On 3rd
December 2014 a pastor was reported predicting ‘AIDS free Christmas’ if all
homosexuals are killed, “A Baptist pastor
in Tempe, Arizona called for the mass extermination of LGBT people on Sunday in
a sermon entitled “AIDS: The Judgement of God.” In the sermon, which was
uploaded to YouTube on Monday from Faithful Word Baptist Church, Pastor Steven
Anderson said that God has ordered in the scriptures that gays should be
killed, and that if humanity wants to have an “AIDS-free world by Christmas,”
he said, that’s what should be done.
“Turn to Leviticus 20:13,” he says
in the video, “because I actually discovered the cure for AIDS.” “If a man also
lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an
abomination: they shall surely be put to death. Their blood shall be upon
them,” Anderson read aloud. “And that, my friend, is the cure for AIDS,” he
said. …Because if you executed the homos like God recommends, you wouldn’t have
all this AIDS running rampant”…There will never be any gays in his church, he
said, not ever, ever, ever. “No homos will ever be allowed in this church as
long as I am pastor here,” he insisted...”1
(Leviticus
20: 13 in New International Version translation is, “If a man has sexual relations with a man as one does with a woman,
both of them have done what is detestable. They are to be put to death; their
blood will be on their own heads.”)
Some key
questions, in this context, should be addressed, and they are:
1. Are the Old
Testament Laws Applicable Today?
Not all Old
Testament laws are applicable to Christians today.
God did not
intend Old Testament laws to be timeless ethical codes. God gave Israel laws
that were appropriate to their historical circumstances.2
Consider
divorce as a case in point. Divorce was permissible under the Old Testament law
(Deuteronomy 24: 1-4), but Christ revised the law on divorce. First, HE said
that divorce was not God’s ideal for marriage established at creation (Matthew
19: 8). Second, Christ taught that sexual immorality could be the only reason
for divorce (Matthew 5: 32, 19:9).
The Old Testament
law on divorce was only appropriate to the morally calloused hearts of the
Israelites, for Christ radically narrowed the scope for divorce.
Furthermore,
some Old Testament laws do not apply to the life of a Christian (e.g.
circumcision: Acts 15 & 1 Corinthians 7: 19).
Advocates
for homosexuality strive to legitimize homosexuality by claiming that none of the Old Testament laws are
applicable to Christians today. They refer to Paul’s argument that he was no
longer under the law (1 Corinthians 9: 20) to legitimize homosexuality as
permissible by God.
While
striving to legitimize homosexuality in Christianity, these heretics ignore the
verses from the New Testament (verses written by Paul) that deem homosexuality
as sin (Romans 1:26-27, 1 Corinthians 6:9). Since both the Old and the New
Testament deem homosexuality as sin, mankind, especially Christians, should not
indulge in homosexuality.
2. Does God Desire
the Death of Homosexuals?
God did say
what HE said in Leviticus 20:13. Leviticus
20:13 teaches that homosexuality is sin, and death is the punishment or
consequence for homosexuality.
The New
Testament affirms death for sin (Romans 6: 23). The only difference between the
theocratic-then (divine governance: God ruled Israel directly then) and the
non-theocratic-now (human governance within God’s absolute control) is the timing
of God’s judgment.
Judgment [for
homosexuality] was immediate in the theocratic-then. But now it could happen in
the present (e.g. death due to AIDS) or in the future – when Christ will judge
mankind once and for all.
Unless man repents
and believes in Christ, whose perfect sacrifice will save everyone who believes
in HIM from sin, the sinful man will eternally die for the sake of his sin, be
it homosexuality or any other sin.
3. Should Homosexuals
be Murdered Today?
No, the
Bible does not teach that homosexuals should be killed now.
If
Levitical laws are to be considered today, then each of them needs to be
followed. For instance, all adulterers should be murdered as well (Leviticus
20: 10).
God was not
solely biased against the homosexuals that HE pronounced death sentence against
them. In fact, God was against any form of sex outside the precincts of
marriage, which is precisely why adultery was also judged with a death
sentence.
We would do
well to recollect that Israel was a theocratic society when God handed down the
Levitical laws to Israel. The period of theocracy has ceased ever since Israel
rejected God’s rule over them. God then gave the Israelites over to human kings
(1 Samuel 8: 4-9). (Theocracy will once again be established when the Lord
Jesus will rule again from Jerusalem in the future for 1000 years.)
Since we
are no longer a theocratic society, God has commanded us to submit to the
governing authorities. So we submit to the laws established by the governing
authorities (Romans 13: 1-7).
Christians
are not called to take the law into our own hands. Christians are called to
submit to the righteous rulers who govern for the good of the people.
Since there
are no laws promulgating death upon homosexuals today, homosexuals should not
be murdered. Everything that’s immoral or that which is a sin against a Holy
God cannot be judged with death or termed illegal in a non-theocratic society
we live in now. Thus, calling for the murder of homosexuals is unbiblical, insane
and depicts a distortion of the Bible.
Homosexuality
is a violation of God’s creational intent. God created man and woman for sexual
intercourse, therefore homosexual relationship, as an aberration of the
creational intent, is an assault on God.
God has
assured in HIS Word that homosexual offenders will not inherit God’s Kingdom.
Murdering homosexuals will deprive them of an opportunity to repent and
renounce homosexuality. Moreover, it is God who has the sole right to take life
off the earth.
Hence, it
is our bounden responsibility to love homosexuals so to lead them to Christ by
whose presence and power they could renounce the sinful practice of
homosexuality.
4. Are All
Homosexuals Pedophiles?
The pastor
from Arizona termed homosexuals as pedophiles (an adult who is sexually
attracted to young children). The term pedophile does not apply to homosexuals,
since homosexuals, by definition, indulge in same sex relationships, and
normatively are not pedophiles.
5. Should The Church
Marry Homosexuals?
Obviously
not. The church should not marry homosexuals.
The Bible
deems homosexuality as sin (Cf. Genesis 19:1-13; Leviticus 18:22, 20: 13; Romans
1:26-27, 1 Corinthians 6:9); hence the church should not encourage sins. Consequently,
the church should not marry homosexuals.
Sadly,
quite a few churches marry homosexuals and even ordain and appoint pastors who practice
homosexuality. Similarly Evangelicals
concerned is a movement that seeks to legitimize homosexuality in
Christianity.
Those striving
to legitimize homosexuality in Christianity misinterpret the verses from the
Bible that deem homosexuality as sin so to render homosexuality as a
God-approved practice. This hermeneutical distortion is a sin since it falsifies
God’s Word to misrepresent God.
They also
deceptively emphasize that to love your
neighbor is to love their sins and encourage them in their sins. If we
apply their faulty interpretation to human existence, then one should
legitimize all the sins e.g. greed, slander, drunkenness, adultery, theft and
what not.
6. Could Practicing
Homosexuals Worship In Church?
Church is a
congregation of sinners. There is none righteous in the church (Cf. Ecclesiastes
7: 20, Romans 3: 10).
Consider
this verse, “Or do you not know that
wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the
sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men nor
thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit
the kingdom of God” (1 Corinthians 6: 9-10, NIV).
Minimally,
the church includes greedy, drunkards, slanderers and thieves (those who use
their workplace resources for personal and other gains could be considered as
thieves). If these sinners can worship the Lord and be in positions of
leadership in the local church, then why can’t practicing homosexuals worship
the Lord in the church?
If
practicing homosexuals are denied access to the church, then how can one expect
them to renounce homosexuality? What then is the ministry of the local church?
A key role of
the church is to edify its worshippers. In other words, a greedy person who
worships in the church should renounce the sin of greed by the power of the
Holy Spirit and through the ministry of the church.
Similarly,
a practicing homosexual or a prostitute should renounce their sins through the
ministry of the church by the power of the Holy Spirit. Renouncing sins is more
likely possible when the church ministers to the sinner in Christ’s love and
the power of the Holy Spirit.
Therefore,
the church should graciously and lovingly include practicing sinners in its
community and that includes practicing homosexuals as well.
Endnotes:
1 http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/12/arizona-pastor-predicts-aids-free-christmas-if-all-gays-are-killed-as-god-commands/comments/
2 For a detailed study,
please refer to Paul Copan’s Is God a
Moral Monster?
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