Ed Vitagliano

AFA Journal news editor

June 2013 – It is sometimes difficult for Christians to comprehend the breathtaking speed with which the gay movement has succeeded in America. While the political movement itself began in 1969, it has only been over the last decade that homosexual activists have seen virtually every one of their dreams come true.

It is not enough to simply state that homosexual triumphalism has occurred in tandem with American decay during those 10 years. The truth is far more complex than that. Ancient Greek and Roman culture, for example, seemed to embrace homosexuality during times of both civilizational progress and deterioration.

It is also not enough to assert that homosexuality flourishes only when a culture is pagan, because not all pagan cultures agreed about the behavior. While the ancient Greeks embraced it, the Vikings, on the other hand, thought it a behavior so distasteful that they used the term as an insult to their enemies.

Yet Scripture is clear that embracing homosexuality is a sign of a deep spiritual sickness. In particular, three important passages warn cultures about taking this step.

Warning: Romans 1
According to this passage (vv. 18-32), both the individual and cultural embrace of homosexuality is the embodiment of idolatrous rebellion against God. It manifests defiance because it represents not only rebellion against God’s Laws (which can be rationalized away) but also the nature God has created (which cannot be so easily dismissed). 

For example, this rebellion stares into the face of the clear duality and complementarity of human sexuality and argues that such a reality does not exist.

How can a reasonable person do this? How can a society clearly see that humanity is divided into male and female genders, with corresponding, rather than identical, genitalia, and shrug its collective shoulders?

Romans 1:18 states that this is done because they “suppress the truth in unrighteousness.” The Greeks did this. America is on the verge of doing so.

A downward death spiral results from such suppression. These individuals (and, we must assume, the cultures such individuals create) sink into further darkness and eventually (unless God intervenes) become hardened and blinded to the truth.

Warning: Genesis 18, 19
For the individual who embraces homosexuality or the culture that does so, the consequences of the downward spiral outlined in Romans 1 are terrifying. Such people are given over to beliefs and practices that express only dishonor, degradation and depravity.

This frightening process is nowhere on display more than in the fate of Sodom and Gomorrah. As outlined in Genesis 18 and 19, the familiar story reveals that the unrighteousness of those cities had grown to the point that God desired to “sweep away” all who lived there (Genesis 18:20, 23). Lot and his family were commanded by angelic visitors (in the form of men) to leave or be swallowed up in the destruction.

Despite the protestations of gay activists to the contrary, homosexuality clearly was a prevalent sin in Sodom and Gomorrah. The New Testament writers make this plain.

In 2 Peter 2, the apostle warns that the destruction of the doomed cities should serve as an example to the wicked of every generation (vs. 6). Lot, he said, continually witnessed “the sensual conduct of unprincipled men,” who, among other things, “indulge the flesh in its corrupt desires” (vv. 7, 10).

In Jude 7 the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah is made even more explicit: The inhabitants “indulged in gross immorality and went after strange flesh,” and what could be stranger than men fornicating with other men?

But the Genesis account takes note of the utter depravity of these particular homosexual men, for it was the violence of their predatory behavior that seems most abhorrent in the passage. They literally threatened to have forcible homosexual intercourse with Lot’s visitors – i.e., to rape his guests.

Here we have the bottom level of the Romans 1 downward spiral. These men were so given over to their perverse sexual appetites that self-control was no longer possible – except to the extent that they could wait long enough to issue a demand for sex.

Warning: Ezekiel 16
At this point, one should resist the temptation to argue that all homosexuals are likewise sexually violent or to simply blame homosexuals for the ruin of the two condemned cities.

True, the Genesis story of Sodom portrays violent homosexuality as the lowest level of the Romans 1 vortex. But Romans 1 also teaches that homosexuality itself exists in a moral milieu of idolatry that encompasses a long list of generalized sins (vv. 29-32).

That is the warning of Ezekiel 16: The embrace of homosexuality occurs because a culture has embraced other forms of evil first. The prophet warns Israel to repent of its sins by pointing to the destruction of Sodom and the causes of that destruction: “Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had arrogance, abundant food and careless ease, but she did not help the poor and needy. Thus they were haughty and committed abominations before Me. Therefore I removed them when I saw it” (Ezekiel 16:49-50).

Ezekiel’s reference to the fact that Sodom “committed abominations” before God is no doubt a reference to the inhabitants’ homosexual proclivities – especially with the Genesis story in the minds of Ezekiel’s hearers. After all, the Jews understood “abomination” as a common way of referring to sexual sins like homosexuality (Leviticus 18:22).

Therefore, the prophet’s statement is both an explanation of the Genesis account and the heart of his warning to Israel. The nation’s harlotries and abominations, clearly laid out in the earlier portions of Ezekiel 16, are tied to the unfaithful nation’s own wealth and material blessings (vv. 10-14). Such luxury and arrogance led to the sin of idolatry – precisely what we would expect from reading Romans 1. There is even a mention of the slaughter of Israel’s children in the midst of the nation’s idol worship (Eze. 16:20, 21), a clear parallel to America’s stubborn embrace of abortion.

It was only in the feverishness of that morally sick condition that Sodom had embraced homosexuality, and Israel was fast approaching that condition.

Homosexuality as barometer
That is precisely what has happened in the U.S. The homosexual movement has had such great success because Americans have become arrogantly self-indulgent and idolatrous. Straight America has embraced homosexuality because straight Americans first embraced the sexual revolution for the satisfaction of their own perverse sexual appetites.

Judgment came to Sodom because violent homosexuality was the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back. As a prevalent sin, however, it was the manifestation of an underlying wickedness that permeated the entire culture – a wickedness that was not limited to the homosexual.

Thus homosexuality often becomes the barometer of a culture rotting out from the inside. If the problem were only homosexuality, then the simple act of pushing it back into the closet (if that were possible) would be enough to forestall judgment.

But what Ezekiel 16 teaches us is this: By the time a culture accepts idolatry, abortion and homosexuality, it is already ripe for the devastation wrought by God’s wrath.

Whether they live in a decidedly pagan culture or one, like America, that is an admixture, Christians are called to be salt and light. 

Standing against the unrighteousness permeating our society might not be the easy thing to do, but it’s a whole lot easier than running from the fire and brimstone that inevitably follow.  

RESOURCES
Divorcing God: Secularism and the Republic (DVD) – a look at what the Founding Fathers believed about morality and religious faith as the pillars of our government and nation, and the dangers posed by secular humanism. Divorcing God also explores the historical patterns of the lives of nations and empires.

It’s Not Gay (DVD) – Former homosexuals tell a story that few have heard. Along with medical and mental health experts, these individuals express a clear warning that the sanitized version of homosexuality being presented to our culture is not the whole truth.

Both DVDs are available at the AFA store.