The Homosexual Flow Chart

Being circulated today are six-column flow charts with the huge title like the one below:

SO YOU STILL THINK
HOMOSEXUALITY
IS SINFUL?
AND THEREFORE GAYS SHOULDN'T
BE ALLOWED TO MARRY?

The word sinful is in red. If you answer, "No, "the arrow leads to a box that says: "Congratulations for being part of civilized society!" Seems sort of slanted, doesn't it? Those who agree with the chart maker's viewpoint receive, as a reward, the commendation as a civilized human being. The implication is that anyone who disagrees is a rank barbarian who should not be allowed to mingle in polite society. This kind of name-calling apparently still finds validity with some people.

So what happens if a person answers, "Yes," to the above question? He is treated to six columns of various harangues and a barrage of attacks against the Bible. Make no mistake about it. Despite their posturing that the Bible is on the side of homosexuality, they vilify the Scriptures at every turn. Watch how they go about it.

Anyone who answers that homosexuality is sinful is asked, "Why?" Instead of allowing Christians to make their own case, the chart makers answer for them. This is analogous to a district attorney questioning a witness and then answering the questions himself. Why bother to call a witness if he is not allowed to open his mouth and testify?

The homosexuals who composed this chart answer the question of "Why?" with the assertion, "Because Jesus said so!" This is not the way Christians would answer the question. But it is the answer they made up for us. Immediately underneath this answer, they have in red: "Not true. Jesus never uttered a word about same-sex relationships."

Christians cannot help it if homosexual leaders do not know the definition of the Greek word porneia. Any Greek dictionary would provide the information if they bothered to check. Jesus taught, in Matthew 15:18-20, that certain things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and they defile a man: The list includes fornications, from the Greek word porneia [Strong's #4203], which he defines as: "adultery, fornication, homosexuality, lesbianism, intercourse with animals etc." Also, included is "sexual intercourse with close relatives" and "sexual intercourse with a divorced man or woman." When Jesus used the word translated "fornications," He included homosexuality.

By the logic used on this chart, Jesus never condemned incest, bestiality, or rape. But all of these are included in the definition of fornication—the practice of which our Lord condemned. The makers of the chart have started off really badly to make their case, nor do they improve any.

The next answer they provide for their opponents is to have Christians say that homosexuality is wrong "because the Old Testament said so!" True Christians know that we are not under the Old Testament. It is only cited to show that in every age (the Patriarchal, the Mosaic, and the Christian) homosexuality is condemned. Some things God permitted were not ideal, but He never allowed homosexuality.

Now the chart could simply point out that it is invalid for Christians to live by the Old Testament, which is true, but instead they impugn the Old Testament, period, by saying that the Old Testament "also says it's sinful to eat shellfish, to wear clothes woven with different fabrics, and to eat pork. Should we still live by O.T. laws?" This is the logical fallacy known as tu quoque. In other words: "My actions may be condemned, but so are yours."

Well, no, because Christians are not under the Old Testament law. God gave that covenant to Israel—not us. Under the new covenant, Christians are allowed to eat any food (see Acts 10:10-16). It is also the case that mankind was permitted to eat plants and animals after the Flood (Gen. 9:2-4). But under the Law of Moses, God forbade the eating of numerous animals. So, the eating of all flesh is authorized. The prohibition of clothing made out of different fabrics is not repeated in the New Testament.

The Condemnation of the New Testament

The next possibility is that someone might argue that homosexuality is wrong "because the New Testament says so!" Notice the way they use the New Testament to defend their views and then turn around and trash it.

The original language of the N.T. actually refers to male prostitution, molestation, or promiscuity, not committed same sex relationships. Paul may have spoken against homosexuality, but he also said that women should be silent and never assume authority over a man.

The assertion that the New Testament words only condemn prostitution, molestation, or promiscuity is false. How ironic! They don't know what porneia means (a word used frequently in the New Testament), but when it comes to words describing homosexual behavior, they have suddenly become linguistic experts! However, the claim they make is wrong.

And no one needs to know Greek to disprove it. All one needs to do is read the context. Because the Gentiles rejected God, "Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves" (Rom. 1:24). Nothing indicates force. They exchanged truth for a lie (v. 25), and 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…" (1:26-27a). All of these are willing participants.

Notice the way the chart now goes after Paul, since he wrote the above passage and others. They want to fault him for what he wrote about males exercising spiritual leadership in the church and in the home (1 Tim. 2:11-14; Eph. 5:22-25). So, are we to ignore Paul as an inspired writer because of what he taught on leadership roles? Luke was his close friend and co-worker and he records that Jesus specifically selected Paul to be an apostle (Acts 9:1-5). Do we dismiss Luke and Acts, therefore, because Luke did not disagree with Paul? Matthew and Mark record a lot of the same material that Luke does? Can we rely on them? Oh, wait! Peter writes words similar to Paul's (1 Peter 3:1-7). At the rate we're going, we will not have much of the New Testament left.

It should be obvious by now that Paul is not the one who is deficient; his detractors are the ones who are suspect. Paul wrote: "If anyone thinks himself to be a prophet or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things which I write to you are the commandments of the Lord" (1 Cor. 14:37). True Christians will stand with Paul and what he wrote in his letters. Those denominations who violate what he commanded will have to answer for themselves.

A Special Condemnation

Anyone who still dares to think homosexuality is a sin at this point receives a special condemnation. The chart makers have grown exasperated with any opposition, and they now say to those who yet believe homosexuality is a sin:

Have fun living your sexist, chauvinistic, judgemental [sic], xenophobic lifestyle choice. The rest of culture will advance forward without you.

Who's judgmental? The way we live is not our choice, it's God's. Yes, those championing homosexuality will advance, all right—just as Sodom and Gomorrah did. Just as those who died in the Flood did. Just as those God gave over to captivity did.

God allows sin to persist for a time in order to give people a chance to repent (2 Peter 3:9). "But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up" (v. 10).

The next argument the chart makers made for us is that God made a man and a woman—not two men. Their reply is that a man and a woman were needed to populate the earth. The earth is sufficiently populated now; so, homosexuality ought to be permissible now. God's moral laws have nothing to do with population.

A similar argument the chart makers made for us instead of listening to us is that we oppose the practice "because the Bible clearly defines marriage as one-man-one woman!" Their response is:

Wrong! The Bible also defines marriage as one-man-many-women, one man many wives and many concubines, a rapist & his victim, and conquering soldier & female prisoner of war.

Even if all of that were true, please notice that marriage was not defined as two men or two women. The last two are part of the Law of Moses; the precepts safeguarded women. It was common in those days for men to takes as wives or concubines women taken in battle. Their husbands had been killed, but God's people were not to abuse these women. Tamar was a violated woman, and she remained desolate because Amnon would not marry her, as the Law stated he should.

God allowed both polygamy and divorce, but from the beginning it was not so. Have the chart makers never read what Jesus said about marriage? God, the Creator of mankind, "made them at the beginning" male and female (Matt. 19:4). The man and his wife become one flesh (v. 5). Jesus concluded by adding, "So then, they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate." (v. 6).

To state it briefly, God never intended any other marital arrangement but one man and one woman, nor does He authorize it. No one can find a single command for two men or two women to be together. No approved example of such an arrangement exists in the Scriptures. Nor is it anywhere remotely implied that God would be pleased with two people forming a "family" on that basis.

So, is God to be blamed for denying what some desire to do? No, the blameworthy are those who insist on defying God's plan for humanity. Should the Scriptures be attacked because they do not support the practice? That is the response of many, but it is to no avail. One can denigrate the Scriptures, defy them, call them archaic, unloving, and unfeeling. One can be angry and have parades from now till the cows come home, but it will not change or alter the truth.

Mankind has constantly rejected God and His ways, but it has never done them any good. Christians have been persecuted and put to death, but the Word of God still reads the same. Probably, there will be many more attempts to undermine or destroy the Bible, but when all is said and done, we shall all still stand before the judgment seat of Christ and be judged by what Jesus taught (John 12:48).