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by Bill Seng

“Because of this God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion.” ~Romans 1:26-27

What would you think if you dropped a ball and it floated up into the sky? You would probably think that something terribly wrong was happening. We all know about gravity. It is a law of nature (well, technically a theory if I am not mistaken) that essentially states, “What goes up, must come down.” So if you drop a ball, a plain ordinary ball like a baseball or something, nature dictates that earth’s gravitational field should pull it down.

If God’s creation went haywire, all sorts of crazy things would happen. Chaos would ensue. Matter would pop out of thin air. Rocks, instead of eroding, would become more complex. Birds would live on the ground, we would live in the air… ”Dogs and cats living together; MASS HYSTERIA” (Bill Murray, Ghostbusters). Things would not be obedient to the Creator’s spoken decree to do as they were told. The sun is to govern the light of the day, the moon is to govern the light of the night. Plants were made to provide life with sustenance, and man and woman were to be fruitful and multiply.

This passage from Romans clearly says that the tendency to be attracted to the same sex and to engage in sexual activity with them is contrary to God’s created order. Now, what am I not saying? Is homosexuality genetic or not? Honestly, I don’t know. According to this Scripture I could easily imply that it is not genetic. However, just because the Bible calls such a situation sinful does not mean that same-sex attraction does not happen “naturally.” Right now I think I might have both sides of the aisle scratching their heads, so let me unpack just a little more.

There are many things that are genetically inherited that are a result of the curse brought upon the world through original sin. For instance, I do not believe that God’s original design would have allowed for people to be born deformed, without limbs, with psychological disorders, or diseases that would ultimately terminate a child before, during, or shortly after birth. Genetics can be attributed to all of these phenomena. God can use each circumstance for his glory, but I do not believe that in heaven the man who was schizophrenia on earth will suffer from that malady in God’s kingdom. He will be cured.

There might be people reading this post that might struggle with same-sex attraction. I applaud you for sticking with this ministry because you know that we care for you and pray for you. I know that you may have been told things by certain theologians that change the plain meaning of this text. Let us simply read what these verses say and allow God to transform our hearts. So often we as Christians in defending the Bible’s stance against homosexuality will quote 1 Corinthians 6:9, which includes homosexual offense in the list of sins of people who will not inherit God’s kingdom. But if you read to verse 11 you will read the startling statement (for both sides of the aisle) that states, “And that is what some of you were” (emphasis mine).

And yet, I am not just speaking to people who practice a homosexual lifestyle today. I want to make it clear that these passages are in the context of a chapter that is describing a world where people have abandoned their God-given nature and have bent their knee to their sinful nature. Using sexual relationships as an example, are you engaged in premarital sexual activity? Are you committing adultery against your spouse? Do you even allow your eye to look upon someone… anyone… lustfully? Guess what? These are all sins that are deviant from God’s covenantal relationship that he gave to mankind that we know as marriage: one man, one woman, and a pure marriage bed. Furthermore, it is deviant from God’s natural design.

My prayer is that you read this post and examine your heart. Are you engaged in an ungodly relationship with another person? Are you doing anything else that is deviant from the nature that God gave us? If so, give these up to God and trust in him for redemption.