The Unnatural Sin of Homosexuality — James Boice

“Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.

Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error.” – Romans 1:24-27

“For centuries [lesbianism and male homosexuality] were hardly spoken of in western society. Although some were no doubt practicing these acts, they were considered so reprehensible that a moral person not only was not to speak about them, but he or she was not even to know what such vices involved. But today? Today they are written about with explicit detail in virtually every newspaper and magazine in our land. Grade-school children discuss them. Not only are we not shocked–but we have become complacent, as if this were a natural expression of an upright spirit. . . Fornication and adultery are not ‘unnatural’ sins, for they are not against nature. Of course, they are true sins, for they break the moral law of God. They result in ‘impurity’ and in the ‘degrading’ of our bodies, as Paul says. But they are not unnatural. On the contrary, they are in one sense quite natural. They are accomplished by using one’s body in a natural way. Not so with homosexuality! 

Homosexuality is ‘unnatural,’ and it is accomplished by using one’s body in an unnatural way, that is, against nature.   Continue at Eric T. Young

Letter to a 12-Year-Old Girl About the Eternal Destiny of Those Who Have Not Heard the Gospel

By John Piper:

Dear [Sarah],

You asked what happens to people who live far away from the gospel and have never heard about Jesus and die without faith in him.

Here is what I think the Bible teaches.

God always punishes people because of what they know and fail to believe. In other words, no one will be condemned for not believing in Jesus who has never heard of Jesus.

Does that mean that people will be saved and go to heaven if they have never heard of Jesus? No, that is not what God tells us in the Bible.

The main passage in the Bible that talks about this is Romans 1:18–23. Here is what it says. Then I’ll make a comment or two.

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. ¹⁹ For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. ²⁰ For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature,have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that havebeen made. So they are without excuse. ²¹ For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. ²² Claiming to be wise, they became fools, ²³ and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.

Notice several things:   Continue at John Piper

What Unbelieving Pagans Know about God and Why They Are Responsible for It

I am continually amazed at how much dense theology Paul is able to pack into a few lines of a letter. Consider, for example, just four verses: Romans 1:18-21.

 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. 19 For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. 21 For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.

Paul has just finished exulting in the “good news” of the gospel (Rom. 1:15-17), but he now begins to paint a contrasting backdrop of the “bad news” for those who rebel against their holy creator. Whereas “the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith” to all who believe (vv. 16-17), “the wrath of God is revealed from heaven” against all who suppress God’s truth (v. 18). Paul piles up the terms in reference to the godless Gentiles: on the one hand, “ungodliness and unrighteousness” describes what they do, and on the other hand “by their unrighteousness” is the way in which they go about their work of suppressing truth. The reality of the redundancy is repulsive: by their unrighteousness they perform unrighteousness.  Continue at Justin Taylor

“Homosexuality: “natural” or chosen?

What does the Bible have to say about the claim of many homosexuals today that one’s sexual preference is “natural” and not chosen? Are we born with one tendency over the other? What is the cause of homosexuality?

Several factors must be kept in mind here, the first of which is the most basic: God condemns homosexuality. The Scriptures allow no mitigating circumstances but everywhere treats homosexuality as unnatural and sinful. See, for example, Leviticus 18:22, 24; 20:13; Romans 1:18-32; and 1 Corinthians 6:9-10. These passages of Scripture, and others like them, establish at least these three conclusions:

1) Homosexuality is rebellion against God.  There is no way to speak of any kind of acceptable or “Christian” homosexuality.  There is never any allowance for it, and it is never anything but sinful.

2)  Homosexuality is contrary to nature.  It is a particularly rebellious sin, a violation even of one’s own conscience. Keep Reading...