Being Gay: Choice or Genetics?

A few months ago, a young man walked up to me with my cross and asked, "Would it be a bad thing if I'm gay?" This had been the first time I had been asked about this subject on the street and I needed to handle it with extreme care.

I told this young man that I could only tell him what the Bible said about homosexuality. He asked if it said it was bad and he would burn in hell. I told him that it was true that if he looked in 1 Corinthians 6:9 that it does say no homosexual will inherit the kingdom of heaven (The ESV says kingdom of God, but they are interchangeable).

At this point, I was quick to point out the Bible also says that no fornicators, murders, or even liars would enter, either. The young man rightly pointed out that is everyone in the world. Paul points that out in Romans 3:23: "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." The command to repent is just as universal: "No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish" (Luke 13:3).

The fact is we are all born with a sin nature- the types of sin just differs based on the person. While some may have the sin of homosexuality to repent of, others may have the sin of sexual immorality (sex before marriage, adultery) or looking with lust (Matthews 5:27-28). The homosexual and the sexually immoral will find their selves in the same hell (as will liars, thieves and other unrepentant sinners).

All this said, I do not believe being homosexuality is in your genes. While one may have feelings toward the same sex, that does not make them natural. Recently, in Cleveland, there was the story about Anthony Sowell, who alleged murdered several women and buried their bodies on his property. No one would say this is natural. Neither are homosexual thoughts.

You may say to me these are two completely different things- murder and homosexuality, but the Apostle Paul talks about them in the same sentence in 1 Corinthians 6:9-10. If this is the way Paul, who Jesus Himself commission to carry His name among the gentiles (Acts 9:15), it is the same way I will deal with it.

Just like any other sin, you must acknowledge your guilt before, apologize for it, and repent (turn from your sin and toward God) before God will take away your sinful nature. It is at this point that God will give you a new heart with new desires (Ezekiel 36:26). This is what God requires of you for salvation (John 3:3).

You may be saying that your feelings are too strong and they have to be natural. That isn't so. Salvation is a supernatural act of God and He will give you a new heart with new desires. I have experienced this myself- things I used to love I now have come to despise.

It will be the same for you- but God wants you to take the first step. I know it will be difficult at first and those desires will still be there, but each time you turn away from them, those desires decrease.

Someone asked me what I would do if I had a son that was gay. I tell him exactly what I said in this article and to the young man I met on the street- that he must repent of his homosexuality. I would also make it clear that God views us all as sinners, not just the homosexual, and we are all in danger of his wrath unless we repent. Anyone who tells you otherwise isn't telling you the truth.

In closing, I believe remaining homosexual is a choice one makes. It is a choice one makes not to repent of that sin (or any other sin). You may say you aren't strong enough to overcome the feelings- you aren't. You need the supernatural power of God- that way He gets all the credit. Just take the first step.

Does God Accept Me?

Someone recently posted a response to a status I had posted on Facebook that, "If Jesus is not love and accepting and if what you assert is true...then basking in His presence for all of eternity doesn't sound much more appealing then being sent to Hell." Let me unpack that statement.

First of all, while God is God of love, He also a God of wrath. How can this be? Simple. God displays His wrath toward unrepentant sinners by sending them to Hell as a penalty for their sins and God displays His love through sending His one and only Son, Jesus Christ, to die on the cross for our sins. Through our repentance (turning from sin) and placing our trust in Him (like a parachute), we can have eternal life- even though we deserve Hell for our sins.

To the second point- God as accepting. I am not going to even look at this from a Biblical standpoint initially, but a human perspective. The above comment was posted in response to me saying this: "I will be loving and accepting toward a homosexual in this lifetime- but when that person dies, they go to Hell. That isn't love- that's hate."

This society has been taught to accept homosexuals. Coming from that view, I can see how it is hard to understand why a homosexual deserves Hell. Let me make this abundantly clear, though. It is not just homosexuals who deserve Hell.

1 Corinthians 6:9-10 says, "Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God." The list extends to a lot more than just homosexuals.

The question is, who should be accepted? Should homosexuals? Some would say yes. What about the sexually immoral- those who have sex outside of marriage? These are both sins, but a lot of people want to write these off as not severe enough to send one to Hell. In fact, as I will later show, we are all guilty.

What about Hitler? Should God accept Hitler? I have asked this to people on the street and it is at this point that a clear line is drawn in the sand. Obviously, not Hitler. He killed millions of people! This, by the way, is breaking the 2nd commandment- creating a false idol. Your "god" would never send a homosexual to Hell, but He would definitely send Hitler to Hell.

The problem is we measure people according to our standards. If someone is worse than our standards, they deserve Hell. If our standards allow for sexual immorality, then that is no longer a damnable sin.

Here is the problem: God is not grading you on a scale, as you are with the rest of society. If you want someone to compare yourself with- compare yourself to Jesus. He sinned not ONCE in thought, word, or deed. How do you look now? God made this very easy for us: He told us that "None is righteous, no, not one" (Romans 3:10,3:23). There aren't a certain amount of good deeds that need to be done or a sin "limit" that can be reached- we are all guilty.

To sum this up, God doesn't accept ANYONE except through the atoning blood of Jesus Christ on the cross. By repenting of our sins (not just admitting you are wrong, but turning from them) and placing our trust in Him, you can have eternal life. Not because you are a good person, not because you deserve it, but because you are a sinner justified in the eyes of God through the blood of Jesus Christ.

"For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God" (2 Corinthians 5:21). By repenting and placing our trust in Jesus, God will take all of your sins and place them on Jesus on the cross. He paid the penalty for your sins. His righteousness, perfect and sinless, will then be imputed to you. This is the good news of Jesus Christ.

What About Homosexuality?

Our current culture tells us we must accept homosexuality. Even some inside the church tell us the same thing.

I want you to take a careful look at the following list of sins and tell me which ones are permissible and which aren't:

-sexually immorality (pornography, sex outside of marriage, lust)
-idolatry
-adultery
-homosexuality
-stealing
-greed/coveting
-drunkenness
-reviling
-swindling/extortion

These are the sins listed in 1 Corinthians 6:9-10. Homosexuality is included in this list. There is a solemn warning at the end of verse 10: none of these will inherit the kingdom of God.

There is good news, though. If you will repent and place your trust in Jesus, you can be saved. Verse 11 of 1 Corinthians 6 says this: "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 by the Spirit of our God."

God calls on all sinners alike to repent and place their trust in Him and Him alone. Today is the day of salvation.

The Gospels vs. the Epistles & a Warped View of the Trinity

I recently got into a conversation with someone on the street who appeared to have a lot of zeal for God, but when I spoke of sins Paul listed in 1 Corinthians 6:9-10, this person made a comment to the sort of "Paul had some good writings, but he was not Jesus." I do not know if there was a certain sin in these 2 verses that I was referring to that hit a strong chord or not, but this person was big on the 4 gospels.

I recently got into a conversation with another person (who belongs to the Catholic church) about homosexuality and I was accused of being judgmental towards the homosexual lifestyle. Here is the list of sinners in 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 that will not inherit the kingdom of God: the sexually immoral, idolaters, adulterers, men who practice homosexuality, thieves, the greedy, drunkards, revilers, and swindlers. If you were to ask anyone if stealing was wrong, they would definitely say yes. They may try to justify that it really "isn't stealing when I take stuff from work," etc., but I guarantee that if you were to take something of theirs, it would be wrong.

I do not know why the specific sin of homosexuality is given the green light when the rest of the sins in 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 are not. When I showed my relative this passage, I got the same answer that I got on the street: these were Paul's words, not Jesus'. This relative also referred to the Bible as a "history book." It should not surprise me that when I asked why God sent Jesus into the world I didn't hear anything about the forgiveness of sins and something about how Jesus was someone we could relate to in a human form.

This person did put a lot of stock in the Torah and the laws given to Moses because they were directly from God. In Acts 9:15, the Lord, Himself, told Ananias that Saul (renamed to Paul) is "a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel."

2 Timothy 3:16 says, "All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work." You may say that these are Paul's words and not divinely inspired, but remember that Paul was called by the Lord Himself.

Back to the issue of homosexuality- if you want to take God's words on it- Leviticus 18:22 (from God Himself) specifically prohibits it. It is not one of the ceremonial laws that no longer apply.

On the issue of the Trinity, my relative reasoned that since Jesus = God and the Father = God, that believing in the Father or Jesus would result in salvation. Jews could believe in the Father and be saved, or one can believe in Jesus and be saved since they are both God. Furthermore, since Allah is the God of Abraham which is the same God as the Jewish God, Muslims can be saved by believing in Allah. This is not the way it works.

My attempts to quote John 14:6 were useless. Even though Jesus said, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me," since Jesus = God, the Father = God and Allah = the God of Abraham (the same Christian God), one can believe in any of the three and be saved. In addition to this, the second coming of Jesus will be both the first coming (of the Messiah) for the Jews and the second coming.

This is what happens when a low view (or lack there of) is taken of Scripture. I was accused of being closed minded that Jesus was the only way. It wouldn't have done any good to quote Matthew 7:13-14 where Jesus said, "Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few."

I guess Jesus is just as closed minded. So, did Jesus take His cues from me or did I take mine from Him?