What The Bible Says to Homosexuals

By Chaplain Ray

Does the Bible have anything to say to homosexuals and lesbians? Does this book of God tell us the cause, the curse, and the cure of homosexuals? The answer to both questions is a decisive, "Yes."

Before we examine the cause, the curse, and the cure, let us first get some popular misconceptions straightened out in our thinking. Homosexuals are not "queers." They are not a third sex. They are no accidents of either creation or procreation. They are ordinary people who, in the early years of life, responded to their emotional and mental stresses and strains with wrong attitudes and wrong actions, which developed into serious neuroses.

Almost all homosexuals are extremely unhappy. When three hundred homosexuals were asked by representatives of the Mattachine Society, "If you had a son, would you want him to be homosexual?" Only two percent answered, "Yes." Fifteen percent said that they would leave the choice to the son. Eighty three percent answered, "No."

How widespread is homosexuality? Nobody really knows. Numerous studies have been made, but in many cases a true cross-section of the population was not available for in-depth interviews. From the Kinsey Reports, some have concluded that homosexuality is so widespread that up to one third of the population has been or is involved in homosexual activities. The Kinsey researchers at one time concluded that fifty percent of all white females at some time in their lives had some kind of homosexual experience, - many no more than a passing incident of homosexual play in childhood.

The Kinsey studies that began in 1938 concluded that four percent of white males, and about one half to one third as many females were actually homosexuals. Many people are of the opinion that they can instantly recognize a homosexual man or a lesbian by their external appearances, their speech, and mannerisms. This simply is not true. Experts in the field estimate that only fifteen percent of the homosexual men are obviously homosexual. No more than five percent of the lesbian women are obviously lesbians. The homosexual problem is like an iceberg, by far the largest part of it is hidden from view.

Another misconception of the homosexual problem is the opinion held by many, and actually fostered by most homosexuals, that a homosexual is born a homosexual, that he is the product of creation or procreation, and that he as a person had no choice in the matter. As late as 1914, Magnus Hirschfield, a German expert of that era, said, "Homosexuality always is an inborn state conditioned by a specific homosexual constitution of the brain."

But more modern scientific investigation has led to the conclusion that homosexuality is strongly influenced by the environment in childhood, especially by influences in the home, and that homosexuality is the result of the child's or the youth’s responses to that environment. Children living in the same home, exposed to the same environment, may and do respond differently. The final choice lies with the individual.

One of the most unfortunate and disastrous misconceptions about homosexuality is that it is incurable. This just simply is not true. Many homosexuals have been fully cured and they have become fully heterosexual in their sex lives. When Dr. Bieber’s group studied the results of a number of homosexuals who had received psychiatric treatment for their problem, they found that thirty percent of the patients had shifted completely to heterosexuality. This was achieved simply through psychiatric treatment. A much higher cure rate has been achieved where faith in God, the Bible, prayer and spiritual power have been used to affect the cure.

The Sickness of Homosexuality

Homosexuals are not average, normal well-adjusted persons who just happen to express their sex interests toward other men instead of toward a wife. Homosexuals have serious problems that affect their whole personality, not just their sex habits.

The personality of the homosexual almost invariably includes a mixture of the following traits, according to Dr. Edmund Bergler:

Masochistic provocation and injustice collecting. Defensive malice. Flippant covering of depression and guilt feelings. Hypernarcissism and hyper-superciliousness. Refusal to acknowledge accepted standards in nonsexual matters, on the assumption that the right to cut moral corners is due homosexuals as a compensation for their "sufferings." General unreliability, also of a more or less psychopathic nature.

Regardless of the level of their intelligence, culture, background or education, these traits appear in homosexuals.

Almost all homosexuals have a subconscious compulsion to suffer injustices at the hands of others. Almost without exception, the homosexual is a compulsive "injustice collector." He actually enjoys defeat, humiliation and rejection. Then he can indulge in generous portions of self-pity. The excessive amount of psychic masochism at work in the average homosexual is an accurate measurement of the depth of his neurosis.

The New Look In Homosexuals

A recent phenomenon in the world of the homosexuals is the new militancy and openness of self-confessed homosexuals in the Gay Liberation Movement. They actually claim to be proud of their way of life, and demand equality as members of a third sex, created by God, and worthy of acceptance and approval by their fellow man.

This Gay Liberation Movement has engaged in public parades, carrying their banners that clamor for legal and social recognition. They demand the legal right to marry, men with men, and women with women; and the right to adopt children into these all male and / or all female families, since obviously they could never generate children according to nature’s plan. They want to have their brand of love recognized as being just holy and pure as the married love of a husband and wife, sanctioned by God, by the law of the land, and by society.

One of the leaders of this Gay Liberation Movement is Troy Perry, founder and pastor of the Metropolitan Community Church, of Hollywood, California. He entitled his recent book, "The Lord Is My Shepherd, And He Knows I’m Gay."

It is Troy Perry's contention that the homosexuals must unite and fight to rid themselves of any sense of shame, because he says that it would be wrong for them to be ashamed of something God created. It is his claim that God created homosexuality and homosexuals. No wonder that hundreds of men and women from the Gay World flock to his meetings in Hollywood where they can mingle with their peers in mutual appreciation and admiration, and claim as well he approval of God Almighty. It is his contention that not only did God create this third sex, and that God is the author of homosexuality, but he also insists that homosexuality is preordained, that God delivers it to the individual homosexual through his genes. Mr. Perry admits that he has no scientific data or theological basis for his position, but covers it with the statement, "I just believe it."

The new boldness of the homosexuals may turn out to be a blessing in disguise. Perhaps now people will stop sweeping this problem under the rug, or hiding it in the family closet, and they will bring the problem out into the open and examine it carefully intelligently, and compassionately. A homosexual boy or girl is like the lost sheep of the Bible. A homosexual is one who has gone astray, and suffered, a lonely, desperate person. It is right at this point that the church should speak the positive word, the Biblical statements, concerning the cause and the cure of the homosexual. The curse of the homosexual is obvious, and it has been for many centuries. The curse of being lonely. The curse of being ostracized and condemned, and finally the curse of divine judgment which is upon sins of fornication, adultery, murder, theft, lying, drunkenness or any other sin.

Early Detection of the Problem

The cure of homosexuals is much easier to achieve if treatment begins at a very early age. But there will be no treatment until the problem is detected and admitted. Often the boy’s father and mother will be the last to recognize that their child is homosexual.

The teachers in our public and private schools should be well trained and alerted to be on the watch for signs of homosexual behavior in their students. They actually have much more opportunity to observe these signs than do most parents.

Boys that are emotionally inclined toward the homosexual life almost never engage in such games as baseball and football. They seldom, if ever, engage in fistfights. They tend to be over-polite, obedient, and anxious to obey their parents. They are often witty, charming, and quite popular with adults.

In a study of 106 homosexuals, Dr. Bieber found that 89 avoided physical fights; 75 were afraid of physical injury when they were children; 60 were "loners", and 33 played almost entirely with girls until they reached the age of puberty. Of these 106 homosexuals, only 17 had participated in competitive group games; only 16 had played baseball.

Many psychiatrists and researchers believe that fathers have it within their power to prevent their sons from becoming homosexuals. The most important human relationship for a young boy is the love, respect, and confidence between the father and the son. It is not enough that a father loves his son…that love must be expressed. Even in the absence of a father, as in the case of a boy raised by his widowed mother, the father influence can be effective if the mother teaches her son to remember with respect and admiration his deceased father. The same is true for divorced persons. If a mother tries to secure for herself all of her son's love and respect by speaking adversely of his father, the good influence of the father can be lost for that son.

Homosexuals almost never express love, admiration or affection for their fathers. Very often homosexuals seem to dote on their mothers, and express love for their mothers; nevertheless their retreat into the world of homosexual men is in reality their flight from women.

Parents and others do well to watch closely for any signs of homosexual inclinations and evidences of the six personality afflictions that almost invariably accompany the incipient homosexual. This article on this subject is not meant to create experts in the field. Parents must be watchful, but not accusative. Wherever the problem arises, expert help and guidance is needed for the parents as well as for the child.

In professional circles it is currently popular to blame the parent or parents if a child becomes a homosexual. Dr. Gebhard, however, insists that the parent is not as powerful as he imagines himself. What other children think is more influential with a child! Every parent is shocked when he finds that at an early age the child is more anxious to please his young peers and playmates than his father or mother.

This is one reason why a teacher, observing a child in its relationships with other children in the classroom or on the playgrounds, is in a favorable position to detect the first signs of homosexual tendencies.

The Kibbutzim Children in Israel

I have made many journeys for research and seminars in the Bible lands, including Israel. I have full confidence in the accuracy of this statement, "In the Kibbutzim of Israel homosexuality is seldom found."

Many researchers are convinced that this is so because at an early age the children are strongly influenced by their peers, the other children of the kibbutz with whom they spend most of the hours of almost every day.

Many homosexuals were over-protected, sheltered and controlled as children. They would have been healthier emotionally and psychologically if they had been involved in the rough and tumble games and fights of the children on the playgrounds rather than sheltered in the home, dominated by a woman or by women.

Did God Create Homosexuals?

Can anyone answer this question more accurately than Jesus? Remember, "by Him were all things created, and without Him was not anything made that was made." In John 1:10, it is written, "He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not."

Jesus said, "Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female." Matthew 19:4. God made only two sexes! Are we in this age of permissiveness to yield to popular pressures to approve a third sex? Remember, the city of Corinth, in the first century was just as wicked, sex crazed and permissive as is Hollywood or the French Quarter of New Orleans. Nevertheless, the Apostle Paul did not allow the prevalence and practice of homosexuality in Corinth to come into the church for divine approval. Paul wrote to the church at Corinth, "Now concerning the things whereof ye wrote unto me: It is good for a man not to touch a woman. Nevertheless, to avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband." I Corinthians 7:1,2. There were no homosexuals in the large church at Corinth! Paul recognized only two sexes in the church, male and female, the same that God created in the beginning! He approved of every man having his own wife. He approved of every woman having her own husband, and that left no room for any man to live sexually with another man, and it left no room for any woman to live sexually with another woman! But while there were no homosexuals in the church at Corinth, there were some members who had been homosexuals before they were converted to Jesus Christ. They are referred to, by Paul, in I Corinthians 6:9-11, "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 thieves, covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the Kingdom of God. And such were some of you; but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified, in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God." Some had been effeminate (homosexuals), and some had been abusers of themselves with mankind (sodomites), but they were washed, cleansed, changed! They were living demonstrations of the words that Paul wrote in II Corinthians 5:17, "Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature; old things are passed away; behold all things are become new." In Corinth, a city filled with fornication, adultery, homosexuality, and sodomy, the Good News of the Gospel entered. Those who believed were forgiven, washed, and changed. The homosexuals and sodomites who came into Christ and into the church at Corinth were among these members to whom Paul wrote, "Nevertheless to avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband." When a homosexual accepts Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, the church should joyfully receive that former homosexual into the church fellowship as readily as it receives those who were formerly drunkards, fornicators, or thieves. But the homosexual is no more justified in continuing his or her un-natural sex habits than the former drunkard is justified in continuing in drunkenness or the former fornicator continuing as the patron of harlots! When Jesus Christ said, "Whosoever will, let him come unto me and drink," that invitation included homosexuals and lesbians just as surely as it included drunkards and fornicators. The same Jesus who said to the woman taken in adultery, "Neither do I condemn thee," speaks these same words to the homosexuals who come to God by him. They too have been hated and stoned by the religious Pharisees just as surely as was the woman whom they caught in adultery and whom they cast at Jesus' feet for judgment. Jesus speaks the same words to the homosexual as He spoke to the woman taken in adultery, "Neither do I condemn thee, go and sin no more." Jesus forgives the sin of fornication, but He does not give any a license to continue in fornication. Jesus forgives adultery, but He does not give any a license to continue in adultery. Jesus forgives the sin of homosexuality, but He does not issue any a license to continue in homosexual practices, He gives all who accept Him the grace to do His will! The cleansing power of the blood of Jesus Christ can cleanse from all sin, and that includes the sex sins of sodomites, homosexuals, and lesbians. The power of the ever present Holy Spirit can transform and re-create lives so that the sins of the past do not hold dominion of the Christian’s present or future. Many homosexuals have been converted to Jesus Christ, and made new creatures in Him, not only in the first century church, but also in this twentieth century. In 1963 I visited David Wilkerson’s Teen Challenge ministry in Brooklyn, New York. Freddie Gage (the Southern Baptist evangelist) and I were with David’s brother, Don Wilkerson, in Spanish Harlem, where we were contacting young drug addicts, on that hot August weekend when the big riots broke out. There I observed that the power of Jesus' blood, and presence of the Holy Spirit could cleanse and change young drug addicts and this was in complete, contrast to the hopelessness and helplessness of both medicine and psychiatry to achieve lasting cures in our U.S. Government hospitals for drug addicts. Where government hospitals could not show even a two percent permanent cure rate, Teen Challenge often achieved an eighty percent cure rate, using the power of the Gospel and the Presence of the Lord. It was that same week that I met David Wilkerson's mother at "The Catacombs" in Greenwich Village. She operated this cellar coffee house as a "rap center" for homosexuals. This was one of the first efforts by the evangelical church to reach out its arms of love, compassion and concern to the homosexuals and lesbians. This ministry continues to this present time in another location under the name, "The Lost Coin." Mrs. Wilkerson found that Jesus’ blood can make the vilest sinner clean, and that God’s love can restore lesbians and homosexuals to normal heterosexual persons and to radiant, victorious Christians. With all my heart I want to encourage homosexuals and lesbians to come to Jesus, the friend of sinners, and the transformer of distorted lives. The church may close its doors to them, but Jesus has opened His arms and His heart to them! Since not all Christians, and not all ministers, know that Jesus Christ can make a New Creature of a homosexual, I would urge homosexuals who want to be saved and delivered to make contact with Christians and Ministries that understand this problem and are anxious to help. In most cities the Teen Challenge Centers are staffed and equipped to help homosexuals and lesbians in the spirit of Christ. Prison ministries are usually helpful because they have had experience with this problem in prisons where homosexual practices are all too common but where many young men have proven that even prisoners, living in an all male society, can be forgiven and freed from homosexual habits. The Cause of Homosexuality Modern psychiatry places most of the blame for homosexuals on the parents. The Bible commands parents to, "Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it." The Bible has a further word to say about homosexual habits and characteristics, and it appears to speak directly to the homosexual that he is the person who in the final analysis makes the final, ultimate, and fateful decision on whether to be or not to be a homosexual! It is not clear from the following scriptures that no man can blame another for his sins, and that every man must accept responsibility for his own decisions? Romans 1:18-32, "For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who told the truth in unrighteousness; because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath showed it unto them." "For the invisible things of him from the foundation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and godhead; so that they are without excuse; because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were they thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened." "Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like unto corruptible man, and to birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things." "Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through their lusts of their own hearts, to dishonor their own bodies between themselves: who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the creator, who is blessed forever. Amen." "For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their own 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 recompense of their error which was meet." "And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient; being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness, full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, without understanding, covenant breakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful: who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them." This entire scripture passage is centered on the sins of unnatural sex affections and practices. It indicates that homosexuals bring about many of the changes in their bodies, their appearance, and their personalities, by their wrong thoughts and deeds! The glandular disturbances and hormonal imbalances of homosexuals are not the cause of the homosexuality, but the result of their wrong choices! Note, "and receiving in themselves that recompense of their error which was meet." Verse 27. A Christian psychiatrist once described for me his research among young homosexuals in the French Quarter (Bourbon Street) in New Orleans. He was there as a friend and helper, not as an enemy or a despiser of the fallen. He told me that once he learned the personality characteristics of the homosexuals, he could actually cause them to change in facial appearance from masculine to feminine, and from feminine to masculine, simply by the words that he would speak with them. He was convinced that their unnatural sex thoughts, actions, and emotions, directly affected their glands and disturbed the normal hormonal balance of the human body. In treating homosexuals he did not use hormone injections, as he felt that would be treating the effect and not reaching the cause. Rather, he would conduct in-depth counseling sessions to help them to understand themselves, and to get them to recognize that God made only two sexes, male and female; that they had made themselves homosexual, and that they had the power, if they exercised their will, to make themselves again what God had made them at the time of their birth. The Bible does speak to homosexuals. It speaks the word of reconciliation. "Be ye reconciled unto God." It speaks the word of pardon and cleansing, "Him that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out." It speaks the word of newness, "If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature; old things have passed away, behold, all things have become new." It speaks the word of warning, "Know ye not that the body is the temple of God? If any man defile the temple, him will God destroy." The Bible never speaks a single word of approval for any unnatural sex practices, whether these be homosexual, sodomy, or lesbianism; but it does speak the word of hope and help, "Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." The Bible speaks to all who have sinned, the word of forgiveness, "Neither do I condemn thee, Go and sin no more." How Homosexuals Can Change The homosexual or lesbian who really wants to change can be changed. The change starts in the mind and in the heart. "As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he." From out of the heart are the issues of life. Let the person who wants to be changed realize that without God’s help he made himself a homosexual. Now with God’s help he can be changed again, changed to the person God created him to be. This means that there will be no more statements blaming God, society, or others for past troubles and for the inner turmoils of the homosexual. God only made two sexes. Affirm daily, every hour, that you are what God made you. Remember, some of the members of the Corinthian church had been homosexuals. Paul wrote, "And such were some of you: but ye are washed, ye are sanctified, ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God." 1st Corinthians 6:11 Accept Christ as Lord and Savior. Confess your sins. Confess that homosexual words, alibis, and activities are sin. Repent and turn from not only the actions and deeds of this sin, but also turn from the thoughts, desires, and emotions of homosexuality. If possible, seek and accept the help of a capable Christian counselor. Follow his advice. Avoid all contacts and associations with homosexuals and lesbians, unless they too have accepted Jesus and committed themselves to Him and are determined to change. Then associate with them only in Bible Study, discussion groups, and Bible centered, Christ centered seminars. Keep active. Work. Exercise. Involve yourself in as much wholesome group activities as possible. Stay among friends who are with you and for you, in Christ. Stay away from all hangouts of homosexuals. Depend on God's help. Live much in prayer. Even if you falter, don’t quit. God is for you. With His help you can be what He created you to be. American Evangelistic Association