Homosexuality: What would Jesus do?
<HR SIZE=1>[size=-1]Posted: November 9, 2004
1:00 a.m. Eastern
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[font=Palatino,]By Joseph Farah
<HR SIZE=1>[size=-1]© 2004 WorldNetDaily.com [/size][/font]
Patricia Ireland, former president of the National Organization of Women, raised what probably sounded like a good question to some recently.
She asked during a debate on the Fox News Channel: "If ... lesbian and gay rights issues were such a serious kind of value, a core value, why did Jesus never talk about them?"
Of course, the answer is that homosexuals have no special rights that distinguish what they do and who they are. They have only the same rights the rest of humanity has. The question should be more appropriately asked of people like Ireland, who pretend to be Christians, while asserting values that are contrary to the Christian faith and the Judeo-Christian tradition.
That was her question. And that is the appropriate answer to the question she asked. But I'm not sure she was asking the right question. Let me see if I can more properly frame the question to help her out.
If the institution of marriage as we know it between one man and one woman is such an important value, a core value of the Christian faith, why did Jesus never talk about it?
The answer to that question, of course, is that He did. He did so explicitly. He defined it clearly. And His definition leaves no room for same-sex unions.
And he answered and said unto them, Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female, And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh? Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.
– Matthew 19:4-6
That's what Jesus Himself said about marriage. It's also a very strong statement about the fact that men and women were made for each other. There's no talk here of civil unions. There's no suggestion here of domestic partnerships. There's no hint here that men should fool around with men and that women should fool around with women.
It's a straightforward statement that alone should clarify any misconceptions about what Jesus thought and believed and commanded insofar as sexual unions.
But the Bible and the Christian faith are based on much more than the words spoken by Jesus, who explained that He did not come to overturn the law but to fulfill it. That means the basic commandments of the Hebrew Scriptures didn't change when Jesus came along. And those laws are crystal clear in condemning homosexuality as an abomination in the sight of God – as they are in the inspired teachings of Paul in the New Testament.
Jesus Himself was referring to the law as laid out in Genesis 2:24: "Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh."
My point is that people like Patricia Ireland, John Kerry and Hillary Clinton like to pretend they are operating under the same value system that led to Western Civilization, the same value system that resulted in the founding of America, the same value system that was taught by Jesus and the Hebrew prophets before Him.
They are not. They are operating under different values. They are only pretending to have a different interpretation of those values. That is why they are so uncomfortable talking about values. Because they are in constant fear you will find them out – that you will discover they are operating under a completely different worldview.
But it's important to recognize what their game is.
It doesn't matter to them what Jesus taught. But they know it still matters to enough Americans. And if enough Americans see through their charade, then they can't win elections. And if they can't win elections, they can't impose their different morality on you.
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<HR SIZE=1>[size=-1]Posted: November 9, 2004
1:00 a.m. Eastern
[/size]
[font=Palatino,]By Joseph Farah
<HR SIZE=1>[size=-1]© 2004 WorldNetDaily.com [/size][/font]
Patricia Ireland, former president of the National Organization of Women, raised what probably sounded like a good question to some recently.
She asked during a debate on the Fox News Channel: "If ... lesbian and gay rights issues were such a serious kind of value, a core value, why did Jesus never talk about them?"
Of course, the answer is that homosexuals have no special rights that distinguish what they do and who they are. They have only the same rights the rest of humanity has. The question should be more appropriately asked of people like Ireland, who pretend to be Christians, while asserting values that are contrary to the Christian faith and the Judeo-Christian tradition.
That was her question. And that is the appropriate answer to the question she asked. But I'm not sure she was asking the right question. Let me see if I can more properly frame the question to help her out.
If the institution of marriage as we know it between one man and one woman is such an important value, a core value of the Christian faith, why did Jesus never talk about it?
The answer to that question, of course, is that He did. He did so explicitly. He defined it clearly. And His definition leaves no room for same-sex unions.
And he answered and said unto them, Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female, And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh? Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.
– Matthew 19:4-6
That's what Jesus Himself said about marriage. It's also a very strong statement about the fact that men and women were made for each other. There's no talk here of civil unions. There's no suggestion here of domestic partnerships. There's no hint here that men should fool around with men and that women should fool around with women.
It's a straightforward statement that alone should clarify any misconceptions about what Jesus thought and believed and commanded insofar as sexual unions.
But the Bible and the Christian faith are based on much more than the words spoken by Jesus, who explained that He did not come to overturn the law but to fulfill it. That means the basic commandments of the Hebrew Scriptures didn't change when Jesus came along. And those laws are crystal clear in condemning homosexuality as an abomination in the sight of God – as they are in the inspired teachings of Paul in the New Testament.
Jesus Himself was referring to the law as laid out in Genesis 2:24: "Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh."
My point is that people like Patricia Ireland, John Kerry and Hillary Clinton like to pretend they are operating under the same value system that led to Western Civilization, the same value system that resulted in the founding of America, the same value system that was taught by Jesus and the Hebrew prophets before Him.
They are not. They are operating under different values. They are only pretending to have a different interpretation of those values. That is why they are so uncomfortable talking about values. Because they are in constant fear you will find them out – that you will discover they are operating under a completely different worldview.
But it's important to recognize what their game is.
It doesn't matter to them what Jesus taught. But they know it still matters to enough Americans. And if enough Americans see through their charade, then they can't win elections. And if they can't win elections, they can't impose their different morality on you.
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