A popular sentiment today is that the Bible is increasingly irrelevant in our modern age of scientific enlightenment. Thus, when the Scripture’s condemnation of homosexuality is referenced, it is not uncommon to see expressions of polite exasperation etched on people’s faces. After all, the Bible not only condemns homosexuality but also clearly teaches that Sabbath breakers must be put to death (Exodus 35:2).

First, it should be noted that while Sabbath breaking had serious ramifications within ancient Israel, it is not a precedent for executing people today. Not only are we no longer under the civil and ceremonial laws of a Jewish theocratic form of government, but as the apostle Paul explained, the symbolism of the law has been fulfilled in Christ (Galatians 3:13–14). In his letter to the Colossian Christians, Paul underscored the Christian’s freedom from adherence to Sabbath laws by pointing out that “these are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ” (Colossians 2:17). Thus, there is an obvious difference between enduring moral principles regarding homosexuality and temporary civil and ceremonial laws relegated to a particular historical context.

Furthermore, we would do well to recognize that the God of the Bible does not condemn homosexuality in an arbitrary and capricious fashion. Rather, He carefully defines the borders of human sexuality so that our joy may be complete. It does not require an advanced degree in physiology to appreciate the fact that the human body is not designed for homosexual relationships. Spurious slogans and sound bites do not change the scientific reality that homosexual relationships can be devastating not only from a psychological but also from a physiological perspective.

Finally, far from being irrelevant and antiquated, the Bible’s warnings regarding homosexuality are eerily relevant and up-to-date. The book of Romans aptly describes both the perversion and the penalty: “Their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion” (1:26– 27). It would be difficult to miss the relationship between Paul’s words and the current health-care holocaust. More people already have died worldwide from AIDS than the United States of America has lost in all its wars combined. This is but the tip of an insidious iceberg. The homosexual lifestyle causes a host of complications including hemorrhoids, prostate dam- age, and infectious fissures. And even that merely scratches the surface. Nonviral infections transmitted through homosexual activity include gonorrhea, chlamydia, and syphilis. Viral infections involve condylomata, herpes, and hepatitis A and B.

While there are attendant moral and medical problems with sexual promiscuity in general, it would be homophobic in the extreme to obscure the scientific realities concerning homosexuality. Attempting to keep a whole segment of the population in the dark concerning such issues is a hate crime of unparalleled proportions. Thus, far from demonstrating that the Bible is out of step with the times, its warnings regarding homosexuality demonstrate that it is as relevant today as it was in the beginning.

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.

Romans 1:26–27 NKJV

For further study, see Joe Dallas, The Gay Gospel?: How Pro-Gay Advocates Misread The Bible (Eugene, OR: Harvest House Publishers, 2007); and Robert A. J. Gagnon, The Bible and Homosexual Practice: Texts and Hermeneutics (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2001); see also Hank Hanegraaff, “President Bartlett’s Fallacious Diatribe,”. 

**Note the preceding text is adapted from a new Revised and Updated version of The Complete Bible Answer Book that is forthcoming. When available we will update this page with corresponding information. Until then you can still purchase or receive for your partnering gift the current version by clicking here for purchase or here for partnering gift. ***