Once again, the US presidential
race has started with attacks on the evangelical believers. Indiana South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg's
comment, "It's something that really frustrates me because the hypocrisy
is unbelievable. Here you have somebody
who not only acts in a way that is not consistent with anything that I hear in
scripture in church." He was
speaking of VP Mike Pence and evangelical voters.
I would have ignored what
Buttigieg had to say had he not included evangelicals in his comments. I will not sit silently by and be criticized
by someone who does not accept what the Bible declares as sin. I have no hatred in my heart for those who
commit sin. I have no delight in
pointing out to people the various sins that separate them from God. No matter what sin you commit there is
forgiveness. The LORD does not want us
to gain approval for our sin but rather find forgiveness and turn from our sinful
ways.
Buttigieg is trying to get the
approval of his gay lifestyle. He said,
"If me being gay was a choice, it was a choice that was made far, above my
pay grade. And that is the thing I wish
the Mike Pences of the world would understand. That if you a problem with who I
am, your problems is not with me--your quarrel, sir, is with my creator."
That is like saying, If me being
a pedophile was a choice, it was a choice that was made far, above my pay
grade. Then blame the Creator for who you are.
I am not sure about the Christian faith Buttigieg claims to have is
real. He attends an Episcopal church—and
his comments criticizing President Donald Trump, Vice President Mike Pence, and
the “hypocrisy” of the administration’s evangelical supporters does not speak
well for his understanding of scripture.
How does Mr. Buttigieg understand
these scriptures?
Leviticus 18:22 ESV You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it
is an abomination.
Leviticus 20:13 ESV If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of
them have committed an abomination; they shall surely be put to death; their
blood is upon them.
1 Corinthians 6:9-11 ESV Or do you not know that the unrighteous will
not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral,
nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves,
nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the
kingdom of God. And 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.
Romans 1:26-27 ESV For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable
passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are
contrary to nature, and the men likewise gave up natural relationships with
women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless
acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.
Jude 1:7 ESV Just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities,
which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire,
serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire.
1 Timothy 1:10 ESV The sexually immoral, men who practice homosexuality,
enslavers, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine,
Mark 10:6-9 ESV But from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male
and female.’ ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast
to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two but
one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.”
There was a reason the LORD gave
commandments regarding sexual activity.
The god of this world Satan would use every means at his disposal to
destroy mankind. Satan incorporated into
false religion the destruction of humanity by using the desire the LORD placed
within man and women to be united as one.
The gods of virtually all
civilizations engaged in sexual relations. In the Near East, the Babylonian god
Ishtar seduced a man, Gilgamesh, the Babylonian hero. In Egyptian religion, the
god Osiris had sexual relations with his sister, the goddess Isis, and she
conceived the god Horus. In Canaan, El, the chief god, had sex with Asherah. In
Hindu belief, the god Krishna was sexually active, having had many wives and
pursuing Radha; the god Samba, son of Krishna, seduced mortal women and men. In
Greek beliefs, Zeus married Hera, chased women, abducted the beautiful young
male, Ganymede. Poseidon married Amphitrite,
pursued Demeter, and raped Tantalus. In Rome, the gods sexually sought both men
and women.
Given the sexual activity of the
gods, it is not surprising that the religions themselves were abounding with all
forms of sexual activity. In the ancient Near East and elsewhere, virgins were
deflowered by priests before engaging in relations with their husbands, and
sacred or ritual prostitution was almost universal. Male and female
prostitutes, serving temporarily or permanently and performing heterosexual,
homosexual and other forms of sexual activities, dispense their favors in
behalf of the temple. In ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, and Canaan, annual
ceremonial intercourse took place between the king and a priestess. Women
prostitutes had sex with male worshippers in the sanctuaries and temples of ancient
Mesopotamia, Phoenicia, Cyprus, Corinth, Carthage, Sicily, Egypt, Libya, West
Africa, and ancient and modern India.
In ancient Israel itself, there
were repeated attempts to re-introduce temple prostitution, resulting in
repeated Jewish wars against cultic sex. The Bible records that the Judean king
Asa “put away the qdeshim [temple male prostitutes] out of the land”; that his
successor, Jehosaphat put away out of the land … the remnant of the qdeshim
that remained in the days of his father Asa”; and that later, King Josiah, in
his religious reforms, “broke down the houses of the qdeshim.”
The LORD GOD CREATOR placed
controls on sexual activity. It could no longer dominate religion and social
life. It was to be sanctified—which in Hebrew means “separated”—from the world
and placed in the home, in the bed of husband and wife. The LORD's commands
restricting sexual behavior was one of the essential elements that enabled
society to progress. The commandments were to regulate the sexual life of the
followers of the LORD started when He declared war on the sexual practices of
the world that would destroy mankind.
Anyone who takes the Bible’s
views on homosexuality seriously is not obligated to prove that they are not
fundamentalists or literalists, let alone bigots. On the other hand, those who
claim homosexuality is compatible with their belief bear the burden of proof to
reconcile this view with the Bible. Given the explicit nature of the biblical
attitude toward homosexuality, however, such a compromise is not possible. All
that is possible is to declare: “I am aware that the Bible condemns
homosexuality, and I consider the Bible wrong.” That would be an intellectually
honest approach. But this approach leads to another problem. If one chooses
which of the Bible’s moral commands to take seriously (and the Bible states its
prohibition of homosexuality not only as a law but as a value—” it is an
abomination”), of what moral use is the Bible?
If you cannot accept all the teachings of the LORD's commandments, then
you do not accept the LORD. Jesus said, “If,
you love me you will keep my commandments."
Advocates of the religious
acceptance of homosexuality say the Bible is morally advanced in some areas, it
is morally regressive in others. Its condemnation of homosexuality is one
example. Far from being immoral,
however, the Bible’s prohibition of homosexuality was a significant part of its
liberation (1) of the human being from the bonds of unrestrained sexuality and
(2) of women from being peripheral to men’s lives.
The Bible lists homosexuality
together with child sacrifice among the “abominations” practiced by the peoples
living in the land about to be conquered by the Israelites. The two are
certainly not morally equitable, but they both characterized a morally
primitive world that LORD set out to destroy. They both characterized a way of
life opposite to the one that the Creator demanded of Israel. Finally, the
Bible adds a unique threat to Israel if they engage in homosexuality and the
other offenses of the Canaanites: “You will be vomited out of the land” just as
the non-Jews who practice these things were vomited out of the land. This
threat “suggests that the offenses were considered serious indeed.”
Christianity cannot make peace
with homosexuality because homosexuality denies many of Christianity’s most
fundamental principles. It denies life, it contradicts God’s expressed desire
that men and women cohabit, and it rejects the root structure that the LORD
wishes for all mankind, the family. The
LORD has given us a choice “I have set before you life and death, the blessing
and the curse, and you shall choose life.” Christianity affirms whatever
enhances life, and it opposes or separates whatever represents death. So, as a Christian, our concern is with life.
What is amazing about the
discussion of homosexuality is that gay men are not seen as the enemy of
women. Homosexuality has an adverse
effect on women. Where is the outcry
from women? In societies where men
sought out men for love and sex, women were relegated to society’s periphery. For
example, ancient Greece, which elevated homosexuality to an ideal, was
characterized by “a misogynistic attitude,” in Norman Sussman’s words.
Homosexuality in ancient Greece, he writes, “was closely linked to an idealized
concept of the man as the focus of intellectual and physical activities… The
woman was serving but two roles. As a wife, she ran the home. As a courtesan,
she satisfied male sexual desires.”
In medieval France, when men
stressed male-male love, it “implied a corresponding lack of interest in women. The women of Arab society, where male
homosexuality has been widespread, remain in a notably low state in the modern
world. This may be a coincidence, but common sense suggests a linkage. So, too,
in traditional Chinese culture, the low state of women has been linked to
widespread homosexuality. As a French physician reported from China in the
nineteenth century, “Chinese women were such docile, homebound dullards that
the men, like those of ancient Greece, sought courtesans and boys.”
So, Mr. Pete Buttigieg, I trust
your understanding of government is better than your understanding of
scripture. Your theological views on
homosexuality are not compatible with historical Christianity or with the
scriptures. Historically any nation that
has accepted a sexual lifestyle that is contrary to Biblical teachings has
suffered judgment at the hand of God. It
is men like you, Mr. Buttigieg that has brought moral decay to our Nation. It is my prayer that your political career
will end, not because you are a homosexual but because you do not honor God. You have changed the truth of God into a lie
and worshipped and served your own self interests.
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