Homosexual activism and public opinion - what about adultery?

I recently read an article, entitled "The six ways homosexual activists manipulate public opinion." (The article was published in 2012.) The "six ways" included "claim victim status." The article concentrated on that, and discussed hate crimes against homosexuals, and how homosexuality is treated in college campus discourse and regulations. There is documentation for these two ideas, in particular. In the first place, the author claims that most crimes against homosexuals are perpetrated by other homosexuals, and that there are also more crimes by homosexuals against heterosexuals than the reverse. In the second place, university policies often seem to suppress any suggestion that homosexual activity might be sinful, and students, and sometimes faculty, are sometimes punished for saying so. Christian student groups have been severely penalized for refusing to allow practicing homosexuals to be group officers.

I don't doubt either of these claims, although I have no easy way to check them. I have seen other documentation of the second claim, and, expanding it, believe that speaking about what the Bible says about homosexuality is coming to lead to disagreement, and even legal penalties, in society at large. (See my post on how "hate speech" is coming to include merely saying that I think homosexual activity is condemned in the Bible.)

OK. Suppose these claims are true. One thing that would have been expected to happen is that homosexuals would appear more often in films, books and TV programs, and other media. Does anyone doubt that this has happened?

But the alarmism seems a bit odd, or at least not broad enough. It is doubtful that most homosexuals have agreed to adopt a particular agenda towards achieving acceptance and suppressing resistance to acceptance, even though they usually seem to want acceptance of their behavior. It's hard to organize any group that large. 

But, more important, where is the alarm over adultery and various forms of heterosexual sex outside of marriage, which have gradually become more "acceptable" over the past decades? Adulterers, and sexual partners without marriage, have made great inroads into popular culture, and, currently, there doesn't seem to be much said about that. Most of the sexual activity, implied, or actually shown, on network television, and, apparently, on pay-for-view sources such as HBO, is between heterosexual people who aren't married. I'm guessing that most pornography is heterosexual in nature, not homosexual. People who have committed adultery, or had sexual relations without marriage, are accepted, even sometimes put forward as role models. For an obvious example, few people, or none, seem to have been bothered by the adultery committed by the current President of the US (before he was a serious candidate). This is not to attack Mr. Trump, or to deny the possibility that he has been forgiven of that sin, but to indicate the widespread acceptance of adultery in our society, even by many so-called conservative Christians. In Mr. Trump's case, especially by conservative Christians.

To put it another way, Democrats often seem to accept, even glorify, homosexual behavior. Republicans are less likely to, but they seem to accept heterosexual sins, including adultery, which, after all, is forbidden by one of the Ten Commandments. At least as long as the heterosexual sinners claim to be against big government.

I quote from a previous post:
Is homosexual activity the worst sin? No. See what Jesus said in comparing Sodom to the people of his day, in Matthew 11:20-24, and Luke 10:1-12. Romans 1 indicates that homosexual behavior is a symptom of a worse sin, idolatry or unbelief.

Homosexual activity is not even the worst sexual sin -- it's not part of the 10 commandments. There's a list of curses for sinful activity in Deuteronomy 27:15-26. Four such were curses for sexual misconduct, and they didn't include homosexual activity. (That does not, of course, make homosexual activity acceptable for Christians. [Or anyone else])

Thanks for reading. This post was edited on March 27, 2017.

Does the Bible really say that? Excerpt from my book, 23

[Continued discussion of this topic from the previous post in the series.]

Hate speech?

Opposition to marriage between homosexual partners is coming to be called “hate speech.” It shouldn’t be hate speech, whatever it’s called. We should not hate homosexuals, gossips, or axe murderers. We should hate the things they do, and wish that they would stop, but it is possible to love them, anyway. Ask any parent if it isn’t possible to love the person, but not love all of their actions! Christ didn’t approve of the way Zacchaeus used his position as a tax collector to cheat people, but He loved Zacchaeus:

Luke 19:1 He entered and was passing through Jericho. 2 There was a man named Zacchaeus. He was a chief tax collector, and he was rich. 3 He was trying to see who Jesus was, and couldn’t because of the crowd, because he was short. 4 He ran on ahead, and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was going to pass that way. 5 When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and saw him, and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for today I must stay at your house.” 6 He hurried, came down, and received him joyfully. 7 When they saw it, they all murmured, saying, “He has gone in to lodge with a man who is a sinner.”

8 Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, “Behold, Lord, half of my goods I give to the poor. If I have wrongfully exacted anything of anyone, I restore four times as much.”

9 Jesus said to him, “Today, salvation has come to this house, because he also is a son of Abraham. 10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save that which was lost.”

Of course, it is possible that statements about homosexuals are founded on hate, whether expressed or not. Some of the motivation behind attempts to label homosexuals as particularly sinful may be due to prejudice, or even hate. That’s not the Christian way.

In the beginning of this chapter, I said that homosexual sexual activity is sinful. That wasn’t hate speech. It was a fact, based on what the Bible says. If I say that stealing cars for a living is sinful, that’s not hate speech. It’s a fact, based on the Ten Commandments. Opposition to marriage between homosexuals, or to homosexual sexual activity, isn’t hate speech, morally, unless it is said, or written, with hateful motives, no matter what is or isn’t politically correct.

The Westboro Baptist Church says, on its web site, that “God hates fags.” There’s no doubt of their attitude -- their URL is www.godhatesfags.com. That’s hate speech. God doesn’t hate fags, any more than He hates people who make statements like that. Both need repentance and redemption.

Saying homosexual activity is sinful doesn’t need to, and shouldn’t mean that the person who made it hates homosexuals. But it may be a different matter under the law. The Wikipedia article on hate speech says this:

In law, hate speech is any speech, gesture or conduct, writing, or display which is forbidden because it may incite violence or prejudicial action against or by a protected individual or group, or because it disparages or intimidates a protected individual or group. The law may identify a protected individual or a protected group by disability, ethnicity, gender, gender identity, nationality, religion, race, sexual orientation, . . . or other characteristic

Any Christian (or anyone else) should be able to say that sexual activity between homosexuals is sinful, in a loving manner, without it being labeled hate speech, no matter what the laws about hate speech, or sex, may say. If saying such means that a person can be charged with a crime, well, so be it. Believers who were doing what God wanted them to have been imprisoned for all sorts of “crimes” in the past, and, if Christ tarries, will be in the future. Christian behavior may require us to carefully state our convictions, in a Christ-like manner, even if there is danger of being punished for doing so.

The above is an excerpt from my recently published e-book, Does the Bible Really Say That?, which may be obtained free of charge, or purchased from Amazon for $0.99, which is the lowest price Amazon lets an author set. Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain.

The previous post in this series is here. God willing, the next excerpt will begin a new topic.

Hate speech and homosexuality

Christianity Today recently published an article by Albert Mohler, in which Mohler said that Tim Tebow, football player and evangelical Christian, recently canceled a speaking engagement at a large Baptist church. At least part of the reason he did seems to have been that the pastor of that church has been vocal about his belief that homosexual behavior is sinful. Mohler quotes a CBS Sports employee as saying that that pastor has been “guilty of serial hate speech.”

This episode raises the possibility that a Christian may be prosecuted, even jailed, for saying something consistent with the Bible, and without hating anyone. And the prosecution might be for hate speech.

Why do I say this?

I believe that homosexual activity (not homosexual tendency) is sinful.

Is the previous sentence hate speech? Maybe.

It shouldn’t be hate speech. Christians should not hate homosexuals, gossips, or axe murderers. We should hate the things they do, and wish that they would stop, but it is possible to love them, anyway. Ask any parent if it isn’t possible to love the person, but not love all of their actions! Christ didn’t approve of the way Zacchaeus used his position as a tax collector to cheat people, but He loved Zacchaeus.

Of course, it is possible that statements about homosexuals are founded on hate, whether expressed or not. Some of the motivation behind attempts to label homosexuals as particularly sinful, or to oppose the legalization of homosexual marriage, may be due to hate. That’s not the Christian way.

In the bold sentence, at the beginning of the short paragraph above, I said that homosexual sexual activity is sinful. If I understand my heart, that wasn’t hate speech. It was a fact, based on what the Bible says. If I say that stealing cars for a living is sinful, that’s not hate speech. It’s a fact, based on the Ten Commandments. Opposition to marriage between homosexuals, or to homosexual sexual activity, isn’t hate speech, morally, unless it is said, or written, with hateful motives, no matter what is or isn’t politically correct, and no matter what the law says.

The Westboro Baptist Church says, on its web site, that “God hates fags.” There’s no doubt of their motives -- their URL is www.godhatesfags.com. That’s hate speech. God doesn’t hate fags, any more than he hates people who make statements like that. Both need repentance and redemption.

Saying homosexual activity is sinful doesn’t need to, and shouldn’t mean that the person who made it hates homosexuals. But it may be a different matter under the law. The Wikipedia article on hate speech says this:

In law, hate speech is any speech, gesture or conduct, writing, or display which is forbidden because it may incite violence or prejudicial action against or by a protected individual or group, or because it disparages or intimidates a protected individual or group. The law may identify a protected individual or a protected group by disability, ethnicity, gender, gender identity, nationality, religion, race, sexual orientation, . . . or other characteristic

As I understand it, if the Wikipedia is correct, the bold statement above may, indeed, be hate speech under the law. It may disparage or intimidate homosexuals. That wasn’t my intention, but never mind.

Any Christian (or anyone else) should be able to say that sexual activity between homosexuals is sinful, in a loving manner, without it being labeled hate speech, no matter what the laws about hate speech may say. If saying such means that a person can be charged with a crime, well, so be it. Believers have been imprisoned for all sorts of “crimes” in the past, and, if Christ tarries, will be in the future. It should be a mark of honor to carefully state one’s convictions, in a Christ-like manner, especially if there is danger of being punished for it.

Thanks for reading. See here for a previous post on homosexuality.