Homosexuality.

What does our church teach about homosexuality? 

1.  None of us are gods, and it's arrogant for anyone to think they are. This means that none of us have the right to decide good from evil. Only God is God, and so only God can declare right from wrong. Right and wrong are never, at any time, a product of humanity or historical forces. We say this because we're not atheists.

 2.  We say Moses was a prophet of God, because Jesus of Nazareth was the Son of God, and He said Moses was a prophet of God. The Son of God can't, by definition, make mistakes.  This means we accept Moses' first book, Genesis, as true and literal (as we do the other four). God in an act of power created the first man, and then out of him created the first woman, and declared them a married couple. God says that marriage is between one man and one women. Marriage is monogamous and heterosexual, and this is God's law for everyone. This has always been the standard of Christianity, for 2,000 years.  It is not a new thing.

3.  Human beings are born sinful, because of Adam's first sin. As a result, the human heart is naturally filled with the seeds of evil thoughts, desires, and impulses. This is why some people say they have had certain sexual feelings as far back as they could remember. Every human being is born spiritually dead, apart from God's grace. Jesus said that all evil originates, not from DNA or culture, but from the person's own individual heart. Therefore, evil sexual desires, like any other sinful desire, are already present in every human soul. Every person experiences evil sexual desire.

4.  Homosexuality is a punishment from God, for rebellion and unbelief toward Him. In Romans chapter 1, the apostle Paul says that the world sees God in nature, but resentfully doesn't want to worship or thank Him, and in His place creates false gods. As punishment for this, God stops protecting them from their own depraved sexual desires, specifically homosexual desires. This in turn brings various injuries upon them. It['s in this sense that homosexuality is God's punishment.

5.  God the Holy Spirit is able to unlock that slavery to same-sex attraction, if the person believes in Christ's death on his or her behalf, and sincerely calls upon Him as their Savior. This does not necessarily happen in an instant; it could take quite a while. This is a personal, spiritual transaction between the person and God, not "reparative therapy."  However, counseling that non-coercively aims to a person outgrow sinful sexual desires, whatever they may be (such as addiction to pornography) falls under the 1st Amendment as a free exercise of religion.

6.  Christian churches ought to welcome homosexuals -- never to morally affirm or celebrate their lifestyles, but because we are all sinners, and we all deserve God's punishment for the sins we've done, no matter what they are. Also, Christians are people who still have sexual sins in their lives, of various types. Christians are forgiven sinners, not former ones.

7.  Homosexual citizens have the same constitutional rights as any other U.S. citizen, and those rights, listed under the Bill of Rights, should be honored and protected. The Bible speaks to civil law, but churches relate to society as churches who represent Christ. We vote conscientiously, but God hasn't appointed the Christian Church, as a distinct entity, as civil magistrate over  the civil community.  A theocracy will come, but it will come only when Jesus returns.