What The Bible Says About Homosexuality

(Text: I Corinthians 6:9-11)
By: Barry L. Cameron


* According to Dr. Joseph Nicolosi, Clinical Psychologist and Executive Director of the National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality…

There are four gay myths:
1. 10% of the population is homosexual.
- The Kinsey report gave birth to this myth several years ago. (It’s actually 2-3% at the most)
- Kinsey, it was discovered later, was homosexual himself and was trying to further the gay agenda.

2. You are born gay.
- People erroneously believe that science has found the gay gene.

ILL. The Pastors Weekly Briefing, August 25, 2000 issue:
“There are many in this country who push their belief that homosexuals are ‘born gay’ and can do nothing to change that fact. Among them is the American Psychological Association, which officially rejects all therapy designed to assist those wishing to leave homosexuality.

It was thus surprising when the APA recently allowed a researcher to present his findings that people can change their homosexual orientation to heterosexual. At a recent symposium, Dr. Warren Throckmorton of Grove City College presented his research that indicates people can choose to leave homosexuality, a fact increasingly supported by research from a growing number of experts. After evaluating nine separate studies of people choosing to leave the gay lifestyle, Throckmorton concluded, ‘Change in sexual identity is possible. The studies that I reviewed did show that very profound change in sexual identity was reported by a good number of the subjects.’

Reed Terzian, of Exodus Ministries, an organization that helps homosexuals leave the gay lifestyle, welcomes the findings that were presented to the APA. ‘It’s important that somebody tell the truth. The truth is that significant numbers of people are significantly healed from this,’ said Terzian, who is a former homosexual.”

* Today, gays are backing off from the assertion of a gay gene and that people are born homosexual because of the lack of evidence.

* I’ll show you in a moment that no one is born gay. That’s one of the deadliest lies perpetrated by the gay community. (Deadly, because it unnecessarily keeps people in bondage that they can get out of.)

3. Once gay, always gay.
- Again, this is not true because thousands are coming out of this lifestyle every year.
- There are nearly 200 organizations and ministries, in the U.S. alone, which are helping people leave a homosexual lifestyle.

Quote: Dr. Tim LaHaye, “The Power of the Cross”
“Homosexuality often becomes such an entrenched way of life that most non-Christian counselors do not even try to extricate the victims from that lifestyle. (Besides, most of them today believe it’s perfectly natural and legitimate.)

“Yet, as I will show, hundreds of Christians, many of them former homosexuals, are leading men and women to the cross of Christ before whom they bow, and they rise with the power to live a new and transformed life. To date, I have personally met forty-eight individuals who have undergone such a life-changing transformation. Now, that is power! The power to transform lives.”

4. Homosexuality is normal in every way.
- Therefore, we ought to:
(a) Teach it to young children as an acceptable lifestyle
(b) Provide the same protection and benefits that heterosexuals receive
(c) Stop trying to get people to leave the homosexual lifestyle

* The gay community wants the world to believe that homosexuals are the ones who are sensitive, understanding, compassionate, and generous.
- And that heterosexuals are not.

ILL. World Magazine, August 26, 2000 issue.
“Richard Cohen--a former homosexual and current member of the American Counseling Association believes that ex-gays have been totally abandoned by the mental health profession. His new book COMING OUT STRAIGHT: Understanding and Healing Homosexuality, describes his frustration with licensed counselors who resisted his attempts to change. ‘It’s supposed to be a profession that encourages people to fulfill their goals, but now they are promoting advocacy, not client’s rights,’ said Mr. Cohen. Now a father of three and a licensed psychotherapist, he represents the gay-rights movement’s worse nightmare. Not only does he say he changed, but he wants to help others do the same. To accomplish this, he founded the International Healing Foundation--a Maryland-based training center where counselors and clergy learn to help homosexuals change.”

Four Non-negotiable truths:
1. There is hope for people struggling with or involved with homosexuality.
2. While the church cannot condone homosexuality neither can we condemn homosexuals.
II Corinthians 5:17-21. God has not given the church a ministry of condemnation.
- He has given us the ministry of reconciliation.
- We can’t help anyone if all we do is condemn them.
3. Homosexuality is preventable.
4. There is no such thing as a homosexual.

Quote: Dr. Joseph Nicolosi
“There is no such thing as a homosexual. We are all heterosexual. Some of us heterosexuals have a homosexual problem, but it doesn’t mean there are two kinds of people. God did not create homosexuals and heterosexuals. It’s incredible how many people in the church actually believe that God created two kinds of people: homosexuals and heterosexuals. That would be turning the natural law on its head. We were all designed, our bodies were designed for the opposite sex. That’s how we were designed. That is our true identity. Heterosexuality is our true identity. Some people have a problem developmentally which causes a condition called homosexuality.

We are all created as heterosexual beings--and a simple look at our bodies confirms this absolutely: we were designed by our Creator to be reproducers. Men, your body was not designed for mating with another man. Ladies, your body was not designed for mating with another woman.”

What Does The Bible Say? 1. Genesis 1:27, “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.”
2. Genesis 2:18-25. “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.”
3. Matthew 19:4-6. Jesus affirms God’s plan for one man for one woman for one lifetime.
4. Leviticus 18:22. “Do not lie with a man as one lies with a woman; that is detestable.”
5. Leviticus 20:13. If a man lies with a man, as one lies with a woman, they are to be put to death.
6. Romans 1:26-27. Homosexual acts are unnatural, to God’s divine plan.
7. I Corinthians 6:9-11. Homosexual offenders will not inherit the kingdom of God.

What Is The Cause of Homosexuality?
In an interview with Focus On The Family’s Citizen magazine, Dr. Joseph Nicolosi said, “It’s primarily an identity problem, not a sexual problem, and it begins in childhood. The process begins when a child realizes that the world is divided between male and female and that he is not equipped to be identified as male. His father fails to sufficiently encourage male-gender identity. Because he is not fully male-gender-identified, he is not psychologically prepared to feel heterosexual attractions. In order to be attracted to women, a male must feel sufficiently masculine. Faced with this predicament, he goes into a world of fantasy and denies the imperative of being either male or female.

“None of the homosexual men I counsel have had loving, respectful relationships with their fathers. A number of my client’s fathers are pastors. Many of them were good men. In spite of their fathers’ good intentions, there was a lack of emotional bonding. In many cases, the sons were fragile, sensitive boys who could never break away from the ‘safe’ relationship with their mothers to meet the challenges posed by their fathers.”

Is homosexuality fulfilling for gays who say they don’t want to change? (Dr. Nicolosi)
“Many of my clients report to me that when they’ve had sex with a man, they come away feeling that there is something false about it. The gay identity is a false identity. It is a desperate attempt to resolve a psychological predicament.

Many gays claim to be happy, but I don’t believe they are being honest. A gay identity is incompatible with a man’s deepest sense of himself. Our true nature is heterosexuality. Gays insist that society’s homophobia makes their life unhappy, but the real problem is the inherent nature of the gay identity.”

ILL. The Social Significance of Homosexuality: Questions and Answers by Larry Burtoft, Ph.D.
“Elizabeth Moberly, Ph.D., says that in failed father-son relationships, the son develops a defensive detachment--meaning that homosexuality is not primarily a problem of relating to members of the opposite sex, but to the same sex.

“Therefore, male homosexuality is primarily an effort to fill a developmental deficit: They do not ‘feel’ masculine, and they try to repair this perceived lack of masculinity through erotic expression--as if they could receive their partner’s maleness by means of sex. As one homosexual man put it, ‘Even before I came to therapy, I realized that I did not want another man, I wanted a manly me. “Moberly says this helps explain why traditional counseling--which addresses a homosexual’s relationship with the opposite sex--has been ineffective, even ‘counter-therapeutic.’ By contrast, counselors such as Nicolosi who have seen homosexuality as rooted in a failure to identify with the same-sex parent are reporting significant success.

The roots of female homosexuality, however, can be more complex. One form of lesbianism is rooted in an emotional breech between mother and infant. Another form results when a girl perceives her mother as weak and ‘pathetic’ and her father as strong and benevolent. In both cases, the girl is unable to form an authentic and holistic sense of herself.

A third category includes women who were sexually abused in childhood by a male and, therefore, they fear male sexuality. Given the fact that many people who practice homosexuality are motivated by desires for personal wholeness and well-being, evangelicals have good reason for empathy, understanding and even support for what the homosexual is trying to accomplish. Moberly writes ‘The love response of the homosexual is itself the reparative attempt and, as such, is to be promoted. The problem isn’t in the desire for same-sex love, but rather in the sexualization of that love.”

Four Non-negotiable truths:
1. There is hope for people struggling with or involved with homosexuality.
- You can change.
2. While the church cannot condone homosexuality neither can we condemn homosexuals.
- We need to lovingly show homosexuals how to get their needs met in the right ways, without sex.
- We need to surround them with godly role models and encourage their masculinity.
3. Homosexuality is preventable.
- Fathers and mothers can make sure their kids have the healthiest relationships possible.
- Love them, affirm them, touch them, spend time with them, encouraging the right development.
4. There is no such thing as a homosexual.
Dr. Nicolosi: “You are not a homosexual, you are a heterosexual that is trying to repair, trying to get now what you did not get in your childhood. You’re trying to get your valid, authentic but nevertheless unmet emotional and identification needs met now. And that’s a great relief for a lot of these men. They’re not perverts, they’re not wierdos, they’re not sickies, they’re not degenerates. They are seeking normal things which other boys got but they did not get.”

Closing comments:
• Hurtful relationships create an incubator that helps produce all kinds of problems.
• A boy needs a good relationship with his dad.
• A girl needs a good relationship with her mother.
• A lot of people are walking around thinking there’s no hope because they’ve been told they have a gay gene, they were born that way, and they can’t change. (All three are lies.)
• Homosexuals have a tendency towards theater and acting (music and arts) because homosexuality is based on fantasy. They are trying to act out what they’ve never had in reality.

Danger Signs To Watch For:
1. Gender confusion
2. Loneliness and isolation (from members of the same sex)
3. Rejection (“I don’t fit in.”)
4. No peers of the same sex
5. Lacking a close relationship with their father/mother

James 1:13-15, “When tempted, no one should say, ‘God is tempting me.’ For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.”

I Corinthians 10:13, “No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.”

I John 4:4, “You dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.”

I John 5:1-5, “Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves the father loves his child as well. This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands. This is love for God: to obey his commands. And his commands are not burdensome, for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.”