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Homosexuality and the Bible
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God Himself officiated at the solemn covenant-making ceremo
ny in Eden (the first garden wedding). God Himself designed, and
defined, marriage. What God has defined, no man has the right to
redefine. Marriage is not just a traditional
value of Western society. It is the religious
institution designed by God for humanity
from the beginning. Its definition in God’s
eyes cannot be changed by the will of the
democratic majority or at the insistence of
the vocal minority. We must consider that
to accept marriage as redefined to include
same-sex marriage is actually to reject the
Creation order gender boundaries estab
lished by God. At stake in the debate over same-sex marriage is the
integrity of the institution of marriage as God designed it.
THE DOCTRINES OF THE FALL AND SIN (HAMARTOLOGY)
Those who suggest that the homosexual lifestyle is natural and
thus unavoidable—and even to be welcomed and celebrated—have
not taken into account the biblical doctrine of the Fall. At the time
of the Fall in the Garden of Eden, Adam’s and Eve’s natures were
corrupted, turned inward in selfishness, depraved. Since that time,
we are all born with depraved human natures. We
naturally
incline
toward sin. Whether a man looks lustfully after a woman not his
wife, or after another man, it can be said to be
natural
. But simply be
cause it is natural does not make it right. The Bible makes clear that
harboring lustful thoughts, let alone acting out our lustful fantasies
in illicit sexual activity, whether heterosexual or homosexual, is sin.18
Here I want to underscore the difference between homosexuality
as an orientation (propensity, inclination, condition, disposition) and
homosexual practice. The Old Testament condemns homosexual
practice ajid the harboring of homosexual lustful thoughts and temp
tations.
Homosexuality as
a condition is clearly a sexual disorder, a
Only two
institutions have
come down
to us from
the Garden
o f Eden: the
Sabbath and
marriage.