Seminar - Homosexuality & the Bible
Okey dokey, guys, here it is! You guys wanted it. :)
As you know, I attended a seminar @ Pittsburgh University called Homosexuality & the Bible. It was given by Dr. Gagnon, a professor who has studied the Bible and made 'homosexuality and the Bible' his main area of research. You can find more info about him here.
If this kind of thing will offend you, please don't read it. I also don't want to get flamed or anything for what I believe, so if you don't like it, don't leave hateful comments. I understand disagreeing, but I don't want this to start a little war on my LJ. Mkay?
Anyway, I took thorough notes and here's what I got: (all verses are taken from the NIV version)
When God created us, he created two sexes, male and female. The female was made from the man, taken from his body. This made both man and woman two parts of a whole, not complete in a physical sense. During sex, men and women become connected, physically and spiritually. They are made whole, complete.
Homosexuality goes against this. As I stated earlier, without each other men and women are only "halves" of a whole. If a woman joins with a woman or a man joins with a man, they're not complete at all. It's like two halves of a half are coming together instead, which goes against what sex was created to do (i.e. making you whole, not dealing with the whole procreation thing).
It teaches us in the bible to not seperate what God has joined together. If He meant for sex to involve one woman and one woman, then that is what it should consist of. God says that this is detestable and that those who engage in homosexual acts will not inherit His kingdom.
Also, the physical act of homosexuality is not natural from a physical standpoint. Lets look at sex technically for a moment (and this may sound silly or too detailed, so sorry). With a man/woman union, the penis goes into the vagina, where it's meant to go. Unification. With a man/man union, you have two penises. Supposing that man #1's penis goes into the anus of man #2, where does man #2's penis go? There's no true unification going on here. With woman/woman unions, no unification takes place at all because there is nothing to insert anywhere. It's not physically possible to unite in the way God meant for us to unite with homosexual unions.
In the seminar, Professor Gagnon compared homosexuality to incest. The reason for incest being unholy from a technical standpoint is that you'd be sleeping with someone close (biologically) to yourself. A relative. Gagnon said that homosexuality is the same thing; you're sleeping with someone who is exactly like you, whose body is the same kind as yours, not your counterpart.
The Bible says that we are born sinners. We have natural desires, impulses. Our very being is controlled by them, we can't help it by ourselves. After all, would there even be homosexual unions if the desires for them didn't feel right to a certain degree? No. But just the fact that God condemns sexuality makes it a sin, whether it feels natural/right/whatever or not. The only way we are able to turn away from this sin (as with any sin) is to turn to God and ask for forgiveness and his Spirit.
Professor Gagnon also brought up the point that in nearly every passage of the Bible where God talks about sexual immorality, a lot of them are combined together. Incest, pedophilia, homosexuality, etc. Society today agrees that acts of incest, pedophilia, rape, etc. etc. are immoral. They're even outlawed. But society fails to see that homosexuality is lumped in the same category as these sexual sins.
God doesn't want us to use our bodies for any sexual sin, because our bodies are for the Lord. Our body is where He dwells, it is his temple. When we turn to God, all of our sins are washed clean.
Just as a closing point, Professor Gagnon said that we are to love everyone around us, homosexuals included. The whole hating homosexuals thing? Not Christian at all. Anyone who says otherwise is not Christian.
BIBLE VERSES
Genesis 1:27 - So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.
Romans 1:24-27 - 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 of 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 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 indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion.
1 Corinthians 6:9-10 - Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdown of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral not idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor theives not the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.
Genesis 2:22-24 - Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man. The man said, "This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called 'woman', for she was taken out of man." For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united with his wife, and they will become one flesh.
Mark 10:6-9 - "But at the beginning of creation God made them male and female. For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh. So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not seperate."
Leviticus 18:22 - "Do not lie with a man as one lies with a woman; that is detestable."
Romans: 5 - For when we were controlled by the sinful nature, the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in our bodies, so that we bore fruit for death.
As you know, I attended a seminar @ Pittsburgh University called Homosexuality & the Bible. It was given by Dr. Gagnon, a professor who has studied the Bible and made 'homosexuality and the Bible' his main area of research. You can find more info about him here.
If this kind of thing will offend you, please don't read it. I also don't want to get flamed or anything for what I believe, so if you don't like it, don't leave hateful comments. I understand disagreeing, but I don't want this to start a little war on my LJ. Mkay?
Anyway, I took thorough notes and here's what I got: (all verses are taken from the NIV version)
When God created us, he created two sexes, male and female. The female was made from the man, taken from his body. This made both man and woman two parts of a whole, not complete in a physical sense. During sex, men and women become connected, physically and spiritually. They are made whole, complete.
Homosexuality goes against this. As I stated earlier, without each other men and women are only "halves" of a whole. If a woman joins with a woman or a man joins with a man, they're not complete at all. It's like two halves of a half are coming together instead, which goes against what sex was created to do (i.e. making you whole, not dealing with the whole procreation thing).
It teaches us in the bible to not seperate what God has joined together. If He meant for sex to involve one woman and one woman, then that is what it should consist of. God says that this is detestable and that those who engage in homosexual acts will not inherit His kingdom.
Also, the physical act of homosexuality is not natural from a physical standpoint. Lets look at sex technically for a moment (and this may sound silly or too detailed, so sorry). With a man/woman union, the penis goes into the vagina, where it's meant to go. Unification. With a man/man union, you have two penises. Supposing that man #1's penis goes into the anus of man #2, where does man #2's penis go? There's no true unification going on here. With woman/woman unions, no unification takes place at all because there is nothing to insert anywhere. It's not physically possible to unite in the way God meant for us to unite with homosexual unions.
In the seminar, Professor Gagnon compared homosexuality to incest. The reason for incest being unholy from a technical standpoint is that you'd be sleeping with someone close (biologically) to yourself. A relative. Gagnon said that homosexuality is the same thing; you're sleeping with someone who is exactly like you, whose body is the same kind as yours, not your counterpart.
The Bible says that we are born sinners. We have natural desires, impulses. Our very being is controlled by them, we can't help it by ourselves. After all, would there even be homosexual unions if the desires for them didn't feel right to a certain degree? No. But just the fact that God condemns sexuality makes it a sin, whether it feels natural/right/whatever or not. The only way we are able to turn away from this sin (as with any sin) is to turn to God and ask for forgiveness and his Spirit.
Professor Gagnon also brought up the point that in nearly every passage of the Bible where God talks about sexual immorality, a lot of them are combined together. Incest, pedophilia, homosexuality, etc. Society today agrees that acts of incest, pedophilia, rape, etc. etc. are immoral. They're even outlawed. But society fails to see that homosexuality is lumped in the same category as these sexual sins.
God doesn't want us to use our bodies for any sexual sin, because our bodies are for the Lord. Our body is where He dwells, it is his temple. When we turn to God, all of our sins are washed clean.
Just as a closing point, Professor Gagnon said that we are to love everyone around us, homosexuals included. The whole hating homosexuals thing? Not Christian at all. Anyone who says otherwise is not Christian.
BIBLE VERSES
Genesis 1:27 - So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.
Romans 1:24-27 - 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 of 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 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 indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion.
1 Corinthians 6:9-10 - Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdown of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral not idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor theives not the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.
Genesis 2:22-24 - Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man. The man said, "This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called 'woman', for she was taken out of man." For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united with his wife, and they will become one flesh.
Mark 10:6-9 - "But at the beginning of creation God made them male and female. For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh. So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not seperate."
Leviticus 18:22 - "Do not lie with a man as one lies with a woman; that is detestable."
Romans: 5 - For when we were controlled by the sinful nature, the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in our bodies, so that we bore fruit for death.