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| Volume 17 Number 7 July 2015 | Page 3 |
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| Volume 17 Number 7 July 2015 | Page 3 |
Clarence Lavender
Recently, there appeared in a newspaper an article written by a civil engineering student from Virginia Tech entitled, “The Wrath of God?” The man laid claim in the article to the goodness found in the Bible, but then spoke of its contradictions. He wants it both ways.
He wants the “compassion (Luke 6:31), forgiveness (Proverbs 25:21-23) and inner peace (Psalm 23),” which he refers to as “great writings,” and in the same breath he tried to justify homosexuality. Beloved, he cannot have it both ways!
The Law of Excluded Middle says that every precisely stated proposition is either true or false. Homosexuality is either right or wrong; there’s no middle ground!
The Bible precisely states its inspiration. “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction; for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works” (2 Timothy 3:16-17). If the Bible is inspired of God – and it is, then there are no contradictions in it! The Bible condemns homosexuality. However, the writer of the article wrote, “We are desperately seeking answers, and many, looking toward the Bible, have chosen to use it as justification for the condemnation of homosexuals.” In the context, he was saying that the Bible should not be used in such a way, and then later, he penned, “The claim that the Bible condemns homosexuality is literally true.” “However, it is possible, using the Bible, to literally justify widely varying claims and contradictions.”
The problem the man has is that of following and believing Pluralism. Pluralism is the false philosophy that holds that all ideas are equally true. In other words, there are no propositions that are really true, and there are no propositions that are really false. Everyone is entitled to believe and do what he or she chooses. Yet, if pluralism were true, what is the basis used by the man in the article to condemn those of us who teach that homosexuality is wrong? Since he cannot really know what truth is (according to pluralists), where does he begin? What is the foundation for his argument?
Let me show you the seriousness of this problem by quoting Dennis B. Quinn, professor at the University of Kansas in Lawrence. Quinn affirms that VERITAS (truth) is now regarded by “large members of American academicians as an obsolete term.” He attributes this view of truth “not only to prevailing skepticism but more particularly to a main philosophical pluralism, that without anyone quite noticing it, has become the monopolistic orthodoxy of academia.”
Quinn further points out the continued process (in our schools) of presenting “both sides” (without showing how to determine which “side” is really the truth). The professor well says that a “steady diet of this produces, of course, insipid neutrality (the mind open at both ends) of contentiousness for its own sake … or simply, hypocrisy; and ultimately it produces pious stereotyped pluralists who know there is no truth.”
Thus, according to Quinn, the pluralists claim to know that which simply cannot be known (mainly, that there is no truth). Such false philosophy contradicts the plain teaching of Jesus when He said, “Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32).
We can know what the Bible teaches on the subject of homosexuality. We can know if it is right or wrong. We can know if a person who practices such is condemned or justified in the sight of God. Before we look at the evidence proving homosexuality to be a sin, does the following statement disturb you?
Michael Swift was invited to write for Gay Community News, Feb. 25, 1987. He wrote, “We shall sodomize your sons, emblems of your feeble masculinity, of your shallow dreams and vulgar lies.” “We shall seduce them in your schools, in your dormitories, in your gymnasiums, in your locker rooms, in your sports arenas, in your seminaries, in your youth groups, in your movie theater bathrooms…wherever men are together…our only God is handsome young men.” It is obvious that homosexuals are committed to destroying the morals of America. Like any other sin, faithful Christians must stand up and speak out against homosexuality.
Let us first begin by asking what homosexual means. Paul (through the Holy Spirit) said, “Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor revilers, nor extortioners shall inherit the kingdom of God” (1 Corinthians 6:9).
The word “effeminate” (malakos) means, “Soft, fancy, luxurious, homosexual pervert” (Metzger). “Soft, soft to the touch…effeminate, a catamite, a male who subjects his body to unnatural lewdness” (Thayer). Metzger also says, “Soft, soft garments, soft as of persons soft, effeminate, especially of catamites, men and boys who allow themselves to be misused homosexually.” Paul also used the expression, “abusers of themselves with mankind” (apsenokoitai).
Homosexuality is defined by several Greek scholars as: “male sexual pervert” (Barclay M. Newman, Jr. from Metzger's Greek New Testament). “One who lies with a male as with a female, a sodomite” (Thayer). “A male homosexual, pederast, sodomite” (Arndt-Gingrich). “Sodomite” (Liddell & Scott). “Lying with a male” (Young).
Second, with these definitions in mind, where in the Bible is this kind of sexual activity condemned? It is condemned both in the Old Testament and in the New Testament. We must always remember to rightly divide the Word of God (2 Timothy 2:15). Please read carefully the following Scriptures. “There shall be no whore of the daughters of Israel, nor a sodomite of the sons of Israel. Thou shalt not bring the hire of a whore, as the price of a dog [referring to a homosexual], into the house of the Lord thy God for any vow: for even both of these are abominations unto the Lord thy God” (Deuteronomy 23:17-18). “If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them. …And ye shall not walk in the manners of the nation, which I cast out before you: for they committed all these things, and therefore I abhorred them” (Leviticus 20:13, 23). “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 14:24). “And he took away the Sodomites out of the land, and removed all the idols that his father had made” (1 Kings 15:12). “And the remnant of the Sodomites, which remained in the days of his father Asa, he took out of the land” (1 Kings 22:46). “And he brake down the houses of the Sodomites, that were by the house of the Lord, where the women wove hangings for the grove. And he brought all the priests out of the cities of Judah, and defiled the high places where the priests had burned incense, from Geba to Beersheba, and brake down the high places of the gates that were in the entering in of the gate of Joshua the governor of the city, which were on a man’s left hand at the gate of the city” (2 Kings 23:7-8).
New Testament passages that condemn homosexuality include the following. “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 one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet” (Romans 1:26-27). “Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolators, nor adulterers, nor effeminate [“homosexuals” NKJV], nor abusers of themselves with mankind [“sodomites” NKJV], nor thieves, or covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, or extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God” (1 Corinthians 6:9-10). “For whoremongers, for them that defile themselves with mankind [“sodomites” NKJV], for menstealers, for liars, for perjured persons and if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine” (1 Timothy 1:10).
Brethren, anyone who is intellectually honest with the Scriptures can know the truth on this matter. Thomas Warren in his debate with Anthony Flew on the existence of God aptly said, “It is not enough to simply throw out statements.” There is a very fine statement found in the book Critical Thinking by Max Black, Professor of Logic at Cornell University, in which he quotes Isaiah Stamp to this effect: 400 pages of crowded fact and argument may deceive the very elect, but when reduced to a three line syllogism, will lay bare the bones of the argument and expose the fallacious reasoning involved in it.
In proof of the proposition we have set forth, namely, that homosexuality is a sin, and those who practice such cannot enter the church or go to heaven, please consider the following syllogisms.
Categorical Syllogism
Major Premise: According to the Scriptures, (B) all persons who practice homosexuality, refusing genuinely to repent of this practice, are (C) persons who (1) cannot enter the Lord’s church, and (2) who cannot go to heaven.
Minor Premise: (A) Jake is a person who practices homosexuality, refusing genuinely to repent of this practice.
Conclusion: Jake (A) is (C) a person who, according to the Scriptures, (1) cannot enter the Lord's church, and (2) cannot go to heaven.
Hypothetical Syllogism
Major Premise: If (A) it is the case that the Scriptures teach that all persons who practice homosexuality, refusing genuinely to repent, cannot become members of the Lord’s church, and cannot go to heaven; and If (B) it is the case that Jake is a person who practices homosexuality, refusing genuinely to repent; then (C) it is the case that Jake is a person who (according to the Scriptures) cannot become a member of the Lord’s church and cannot go to heaven.
Minor Premise: We affirm the (A) It is the case that the Scriptures teach that all persons who practice homosexuality, refusing genuinely to repent, cannot become members of the Lord’s church, and cannot go to heaven. Also,
We affirm: (B) It is the case that Jake is a person who practices homosexuality, refusing genuinely to repent. (Note: we are affirming the truthfulness of the conjunction made up of conjuncts A and B).
Conclusion: It is the case (C) that Jake is a person who (according to the Scriptures) cannot become a member of the Lord’s church and cannot go to heaven.
This is saying that if the conjunction made up of conjuncts A and B implies C; and if it is the case that A is true and B is true, and that, therefore, the conjunction made up of conjuncts A and B is true; then C is true. If A implies B, and if A is true then B is true (B could not be false).
In the above syllogism, our A is made up of two parts – that is, A and B, and we are affirming that this combination (of A and B) implies C. If A is true, and if B is true, then the combination of (A and B) is true, and if this combination implies C, then C is true (C could not be false).
Beloved, often when a man makes an argument, the weakness is not the man, but in the proposition he sets forth. No doubt this is true of the author of the article entitled, “The Wrath of God?”
In conclusion, let no one think (many do) that anything can be proven by the use of a syllogism. Such is not the case. In order for a syllogism to be valid, one must follow the proper rules of logic. What we have set forth above is valid in form and sound in argument. Let us remember that an argument is valid when the truth of the premises guarantees the truth of the conclusion. Also, an argument is sound when the argument itself is valid and the premises are true. (Thus, a sound argument must have a true conclusion).
Beloved, let us all remember that the wrath of God will be poured out on all sin. “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that everyone may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad” (2 Corinthians 5:10).
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. 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 Corinthians 6:9-11 NKJV)
Homosexuality is a very dangerous and damaging sin. It affects the lives of innocent people and brings eternal condemnation to those who practice it. As Christians, we are to love all people everywhere, but that doesn’t mean we are to condone their sins. We as Christians and a nation must stand against the immorality that is running rampant in our society.
[Editor’s Note: Biblical truth, coming forth from Almighty God, is immune to the shifting viewpoints of mere mortals. “Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; Who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!” (Isaiah 5:20 NKJV). Hence, neither God nor His faithful followers are likely to be politically correct very much of the time. Loyal Christians remain unapologetically true to the Holy Bible – the very Word of God. “But Peter and the other apostles answered and said: ‘We ought to obey God rather than men’” (Acts 5:29). ~ Louis Rushmore, Editor]