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All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the New King James Version. Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Bible text from the New King James Version is not to be reproduced in copies or otherwise by any means except as permitted in writing by Thomas Nelson, Inc., Attn: Bible Rights and Permissions, P.O. Box 141000, Nashville, TN 37214-1000. (see text) |
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Chapter Ten: |
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A City Of Wicked Men
It is curious that in the entire word of God, persons exhibitive of homosexual behavior only appear in two narratives -- those in Genesis and Judges, chapters nineteen -- and in both instances they're amassed with the intention of raping other men. Certainly not complementary in its portrayal, these persons, as depicted in these two accounts, bear such labels are wicked, vile, and disgraceful. In the one instance they and the entire plain they inhabit are consumed by the fiery wrath of the LORD God. In the other (as previously covered at some length in chapter three of this volume), their heinous actions rouse the indignation of the entire nation, which summarily exterminates the offenders in classic, Biblical-retributive style. Surely, such an unsympathetic portrait would never make it into the mainstream media today. Our "enlightened" society now views such persons and the behavior they exhibit as completely "normal". After all, aren't such persons merely expressing their free and liberal-given right to an entirely acceptable, alternate lifestyle choice? Let's briefly look at the account in Genesis, chapter nineteen. (There's no need to rehash the vile narrative of Judges nineteen again in this chapter. Those wishing to reread the passage here referred to should turn to Judges 19:22-25.)
One of the striking, yet often overlooked portions of this passage is the response given by the men of Sodom in verse nine. Here, after Lot has implored the men to leave his guests alone -- (even to the point of offering his own virgin daughters to them in substitution), the wicked men of the city respond with threats of treating Lot "worse" than they'd planned on treating his guests. The use of the word "worse" -- a comparative of bad or ill -- is a virtual admittance of guilt. The Hebrew word used here, ra'a', actually implies wickedness or harm, and is the same word the NIV translates as wicked in verse seven: "Don't do this wicked thing." Admission of guilt notwithstanding, they were clearly guilty in God's eyes, and that was enough to secure their place in history as the first (and as far as we know, only to date) city ever directly and so thoroughly wiped off the face of the earth by God Himself.
Now whereas the sins of Sodom and Gomorrah (which were so wicked that "the outcry to the LORD against its people is so great that He has sent us to destroy it") are not directly mentioned in this account, the conduct of the wicked men who attempted to rape the angels of the LORD just prior to the city's destruction is certainly an indication of at least one of those sins. Again, in Jude seven, the word of God alludes to the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah: ...as 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) As wrong and equally condemnable as fornication and adultery are, they cannot, in anyone's wildest imagination, be construed as going after strange flesh. Indeed, Romans 1:26-27 confirms this, in that there homosexuals are described as leaving the natural use of the woman (and lesbians as having exchanged the natural use for what is against nature). The Greek words are phusikos, meaning physical, instinctive or natural, and para phusis, meaning against or contrary to, and growth, natural production, disposition, usage, kind or nature. For anyone to claim that homosexuality or lesbianism is "natural" and "normal" behavior is entirely contradictory to everything found in the word of God.
The "helper" God made for man was not another man, but a woman. Now, I've also heard some insist that the words homosexual or sodomite do not appear in either the actual Hebrew or Greek texts of the Bible. To those who utter such claims -- in obvious ignorance of the Scripture -- I advise them to look again at a Greek translation of I Corinthians six.
Before any wish to attempt such claims again, I suggest they first either learn the languages, or consult a reliable Greek/English parallel translation, lexicon or dictionary. The word which the NKJV has translated as sodomites, is the Greek word arsenokoites, meaning sodomite (the NASB renders it as homosexuals; the NIV as homosexual offenders; the KJV as abusers of themselves with mankind). The sin which immediately precedes it in this list of wicked behavior is the Greek word malakos, meaning a catamite, effeminate or soft (the NASB translates it as effeminate; the NKJV as homosexuals, with a footnote -- catamites, those submitting to homosexuals). Both are indicated here as persons who will not inherit the kingdom of God. Concerning the Hebrew Old Testament, whereas the words homosexual or sodomite may not appear, absolutely certain, clear and unambiguous descriptions of their activity certainly do. There can be little doubt as the intentions of the men in the accounts from the nineteenth chapters of both Genesis and Judges. There can be no doubt at all as to the LORD God's words to Moses in the eighteenth chapter of Leviticus, where He lays down the law: "'You shall not lie with a male as with a woman. It is an abomination." (Leviticus 18:22) That word the NKJV translates as "abomination" is the Hebrew word tow'ebah, meaning disgusting, an abhorrence or abomination. Listening to liberals today, one might actually think their Bibles read: "One may lie with a man as one lies with a woman; such is a completely normal and acceptable, alternate lifestyle choice." Undoubtedly, knowing that liberals, in their imposing ineptitude, might somehow misinterpret His meaning, the LORD God repeated Himself just two chapters later (and threw in the penalty, too).
Does this sound at all like the tolerance liberals preach today? "'They shall surely be put to death. Their blood shall be upon them.'" Those are the LORD God Almighty's words and I make no apology for them. Jude seven reveals that Sodom and Gomorrah, having given themselves up to gross immorality and going after strange flesh, would serve as an example of those who suffer the punishment of eternal fire. This is not toleration, nor is it acceptance. As covered previously at length, there is no forgiveness without repentance. Homosexuals can be saved -- but only if they repent, giving up the sinful, disobedient lifestyle that is a detestable abomination to the LORD, their God. Those who shamelessly parade their sin, like many in the homosexual movement today, are hardly indicative of the broken and contrite spirit that's essential for true repentance and forgiveness of sin. Ironically, the prophet Isaiah likened those who unashamedly and arrogantly parade their sin to the city of Sodom: The look on their faces testifies against them; they parade their sin like Sodom; they do not hide it. Woe to them! They have brought disaster upon themselves. (Isaiah 3:9)(NIV)
The word of God does not call homosexuality a "completely normal, acceptable, alternate lifestyle choice". It calls it sin. If any doubt the word of God condemns homosexuality, they've simply never read it. Its message is clear, concise and consistent. Those who persist in this behavior will receive in themselves the penalty of their error which was due. Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes [catamites] nor homosexual offenders [sodomites]...will inherit the kingdom of God. |
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