Re-Created by Dr. Abidan Shah

RE-CREATED by Dr. Shah, Clearview Church, Henderson

Introduction: One of my favorite shows on TV is the Andy Griffith show. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that I have watched each episode dozens of times. One of the characters on the show is Gomer Pyle. He is a sort of simple-minded auto mechanic working at Wally’s Filling Station. Some of his funniest lines were “Shazam!” and “Surprise, surprise, surprise.” He went on to star in his own TV comedy where he joined the US Marine. In real life, the actor Jim Nabors was gay, as many of you may or may not know. That’s just one example of someone who appears normal, funny, smart, winsome, and successful, but they are living a lifestyle that the Bible expressly calls sinful. How do we answer them or even others who may not be gay but who argue that this is normal and should be treated as no different than heterosexual relationship or marriage? Here are some questions that came through our apologetics questionnaire: What about consensual, committed, and caring gay relationships? Is there a gay gene? Aren’t SOCE (Sexual Orientation Change Efforts) proven to be harmful?  Main point: Our society and culture are increasingly trying to normalize homosexuality and homosexual marriage. Both scripturally and scientifically, homosexuality is unnatural, inappropriate, and sinful. Nonetheless, every person can find hope and healing through Jesus Christ.

Genesis 2      21 And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept; and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place. 22 Then the rib which the LORD God had taken from man He made into a woman, and He brought her to the man. 23 And Adam said: “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; She shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.” 24 Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.

Context: If you remember, we read this passage last time, but there’s still so much that is packed into it. It starts off with a binary being (sexually undifferentiated) who is split into two sexually differentiated beings (Robert Gagnon). Marriage is the coming together of these two sexually complementary beings and becoming the sexual unity of the original Adam. A man and a man or a woman and a woman cannot come together to become a one-flesh or the original binary being. In other words, a single-sex union cannot bring sexual wholeness. With this in mind, I want to divide this message into the 3 questions:

Question #1. What about consensual, committed, and caring gay relationships? This requires a scriptural answer. The first clear instance of homosexual behavior is found inGenesis 19      1 Now the two angels came to Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom. When Lot saw them, he rose to meet them, and he bowed himself with his face toward the ground. 2 And he said, “Here now, my lords, please turn in to your servant’s house and spend the night, and wash your feet; then you may rise early and go on your way.” And they said, “No, but we will spend the night in the open square.” 3 But he insisted strongly; so they turned in to him and entered his house. Then he made them a feast, and baked unleavened bread, and they ate. 4 Now before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, both old and young, all the people from every quarter, surrounded the house. 5 And they called to Lot and said to him, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us that we may know them carnally.” Similar account is also found in Judges 19 of a Levite and his concubine in the city of Gibeah of Benjamin. It is typically claimed by some that this was just an instance of forced, non-consensual, unloving, cruel gang rape. Check out these verses – Ezekiel 16      49 “Look, this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom: She and her daughter had pride, fullness of food, and abundance of idleness; neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy. 50 And they were haughty and committed abomination before Me; therefore I took them away as I saw fit.” This is supported by the laws in Leviticus 18:22 “You shall not lie with a male as with a woman. It is an abomination” and Leviticus 20:13 “If a man lies with a male as he lies with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination. They shall surely be put to death. Their blood shall be upon them.”

The New Testament also supports this view. If you remember from last week, Jesus and Paul were in agreement with the Old Testament laws, but here are some specific passages – Jude 7 “as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities around them in a similar manner to these, having given themselves over to sexual immorality and gone after strange flesh, are set forth as an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire” and  Romans 1       21 “because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Professing to be wise, they became fools, 23 and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man—and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things. 24Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves, 25 who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. 26For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. 27 Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due.”

Answer to Question #1: Whether it is consensual or not, committed or not, caring or not, homosexuality is still a sin before God.

Question #2. Is there a gay gene? This requires a scientific answer (J. Alan Branch, Born This Way?: Homosexuality, Science, and the Scriptures).

1. To start with, we need to be careful about the Freudian mother-father-child triad of sexual tension. Yes, it is true that if the roles of fathers and mothers are not clear or appropriate in a child’s life that it does impact their personalities. We have seen that more and more in the past 50 years, but the Freudian model is not the answer for all homosexual lifestyles.
2. We need to discard Alfred Kinsey’s influence and the 10% myth. According to Branch’s research, “The true number of people who are homosexual is much lower than Kinsey suggests. The pro-homosexual Williams Institute at UCLA’s School of Law reported in 2011 that about 3.5% of American adults self-identify as lesbian, gay, or bisexual and that a further .03% identify as transgender. Among the 3.5% who identify as gay, lesbian, or bisexual, bisexuals comprise a slight majority of 1.8% as opposed to 1.7% who identify as gay or lesbian. About 1.1% of women and 2.2% of men self-identify as exclusively homosexual. This is consistent with findings from a 1993 study of sexual behavior of men in the United States which claimed only 2% of men aged 20–39 had any same gender sexual activity in the previous ten years, and only 1% reported being exclusively homosexual during this interval.”
3. There are several other issues: Brain Plasticity (Neuron pathways due to experiences, especially pornography), Prenatal Hormones (levels of exposure to testosterones and cases of DSD – Disorders of Sexual Development, part of the fallen world), gay gene (Xq28, 8q12 regions in the genome), brain development, etc. All of these have been proven to be inconclusive.

Answer to question 2. There can be correlation but not causation. Predisposition is not predetermination (Branch).

Question #3. Aren’t SOCE (Sexual Orientation Change Efforts) proven to be harmful?The answer is yes and no. First, let me say from scripture that it is definitely possible to find hope and healing through the gospel. 1 Corinthians 6        9 “Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, 10 nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. 11And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.” Let me also add very clearly that it is not as easy and simple as you may think. Here are 4 scenarios:

#1. Mostly Negative Life with Salvation

• Begin weighed down by the Fall
• Negative disposition
• Negative upbringing
• Bad experiences
• Satan/evil
• SAVED – tips scale all the way to the right
• Obedience
• Fellowship
• Ministry
• If not, the scales tend to tip back, but that does not mean that salvation is lost.

#2. Mostly Positive Life with Salvation

• Begin weighed down by the Fall
• Some negative disposition
• Some positive disposition develops
• Positive upbringing
• Good experiences
• SAVED – tips scale all the way to the right
• Positive influences
• Consistent walk with God
• Awareness of the Enemy
• Failure to be aware of the Enemy can also tip the scales back terribly.

#3 – Imbalanced Life and Unsure of Salvation

• Begin weighed down by the Fall
• Negative disposition
• Positive upbringing
• Negative experiences
• SAVED – tips scale all the way to the right, but it won’t stay there
• Mixed messages (obedience, fellowship, and ministry)
• Insufficient truth
• Unawareness of the Enemy
• Inconsistent walk with God
• “?” added to SAVED

#4 – Very Positive Life but No Salvation

• Begin weighed down by the Fall
• Positive disposition
• Positive upbringing
• Good experiences
• Church
• Good decisions
• Salvation never comes, so the scale is still weighed down on the left

1 Corinthians 6:11 And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.

Invitation: God’s grace is available to every person. He is there to comfort. He understands the problem with the fall. Hence, he sent his Son Jesus to die for us. We should stand firm in our conviction without losing our compassion.