The Abomination of Homosexuality

abominable: causing disgust or hatred; detestable (Webster's)

abomination: something that causes extreme disgust, hatred, and loathing (Webster's)

"Queers wear red on Thursdays." At least that was what students said at my high school in 1964. We didn't know where that rumor came from, or even if it was true, but we weren't taking any chances. Every Thursday we made sure to not wear any garment with red in it. Even white socks with red stripes along the tops were avoided on Thursdays. We didn't want to do anything that might raise even a remote suspicion that we might be one of "them," because we were disgusted by the thought of the things that "those people" did. Even if we didn't know the word "abomination," we knew that homosexuality was an abomination. We didn't even need the Bible to tell us that. In the 1960s we knew intuitively that homosexual behavior was an abomination.

Fast forward to the 1970s. I was in college, sitting in the art building at Illinois State University one day. A student came through the building handing out a written announcement for a "gay liberation" event at a neighboring university (a "Christian" university), where the homosexual poet Allen Ginsburg would be speaking about "gay" concerns. I was stunned. I could hardly believe that these people were actually announcing their homosexuality instead of hiding it. In the 1970s I still considered homosexuality an abomination, as did virtually all of the people I knew.

By the 1980s the "gay movement" was in full swing. I was in college again, this time as a teacher at Western Illinois University. One winter day an ad appeared in the student newspaper. The ad's bold lettering said "Denim Day" and featured a drawing of blue jeans. The text of the ad urged everyone to wear denim on the following Wednesday, to show their support for "gay rights." That Wednesday came, and most of the students wore corduroys, sweat pants, dress pants, pajama pants, anything but denim. On normal days, blue denim jeans were worn by probably 90% of the student population, but on the sodomites' "Denim Day," it seemed that denim had disappeared from the campus. The sodomite community was disappointed and offended, of course, and even more so when an ad appeared in the next issue of the student newspaper. Someone had placed an ad called "Shoe Day," calling on everyone to wear shoes on the following Wednesday, to show their support for heterosexual rights. To emphasize gender distinction, the ad had a drawing of a manly-looking work boot and a feminine-looking high heeled shoe. This being the middle of winter, everyone, even the homosexuals, wore shoes that Wednesday.

That was about 30 years ago. And today there are still a lot of people who consider homosexuality an abomination. For those of us who believe in the inspiration and authority of the Scriptures, there is no need to apologize or explain or persuade or justify calling it an abomination. It is God, not us, who first declared it an abomination. So the sodomites' "Judge not!" mantra is meaningless, because we are not judging them. God is the One who has judged their sin and has declared it to be an abomination. We are just agreeing with that which God has said. If people want to insist that it is not an abomination, tell them that they will have to take it up with God, not you, because God is the One who calls it an abomination.

The sin of homosexuality is a disgusting, abhorrent, hateful sin in the eyes of God, a stench in His nostrils, a true abomination. However, some homosexual-hating Christians forget that there are lots of other sins besides homosexuality which are labeled by God as abominations. A few years ago, in preparation for teaching at our congregation, I did an extensive Bible study on all the sins that are called abominations. I found nearly 100 verses that use the Hebrew word for abomination, to'evah, or its verb form, ta'av. As I looked over this list of abominations which I had written down, I wondered how I could organize all this information to present it as a teaching. As I considered the various abominations, I realized that nearly every abominable act is a violation of one of the Ten Commandments. (Abominable attitudes--things such as pride, contentiousness, and divisiveness—are too broad to fit neatly under one of the Ten Commandments; but nearly every abominable action can be categorized by placing it under whichever one of the Ten Commandments it violates.) The result of my study was a 10-point Outline of Abominations, showing which of the Ten Commandments each abomination violates.

If there are so many other sins besides homosexuality that are abominations, why pick on the perverts? Isn't it hypocritical and homophobic to single out the sodomites when so many other abominations are tolerated, sometimes even in Bible-believing churches? As some so-called "gay Christians" have pointed out, the Bible also calls swine's flesh an abomination, but that doesn't stop Christians from eating bacon for breakfast. Since swine's flesh and sodomy are both called abominations, then that must mean that a homosexual act is no worse than eating bacon, right?

Wrong. While swine's flesh and sodomy are both called abominations, there are degrees of abominations, just as there are degrees of sin. A myth that is often repeated by church people is the statement that "one kind of sin is just as bad as any other sin; all sins are equally bad," or something to that effect. This is absolutely false. Yeshua spoke about "the greater sin," "the least of the commandments," and "the weightier matters of the law" (Jn. 19:11; Mt. 5:19; Mt. 23:23). Common sense tells you that the sin of murder is worse than the sin of coveting. The fact that different degrees of punishment were prescribed for different sins also proves that some sins are worse than others. While bacon is indeed an abomination, God did not prescribe executions for bacon-eaters. However, He did prescribe death for homosexuals and other sex perverts, including old-fashioned heterosexual adulterers. (See Leviticus 20:10-16.)

The Bible teaches in 1 Corinthians 6:18 that sexual sins are in a category of their own, unlike non-sexual sins. This is one reason for opposing the sin of homosexuality. Another reason for opposing it is because it will bring the wrath of God upon our nation if it becomes acceptable to the general population. (See Leviticus 18:24-28.) And as most people know, the homosexual community and its sympathizers are working very hard to make it acceptable instead of abominable in the minds of the masses.

The heterosexual majority is being pressured to not only tolerate homosexuality, but to actually celebrate it. The 2/9/07 issue of the liberal Jewish Forward had a disgusting article called "My Niece Has Two Daddies." The article was written by Marjorie Ingall, a heterosexual woman who considers herself a "Conservative Jew." Ingall's sodomite brother and his sodomite mate adopted a baby girl and had family and friends come to their apartment for a welcoming celebration. The sodomites' woman "rabbi" helped them organize the ceremony, which included the use of a tallit (prayer shawl), the lighting of a menorah, the singing of a song of praise to God, and prayers to God that the two men will be good "parents" and that the baby girl will grow to be "a lover of Torah." Ingall writes: "I hardly see how these two people in a loving, committed relationship, with obvious devotion to religion and family and tradition, are a threat to heterosexual families."

It is amazing that a reasonably intelligent self-described "Conservative Jew" cannot see the absolute foolishness of mixing Torah-derived customs with something which the Torah absolutely condemns. How can people not see the incongruity and foolishness of such perversion? The answer to that question is in Romans 1:21-28, where foolishness and homosexual perversion are set forth as God's judgment upon those who reject His revelation:

"Because that, when they knew God, they glorified Him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools . . . Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves; who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature. And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust towards one another; men with men working that which is unseemly [indecent], and receiving in themselves that recompence [penalty] of their error which was meet [appropriate]. And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient [proper]."

According to the Bible, those who commit homosexual acts deserve the death penalty, as do heterosexual adulterers. However, homosexuals (like heterosexual adulterers) can be forgiven, saved, and delivered from their sins. The proof of this is in the testimonies of people who have been transformed from sodomites to saints. The proof is also in the Scriptures. When Paul lists categories of sinners who will not inherit the kingdom of God, he includes those who are "effeminate" (NIV, "male prostitutes") and "abusers of themselves with mankind" (NASB, "homosexuals"; NIV "homosexual offenders"). Then Paul adds, "And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Yeshua, and by the Spirit of our God" (1 Cor. 6:9-11). There is hope for the homosexual if he repents of his sin, trusts in the saving power of Yeshua, stops his homosexual behavior, and lives a sanctified life by the power of the Holy Spirit.

| DB