The biblical voice on homosexuality is a very relevant discussion in our day. At a time when virtually all forms of sexual behaviour are condoned and accepted, it’s important that we as Apostolics fully understand what the Scriptures say on this issue.

Although both the secular school system and Hollywood encourage teens to explore and determine their own sexual orientation, our value system must not adjust to these influences as the Bible clearly indicates that homosexuality is sin. Apostolic youth need to understand why and where this behaviour is prohibited in scripture by God.

God’s Original Plan

We must remember God’s design for sex has always been intended to take place between one man and one woman. Jesus addressed the issue in Mark 10:6-9: “But from the beginning of the creation God made them male and female. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and cleave to his wife; And they twain shall be one flesh: so then they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.”

Any sex outside of those parameters is not condoned by God. The apostle Paul went on to identify some of those sexual sins in two of his epistles:

Romans 1:26-28 (NASB): “For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural, and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error. And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper.” Romans 1:32 (NIV): “Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them” (emphasis added).

I Corinthians 6:9-10 (NIV): “Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God” (emphasis added).

Although the Bible doesn’t detail each and every one of these sinful acts, it clearly speaks out about many of them. Any deviation from God’s original plan for sex to be within the confines of marriage between a man and woman is still sin in the eyes of God.

Abomination

Homosexuality garners another label from the Scriptures. In the Old Testament, such acts are described as “abomination”:

Leviticus 18:22: “Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination.”

Leviticus 20:13: “If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them.”

The Hebrew word that has been translated “abomination” means “properly, something disgusting (morally), i.e. (as noun), an abhorrence.” Other English translations of the Scripture render this word “detestable,” “perversion,” or “disgusting.” Clearly God has a strong feeling toward homosexual acts. Several traditional sources temper the harshness of the “abomination” by citing the lack of procreative potential as the reason for the abominable nature of the homosexual act. In other words, to the Creator, it is totally unnatural.

Be Thou an Example

The Bible lets us know that the final days just before the coming of the Lord will be a time of great immorality and acceptance of lifestyles that dishonour God. Jesus even indicates rampant immorality as a sign that we should be watching for his return (See Luke 17:26-28).

The world has been successful in bringing tolerance and acceptance of the homosexual lifestyle. Popular teen magazine Seventeen conducted a reader poll in 1991of the magazine’s readers’ views of homosexuality. In 1991, only seventeen percent of the readers deemed homosexuality as appropriate. In 1999, after eight years of strategic marketing of sin, fifty-four percent of readers accepted homosexuality as appropriate.

Acceptance of this lifestyle continues to evolve into promotion of the lifestyle in the mainstream media and education system. Music, media, marketing, and lovable Hollywood homosexual characters have brought the homosexual lifestyle into the forefront and confusion about what is right and wrong to the current generation of teens in the church.

We must remember the word of God does not change. In Malachi 3:6 he declares “For I am the LORD, I change not;” His feelings on immorality and homosexuality have not adjusted with culture, and neither can ours.

The apostle Paul identified a generation’s commitment to moral purity as one of the ways we should be an example in this world. I Timothy 4:12 declares, “Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity.”

As the current generation of the church, we must remember the biblical view of morality and be careful to not fall prey to the last day deception of accepting and condoning immoral and abominable lifestyles. If we continue to stand on the unchanging biblical basis of morality, we offer an example in the world of the truth of God and the power of living a holy life for Him.