Yesterday in our Intro to Ministry class we discussed homosexuality within the Seventh - day Adventist Church...This discussion led to great dialogues and spark my interest. The bible states that Homosexuality is wrong. There is no getting around that, but is it a choice or genetic? What are you opinions of homosexuality within the christian church and what should the policy be? I believe homosexuality is a practice, thus you cannot hate the person, but you can hate the practice.
If I may dare to say so, there is no homosexuality (or sexual immorality of any kind) in the church that God is building. God calls this "shameful passion" and according to this, it is safe to conclude that the only thing genetic about homosexuality is the anatomy of ones body, not what one chooses to use it for. If a person or organization as it be, disregards God who has plainly spoken, and to whom they claim to belong, they only deceive themselves. Whoever practices sexual immorality, still belongs to the Devil.
GNB 2Co 6:11 Dear friends in Corinth! We have spoken frankly to you; we have opened our hearts wide.
2Co 6:12 It is not we who have closed our hearts to you; it is you who have closed your hearts to us.
2Co 6:13 I speak now as though you were my children: show us the same feelings that we have for you. Open your hearts wide!
2Co 6:14 Do not try to work together as equals with unbelievers, for it cannot be done. How can right and wrong be partners? How can light and darkness live together?
2Co 6:15 How can Christ and the Devil agree? What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever?
2Co 6:16 How can God's temple come to terms with pagan idols? For we are the temple of the living God! As God himself has said, "I will make my home with my people and live among them; I will be their God, and they shall be my people."
2Co 6:17 And so the Lord says, "You must leave them and separate yourselves from them. Have nothing to do with what is unclean, and I will accept you.
2Co 6:18 I will be your father, and you shall be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty."
Rom 1:21 They know God, but they do not give him the honor that belongs to him, nor do they thank him. Instead, their thoughts have become complete nonsense, and their empty minds are filled with darkness.
Rom 1:22 They say they are wise, but they are fools;
Rom 1:23 instead of worshiping the immortal God, they worship images made to look like mortals or birds or animals or reptiles.
Rom 1:24 And so God has given those people over to do the filthy things their hearts desire, and they do shameful things with each other.
Rom 1:25 They exchange the truth about God for a lie; they worship and serve what God has created instead of the Creator himself, who is to be praised forever! Amen.
Rom 1:26 Because they do this, God has given them over to shameful passions. Even the women pervert the natural use of their sex by unnatural acts.
Rom 1:27 In the same way the men give up natural sexual relations with women and burn with passion for each other. Men do shameful things with each other, and as a result they bring upon themselves the punishment they deserve for their wrongdoing.
Rom 1:28
Because those people refuse to keep in mind the true knowledge about God, he has given them over to corrupted minds, so that they do the things that they should not do.
1Jn 3:2 My dear friends, we are now God's children, but it is not yet clear what we shall become. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he really is.
1Jn 3:3 Everyone who has this hope in Christ keeps himself pure, just as Christ is pure.
1Jn 3:4 Whoever sins is guilty of breaking God's law, because sin is a breaking of the law.
1Jn 3:5 You know that Christ appeared in order to take away sins, and that there is no sin in him.
1Jn 3:6 So everyone who lives in union with Christ does not continue to sin; but whoever continues to sin has never seen him or known him.
1Jn 3:7 Let no one deceive you, my children! Whoever does what is right is righteous, just as Christ is righteous.
1Jn 3:8 Whoever continues to sin belongs to the Devil, because the Devil has sinned from the very beginning. The Son of God appeared for this very reason, to destroy what the Devil had done.
1Jn 3:9 Those who are children of God do not continue to sin, for God's very nature is in them; and because God is their Father, they cannot continue to sin.
Heb 12:25
Be careful, then, and do not refuse to hear him who speaks. Those who refused to hear the one who gave the divine message on earth did not escape. How much less shall we escape, then, if we turn away from the one who speaks from heaven!
Heb 12:26 His voice shook the earth at that time, but now he has promised, "I will once more shake not only the earth but heaven as well."
Heb 12:27 The words "once more" plainly show that the created things will be shaken and removed, so that the things that cannot be shaken will remain.
Heb 12:28 Let us be thankful, then, because we receive a kingdom that cannot be shaken. Let us be grateful and worship God in a way that will please him, with reverence and awe;
Heb 12:29 because our God is indeed a destroying fire.
While i`m on the subject I may as well add - God has also left no room for the argument that homosexuality is genetic and the homosexual cannot help how he/she were born.
2Pe 1:3
His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through the full knowledge of the one who called us by his own glory and excellence.