QUESTION: Is homosexuality really a sin? I hear some churches condemn it, while others urge people to accept gays as good people who are different sexually. What does the Bible say?

ANSWER: Within our culture, there are several views of homosexuality, and your question demonstrates that many within the larger religious community are also divided on the issue. Whether one views homosexuality as sinful perversion of what God established as natural and lawful, or merely as an alternate lifestyle, depends on what he accepts as authority.

The Bible claims to be God's inspired word (2 Timothy 3:16-17; 2 Peter 1:20-21; Ephesians 3:1-5). It claims to be the standard of truth (John 8:31-32; 14:6; Psalm 119). This article focuses on giving Bible answers to questions, so let's examine what the Scriptures actually say.

We trace the word "sodomy" to a homosexual assault on two men who visited Abraham's nephew Lot (Genesis 19:1-8). That same chapter depicts God's destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah in a judgment on such sin.

Leviticus 18:22 says, "You shall not lie with a male as with a woman. It is an abomination." Under Moses' law, homosexuality was a capital offense. "If a man lies with a male as he lies with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination. They shall surely be put to death. Their blood shall be upon them." (Leviticus 20:13)

The New Testament also asserts the sinfulness of homosexuality. Romans 1:26-28 may be the clearest passage regarding the issue. "For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due. And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do things which are not fitting."

In 1 Corinthians 6:9-10, the same apostle wrote that practicing homosexuals cannot inherit the kingdom of God. But in verse 11, he indicated that some Corinthians had practiced such in the past, but they had ceased and been sanctified and justified.

Jude 7 describes homosexuality, as practiced in Sodom and Gomorrah, as "going after strange flesh," or doing what is against nature. That passage also describes God's judgment on those cities.

Some passages that mention homosexuality also mention other forms of sexual immorality, such as fornication (a general term for all sexual sin, including premarital sex), adultery, incest, and bestiality. The Bible equally condemns them all. Many Christians hypocritically condemn homosexuality and ignore other sexual sins. All are forms of fornication condemned in Scripture.

God's condemnation of homosexuality is the strongest argument against the idea that people are born that way. Such a position is totally untenable. It would have God creating a person who is compelled to act in a way declared sinful by the same God. It may be arguable that certain people are more inclined to homosexuality than others, but 1 Corinthians 10:13 declares, "No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also provide a way of escape, that you may be able to bear it." Just as a heterosexual person may be tempted, because of his or her inclinations, to commit premarital sex, incest, or adultery, it doesn't follow that he or she is unable to control those impulses or inclinations.

If we reject God's law on sexual matters and decide that each person should do what seems natural or acceptable to him, then we cannot logically oppose incest and pedophilia. And, if you are keeping up with current events, you realize that some of these are already real issues, both within and without religious communities.

Some say the Biblical view is homophobic, bigoted, or even hateful. Usually, such accusations are themselves prejudiced. However, Christians must be careful how they react to homosexuals. The Bible teaches us to "abhor (hate) what is evil." (Romans 12:9) But it also teaches us to love the sinner, while hating or abhorring his sin. If homosexuality is a sin and if, as the Scriptures teach, it keeps a person out of God's kingdom, then teaching homosexuals to repent is an act of love and kindness, not hate!