Are There Gays in Heaven?

God loves homosexuals the same as He loves straights. Believers must love them as well and lead gays into a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus. Homophobes cannot minister to gays. Gay-bashing was condemned by God before the term was coined (II Pet. 3:9).

Are there gays in heaven? No. But there are many former gays there. The fate of the gay community in Sodom clearly depicts how God views this sin (Gen. 19:24-25). Contemporary dictionaries define “sodomy” as “carnal copulation with a member of the same sex or with an animal.” Salvation of homosexuals necessitates a complete deliverance from that lifestyle.

God defines family parameters in the very first chapters of the Bible, making a clear distinction between male and female (Gen. 2:20-25). Our Creator, the Ultimate Anthropologist, did not seek counsel from the human race concerning “alternative lifestyles.” No generation since that day has been allowed to redefine God’s design. Every society on earth is based on the premise that males and females will marry and enjoy lifelong unions. Not one nation throughout history has ever tolerated same sex marriages as normative. Human beings collectively understand our race is replenished by male/female sexuality. No scientific or biological study has ever established homosexuality as natural. Even in the animal kingdom, there are no true homosexual species. Nature is clear and specific concerning sexual preferences.

The Biblical view must be accepted as true in order to comprehend the strong stand evangelical Christians have taken against homosexuality through the centuries. If we seek Biblical passages forbidding this lifestyle, it is tough to know just where to begin.

• Homosexuality was always punished by death (Lev. 18:33 & 20:13).
• The Hebrew feminine form of “sodomite” is interpreted as “a harlot” (Gen. 38:21 & Deut. 23:17). This term reflects what sociologists have proven: homosexuals tend to have multiple partners.
• Jesus reiterates and sanctions the appropriateness of the judgment upon Sodom for its homosexual activities (Mt. 11:24 & Lk. 10:12).
• Paul addresses the insatiable appetites of gay men and women and God’s punishment:

“These men deliberately substituted the truth about God for a lie, worshipping created human beings in preference to the Creator, who alone is worthy of worship forever. Amen. For this cause God abandoned them to their own passions, bringing dishonor upon themselves. For even the women exchanged natural for unnatural intercourse, rejecting God’s plan and indulging in sex with each other. The men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with lust for each other, men with men practicing shameless acts. Because of this they incurred the inevitable penalty of their own perversions. Because they refused to recognize God any longer, He abandoned them to their depraved passions, allowing them to become the slaves of their own degenerate minds.”  (Romans 1:25-28)

• It is clearly rebellion and disobedience to God’s laws to practice homosexuality (I Tim. 9-10).

• Gay persons and all other fornicators cannot enter heaven (I Cor. 6:9-10). Salvation through Christ and abandonment of the gay lifestyle brings deliverance.

These factors contribute to the gay lifestyle:

A. gay family members
B. seduction by peers
C. pornography
D. media influence
E. living near to or in a gay community
F. spousal abuse in home
G. molestation and/or pedophilia
H. parental adultery
I. moral relativism
J. chemical imbalances
K. failure of home leadership

AIDS

AIDS has its origins in the gay community. The last fact homosexuals want the general population to know is that AIDS is still largely contracted via homosexual activity. With AIDS on the increase, homosexual couples are fighting for health care benefits, Social Security checks and Aid to Dependent Children. But who can possibly keep up with the perpetual changing of gay partners and the accompanying complex medical benefits and payments? The gay community would love to persuade American taxpayers to pay for more and more AIDS research. But it is primarily the straight community who will foot the bill for the rising costs of health insurance claims related to AIDS. Despite decades of research, the fatality rate for AIDS patients is still100%.

Homosexual Marriages

Some people still ask, “Are homosexual marriages really wrong?” Many gays argue for their right to privacy, stating they are “consenting adults.” But the right of privacy gives no one the right to practice immorality, whether they are straight or gay. One cannot read the clear teaching of God’s Word and argue He founded any partnership other than the marital union of one male and one female, not “male and male” or “female and female.” The Bible, not society, must be our yardstick to measure healthy marriages.

If homosexual marriages become legal in our country, one must ask, “On what basis can a gay couple be denied a marriage license?” Can we use the same standards for heterosexual couples? Why would a gay couple need a blood test, since biological children are not possible except by laboratory-generated insemination or fetal implants in lesbian women?

Here are some favorite gay statements:

1. “Homosexuality is genetic.”
We are supposed to believe this despite scientific evidence that there is no homosexual gene.

2. “Gays are born, not made.”
What causes homosexuality? Most sociologists agree the gay lifestyle begins in the home. Research from The National Association for the Research and Therapy of Homosexuality state almost all gay participants picture their dads as distant, uninvolved in their upbringing, and unapproachable. 87% said mom was controlling and overbearing.

3. “Homosexuality is unpreventable.”
This is a myth. It can be prevented. Gender perversion can be reversed. Bad habits can be broken. Patterns of sexual attraction can be understood and reformed. Gays can be redeemed and, because of the pain they typically carry, are often very spiritually sensitive. Many really want to know the truth but are trapped by their peers.  They need compassion, understanding, and love to bring them into the Kingdom of God (Mark 12:34).

4. “The Bible says homosexuality is not a sin.”
In fact, the Bible makes it very clear that it is. We must see sin as sin, and love people into the Kingdom of God, while letting them know homosexuality is contrary to God’s Word (I Cor. 6:9; Lev. 18:22 and Jude 1:7).

5. “Being gay is a healthy choice for some people.”
Of all possible lifestyles, it’s actually the least safe. There are spiritual, physical and emotional dangers. There is decreased life expectancy and the very real threat of STD’s and AIDS. Gays have a very high suicide rate. Is suicide a healthy choice?

6. “Homosexual marriages are actually stronger than heterosexual marriages.” In fact, the very opposite is true. In England, where gay marriages are legal, homosexual marriages last an average of just 18 months. Gay men in Great Britain average eight sex partners per year. This means that all but one of those sexual partners is “outside” their marriages. What does this say about fidelity? In comparison, 67% of marriages in America last ten years and about 75% of heterosexual couples are faithful to their spouses while their marriages last. But gays do not seek to legalize their unions in order to be like heterosexuals: their agenda is to have heterosexuals become like them.

7. “It is our legal right to marry.” Even if this was true, and our judicial system totally sanctioned homosexual marriages, God and His Word do not. The Bible was written to guide and protect all human beings. Homosexual copulation, whether the couple is “married” or not, is still immorality (I Cor. 6:9).

8. “The homosexual marital issue is really about one’s right to choose.” No. It’s really about redefining marriage. The question does not center on a new definition of marriage, but on God’s timeless standards. One should pause to ask, “If the homosexual lifestyle is really normative, why is it universally called alternate?”

9. “Gays want to feel they are part of society and gay marriages help validate that.” Self-esteem is not the issue: sin is the issue. Making people feel comfortable in their sin does not justify the sin. The removal of guilt attached to any and all sin is only made possible through the vicarious atonement of Jesus Christ (Jn. 3:3). Because God has so absolutely condemned homosexuality, the concept of a “gay Christian couple” is an oxymoron. We do gays a disservice if we blur the lines God has drawn for their own protection. We lead them astray by allowing them to believe God is a God of permissiveness rather than a God of deliverance.

10. “Gays also attend church.” If homosexual churches are normative, why is there no example of one in God’s Word? When one twists Scripture to rationalize God’s blessing upon such churches, where does one stop perverting God’s Word?

11. “Banning gay marriages is the same as banning interracial marriages.” If this is true, why do most countries allow interracial but not homosexual marriages? Interracial marriages are almost always heterosexual. Given the staggering number of sex partners the average gay has per year, what is to prevent polygamy in homosexual marriages? Parenting children would then become a group activity. 

12. “Children are better off growing up in a homosexual home than in an abusive home.” While there is a germ of truth in this statement, it is an abuse of God’s protective standards to let kids grow up in a gay environment. National statistics continue to verify that child abuse is lowest when children live with their (straight) biological mom and dad. Same-sex parenting makes it impossible for the child to live in a God-sanctioned home environment, thus increasing the risk of abuse.

Children in Gay Homes

How can anyone ensure kids in homosexual homes will have a healthy gender identity? Gay couples cannot have children naturally nor provide them the benefit of the Biblical model of a father and a mother. Homosexuality can never fulfill the procreative aspects of human sexuality. To deny children a God-fearing female mother and male father slants them away from Biblical norms from the start. The most loving gay mom can’t teach a boy how to be a man and the most loving gay man can’t teach a girl how to be a woman. How can a lesbian teach a girl what to look for in a good husband? How can a lesbian explain a girl’s first PMS as “normal” for having future children, especially if that girl grows up and marries another woman?

There is not the slightest hint that parenting can be done effectively outside of God’s divine order. God cannot be honestly and scripturally represented to children without the divine balance of one female and one male parent who will bring them up “in the instruction of the Lord” (Eph. 6:4). The adolescent Jesus was obedient to His mother and foster father (Lk. 2:51).

Look at a few of the benefits of a normative, Christian marriage:

A. Couples tend to live longer.
B. They are happier.
C. They enjoy higher levels of physical, emotional and mental health.
D. They save more money.
E. They tend to recover from illness sooner.
F. They are more reliable employees.
G. They tend to have less stress.
H. They are less likely to become victims of violence.
I. They find parenting more enjoyable.
J. They have more fulfilling sex lives.

Benefits of children with both parents (one male and one female) at home include:

A. They need less treatment for physical and emotional problems.
B. They do better in school.
C. They tend to be more sympathetic toward others.
D. They are less likely to be in trouble in school or with police.
E. They are less likely to use drugs or do violence.
F. They are less likely to live in poverty.
G. They are less likely to have premarital sex.
H. They are less likely to be victims of physical or sexual abuse.

Although there are no perfect families, only loving Christian parents can teach the Biblical principles and live them daily.

The Solution

Any study regarding homosexuality must include God’s grace and mercy. No one is ever won to Jesus by heated argumentation. A “holier than thou” attitude is a turn-off to straights and gays alike. Although there are strong emotions concerning same-sex marriages, bear in mind the homosexual is no more or less “evil” than anyone else. Homosexuality is not an unpardonable sin. The truth is that their delusions concerning sexual preference prevent them from receiving a balanced view of God’s Word. Many unsaved persons, both heterosexual and homosexual, attempt to justify sin by imagining God sanctions their lifestyles via a biased interpretation of His Word.

Remember God loves gays as much as anyone. It is their lifestyle that runs contrary to His Word. There is no excuse for shunning gays. Believers can only win those they reach out to with an honest and compassionate heart. We are never to degrade those who are lost in sin, but love them and to guide those who are entrapped into a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. Any person, regardless of their past, can be led by the Spirit “into all truth” (John 16:13). Gays are wounded souls and Believers are required to bind up their self-inflicted wounds.

Hundreds of thousands of lesbians and gay men have come to know Jesus personally. Their sins are forgiven and they do not return to their former lifestyle. The adamant sexual preference of the gay lifestyle prevents them from receiving a balanced view of God’s Word. Love them and let the light of Jesus shine from you out to them. Pray with them, show respect and kindness. Remember where God brought you from.

If you are gay, remember that God loves you. However, sin separates you from God. The only way for any human being to find true peace with God is to eliminate the cause of guilt of sin. The Lord has provided this for everyone through the sacrifice of His Son on the Cross of Calvary.

If you need counsel or prayer, call 1-800-4PRAYER. Someone is there to help you find the answers you seek.

 

Maxim of the Moment

He who speaks ill of his wife dishonors himself.