____________________________________________________ THE GOSPEL OBSERVER ____________________________________________________ "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations...teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age" (Matthew 28:19,20). ____________________________________________________ April 18, 2004 ____________________________________________________ Same Sex Marriages and Related Matters by Clarence R. Johnson Over the past several years sexual perversion has become popularized in our society. Recently the Massachusetts Supreme Court has sought to give legal sanction to such perversion, and judges and other civil authorities in various parts of our nation have begun performing ceremonies to unite same sex couples. In reaction to this situation, some of those who oppose such perversion have suggested amending our federal constitution to define marriage as a relationship between a man and a woman. Perhaps if some of our "judges" would consult a good English dictionary, they would already know that. While this matter certainly has political overtones, it is not really a matter of politics. The God who created mankind has legislated concerning same sex relationships. God's Will Regarding Human Sexuality is Reflected in Scripture From the Beginning of Human History "And the LORD God said, 'It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him.' Out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the air, and brought them to Adam to see what he would call them. And whatever Adam called each living creature, that was its name. So Adam gave names to all cattle, to the birds of the air, and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper comparable to him" (Gen. 2:18-20). Not only was God well aware of man's need for companionship, He sought to impress Adam with the importance of the companion He was about to create. At the outset, there were two major purposes to be served by the husband-wife relationship. First, companionship. Second, procreation. When God pointed out man's need for a life companion, He made a woman. God did not create Adam and Steve, but Adam and Eve. "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. Then the rib which the LORD God had taken from man He made into a woman, and He brought her to the man. 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'" (Gen. 2:21-23). On the basis of God's creative will, that male-female relationship served as a model to be duplicated throughout succeeding generations. "Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed" (Gen. 2:24-25). The First Recorded Deviations from God's Pattern Many scholars believe the sin of Ham against Noah, recorded in Gen. 9:22-24, involved homosexuality. Such an inference may be legitimate, but we do not believe the evidence is conclusive. The first clear and obvious case of homosexuality and God's attitude toward it is revealed in Gen. 19:1-13. "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. 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.' 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. "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. 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.' So Lot went out to them through the doorway, shut the door behind him, and said, 'Please, my brethren, do not do so wickedly! See now, I have two daughters who have not known a man; please, let me bring them out to you, and you may do to them as you wish; only do nothing to these men, since this is the reason they have come under the shadow of my roof.' And they said, 'Stand back!'...So they pressed hard against the man Lot, and came near to break down the door. But the men [angels] reached out their hands and pulled Lot into the house with them, and shut the door. And they struck the men who were at the doorway of the house with blindness, both small and great, so that they became weary trying to find the door. Then the men said to Lot, 'Have you anyone else here? Son-in-law, your sons, your daughters, and whomever you have in the city--take them out of this place! For we will destroy this place, because the outcry against them has grown great before the face of the LORD, and the LORD has sent us to destroy it.'" As a result of this incident leading to the destruction of the city of Sodom, homosexual practices gained the name "sodomy." Under Moses' Law, the Practice of Homosexuality Was An Abomination Before God, and Carried the Death Penalty "You shall not lie with a male as with a woman. It is an abomination" (Lev. 18:22). "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" (Lev. 20:13). The word "abomination" simply means that God hates that practice. Let it also be noted that God likewise hates the heterosexual sin of adultery, "The man who commits adultery with another man's wife, he who commits adultery with his neighbor's wife, the adulterer and the adulteress, shall surely be put to death" (Lev. 20:10). It was not until later generations when respect for God had waned and their worship had been mixed with idolatry that we find a degree of toleration of the sin of sodomy in Israel, and every reform movement sought to eliminate it and get back to God's original design. It was recorded that during the reign of Rehoboam, son of Solomon, that "Judah did evil in the sight of the LORD, and they provoked him to jealousy with their sins which they had committed, above all that their fathers had done. For they also built them high places, and images, and groves, on every high hill, and under every green tree. And there were also sodomites in the land: and they did according to all the abominations of the nations which the LORD cast out before the children of Israel" (1 Kings 14:22-24 KJV). In 1 Kings 15:11-12, the efforts of King Asa to reform Judah and call the nation back to the worship and lifestyle God had revealed, are recorded: "And Asa did that which was right in the eyes of the LORD, as did David his father. And he took away the sodomites out of the land, and removed all the idols that his fathers had made" (KJV). The New Testament Scriptures Show That the Basic Values Set Forth in Earlier Times Regarding Human Sexuality Are Still Valid The practice of homosexuality is a clear violation of New Testament principles. "Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves, who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. 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" (Rom. 1:24-27). "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" (Jude 7). God turned "the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them to destruction, making them an example to those who afterward would live ungodly; and delivered righteous Lot, who was oppressed by the filthy conduct of the wicked" (2 Peter 2:6-7). "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, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God" (1 Cor. 6:9-10). It might be noted that in this passage there are two words relating to the practice of homosexuality. The first, translated "homosexuals" in the New King James Version, is used to identify the male who portrays the female part in a homosexual relationship. The word translated "sodomites" is used to describe the male who has a sexual relationship with the [effeminate] "homosexual." (In the first edition of the New King James, the text clearly identified those first individuals as "effeminate homosexuals," but for some reason, later editions were not as clear. Valid marriages are still between one man and one woman. Jesus said, "Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning 'made them male and female,' and said, 'For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh'?" (Matt. 19:4-5). Homosexuals Can Change Though many psychologists and psychiatrists disagree, homosexuals can change. After telling the Corinthians that effeminate homosexuals and sodomites will not inherit the kingdom of God, he went on to say, "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" (1 Cor. 6:11). In another passage, he affirmed, "No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it" (1 Cor. 10:13). As brother James Bales said in the Arkansas Democrat a few years ago, homosexuals "are sinners -- not when they are tempted but when they give way to temptation." Homosexual "Rights" Homosexuals have a right to know that the homosexual lifestyle is not right in the eyes of God and that no amount of human reasoning or legislation can make it right. Homosexuals have a right to hear the gospel, believe the gospel, repent of their sins and obey the gospel. They have the same right as all us other sinners to seek forgiveness by bringing their lives into compliance with God's will. Homosexuals have a right to expect Christians to behave as Christians toward them. And Christians have a duty to seek the salvation of the souls of homosexuals and everyone else by taking the gospel into all the world and preaching it to every creature, Mark 16:15-16. -- Via The Susquehanna Sentinel, April 18, 2004 ____________________________________________________ News & Notes After a few years of dealing with cancer, and beyond the 6 months that was originally given her, Carol Music (of Ashland, Kentucky) passed away April 17. Because she was an encouragement to others while she lived, she will still continue to be that same kind of positive influence in the lives of those who knew her. In spite of her health, Carol's love for the Lord prompted her to be with the saints when they assembled for church services, and she continued in doing so up to the last Sunday (April 11) before her departure from this life. Let those of us who are Christians be remembering in prayer her husband Ron and their children, Joseph and Stephanie, as well as all the other relatives and friends. Visitation will be Monday evening from 6 to 9 at the Carman Funeral Home in Flatwoods, Kentucky. The funeral will be Tuesday (4/20) at 12 PM, at the same location: 2301 Argillite Road (606) 836-5833. The Gospel Meeting in Baton Rouge, at the Park Forest church of Christ, begins today and will continue through Friday. The speaker will be Samuel Csonka from the Denver (CO) area (specifically Aurora). Weeknight services will begin at 7:30. All of Sunday's sermons will be on the topic of evangelism. Then the rest will be as follows: Monday: "What Have They Seen in Your House?" Tuesday: "The Christian and Morality" Wednesday: "What is a Christian?" Thursday: "Sin and Its Consequences" Friday: "What Must I Do To Be Saved?" ____________________________________________________ MYRTLE STREET CHURCH OF CHRIST 1022 Myrtle Street Denham Springs, LA 70726 (225) 664-8208 Sunday: 9:15 AM, 10:00 AM, 4:00 PM Wednesday: 7:00 PM evangelist/editor: Tom Edwards (225) 667-4520 e-mail: tedwards@onemain.com web site: http://home.onemain.com/~tedwards/go ____________________________________________________