Homosexuality in the Old Testament

 

Part 1: What does the Old Testament say about homosexuality?

Leviticus 18:22-30 “Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination. (v.23) Neither shalt thou lie with any beast to defile thyself therewith: neither shall any woman stand before a beast to lie down thereto: it is confusion. (v.24) Defile not ye yourselves in any of these things: for in all these the nations are defiled which I cast out before you: (v.25) And the land is defiled: therefore I do visit the iniquity thereof upon it, and the land itself vomiteth out her inhabitants. (v.26) Ye shall therefore keep my statutes and my judgments, and shall not commit any of these abominations; neither any of your own nation, nor any stranger that sojourneth among you: [v.27 (For all these abominations have the men of the land done, which were before you, and the land is defiled;)] (v.28) That the land spue not you out also, when ye defile it, as it spued out the nations that were before you. (v.29) For whosoever shall commit any of these abominations, even the souls that commit them shall be cut off from among their people. (v.30) Therefore shall ye keep mine ordinance, that ye commit not any one of these abominable customs, which were committed before you, and that ye defile not yourselves therein: I am the LORD your God.

Can a stronger case for sexual purity in a heterosexual relationship be made? God himself makes the case and gives the commandment without reservation or apology. In verse 22 you find “Thou shalt not…” as the introduction to the topic. A phrase of this type leaves no room for opinion or discussion. In fact, the whole idea of choosing one thing over another for any reason at all is eradicated. You will only choose to obey God or to disobey God. And that decision brings with it eternal reward or consequence beyond human comprehension. Disobedience to this command reveals the condition of the human heart which was summed up in Psalm 14:1 “The fool hath said in his heart, ‘There is no God.’ They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good.” Anyone committing the sin talked about in this passage is doing something which is ‘toebah’ (from the Hebrew meaning, a disgusting thing, abomination, abominable).

So then, what is this act which is so disgusting or abominable? Paul mentions it in Romans chapter one as a primary cause for God lifting his hand of blessing and allowing men to fall into the deepest depravities of their own hearts, Romans 1:26-27 “For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: (v.27) and likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly.” This is the same sin which is recorded in Leviticus 18:22 “Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination.” In case there is any doubt read the entire chapter and you will see that all sexual sin is in view. We are told in Leviticus 18 to stay away from any form of sexual sin. However, special notice is given (no less than 5 verses) to sexual relationships which involve men with men or women with women. And included with that concept is what most would agree is vile and that is humans with animals. But make no mistake, homosexuality is included with bestiality and viewed as equally vile. Yes, I did just say homosexuality and bestiality are equally repugnant and viewed before God on precisely the same level. One is the same as the other in God’s eyes.

Now look at the results of such actions. Today we have legislated this vulgar act of depravity into a laudable condition to be praised and embraced. But no amount of human legislation will ever remove the consequence of sin.  The lives of those people was affected not only individually with the judgment of God on their lives but also as a nation. Look closely at the verses again. This time I have removed some words in order to cut-to-the-chase and clarify the point.

[All parenthetical statements were added by me.]

Verse 24, “…for in all these (sexual sins) the nations are defiled which I cast out before you.”

Verse 25 “And the land is defiled (by homosexuality): therefore I do visit the iniquity thereof upon it, and the land itself vomiteth out her inhabitants.”

Verse 27 “For all these abominations (homosexuality, bestiality)…the land is defiled.”

Verse 28 (my paraphrase) Because of homosexuality and other sexual sin the land itself refused to produce and they were forced to leave.

Verse 29 “For whosoever shall commit any of these abominations… shall be cut off….”

Verse 30 “Therefore shall ye keep mine ordinance…(and) defile not yourselves therein: I am the LORD your God.”  

Homosexuality is the beginning of the ruin of a nation. All lands (not just Sodom and Gomorrah) before the Jews in this passage were destroyed as a result of such vile sexual sins. And now they are warned of impending judgment for the very same reasons. In Romans Paul warned that it was this very sin that finally caused God to lift his hand and allow mankind to fall into such spiritual and moral degradation as they had never known before. Today we embrace this same sick behavior and dare to stand in the face of God and say He is wrong for ever condemning homosexuality. Men take his Word and attempt to distort it so that we can classify homosexuality as an ‘alternate’ lifestyle. Where is the fear of the judgment of a holy and righteous God?  Romans 3:18 says of fallen man, “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”

If there were no other passage in the Bible standing against homosexuality this one should surely be sufficient. However, it does not stand alone. A few others to consider are: Leviticus 20:13; Deuteronomy 23:17-18; I Kings 14:22-24; 15:11-12; 22:44-46; II Kings 23:6-7.

Remember, virtually every reference to homosexuality in the Bible is met with Divine judgment.

How does America become so foolish as to believe God will turn His head this time?

160 CHANNELS

 

160 CHANNELS

 

I really don’t remember when, since I was born in 1954, but sometime in the early ‘60s our family got a brand new 13 inch black and white television. It was simply awesome. I am not so sure that our Father was equally excited since he was solely in charge of climbing onto the roof to install the massive antenna. Not only did he have to install it but he also had to adjust it. You see, it had to be turned a particle way so that we could receive all three channels. One channel was really pretty clear. The other two were “snowy,” one more than the other. But it was truly an exciting day. Well, for us it was. But our grandmother would visit and later, would live with us briefly. And her most memorable phrase was, “Would you turn off that boob-tube” or something very similar to that. Her perception was truly prophetic.

My wife and I were married only about 9-10 years when I had an epiphany. By this time we had two very young children and we were still living in Smithburg, WV. I was coming home from work daily, having dinner and then just sitting down to watch one or two shows before bed. I had perceived that something was beginning to irritate my wife but did not really pick up the hint. Although, all on my own, I did notice I had no time to spend with my wife and children. Where had my time gone? Well, my epiphany was simple. Like a flash the accumulated time hit me. One show is often 90-120 minutes and added to the second show…well. You see, if I get home and have dinner it is 6:00 - 6:30 before I am done. Then add 3 hours of television and it is 9:30. The children are in bed and so is my wife. We had basic cable and because of a fluke we never had to pay for it. So, I saw no reason to get rid of it, until that moment. The cost was not monetary. The cost was my family. Later, in our new home, and to this very day, we never connected cable, satellite or even an exterior antenna.

The choice to never connect a signal to our home was made because of my addiction to television. But the true value was quickly seen in our family. After disconnecting the signal our children would spend most of the daylight hours outside or in other creative pursuits. As the sun would set, they would come inside and we would spend much of our time in family-oriented activities or in hobbies and reading. My mind simply reels when I hear companies offer up to 189 channels on average. Why? We received 3 and even then, my grandmother could see the problem. When I finally saw what it was doing to my family, my wife and I agreed it had to go.

Please do not even try to say it does not affect your family. Spouses are separated from each other not only by employment but by home entertainment. Today, we each have a favorite show or sports program we simply must watch, or game we must play. Some couples go so far as to watch their own program in separate rooms. And when a parent spends a few minutes with a child but 2-3 hours with a television the child understands completely which is most important. And in most families today it works both ways. The children grow up sitting in front of the television ignoring parents for hours on end. And combine that with computer and cell phone time and it leaves no time at all. There is no time left for interpersonal relationships or educational endeavors in most of our homes today.

Of equal concern is the educational deprivation. I was speaking with a friend the other day about his reaction to re-reading The Federalist Papers. What struck him during this second reading was the astounding level of education of the writers. Our founding fathers were amazingly intellectual. At the time this country was founded much of the education was done in home and often through personal pursuit. They wanted to learn and they took the time to read. Unfortunately, today the television and the computer are restricting education even though they could provide a wealth of educational opportunities. But they simply do not do so because gaming and social media dominate in most homes. Adults will use game systems at home for hours.

We become very proud of the number of channels we receive. What about the number of books we have read? What about the skills we have learned or the outreaches we are involved in? Or, the quality of individual our children are becoming? We don’t have time for any of those because we have 150 more channels to watch.

And as a Christian, is this a wise use of the time God has given to each of us? We don’t have time for personal reading of the Bible or any other godly literature. We don’t have time to pray. And we don’t have time to engage in church activities or to teach our children about the things of God because we feel a need to watch one more race, one more football game or the latest episode of our favorite show. 169 channels have taken over our lives and we have passively allowed it to happen.

Stop! Turn it off! Disconnect all channels and reclaim your life and your family. And please, do it now before we give account of our lives to God.