Is The Church Unfairly Singling Out Homosexuality From Other Sins?
There is no doubt that most of us have heard the accusing comments made about how the church is making homosexuality a bigger issue than it needs to be or that the church is overly condemnatory of homosexuality compared to other sins. Other examples like gluttony and idleness are given as an attempt to show how the church is unfairly heavy handed when it comes to its position on homosexuality. In reality, they say, homosexuality is just one of many sins and all sins are equal in God’s eyes.
But, is this true? Are all sins equal? Or is homosexuality an issue with greater implications?
Have you ever seen marketing campaigns, parades, marches, protests, lawsuits, corporate support, or Supreme Court recognition of any other sin like you have of homosexuality?
Even the devastating verdict passed by the Supreme Court in the Roe v. Wade case in 1973 did not come with such clamoring and force as the push for homosexuality does today. In fact, the gaining momentum of sexual perversion in our country has only reinvigorated the supporters of the murderous abortion industry to take to the public square in a similar fashion. Rather than being secret patrons in the dark alleys of Planned Parenthood, they have taken to the public square at high noon with signs in their hands and fabricated female body parts of all kinds on their heads.
Last year, the Democratic National Convention had the president of the National Abortion Rights Action League (NARAL) proudly defend her beloved right to have her first child killed because it wasn’t the right time—the crowd cheered.
In 2015, the #ShoutYourAbortion campaign kicked off via the Twitter social media platform and actively continues to this day.
All of this is in an effort by a minority to normalize the sin and desensitize the majority who have no faith in the Son of God, nor conviction in the Word of God. While the elect cannot be deceived (Matt 24:24), all others who have simply gone along with the moral standards of the day are helpless to the bullying and pressure that comes from homosexual activists, thus out of fear of being considered “hateful” they rally behind the cause and “evolve” on the issue.
We can all agree that the proponents of sexual perversity and infanticide are indeed as bold as they claim; as proud as they claim; as passionate as they claim—but they are fundamentally and irrefutably wrong about every bit of it. Every step marched; every breath sucked in, in order to yell out; every color of the rainbow misrepresented; every term redefined, is an affront to God and an active declaration that they are His enemy.
Make no mistake, this is an active, willful rebellion against God.
It is this bold, unashamed, proud public affirmation that sets sins like homosexuality—and abortion—apart from so many others. The church is not overplaying their role in the public square; No, the world having built their own platforms for these evils to stand on has raised themselves above all others.
It is one thing to be a sinner (something we all are), but it is another to actively and unashamedly flaunt and defend what God detests and calls sin. It takes the depravity to a new low. It reveals the rebellious nature of sin in an unmistakable light. It is, as the Apostle Paul said, evil people going from bad to worse (2 Tim 3:13).
Make no mistake, the fact that it is proudly and unequivocally defended and advocated for is a testament to the unrepentant nature of it. The country knows that the Bible explicitly condemns sexual perversion, listing not just homosexuality as a sin (Lev 18:22, 20:13; Rom 1:26–27; Jude 7), but effeminacy as well (1 Cor 6:9, KJV). In other words, the active and the passive partners, the cross dressing, the “trans-genderism” that people hide behind. It is all a rebellious affront to God.
The issue of homosexuality today is no longer a matter of “live and let live” like it used to be touted. It has now become the weapon of the secular culture to wield against any authority that testifies against its perverse and wicked nature. It is no longer a matter of simply tolerating the existence of it, it is now a matter of actively affirming it and giving it special attention and unqualified “rights”.
This month, corporations are flying flags and banners in support of homosexuality and the perverted activities that it represents. They have taken a position that actively encourages the unnatural, lustful behavior. While we cannot be surprised that the unregenerate world will act like the unregenerate world, Christians cannot lessen the severity of homosexuality to something tantamount to a bad temper, or eating too much, calling it a sin just like any other—this confounds the issue.
No one is marching, protesting, and suing for “rights” to abuse their spouses, drive drunk, or seek pedophilic lifestyles. While all of these are more examples of wicked behavior, they are still, by and large, socially unacceptable because the world knows that they are in fact wrong. Why has our culture embraced homosexuality then when it is also known to be wrong?
Romans 1 explains the slippery slope in this way: 1) God is rejected as the Creator, or even that He exists (vv. 19-23), 2) People then defile themselves with one another, sexually, as there is no God to be accountable to (24-25), 3) People then degrade themselves to unnatural sexual perversion seen in male and female homosexuality (26-27), and 4) People are given completely over to a debased mind (28-31), seen in other sexual pursuits, “trans-genderism”, etc.
The dangerous implications for the continued public support and active participation in the homosexual agenda is that the clamoring for what is wholly egregious and unacceptable in God’s eyes is becoming more and more acceptable itself. The moral restraint in our American society continues to be loosened. Our society is on the track to publicly and formally recognize polygamy and even bestiality as rights that cannot be assailed. Far-fetched? Canada just dropped a charge of bestiality against a man, saying, in essence, that foreplay doesn’t count.
Friends, every step a society takes to approve perversity is a dangerous step for that society. It becomes a broken society where the masses bow down to the altar of sexual gratification while throwing their young into its flames.
“Though they know God's righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them” (Rom 1:32).
Are all sins equal? Only in this way: Every sin will be judged. Sin is what condemns us to eternal damnation. How we manifest our sin is inconsequential as to the nature of the judgement itself, yet it does not follow that all sin has the same consequences on earth either to ourselves or to others (e.g. hurt feelings vs. AIDS), nor does it follow that God does not view some sin as worse than others, which is made obvious by the varying levels of consequences and punishment he had the Israelites live by (e.g. paying someone back with interest vs. the death penalty).
Anyone who is tempted to think that the church needs to back down from its position of asserting the biblical condemnation of homosexuality and that there are bigger fish to fry, like world hunger, does not have a biblically mature world-view or understand just how weighty and damaging some specific sins, especially when institutionalized, will be in a society.
The church will be unable to evangelize the world effectively if it is unable to harmonize with God, doctrinally.
With that said, no one, however, is irredeemable. Men and women must believe the Word of God and the saving work of Christ on the cross for the forgiveness of sins to have reconciliation with God, and salvation from eternal Hell. There is bad news for the unrepentant sinner, but there is good news for those who do repent, believe and place their faith in Jesus Christ.
The men and women in Paul’s church in Corinth were saved out of these very lifestyles. This is the hope of the gospel. Paul said, “Such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God” (1 Cor 6:11) (emphasis mine).
Chrysostom once said, “There is nothing more cold than a Christian who does not work for the salvation of others.”
Friends, we must not be indifferent to anyone’s need for the forgiveness of sins. We must lovingly and patiently help sinners recognize their sin before God and their opportunity for forgiveness through repentance and faith in Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit is not impotent and will be the only effective agent of change in the soul. He will give new desires in place of the old ones. May we be men and women who call sinners to repentance for the salvation of their souls from the bondage of sin and death.
“Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!" -The Apostle Paul | Romans 7:24-25
In Christ Alone,
Ben
