Spiritual articles

 

Homosexuality And The Church

 

Definition
"Homosexuality is a predominant, persistent and exclusive psychosexual attraction toward members of the same sex. A homosexual person is one who feels a sexual desire for and a sexual responsiveness to persons of the same sex and who seeks or would like to seek actual sexual fulfillment of this desire by sexual acts with a person of the same sex."

Introduction

Homosexuality is almost as old as man. The first mention in recorded history concerns Lot and the well known history of Sodom and Gomorra, which took place over 4000 years ago. Throughout all those years, homosexuality has never been accepted as a normal behavior and people have never been open about it comfortably.

 

The Causes of Homosexuality:
Are homosexuals born that way? Do genes have anything to do with it? And many questions. No one is born homosexual, nor is it something over which one has no control, unless one thinks one has no control over one's sexual direction (a child's identification is established by the time he or she is five years old).

 

No one can deny that our biological makeup has a profound influence on our lives. Hormones have a great impact on our sexual drive. When it was discovered that both male and female hormones circulate the bloodstream of both sexes, was speculated that an effeminate man just had too many female hormones. However, such a theory would not explain the muscle-bound weight lifter who sexually prefers men to women. Obviously, his problem is not a lack of male hormones.

 

Scientists who have run extensive tests on male and female homosexuals have found their hormonal level to be the same as heterosexuals. There is no scientific evidence to support the notion that homosexuality is inherited. It is safe to say that one's genetic and biological makeup does indeed determine his or her sex, but not his or her sexual preference. We know of two basic causes of homosexuality:

 

1. A homosexual psychological outlook (predisposition toward homosexuality) which usually occurs so early in life that the person thinks he was born with it, yet no one is born homosexual. It is formed in him or her.

 

There are many factors which develop homosexual behavior such as a hostile father or mother. The majority of men and women with a predisposition toward homosexuality did not turn out to be homosexuals, but married and learned to be completely heterosexuals.

 

2. Homosexuality is a learned behavior. Homosexuals are made and not born. They develop homosexuality by thinking positively of homosexual practices. Participating in such practices provides pleasure and consequently leads to more positive thoughts toward homosexuals.

 

As his or her thoughts and activities become more same sex oriented, he or she tend to think negatively about the opposite sex, so, a predisposition toward homosexuality itself does not implement it. Homosexuality requires an initial experience followed by same sex thought patterns and more experience.

 

The Coptic Orthodox Church and Homosexuality
The Coptic Orthodox Church considers homosexuality a sin condemned by God in the Old and New Testaments. The Church teaches that the only proper place for the exercise of the sexual function is in marriage between a man and a woman. Nowadays the Gay Right Movement, the UFMCI (The Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches) and many psychiatrists try to change the definition of the word "homosexuality" so as to have homosexuals accepted as full members of the society and the church. The Coptic Church takes a very firm stand against homosexuality. Homosexuality is a sin according to the Holy Bible, tradition, and our Church creed. A. Homosexuality is against God and Christianity B. Homosexuality is against the Church C. Homosexuality is against humanity and society.

 

Homosexuality is against God's will; when God created the human being, He created a male and a female so that a man and a woman would live their lives together in marriage as one flesh. The union of man and woman in the community of marriage is used in the Bible as the image of God's faithful love for Israel, and Christ's sacrificial love for the Church [Isaiah 54, Jeremiah 3 and Ezekiel 16]. "For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the savior of the body. Therefore, as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word." [Ephesians 5:23-26]

 

B. The Holy Bible:
The Bible is the written word of God in human form. "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." [Timothy 3:16-17]

 

Homosexuality is a sin condemned by God in the Old and New Testaments. In the Old Testament, homosexuality was not only considered a sin, but it was also found to be a capital offense, that is, punishable by death. "If a man be 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." [Leviticus 20:13] Also in Leviticus 18:22 "You shall not be with a male as with a woman, it is an abomination."

 

God gave great punishment to the city of Sodom for this sin. [Genesis 19:1-29] As a result, sodomy is another name for homosexuality.

 

The New Testament, speaking of this sinful act, uses it to illustrate the "depraved passions" of fallen humanity: " . . . their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural, and in the same way the men abandoned the natural function of women and burned in their desire towards one another, men with men, committing indecent acts. " [Romans 1 :24-28]

 

Homosexuality is an evil where punishment is promised. "Do you know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived, neither the immoral nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor arsenokoitai, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor robbers will inherit the kingdom of God. [I Corinthians 6:9-10]

 

St. Paul in his letter to Timothy said " . . . understanding this, that the law is not laid down for the just but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, immoral persons, sodomites, kidnappers, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine. [1 Timothy 1:9-10].

 

The sin in Sodom was homosexuality. Jude in his letter said that its punishment is eternal fire. "Just as Sodom and Gomorra and the surrounding cities, which likewise acted immorally and indulged in unnatural lust serve as an example by undergoing a punish.ment of eternal fire." [Jude 7].

 

C. The Kingdom of God
God's gift of eternal life in Christ and the Holy Spirit is the Kingdom of God. Jesus brought the Kingdom of God to the world through the Spirit in the Church. To live in the Kingdom of God is to live in freedom from any sin. We said before that homosexuality is a sin according to the scripture, so a homosexual person would be deceiving himself if he thinks that he can practice that wrong life style and still go to heaven.

 

St. Paul said ". . . the Kingdom of God is . . . righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, he who thus serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men." [Romans 14:17-18]

 

D. The Incarnation of Christ
The incarnation of the word provided quite a different context for the discussion of homosexuality. In the book "The Incarnation of the Word", St. Athanasius sought to explicate the purpose of the incarnation of Christ "the Lord came among us" because of the fallen state of mankind. God had created man incorruptible and "willed that he should remain in incorruptibility". He continued to say " .. for God did not only create us from nothing, but He also granted us by the grace of the Word to live a divine life." However, mankind, "by the counsel of the devil corrupted the pristine purity". People turned against nature and indulged in sin, becoming "insatiable in sinning". Homosexuality is listed as a sin by which men and women turned against nature and against the divine plan for their lives. For St. Athanasius, to be involved in homosexual behavior was to abrogate the purpose both of the creation and of Christ's advent into the world.

 

E. Repentance
Repentance is the act of changing the attitude and practice of a Christian. Repentance is a feeling of sorrow which involves the mercy of God as stated in the New Testament "I have not come to call the righteous, but the sinners to repentance." [Luke 5:32]

 

Repentance is meaningful and significant when it includes a sincere change of mind, heart, and attitude toward the fulfillment of the Gospel's instructions and commandments.

 

Homosexual people do not feel that their acts are sinful, they will not repent and will continue in their sin, so they are against repentance.

 

F. Holiness
Jesus Christ invites all of us to live in holiness like Him. "Without holiness, no one can see God." Whoever lives in holiness, lives with God and whoever lives in sin is far from God. Those who live in homosexuality live in sin and uncleanness. They live far from holiness and even against it.

 

G. Salvation
In orthodox theology, salvation is not static but dynamic, it is not a completed state, but a constant moving toward theosis, toward becoming like Christ, toward receiving the fullness of God's life. The meaning of salvation is that God, through his only begotten Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, saves us from our sin. As we mentioned before, homosexuality is sinful, therefore those who practice it are not saved and are against salvation. They not only commit this sin, but also enjoy it. "They not only do them but approve those who practice them." [Romans 1:32]

 

H. Resurrection
Paul, the apostle, said that the resurrection is the basis of the whole ministry, and without it the ministry becomes vain. "If Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain .... and if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain, you are in your sins [ 1 Cor. 15: 14-17] The proper sexual relation between a man and a woman is part of the marriage sacrament and extends to the resurrection. The world of the resurrection is victorious over death, all aspects of weakness, isolation, evil and corruption.

 

In our final resurrection in the Kingdom of God, the natural sexual relations between man and woman will end as the limitations of sex will disappear due to the end of sexual desires. In that aspect, Jesus Christ said "The children of this world marry, and are given in marriage." [Luke 20:34]

 

The sexual desire is related to the biological structure which is going to disappear. The desire is there only until death. The sexual desire is a means to maintain the human race, therefore, as death disappears from the world of the resurrection, the sexual desire also disappears. This is what Jesus said "The children of this world marry, and are given in marriage: but they which shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world, and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry, nor are given in marriage: Neither can they die any more: for they are equal unto the angels: and are the children of God, being the children of the resurrection." [Luke 20:34-36]

 

Some people want to live in the world of the resurrection while they are still on earth, as if they have reached the end of time, therefore they abstain from the natural sexual relationship and live in purity. They do that, not because they despise sex, but to dedicate all their energy to God alone, to live from now as if they are in the world of the resurrection, defeating death.

 

The Coptic Orthodox Church was the first to start monkhood. St. Antonius the Egyptian started monkhood, which thereafter spread from Egypt to the whole world. For ages and up until now, many lived the life of monkhood in complete purity, fulfilling Jesus' saying: "For there are some eunuchs, which were so born from their mother's womb: and there are some eunuchs, which were made eunuchs of men: and there be eunuchs, which have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven's sake. He that is able to receive it, let him receive it. [Matt. 19:12]

 

If the proper sexual relationship between a man and a woman through the sacrament of marriage will end at the world of the resurrection, and if there are those who preceded the time and lived in the world of God while they are still on earth, abstaining from the natural sexual relationship, practicing the life of absolute purity to be totally united with God, in the same picture that will be the kingdom of God, then what is the status of those who practice abnormal sexual relations "homosexuality"? Indeed it is an abnormal and wrong relationship that contradicts the objectives of Christ's resurrection and the life of His kingdom on earth.

 

I. Christianity In General
The Gay church group and their belonging to Christianity is strange and shameful to Christianity among the other religions. Judaism fought homosexuality. It resisted and refused it as mentioned in the Old Testament, so did almost all social groups and schools of behavior. They refuse homosexuality with all its aspects. The Gay church group is a shame to Christianity, not only because it carries the name "church" but also because of their presumption that they are Christians while Christianity has nothing to do with them.

 

J. Truth
"For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who hold the truth in unrighteousness." [Romans 1:18]. History and society defined homosexuality as untruthful.

 

K. Righteousness
Jesus Christ in the 'Sermon on the Mount' said, "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be satisfied." [Matt. 5:6] St. Augustine explained that saying: "He calls them lovers of the true and unchangeable goodness. Therefore, they shall be satisfied with that food of which the Lord Himself says: 'My food is to do the will of my Father' and this is the righteousness. And they shall be satisfied with that water, of which the Lord says: 'Whosoever shall drink, it shall become in him a fountain of water springing up into life everlasting'. "

 

L. Fruits of the Spirit
In Romans 1:29-31 and Galatians 5:22, the sins of homosexual acts are against the fruits of the Holy Spirit which should be present in every Christian. Those sins are: "They were filled with all manner of wickedness, evil, covetousness, malice. Full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malignity, they are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless and ruthless." The fruits of the Holy Spirit are " . . . But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control." Therefore, homosexuals will never obtain the fruits of the Holy Spirit.

 

Homosexuality Against The Church

 

 

A. The Church
In our Coptic Orthodox Church, we call the church the Kingdom of God on earth. The church is the "new creation" as St. Paul said," . . . therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature." [2 Cor. 5: 17] The Church is the body and bride of Christ Himself, "God has put all things under the feet of Christ and has made Him the head over all things for the Church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all." [Eph. 1:22-23]

 

The relationship between Christ and the Church is the same relationship between a husband and his wife, " . . . for the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the Church, and He is the Savior of the body." [Eph. 5:23] Therefore, homosexual acts are against the meaning of the Church.

 

B. Tradition
The word "tradition" in Greek, as it is mentioned in the New Testament is "paradosis" which does not mean " imitation", its cognate verb is paradidomi which means "handing over or delivering a thing by hand". The verb is "paralambano" meaning "receiving a thing".

 

The church's tradition over the centuries has affirmed the heterosexual, monogamous, faithful marital union as normative for the divinely given meaning of the intimate sexual relationship. But for the homosexuality, the traditional position was that such acts are always objectively grave evil and intrinsically disordered. This position, based on an understanding of the human person and of sexuality which they had already rejected and arrived at by an ethical methodology already declared inadequate, they found unconvincing . Also the Christian tradition repudiated homosexuality in any form as in direct opposition to the natural and social order. Homosexuality was regarded as a sin against nature and as such abhorrent.

 

C. The Didache Of The Twelve Apostles
The teaching of the twelve apostles' is a manual for the instruction of Christians seeking to live in a Christian way. It says that life presents two alternatives, namely the way of life and the way of death. The way of life has both positive and negative aspects. The positive is formulated in terms of love for God and neighbor. It was to be a second mile Christianity. The negative is a list of practices to be avoided "You shall not commit murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not commit homosexual acts, you shall not steal."

 

D. The Church Fathers
Clement of Alexandria stated in the second century that the Church Fathers are "those who have instructed us the faith". They were ordinary and extraordinary people who experienced an awakening of faith and sought by the power of the Spirit of God working through them to mediate that faith by making the message of Christian hope and love real to their world. The following is a review of what some of the Church fathers' opinions were in the first five centuries about homosexuality:

 

(1) Theophilus of Antioch Sixth bishop of that city. In his "Ad Autolycum", his only extant writing, is a threevolume defense of Christianity in light of the objections of his pagan friend Autolycus. As was common among the early defenders of Christianity, he concerned himself with the nature of God, man's relationship to divinity, and morality.

 

God is visible only to those who have opened the "eyes of the soul" and who maintain this condition of purity: "Just as a man must keep a mirror polished, so must he keep his soul pure". Those who would see God must, in the words of 2 Corinthians 7:1, cleanse themselves "from everything that contaminates".

 

The list presented by Theophilus includes both active and passive homosexual behavior. The Pauline sin list is cited again by Theophilus in the context of asserting that it is essential that Chris.tian faith, guided by the prophetic writings, is manifest in obedience to God. Certain sexual activities will lead to present condemnation as well as to future anguish:

 

But to the unfaithful who disregard and disobey the truth but obey unrighteousness, when they are full of adultery, and fornication and homosexual acts and greed and lawless idolatry, there will be wrath, tribulation and anguish and finally eternal fire will overtake such men.

 

(2) Clement of Alexandria [150-215] was born in Alexandria, Egypt. In his book "The Instructor", he discusses the proper behavior for male. Clement laments homosexual acts. He gives three reasons:

 

(a) He feels sympathy for those who are seduced, abused, and misused. He especially objects to the apparently common practice of holding youth in slavery to satisfy the perverted pleasure of the rich.

 

(b) The behavior pattern of homosexuality is considered contrary to nature.

 

(c) It is a symptom and logical, if undesirable, outgrowth of excessive desire for the luxurious and 

the sensuous, a result of social disorder and contributory factor to further degeneration. Christian love is to avoid licentiousness and exploitation.

 

(3) Origen [185-254] Director of the School of Alexandria. Origen alluded to homosexuality in the context of a discussion of temptation in his book "On Prayer".

 

He proposed that God does not give us over to temptation with the intent that we should succumb. God does not direct anyone to evil. "Good orders every rational soul with a view to eternal life . . . it always maintains its free will and of its own direction either mounts ever higher and higher until it reaches a pinnacle of virtue, or on the contrary descends through carelessness to this or that excess of wickedness. If persons persist in sinful activities, they become ensnared by their sin, exchanging the glory of the immortal God for image made to look like mortal man." [Romans 1 :23] And thus being of a "depraved mind" they turn to sexual and other social exploitation.

(4) Athanasius [296-373] Spokesman for this bishop Alexander of Alexandria in the great Council of Nicaea [325]. He became the 20th Bishop of Alexandria after Alexander.

In his book "Against the Heathen", he developed the thesis that Christianity is much more reasonable than paganism. He discussed at length the historical development of pagan theologies and analyzed the behavior which became controlled by unreasonable passions and pleasures, people were unable to perceive the possibility of any other life style. Therefore, they fashioned the divine in the image of their own wickedness and used this false image of God as a rationale for devoting themselves to their own desires. Those not satisfied with their physical and social roles used this theology as permission for their licentiousness, including homosexuality, which Athanasius described by quoting Romans 1:26-27.

(5) St. Augustine [354-430] Bishop of Hippo in North Africa. In one of his sermons (no. 162) he said "As persons become involved in the great abomination of fornication or homosexuality, they cannot think or attend to anything else. That individual eventually becomes a captive of violence, lust and carnality. He or she becomes a slave to the body. This preoccupation drives out the proper reason for being that is, to function as the temple of the Spirit of God. When this temple is defiled by sin, it is abandoned by God, and mankind is left to his unworthy preoccupation. "

(6) St. Basil the Great: Bishop of Caesarea in Cappadocia. In his book "God is not the author of evil" he said that homosexuality is an "ignominious life style which changes the natural processes into those which are unnatural". This in turn reduced the glory of God in man to the level of the animals. It is not to this end that man was created in the image of God. The acts of God and of those devoted to Him are to be in harmony with nature and with the concerns of the gospel.

E. The Ecumenical Council
The first canonical epistle. They who have committed sodomy with men or brutes, murders, wizards, adulterers and idolaters have been thought worthy of the same punishment. Therefore, observe the same method with those which you do with others. We ought not to make any doubt of receiving those who have repented thirty years for the uncleanness which they committed through ignorance for their willingness in confessing it; therefore, command them to be forthwith received, especially if they have tears to prevail on your tenderness, and have (since their lapse) led such a life as to deserve your compassion."

Homosexuality Against Humanity And Society

A. Man and Himself
In the book of Genesis, it was met, that the twain should be one (the twain meaning the man and the woman). For the twain it says "shall be one flesh." [Genesis 1:24] This desire, of intercourse affected and united the sexes to each other. The devil, having taken away this desire, and having turned the course thereof into another fashion, he thus sundered the sexes from one another, and made the one to become two parts in opposition to the law of God. For it says "the two shall be of one flesh" but he divided the one flesh into two. Therefore, homosexuality is against man and himself.

B. Woman and Herself
We have just described how homosexuality is against man and himself, and in the same way it is against woman and herself. Instead of the woman becoming one flesh with the man in marriage, she has divided that one flesh into two by having sex with another woman. "Their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural." [Romans 1:26]

C. Man and the Female Sex
The sex relationship between a man and a woman is given by God for spiritual reasons to be used for His glory. In homosexuality, man is against the female sex "Leaving the natural use of the woman" [Romans 1:26], man misused the right sex, instead of having sex with a woman, he is having it with another man, thus becoming an instrument of sin and death. "Therefore, God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshipped the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever, Amen." [Romans 1 :24-25] .

D. Woman and the Male Sex
Homosexuality is against the woman and male sex in the same way as it is against the man and female sex. "For even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature. [Romans 1:26] The women misused the right sex, instead of having sex with a man, she is having it with other women, thus becoming an instrument of sin and death. "For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions, their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural". [Romans 1:26]

E. Marriage
Marriage is a part of human life on earth as created by God . . . "Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and cleaves to his wife, and they become one flesh." [Genesis 2:24/Matthew 19:5-6] God created a male and a female so that a man and a woman would live their lives together in marriage as one flesh. The union of a man and a woman in the community of marriage is used in the Bible as the image of God's faithful love for Israel and Christ's sacrificial love for His church. [Isaiah 54/Ephesus 5:22-23] . This is the meaning of marriage as it was created by God, therefore homosexuality or sexual acts with a person of the same sex is against the meaning of marriage and what it stands for.

F. The Family
Children are the fruit of true love between a man and a woman in marriage, and are the greatest bond of their union. Within family life, the father must be the leader and head. He must also love his wife and children as Christ loves His church for which He died. The wife must be totally devoted to her husband and must demand, encourage and enable his leadership. This is the normal way of family life as prescribed in the scriptures, and any other relationship between men such as homosexuality are abnormal and against the family way of life. According to the Christian faith, the greatest virtue is love [ 1 Corinthians 13: 13] . Love is the fulfilling of the law of God [Romans 13:10]. For God Himself is love. Our church fathers have used the OT's song of songs as the poetic image of God's love for man and man's love for God. St. Paul uses this image of Christ's love for the church. In the book of Revelations, the love relation.ship between God and His people is in the form of marriage, such as "for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His bride has made herself ready: it was granted to her to be clothed with fine linen, bright and pure for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints." [Rev. 19:78]

Christian joy is not earthly happiness, pleasure or fun. It is the joy in believing [Romans 15:13], the joy of knowing the freedom of truth in the love of God [John 8:32] and the joy of being made worthy to share in Christ's sufferings. [1 Peter 4:13]. The homosexual looks for selfish pleasure and earthly happiness, and this is against Christian joy.

I. Peace
Jesus said " . . . peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you, not as the world gives do I give to you." [John 14:27] The homosexual people lost that peace and turned against it, as St. Paul said about the Roman who practised homosexuality: " . . . they were filled with all manner of wickedness, evil, covetousness, malice, full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malignity, they are gossips, slanderers, haters of God ..." [Romans 1:30]

J. Patience and Kindness
To be patient, according to Jesus Christ, is to bring forth fruit from the seeds of God's word. "And as for that in the good soil, they are those who, hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bring forth fruit with patience." [Luke 8: 15] If one wishes to be patient, one must be united with Christ and live by the power of the Spirit [I Cor. 10:13], unlike the homosexuals who were filled with all manner of wickedness, evil, covetousness, malice, envy, murder, strife, deceit and malignity. God is kind and Christians are urged to follow God in His kindness and to do all things gently and with tenderness. A kind person will correct others, if need be, and his very kindness will be shown by his care and concern for the well being of his fellow creatures for whom Christ died. Instead of being kind, homosexuals are " . . . foolish, faithless, heartless and ruthless."

K. Self Control
Selfcontrol is one of the main characteristics of God and one of the main gift of man when God created him in His image. Man loses his self control when he sells himself to sin and becomes a slave to the corruption of his fleshly passions. A man without self control is enslaved, a captive of sin, the willing instrument of carnal passions, the victim of all foolishness and evil.

L. Faithfulness
To be faithful means to be absolutely true to one's word, to be totally loyal to one's devotion, to be completely steadfast and unswerving in one's own calling and vocation .. The main enemy of faithfulness to God and man is pride. Homosexuals are full of pride, they are " . . . slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents . . . " [Romans 1:30]

M. Nature
St. Paul said in Romans 1:26 "For even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature." Here, no one can say that it was because of lack of legitimate intercourse that they did that, nor was it for lack of means to fulfill their desire that they were driven into this monstrous insanity. As regards to men, again St. Paul points out " . . . Ieaving the natural use of the woman". They not only had means of gratification, and leaving that which they had, they went after another, but also having dishonored that which was natural, they ran after that which was contrary to nature which had in it an irksomeness and displeasure so that they could not fairly allege even pleasure, for genuine pleasure is that which is according to nature. Here in the place of the world, St. Paul sets the pleasure according to nature, which they would have enjoyed with more sense of security and greater glad.heartedness, and so would have been far removed from shameful deeds. Yet they would not, and have done an insult to nature itself.

Overcoming Homosexuality

Christianity, the Bible and the Church can provide a lot of help and support for those who are willing to change.

For a homosexual to overcome his or her homosexuality, they must: (a) Have a strong de c13 sire to come out (b) Seek and accept the healing power of God (c) Accept support from the society including family, friends, priests, pastors, counselors and psychologists.

Jesus Christ the Savior is waiting to be asked. His tremendous healing power can be miraculous. Homosexuality is a sin, confession provides relief and is a positive step. It should be followed by repen.tance. Homosexuality is not born with the person, it is a learned behavior which can be changed.

The following measures are helpful:

(a) Study of the Bible, especially the verses against homosexuality
(b) Study the history to learn of the results of the homosexual acts throughout history
(c) Learn God's purpose of creating a man and a woman, as a male and a female, and thank Him for defining an individual sex
(d) One must learn how to gain self control and self respect
(e) One must know the true meaning of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness and gentleness
(f) one must know the true meaning of incar.nation, resurrection, the Kingdom of God, righteousness and live with these tremendous values by the power of the Holy Spirit
(g) one must appreciate the society in which he lives and what it provides: church, marriage, family and one must decide to live as a full and responsible member of that society
(h) One must stand behind his decision, forget the past, look to the future and happiness of life with Jesus Christ.


Conclusion
Homosexuality is a sin condemned by God in the Old and New Testaments. The Old Testament not only considered homosexuality a sin, but found it to be a capital offense that is punishable by death. "If a man 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." [Leviticus 20:13] In the New Testament in Corinthians 6:9-10, it says: "No effeminate nor abusers of themselves with mankind shall inherit the kingdom of God." A Christian person is one who basically seeks to obey the Word of God. A homosexual is deceiving himself if he thinks he can practice that lifestyle and still go to heaven. Homosexuality is a sin, and a homosexual who wants to recover should see it as such and repent.