out Nineveh for their sin
But most of the Bible deals with calling out God's people from sin

Prophets
Paul to the churches
God's law to His people

And God not only shows us that we sin, but also that He provided us a Savior

Repentance is great but it must be followed by turning to God since Jesus is the only way to be saved

When talking to a sinner (LGBT or otherwise), it is very important to point them to Christ rather than just help them get cleaned up but stay alienated from God

"You can't hate my sin without hating me as well"

The Bible con

"The church misused the Bible to justify slavery and the oppression of woman. You are doing the same thing with homosexuality"

Leviticus 25:44-46
Biblical response:

This is why we are doing this study to see if we are interpreting it correctly

"The Bible hardly deals with this subject but you make a big deal about it"

d

Not all sins are equal

James 2:10

All sin is wrong and alienates us from God

We have seen that God judges thoughts, not just actions
However, we intuitively know that it is worse to murder someone than it is to hate them
John 19:10-11
Matthew 23:23
Luke 12:47-48

Here degrees of awareness of sin seems to play a part in addition to the action

*Give common sense example of me gossiping and confessing to Briana vs me committing adultery and confessing to Brianaot all sins are equal

Hope

Matthew 5:22 (1 John 3:15) (God judges our thoughts as well as our actions)

Murder is wrong
Dreaming of murder is wrong

At least this is God's standard for Christians

David planned on murder and committed it, yet he was forgiven
1 Corinthians 6:9-11

Romans 5:20 (it goes on to 6:2)

If there are any mistakes or corrections please contact Jonathan @ inpursuitofthetruth.org@gmail.com
Blessings