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Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry.
Read Romans 1:24-26
Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their heartsto sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another.
They (not God) exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen
Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts.
Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. (lesbian)
In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. (homosexual)
Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion.
When a person exchanges the truth for a lie .... that is a choice.
When a person worships the created vs. the creator ... that is idolatry.
Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry.
Read Romans 1:24-26
Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their heartsto sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another.
They (not God) exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen
Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts.
Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. (lesbian)
In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. (homosexual)
Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion.
When a person exchanges the truth for a lie .... that is a choice
When a person worships the created vs. the creator ... that is idolatry
The way that the first passage is phrased - it reads to me that greed is idolatry - not sexual impurity. The idolatry part seems that is was referencing the greed - as in people are idolizing money instead of God.
I feel like if you have to put things in parenthesis to explain what they are talking about - then that is your interpretation of the passage as opposed to what is actually being said. You are inferring what they are talking about when they haven't spelled it out specifically.
Also - the passage about people worshipping the created instead of the creator - it doesn't specify what "created" thing they are worshipping. It could be referring to the previous sentence or it could be listing another "evil" that was being committed. It doesn't seem to be clear to me.
People seem to always quote the passages - but it seems to be that it is talking about a specific situation as opposed to homosexuality in general. And homosexual sex is something different than merely being homosexual.
I don't know - I know you are going to think I'm just trying to make things into what I want them to be - but I assure you I'm not. I am reading the passages with no bias whatsoever because I honestly have nothing to gain or lose. I do not believe the Bible to be the word of God - and I do not believe in it - so it really makes no difference to me if it goes with or against my own beliefs. But I do try to understand what it does say - so I can understand why people believe what they believe. I honestly do think that everyone interprets the Bible to fit their own beliefs. I don't really think it's possible not to.
Just be sure to make a distiction between the act and the person. You can be gay and otherwise right with God if you don't sin: that is don't have gay sex. It is the act that is the sin, not the predisposition.
Some people are predisposed, for example, to addiction. That is one thing. But to induldge oneself in said addition is the sin.
To be more specific, according to the Biblical texts, if gay people don't become temple prostitutes or get involved in using orgiastic sex to worship pagan fertility gods or don't threaten to rape any angels, they'll be fine.
I guess the same can be said for heterosexuals who do those "acts" as well.
What does idolatry have to do with homosexuality? What does idolatry have to do with any sexuality - heterosexuality or homosexuality?
It doesn't really. But the Biblical verses which are often used incorrectly against gay people, ARE about idolatrous worshipping practices of pagan gods which often involved ritual sex acts.
I work with homeless men who have drug, alcohol and other varied backgrounds. One of my former students confessed that he lived as a homosexual for many years before he came to the program. The Lord moved in his life so dramatically that he has turned away from his past and committed himself to forsaking his sexual tendencies. He is even focusing on his faith in God to keep from thinking thoughts of those sexual impulses so that he can stay right with Him. He truly believes that God has cleansed and forgiven him of his former life since he openly admitted his sin and repented of it and that if God worked this miracle for him that God can do it for anyone if they choose to allow God to move in their life. God can move mightily in anyones life if they just allow God to come in and clean house, so to speak.
The way that the first passage is phrased - it reads to me that greed is idolatry - not sexual impurity. The idolatry part seems that is was referencing the greed - as in people are idolizing money instead of God.
I feel like if you have to put things in parenthesis to explain what they are talking about - then that is your interpretation of the passage as opposed to what is actually being said. You are inferring what they are talking about when they haven't spelled it out specifically.
Also - the passage about people worshipping the created instead of the creator - it doesn't specify what "created" thing they are worshipping. It could be referring to the previous sentence or it could be listing another "evil" that was being committed. It doesn't seem to be clear to me.
People seem to always quote the passages - but it seems to be that it is talking about a specific situation as opposed to homosexuality in general. And homosexual sex is something different than merely being homosexual.
I don't know - I know you are going to think I'm just trying to make things into what I want them to be - but I assure you I'm not. I am reading the passages with no bias whatsoever because I honestly have nothing to gain or lose. I do not believe the Bible to be the word of God - and I do not believe in it - so it really makes no difference to me if it goes with or against my own beliefs. But I do try to understand what it does say - so I can understand why people believe what they believe. I honestly do think that everyone interprets the Bible to fit their own beliefs. I don't really think it's possible not to.
Dewdrop93,
"I do not believe the Bible to be the word of God - and I do not believe in it"
is as much of a bias as to say
"I do believe the Bible to be the word of God - and I do believe in it"
To put anything ahead of God and God's will is idolatry.
There is no such concept as "compartmental" infractions of the commandments.
Stumble (not to mention break one) makes you guilty of all James 2:10.
sexual immorality, ..... is idolatry. Why ? because James 2:10
impurity, ..... is idolatry. Why ? because James 2:10
lust, ..... is idolatry. Why ? because James 2:10
evil desires and greed, ..... is idolatry. Why ? because James 2:10
__________________________________________________ _____________ Romans 1:24-26 sinful desires of their heartsto sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another.
Sinful desires \ evil desires originate from the heart. Mark 7:21
For from within, out of men’s hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly.
"Compartmentalizing" sinful actions\thoughts is under estimating the dangerous nature of sin.
In God's view of the law, lustful desires carry the same infraction penalty as if the person actually did it.
Harbouring homosexual desires carries the same penalty as the flame thrower.
Last edited by twin.spin; 05-25-2011 at 09:09 AM..
Reason: spelling
I work with homeless men who have drug, alcohol and other varied backgrounds. One of my former students confessed that he lived as a homosexual for many years before he came to the program. The Lord moved in his life so dramatically that he has turned away from his past and committed himself to forsaking his sexual tendencies. He is even focusing on his faith in God to keep from thinking thoughts of those sexual impulses so that he can stay right with Him. He truly believes that God has cleansed and forgiven him of his former life since he openly admitted his sin and repented of it and that if God worked this miracle for him that God can do it for anyone if they choose to allow God to move in their life. God can move mightily in anyones life if they just allow God to come in and clean house, so to speak.
And there are millions of gays who tried the same thing, and God never fixed the problem. One anecdotal story means nothing. Suppressing one's feelings doesn't make them go away. Lots of gay people try to suppress their feelings and live straight lives. It usually ends badly later in life, but it doesn't prove God fixed them.
"I do not believe the Bible to be the word of God - and I do not believe in it"
is as much of a bias as to say
"I do believe the Bible to be the word of God - and I do believe in it"
To put anything ahead of God and God's will is idolatry.
There is no such concept as "compartmental" infractions of the commandments.
Stumble (not to mention break one) makes you guilty of all James 2:10.
sexual immorality, ..... is idolatry. Why ? because James 2:10
impurity, ..... is idolatry. Why ? because James 2:10
lust, ..... is idolatry. Why ? because James 2:10
evil desires and greed, ..... is idolatry. Why ? because James 2:10
__________________________________________________ _____________ Romans 1:24-26 sinful desires of their heartsto sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another.
Sinful desires \ evil desires originate from the heart. Mark 7:21
For from within, out of men’s hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly.
"Compartmentalizing" sinful actions\thoughts is under estimating the dangerous nature of sin.
In God's view of the law, lustful desires carry the same infraction penalty as if the person actually did it.
Harbouring homosexual desires carries the same penalty as the flame thrower.
Being a homosexual has nothing to do with lust or sex - it is your sexual orientation. What you are saying is basically the sex or the lust is the sin - so then heterosexuals are just as guilty as homosexuals everytime they lust or have sex out of wedlock - correct? And a homosexual that neither lusts nor has sex is just as sinless as a heterosexual that niether lusts nor has sex - correct?
As for me being biased because I don't believe in the Bible - your logic doesn't make sense. I have no bias as to what it says or doesn't say - any more than I would have a bias as to what the Koran says or what a cookbook says. Since I don't base my life on the Bible - the only interest I really have in it is to better understand the people that do base their lives on the Bible. But it's really not for me - so even if I agreed with something in it or disagreed with something in it - it makes no difference. For instance - someone who believes in the Bible as the literal word of God has to find a way to reconcile everything they learn and experience with the Bible. If the Bible says something - then it must be true - even if it goes against what they have experienced or what they have seen. Whereas I don't need to reconcile anything. If I think something in the Bible is false - it's fine. If I think something is true - that's fine, too. Like I said - I have no more bias when reading the Bible than I do with reading a cookbook.
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