Resolved: The Bible condemns homosexuality.

To begin, I would like to reference an account in the Bible of Jesus with the Pharisees: The Pharisees came to Jesus and said, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife? ” (Mark 10:2). [1] Jesus asked, “What did Moses command you? ” to which the Pharisees answered, “Moses permitted a man to write a certificate of divorce, and to dismiss her” (vv. 3–4). This is when Jesus gives the answer to the question: “Because of the hardness of your heart he wrote you this precept. But from the beginning of the creation, God ‘made them male and female. ’ ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, ‘and the two shall become one flesh’; so then they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate” (vv. 5–9). There are two points regarding marriage from this account that I would like to point out: 1. that the teachings regarding marriage from the law of Moses (the Old Testament) are not the means Christians (those following the teachings of Jesus the Christ) are under, and2. that Jesus brought marriage back to the way it was before the law of Moses, the way it was “from the beginning of the creation. ”A question that should be asked is, “Why did Jesus say in vv. 5–6 that although Moses gave permission to divorce, ‘from the beginning of the creation, God “made them male and female”’? What does being made male and female have to do with divorce? ” Clearly, Jesus is not just answering their question but is speaking more generally, how marriage began and how His followers are to consider it. Therefore, this is a critical passage to learn 1) what Jesus says marriage is and 2) who can and who cannot enter into marriage, according to Jesus. The obvious reason Jesus begins by saying that people were made male and female is that sex (gender) is, in actuality, a factor in Jesus’ design for marriage. Why would He bring up the two sexes in His speech if such were unrelated to marriage? Then in vv. 7–8, further quoting Genesis, He says, “For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. ” This excludes polygamous (more than “the two” becoming “one flesh”), bestial (a man/woman and some animal), and yes, homosexual (a gender-neutral version of Jesus’ statement) marriages. I hear people say that Jesus never condemned homosexual marriage; He may not have explicitly condemned it—by saying what marriage is not—but He has implicitly condemned it—by saying what marriage is: In addition, Sodom shows that homosexuality was condemned before the law of Moses. In the city of Sodom, Lot was having angels at his house, and before they went to sleep, "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 [i. e. , have sex with them]'" (Gen. 19:4-5). Lot, knowing this to be wicked (v. 6-7), offered his two daughters instead (v. 8), not that this would have been good either. Some have argued that the men of Sodom simply were being inhospitable. While this clearly was the case (i. e. , they clearly were being inhospitable), Jude says that it was because that they "had gone after strange flesh" (i. e. , "because they committed sexual sins and engaged in homosexual activities," GWV) that they were condemned (Jude 7). Therefore it is clear that homosexuality was condemned before the law of Moses. Also, homosexuality was condemned even during the law of Moses (the Old Testament). If someone were to commit homosexuality, they were to be put to death (Lev. 20: 13). The author of The New Bible Dictionary, however, has taught that since homosexuality was performed in "idolatrous cult prostituition," that was why it was wrong during the law of Moses. In other words, it is taught that since 1) idolaters did these things, and 2) God abhors idolaters, therefore 3) the actions listed, which include homosexuality, are condemned. However, if you read down the commandments all the way to Leviticus 20:23, 10 verses later, then it will be seen that God says, "And you shall not walk in the statutes of the nation which I am casting out before you; for they commit all these things [i. e. , the things that were just listed, including homosexuality], and therefore I abhor them. " While this may at first seem to confirm what was taught in The New Bible Dictionary, it actually is teaching the converse. Instead of homosexuality being wrong because of the foreign, idolatrous nations were doing it, the foreign, idolatrous nations were abhored because they commited these sins; again, "they commit all these things, and therefore I abhor them" (v. 23). However, it already has been established that Jesus' model for marraige is not based on the Old Testament anyway (though for this sin, it may still qualify, as the Old Testament shows homosexuality to be an unnatural abomination). Finally, Jesus’ apostles also condemned homosexuality. Jesus told them that they would be guided “into all truth” (John 16:13). One of them, Peter, said that Paul, who says that he also is an apostle (1 Cor. 9:1–2), had “wisdom given to him” and confirmed his epistles to be “Scriptures” (2 Pet. 3: 15-16). In these Scriptures, homosexuality is said to be vile: "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: 26-27). Therefore "Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites . .. will inherit the kingdom of God" (1 Cor. 6:9-10). In conclusion, I will ask Con the following questions: 1. Why did Jesus begin answering the question, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife? ” by bringing up how “from the beginning of the creation, God ‘made them male and female’”?2. Since Jesus placed marriage back to the way it was before the law of Moses, that “a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh,” how can we change it to being one in which “a person shall be joined to one’s partner, and the two shall become one flesh”?3. As Sodom's homosexuality during the time before the law of Moses was condemned, how can it be justified?4. Since Jesus's apostles condemned homosexuality, how can we say the Bible doesn't condemn it? Notes [1] Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved. The foregoing applies for all other Scriptures used in the debate (by myself) unless otherwise noted.