Sin or Curse

Our starting point must be love and compassion. If we understood how tough the homosexual lifestyle is for those who are stuck with it, we would be more compassionate. God created us male and female so that we can be united in marriage. To be shut out from this blessing is a curse, as much as it is a sin.

Having known the joy of loving a woman, I fell really sorry for anyone who is incapable of finding that joy. An old proverb says:

There are three things that are too amazing for me, 
four that I do not understand:
the way of an eagle in the sky,
the way of a snake on a rock,
the way of a ship on the high seas,
and the way of a man with a maiden (Prov 30:18,19).

Every man who has fallen in love with a woman knows that this is true. How sad to be unable to experience “the way of a man with a maiden”.

Finding the spouse that God has prepared for you and being joined in marriage by him is a great blessing. Feeling shut out from the blessing of being made one by God must be an awful experience. Christians should feel compassion for those who are stuck in this place.

The human body is designed for sexual intercourse between a man and a woman. It is hard for anyone who has enjoyed this gift from God not to feel sorry for someone can enjoy it. No matter what people say, sodomy is a poor substitute for God’s gift, so those who declare that they enjoy being homosexual might just be making the best of a bad job. They probably feel like they have not other choice.

Even those who staunchly celebrate their homosexuality will face hostility from some parts of society. It is tough being different from the rest of the world, and even worse if you are hounded for being different. Homosexual people face the problem that they will always be a minority. Some estimates claim they are ten percent of the population, but they real figure is probably much less, so they are quite a small minority. Christians understand what it is likely to be a minority, but at least we have the potential to become a majority, if we get on with the gospel. Homosexual people will always be a minority, so we should be sympathetic to their plight.

Second-Generation Sin

Most homosexual people would say that their lifestyle was forced upon them and is not something that they chose, so we need to understand why so many people live under this curse? The answer is that sin has consequences that are sometimes only fully worked through the generations. (2 Kings 10:31). When a sin is widespread in a society, worse sins dominate the subsequent generations.

Most Christians will be surprised to learn that Sodom’s root sin was not homosexuality, but pride and greed. Ezekiel explains what really started the rot in Sodom.

Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom : She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy (Ezekiel 16:49).

The original sins of Sodom were arrogance, laziness and refusal to care for the poor. It seems that when a society makes and idol of comfort and pleasure, it will descend into promiscuity and eventually into homosexuality.

Homosexuality is a second generation sin. The sin of the previous generation curses the following generation to an even worse life. I am not saying that the later generation is not accountable for their actions, but their behaviour is often the consequence of a pattern established by the behaviour of a previous generation. What Lot found in Sodom was just the natural outcome for a society that worshipped comfort and wealth.

Our individualistic culture finds the inter-generational aspect of sin hard to understand. In some cases it passes directly from father to son, but more often it works from one generation of a society to the next. When one generation moves into sin, the next is hardened or emboldened to go further. When we invite an evil spirit into our society, it goes and finds seven friends.

Then it goes and takes with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that man is worse than the first. That is how it will be with this wicked generation.” (Matt 12:45,46).

Looking from the divine side, when the first generations sins, God restrains them for the sake of the faithful people that have gone before. When the next generation persists in the same direction, God stops restraining them. Each successive generation has less residual blessing, more bad experience, less restraint and more evil spirits, so they go deeper into sin.

Exchanging the Truth for a Lie

One sin always leads to another. This pattern of going deeper into sin can be seen in Romans 1:18-32. When a culture denies the existence of God, worships the environment and exalts human wisdom, either they, or the next generation, will fall into sexual immorality.

They became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles. Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator–who is forever praised. Amen. Because of this, 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 (Rom 1:23-27).

When people persist in worshipping created things, they end up worshipping their bodies and they have no protection from lust. God gives them over to the “desires of their hearts” and they often end up in sexual perversion. This may take more than one generation to work through, but without repentance, it is inevitable.

The reason why homosexuality has become more common in our society is that previous generations stopped believing in a Creator and exchanged the truth about creation for a lie called evolution. Therefore, God has given the current generation of our society over to seduction and homosexuality.

Rather than condemning those who are inflicted, we should see their fate as a warning about the state of our society, and we all share responsibility for that. The Church is the guardian of the gospel, so the greatest responsibility rests with us. Jesus might say to us what he said to the Jews about the eighteen who died when the tow in Siloam fell on them.

Do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.” (Luke 13:4,5).

Like Sodom, we are a society that enjoys wealth and comfort; and the church has not been much different. Even those who do not accept the prosperity gospel are fairly serious about their comfort. Therefore we should not be surprised that our culture is going down the same path as Sodom.

Instead of being stirred up about homosexual behaviour, we should be seeking God to find out how we turn our nation round. God’s invisible qualities, which have been visible in creation since the beginning of time, should be even more evident in the church. If society could see them clearly, we might now be on a path to blessing. Maybe we should be more agitated about the state of the church and God’s witness in the world.

The Role of the State

Christians should have a clear view on how God requires the civil government to deal with homosexual activity. The biblical answer is that homosexual activity is a crime.

Do not lie with a man as one lies with a woman; that is detestable (Lev 18:22).

Homosexual activity is detestable. God places it at the same level as incest, bestiality and child sacrifice (Lev 18). Note that this says nothing about thoughts or preferences. These are not condemned. Only homosexual actions are prohibited.

Crime

A crime is a sin that must be punished by the state. Not all sins are crimes. For example, coveting is listed as a sin in the Ten Commandments (Ex 20:17), but there is no punishment specified for coveting. Although coveting is a sin, it is not a crime. The obvious reason is that proving to a court what a person is thinking is impossible. No one can testify against another person for coveting, because no one can see into their mind.

Theft is specified as both a sin in the Ten Commandments, but in this case the bible also specifies a punishment. This means that theft is both a sin and a crime (Ex 22:1-4). Once a man acts on his coveting and steals from his neighbour, he has committed a crime and the state comes into play. His actions are visible, so witnesses can observe and testify against him.   This provides the state with a basis for the state to act against the thief. Murder is also specified as a sin and a crime in the law (Ex 21:12).

The crimes listed in the Old Testament are a small subset of all of sins. An important principle is that, we can identify crimes by determining whether the bible specifies a punishment. If it a sanction is specified, the sin is the crime. If there is no sanction, then the sin is not a crime. The state has no authority to deal with these sins, because God has reserved them for himself. He can see into people’s hearts, so he is best placed to deal with them.

Only a few sins are also specified to be a crime. This gives the state a strictly limited role in dealing with sin. The state is not required to eliminate all sin, as that would be impossible. It is limited to punishing the few sins that really disrupt the functioning of society. Biblical law defines these as a crime by specifying a sanction.

Homosexual activity is a sin that is specified as a crime (Lev 20:13). Adultery is also a crime (Lev 20:10). According to the Bible, the penalty for homosexual activity is the same as the penalty for adultery. However, there are several other principles that limit the state’s role in dealing with these crimes.

Fair Trials

A key biblical principle is that a person can only be convicted of a crime on the evidence of at least two independent witnesses.

One witness is not enough to convict a man accused of any crime or offence he may have committed. A matter must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses (Deut 19:15).

This prevents one person making false charges against another. There must be another person to corroborate their evidence. For serious crimes there must be at least three witnesses. A person can only be convicted if there is strong evidence from three people who actually witnessed the crime. Hearsay is not sufficient. This requirement for two or three witnesses imposes a high standard for convicting a person of a crime.

An additional principle is that the witnesses must not have committed the crime with which they are charging the accused. This is what happened to the women taken in adultery. When challenged by Jesus, the men accusing her turned and walked away, because they knew they were guilty of the same sin (John 8:3-11). A group of men would find it hard to enter a house to catch a woman in the act of adultery and then make her stand in front of them, without falling into lust (Matt 5:28).

Convicting a person of a crime committed in private will be almost impossible, as there will be no independent witnesses. Most of the people present when a crime is committed in private will have been participating in the crime, so they are not allowable witnesses.   Unless a crime is committed in public, it is unlikely that there will be three independent witnesses required for a conviction.

This requirement for several independent witnesses will drive most relationship crimes underground. Those who choose crimes like adultery will also make sure they only act in private, so there are no witnesses to testify against them. This is good because all sexual activity should be private anyway.

However, their escape from justice will only be temporary. We all must face the perfect judge at the final judgement, where God has a record of sin crime we have ever committed.

For we must all appear before the judgement seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil (2 Cor 5:10).

Justice is sure and certain. People who escape the punishment by the state in this age, because there are no independent witnesses to their crime, will receive perfect justice when they stand before God.

These same principles apply to homosexual activity. Although defined as a crime in the Bible, homosexual activity will generally take place in private, so there will usually be no witnesses to bring a conviction.

Two men living in the same house have not committed a crime. They only commit a crime, if they engage in sexual activity. If they are wise and keep this aspect of their lives private, the state will not be able to touch them. They would also have to be careful about how they made casual contacts. The impact of this law will be to push homosexual activity out of public places into private ones, so the rest of the society would be shielded from it.

Hardness of Heart

Another principle applies to the role of the state when dealing with relationship crimes. Although adultery was listed as a crime in the Ten Commandments, this law was never enforced by Moses.

Jesus replied, “Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because your hearts were hard. But it was not this way from the beginning (Matt 19:8).

Moses did not enforce the law against adultery, because the people’s hearts were hard. There were so many people committing adultery that applying biblical sanctions would have been unacceptable. God does not want his law to be enforced on a society that is opposed to it. If a law is constantly disobeyed, the authority of the entire law will be undermined. If adultery were widespread, a law against it would be a joke. Better to put the law on hold until society has changed.

If a law is being ignored, the state should stop enforcing that law.   This is what Moses did. Instead of undermining respect for God’s law by failing to enforce a law against the adultery that the people did not want, he chose not to enforce it. This same principle also applies to homosexuality. In a society, where homosexual activity is widespread and most of society would oppose it, enforcing a law against a law against it would be impossible. This law should be taken “off line” due to “hardness of heart” (cf Matt 19:8).

This is a long answer to the question of what the state should do about homosexuality. The answer is that it should do nothing until the church has changed society. Until the church has effectively preached the gospel and most people are Christians, the state should ignore homosexuality.

Let Mercy Triumph

Christians seem to get really agitated about homosexuality, but this seems a little odd. Although homosexual activity is a sin, there is no hierarchy of sins in the scriptures. No sin is worse than any other, and we are all guilty. Look at the list in Revelation 21:8. Cowardice and lying are just as serious as sexual immorality. When I think of the hundreds of times that I have failed to share the gospel, because I was afraid, I realise that I have a long history of being a coward. I don’t expect to stop being a coward in the near future, so why should I be angry about sexual immorality.

God does not like homosexual activity, but he seems to be more stirred up about adultery than he is about homosexuality.

The LORD God of  Israel says that He hates divorce, for it covers one's garment with violence (Mal 2:16).

God’s dislike for adultery and divorce is not surprising, because they hurts the innocent spouse, and can do terrible damage to their children.

Many Christians are concerned that homosexual unions will undermine marriage. The truth is that adultery has done far more damage to marriage than the civil unions ever will, but we have been strangely silent about that. Christians should be really stirred up about adultery, but divorce is now almost as common in the church as it is in the world and most divorce starts with adultery.

Perhaps the reason that we remain silent about adultery is that none of us feel completely innocent.   Jesus made this issue awkward by tightening up the definition.

You have heard that it was said to those of old, "You shall not commit adultery.” But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart (Matt 5:27,28).

Given the content of modern television and film, it is hard to see how any warm-blooded television watcher has not committed adultery, by Jesus definition. This may be the reason we keep silent about adultery, but are stirred up about homosexuality.

Jesus showed mercy to those who were struggling with sin; he did not condemn them. Our attitude should be the same. Understanding that homosexuality is a curse that has inflicted the descendants of an unbelieving generation, should help us to stop blaming and feel compassion. Instead of being stirred up and angry, we should be compassionate and merciful. The fact that most homosexual people see the church as hostile and blaming is a sad indictment on our lack of compassion and mercy.

Modern Leprosy

Leprosy was an appalling disease in Jesus time. The presence of a leper filled people with hysterical fear, so they were ostracised by society. Most spent their lives in a terrible isolation. Jesus response to the lepers who came to him was quite unique.

Filled with compassion, Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” Immediately the leprosy left him and he was cured (Mark 1:41,42).

Jesus was filled with compassion and touched the man. Touching a leper was very unusual behaviour in his culture, so this would be an amazing experience for the leper. Jesus did not stop with touching. He also healed the leper and set him free.

AIDS is a modern equivalent of leprosy. It strikes a similar fear as leprosy did in Jesus time. AIDS is probably part of the reason why Christians are so hostile to homosexuality. However, Christians should be following Jesus example and showing compassion to people with AIDS. We should love them in the same way as Jesus loved with the leper, by reaching out and touching them.

Compassion will not be enough. AIDS is now devastating many of the countries of  Africa and other parts of the world. As the  Kingdom of  God advances in these countries, the people of will need to be set free from its destructive power. For the Christian witness to be effective, Christians will have to bring the same healing touch that Jesus brought to the leper. Evangelists will need to demonstrate that the grace of the gospel and the victory of the cross is greater than the destructive power of evil. We do not really have the right to condemn homosexual behaviour, if our gospel cannot set people free from its consequences.

People Can Change

On top of mercy, the Church must learn how to help those who are struggling with homosexuality. We must have a message of hope for those who want to change. Our good news is that Jesus destroyed the power of sin on the cross. He even destroyed the power of sin that we inherit from earlier generations. The good news of the gospel is that the Holy Spirit can change people and set them free from sin.

We must reject the view that homosexual people cannot change. It is sometimes claimed that because people have homosexual feelings when they are young, they are born that way and cannot change. It is true that they are born that way. The Bible teaches that we are all born in sin. This is another way of saying that we inherit some of the sins of previous generations. In our society, young people are particularly born in the sins of seduction and homosexuality. People are also born in the sins of anger and selfishness, but this does not mean that they have an angry or selfish preference that cannot be changed.

Since homosexual behaviour is a sin, the challenge for the Church is to help those who are repentant to overcome it.   Christians do not have a very good record in this area. We are quick to condemn sinners, but are not so good at helping them to get victory over sin. We must learn from those who have overcome homosexuality. There are enough around to prove it is possible, but we need more testimonies from people who have made the change, that will inspire others who are still struggling.

Helping people to overcome tough sins, this can take a lot of love and patience. Many Christians expect instant results and are not willing to make a long-term commitment to helping someone overcome a social unacceptable sin. Some people will only be able to overcome their sexual problems with the support of loving Christian community. If we are serious about dealing with sin, then we must be willing to commit to supporting sinners who are struggling with it.

Church Attendance

Should homosexual people be allowed to attend church meetings?   The answer to this is fairly obvious.   Jesus was quite happy to meet with tax collectors and sinners.

Jesus said to them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners” (Mark 2:17).

The church is Jesus home, so sinners should be welcome in it. Every Christian is a sinner, so if sinners were excluded from the Church, it would be empty of people. A Church that excludes sinners is deluded and will die.

The Holy Spirit is the one who convicts people of sin. He is also the one who restores sinners to wholeness. This means that sinners will benefit from being at a place where he is present. If Christians believe that his presence is strong at their meetings, then they should want sinners to be there to encounter him.

A church meeting should be a place where sinners feel safe.   They should find people who understand their struggle and pain. Most Christians will be struggling to overcome a sin, so no one should be condemned because they are not perfect.

Mature Christians will leave the Holy Spirit to the convicting. Christians who need to confront every sin, run the risk of becoming Pharisees, who can see the sins of others, but cannot see the plank in their own eye. A Church that can welcome sinners without condemnation will have a very powerful witness to the love and grace of Jesus.

The only sinner who should be excluded from a Church is a person who is unrepentant and dangerous for other vulnerable members of the church. For example, an unrepentant paedophile should not be allowed to attend a Church where children are present. Similarly, an unrepentant homosexual who actively promotes the homosexual lifestyle might be asked to remain silent or stay away.

Communion

Should a homosexual person be allowed to join in communion? We get into problems with this issue, because we have a magical understanding of communion. Many Christians believe that we receive Jesus by eating bread and drinking wine. They also tend to belief that only Christians should be allowed to eat the bread and drink the cup. This belief results in a communion service being divided into those who are allowed to participate and those who can only watch.

This awful division comes from a false understanding of how Jesus is present at communion. He is present through the Holy Sprit. When Christians share a meal together, united in their love for Jesus, the Holy Spirit comes in a special way. We cannot shut someone out from the blessing of the Spirit by preventing them from eating and drinking, as he will touch whoever he chooses. For example, if some one does not eat the bread and wine, because they are ill, the Spirit can still be present for them.

If the Holy Spirit can touch whoever he chooses, it makes no sense for us to try and prevent those we think are unrepentant from eating. They Holy Spirit will touch them anyway. We should be careful about shutting people away from the table, as we might grieve the Holy Spirit and rob everyone of his blessing.

If the Holy Spirit is present he will touch everyone present, whether they are eating or not. We cannot control what he does, so we cannot to prevent anyone present from experiencing his presence. Those who are repentant may experience his presence in a different way, but this may be what is needed for conviction of sin.

Any person who comes to a Christian meeting should be allowed to east and drink share with Jesus. None should be excluded, whatever their sin. They are participating in communion simply by being present. Praise God, cowards are allowed to share in communion.

Ordination

An issue that has divided the institutional church is the ordination of homosexual people. Again, we get this wrong, because we ask the wrong question. We should really be asking if it is correct for the church to be ordaining bishops, priests, pastors and ministers. This practice has created a divide between the clergy and the laity that has severely weakened the church. Ordaining ministers cannot be justified from the New Testament, so instead of arguing about whether homosexual and women can be ordained, we should be looking for a leadership model that is true to the scriptures.

The New Testament model is for churches to be led by teams of elders. If a church is really functioning as a body, the elders will emerge from the body. People become elders when others in the church submit to them and follow their example, not when they are appointed to a role. The elders will be the ones looked up to by the other members of the body. Their maturity and love will be evident in their relationships with the rest of the church. Before the church formally sets them aside (this is not necessary) they will have already been accepted as elders by those who relate to them.

Rules about who can be ordained will not guarantee that good people become elders. We have had rules for hundreds of years, but this has not prevented some dreadful people from being ordained. The problem of unsuitable elders should be sorted out within relationships and not according to rules.

The best protection will be spirit-led Christians refusing to follow those who are not called and equipped by the Holy Spirit. Prophets in the church will also provide a safeguard against people who usurp the eldership role. They will challenge those who lives do not match up with God’s standards.

An unrepentant homosexual should not generally be allowed to be an elder, just as an unrepentant coward or adulterer would also be unsuitable. However, we should recognise that some people struggle for a long time to get victory over sin.

If an elder falls into sin, the other elders will have to decide what should be done. Their first priority must be protecting their people from evil. They should do whatever has to be done to keep their people safe. They should work with the Holy Spirit to restore the elder’s relationship with Jesus.

Prophetic Role

God calls does not call Christians to be “moral campaigners”. The Pharisees were the moral campaigners of Jesus time. They loved to find fault with the weak and sinful people in their society, but Jesus criticised them for their lack of mercy and their spiritual blindness.

The Pharisees got things all wrong. They could not see their own sin, so they seemed like hypocrites. They dealt harshly with weak people who had been seduced by a culture of sin and were not clever enough to hide it, but missed the far more serious sins of society’s leaders. They focused on obvious sexual sins, but were blinded to the more deceptive sins that open the nation to evil. This should be a serious warning to those who campaign against sin.

God does not need moral campaigners, but he does call a few of his people to speak prophetically to the nation. These prophets will remind the nation of God’s standards and warn of the consequences for society. A key part of their role is to identify the core evils that are the root of their society’s problems. They will not be obsessed with the more obvious sexual sins, but will focus on the subtle shifts in attitude that creep in and open the door to real evil. They will know that the sins of their political and cultural leaders are usually well hidden, but they are really dangerous to society.

True prophets will be concerned about devious and influential sins, like pride, selfishness and “state idolatry”. They will be less concerned about sexual sins, as these generally only emerge when other more subtle sins have already taken hold in society. Blatant sexual sin is a symptom of a sick world, but is not the root cause. Prophets will be more concerned about the cause than the symptoms. They will focus on the issues that are really damaging their society. The will challenge the changes in attitude that have made adultery acceptable behaviour.

Conclusion

Homosexuality is not really a serious issue for Christians. It does not really do much harm to society. Even though homosexual activity has been decriminalised, it is not nearly as obvious in society as perverse heterosexual behaviour. Homosexual people will always be a small minority, so their influence will always be limited.   The influence of Christians should always be greater. Adultery and divorce do far more damage to children. The church should concentrate on the issues that are really harming our society.

In a modern society, where sexual immorality is pervasive laws against adultery and homosexuality are not practical.   We should never attempt to force God’s law on people who do not want it. We should focus on showing mercy to those who are hurt by sin.