Why Christians shouldn't be Gay

Marriage has traditionally been between man and woman. There is a fear that anything different demeans marriage, and the institution of marriage is sanctioned by God; therefore gay marriage is against God's will.

Now that would make sense if gay marriage did violate the institute, but it doesn't. Marriage, in Western cultures at least, is becoming less and less popular, so if homosexuals marry then that helps to address this current trend.

Women's suffrage theoretically doubled the number of voters, and giving blacks the right increased the voter's roll even more. This did not weaken the power of any vote; on the contrary, it strengthened the result of an election to be truly representative of the people. However, if a male believes his influence has been weakened by the female vote, or the white feels his say is more worthy than the black voter's, then this is blatant sexism or racism. We like to feel we are growing out of such prejudices, but aversion to homosexuality is still regarded by the homophobic as respectable.

Given a bit of thought, it is easy to see that when people of two different social classes marry, it is not an upper class person marrying a commoner; rather it is two hearts coming together. Similarly when people of two races marry, it is not black marrying white; it is two hearts coming together.

When people of two religions marry, it is not Christian marrying Jew; it is two hearts coming together. And when a heterosexual couple marry, it is not male marrying female; it is two hearts coming together.

And when a homosexual couple marry, two hearts come together. Is that a sin?

Homosexuality is either a sin or it isn't, and we cannot sit on the fence about this subject. We cannot say that homosexuality is 'inadvisable'. If it is a sin, then it must be prohibited. If it is not a sin then there should be no prohibition. To settle the matter, the Holy Scriptures are often consulted.

There are several references to support the anti-gay doctrines: Leviticus 18:22; 20:12-14; Romans 1:26-27; I Timothy 1:9-10; and 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 explicitly prohibit homosexual acts. And the reasons for such prohibition are increasing accepted to have been ethnic, rather than biological.

The timing of the introduction of these Laws shows they were intended to distance the Abrahamic from the Greek, Canaanite and Egyptian pagan rituals that included homosexual acts. Those pagan rites have long since disappeared and consequently the prohibition is no longer relevant. And it is important to note that it was the physical (anal sex) which was mentioned; not the psychological feelings or biological homosexual inclinations. These references (and out of the million of so verses in the Bible, there are not many more than those) say nothing about homosexual tendencies or same-sex attraction.

Most Christians will be adamant that we mere humans are not in a position to pick and choose which bits of the Bible we are to believe. So let's look at some:

There are further verses saying that prostitution and polygamy is permitted, and how to sell your daughter as a sex slave (Exodus 21:7-11).

Fortunately, we are more enlightened these days.

The less intelligent view homosexuality as a choice, and if that were the case, then it could be a candidate for sinfulness. Homosexuality is not a choice, any more than high intelligence, blond hair, being male or female, is a choice. Saying otherwise is as daft as saying a daft person is sinful because they are daft.

Some parts of the Bible seem quite absurd today. Take for example the geocentricism of Ecclesiastes 1:4-5 "The sun also rises, and the sun goes down and hurries to the place from which it came."

Don't get carried away with the idea that our superior intellect and wisdom has made the Bible obsolete. On the contrary; we suffer from so much information overload these days and getting back to basics is vital.

Our intellect is a God-given gift (as is our sexual orientation). And God has also revealed to us things that were not apparent thousands of years ago. Let's look at the first example above (Genesis 38:9-10 - Onan's transgression) something considered not too serious today.

In modern society, the death sentence is imposed primarily for the crime of murder. And when the Hebrew Scriptures were written, Onan's transgression was tantamount to murder. At that time, it was believed that the man's sperm contained everything needed to produce a baby. It was not until 1827 that the existence of the female egg was discovered and only in the 20th century that ovulation was understood. Moses lived a bit before this time, and if God had mentioned these biological facts to Moses, somehow the message was not passed down the line.

Consequently, wasting sperm, through masturbation, birth control, or homosexual acts, was destroying life. The people who wrote the Scriptures did not have the advantage of the knowledge we have today and so were not the final authorities on human sexuality.

In any case, the Bible was not written as a sex guide book - it is a book about God. It is a book about love. And it is indisputably clear on one very important teaching. Something that is infinitely more important than same-sex attraction. Jesus said, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, your soul, and your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second command is similar: Love your neighbour as you love yourself."⁴