HOMOSEXUALITY CONDEMNED
EVEN WITHOUT THE TERM

Timothy Palmer (The Dallas Morning News, "Letters," Sept. 29, 1992) claims that the term "homosexuality" in the original Greek of the New Testament is questionable, thus "the Scriptures are not always so cut and dried as they would seem." Palmer and others should know that even apart from the term "homosexuality," the description of the act and relationship in the Bible is clear enough to condemn it for the Christian and honest truth-seeker.

For instance, the Bible says, "You shall not lie with a male as one lies with a female; it is an abomination" (Leviticus 18:22). Again, "If there is a man who lies with a male as those who lie with a woman, both of them have committed a detestable act; they shall surely be put to death" (Leviticus 20:13). Even without the term "homosexuality," which Palmer considers questionable, the described act clearly is sodomy or homosexuality.

In the New Testament, the act and relationship is clearer yet: "God gave them over to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural, and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error. . . . Those who practice such things are worthy of death" (Romans 1:16, 27, 32).

Although such passages do not use the term ("homosexuality") that Palmer questions, it leaves no room for doubt as to how God views this sin. In short, God says that it is an unnatural, degrading, and perverse act and relationship that brings those who practice it under His righteous judgment (cf. 1 Corinthians 6:9-10). Yet, however detestable and heinous homosexuality may be, those who know God will love sodomites and call for their repentance.

Richard Hollerman
(The Dallas Morning News)