The Grace Inclusive Christian Prayer And/Or Bible and Homosexuality (and discussion) groups
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Hey Jude! A Study by John of AllFaith © Aug. 1999 (revised 11.21.09) |
(John 6:37).
This study uses the King James Version of the Holy Bible throughout.
To read it with a modern English translation of the Bible Go Here
The Text:
Jude 1:7 Even as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.
8 Likewise also these filthy dreamers defile the flesh, despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities.This verse references the events at Sodom and Gomorrah. For more information on that event Go Here for my detailed study or Here for my more concise study.
Porneia
The word translated as "fornication" in this verse is ekporneuo, which comes from the root, ex or ek referring to the place from whence a thing arises, i.e. the motivation, lust or drive behind the act -- hence the translation "given over to" -- and porneuo which refers to any type of unlawful sensual lusts, sexual or otherwise.
The New Testament has at least four different usages of the term porneia (fornication):
(1) As unlawful voluntary sex between an unmarried person and anyone of the opposite gender (1 Cor. 7:2; 1 Thess. 4:3).
(2) As a synonym for adultery -- voluntary sex between a married person and another not his/her spouse (Matt. 5:32; 19:9).
(3) As all forms of unchastity in a general sense (Acts 15:20,29; 21:25;1 Cor. 6:13,18; Eph. 5:3).
(4) As spiritual or religious harlotry -- engaging in the worship of other gods (Acts 15:20; Rom. 1:20; 1 Cor. 6:13,18; Rev. 2:14,20,21).What is not found ANYWHERE in the Bible is porneia used to refer to homosexuality.
Exactly what porneia means in any given text can only be determined by the context in which it is used. Two married people of the same gender could commit adultery (moicheia) for instance which is a form of fornication, however their genders would not be what made the act fornication nor adultery. Nothing about porneia is gender nor sexual orientation specific.
By the time the infamous events at Sodom occurred the people had become wicked and their wickedness doubtless included rampant porneia (fornication) of all types, but porneia does not imply homosexuality in any way nor does anything else in the Sodom account when read in context. Again, my study on what happened there can be read Here.
The Exegeses Ready Research Bible, a very conservative study source, translates the word as "whoring" and explains that the term includes the concept of physical or spiritual infidelity (Lexicon) as shown above.
This word, "ekporneuo" only occurs in the Bible in this single verse. Understanding the word as I have shared here is in complete harmony with the account in Genesis and with this section of holy scripture.
In the Sodom account, the people of the cities of the Jordan Plain had recently been involved in a bitter war. They had been tortured and enslaved by the neighboring tribes. Their paranoia was understandable from a human perspective but they were supposed to be better than that. Their murderous paranoia of the Visitors who came to them by night arose from a serious lack of faith in and appreciation for the liberation provided by HaShem through His servant Abraham and sealed by the High Priest of El Elyon, Melchizedek himself. So serious was this that HaShem Himself intervened.
The Sin of Sodom
What was the Sin of Sodom?
Ezekiel 16:48 Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fulness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy.
49 And they were haughty, and committed abomination before me: therefore I took them away as I saw good.That this understanding is correct is supported by Y'shua of Nazareth himself, who clearly said the cities were destroyed due to their inhospitably to strangers and those in need:
Mark 6:11 And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear you, when ye depart thence, shake off the dust under your feet for a testimony against them. Verily I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment, than for that city."And again:
Matthew 10:14 And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words, when ye depart out of that house or city, shake off the dust of your feet.
15 Verily I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment, than for that city"The Context of Jude's Letter
It is all too easy to be sidetracked in studies like this. Remember that Jude is using the Sodom account as an EXAMPLE to make his main point:
Jude 1:3 Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.
4 For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.
5 I will therefore put you in remembrance, though ye once knew this, how that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not.
6 And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.
7 Even as Sodom and Gomorrah... (the verses under consideration in this study)Like the Jews who were lead out of Egypt by Moses and Aaron, like the Angels before they joined Lucifer's rebellion, and like the once righteous people of Sodom and Gomorrah, so too Jude says, the Way Movement of Master Y'shua was at his time being threatened by what Y'shua and John called the Nicolaitane Heresy (chapters two and three of the Book of the Revelation reference the seriousness of this apostasy and I discuss it in some depth in my Revelation commentary.
The Nicolaitane Heresy continued throughout the history of the Church and because of it the Church is, even now, being 'vomited out' of the Master's mouth and severed from the Tree of Israel. The hypocrisy that excludes homosexuals from the Church is a symptom of this spreading disease within the Church. This tendency, Jude warns here, must be opposed lest it destroy everything.
Clearly Jude was not talking about homosexuality here but about standing firm against spiritual fornication and the increasing contamination of the Nicolaitane Heresy.
Again, for a much more thorough examination of the Sodom account Go Here.
There is simply no biblical justification for condemning homosexual followers of Y'shua nor their marriages based on the Bible.
What can be demonstrated quite easily however is what our Master Y'shua thinks about people who block others from receiving salvation based on their own prejudices.
The Master warned such people:
Matthew 18:6 But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.
7 Woe unto the world because of offences! for it must needs be that offences come; but woe to that man by whom the offence cometh!Master Y'shua clearly warns here that any Believer who stands in the way of someone coming to God in faith is in serious trouble!
Millions of gays and lesbians sincerely want a relationship with God and yet millions of Christians, with the sincerest of intentions in most cases, are telling these spiritually thirsty people that God will not accept them because of who they are as individuals! Large segments of the Church are telling these people that unless they somehow change the very core of their beings and begin having sex with members of the opposite gender, they can not be saved! This heresy is not taught in the Bible and it is pushing millions of people away from the Grace of God.
A Question For Those Who Reject Gays and Lesbians
I ask this question of my dear heterosexual readers in all sincerity:
If you were told by gay people that unless you become a homosexual God will not accept you,Would you renounce heterosexuality and "go gay?"
Could you, even for the love of God, deny something so intrinsic to your very nature as your sexual orientation?
Would you reject your spouse and co-parent of many years based on someone's dubious interpretation of a half dozen Bible verses?
Could you force yourself to have sexual desires towards someone of your own gender when you feel no such desires naturally?
Would you spend the rest of your life in a same gender marriage with a person you felt no sexual attraction toward based on what others told you God requires?Could/would you do this because someone said God requires homosexuality for salvation? Or would you refuse and say that any god that would require such a thing can not be the true God?
Probably you would refuse.
Such a thing would violate the very core of who you are as a person. It would force you to live a lie, to deceive your spouse and live in hypocrisy.
Friend, it is the same with homosexuals and yet to their credit millions of LGBT people continue to seek God through Y'shua despite these false teachings.
Realize what you are requiring of these people based on a half dozen debatable verses.
Realize that although the Bible says salvation is God's gift and is not based on works (Eph 2:8,9), you are adding requirements to salvation in direct violation of God's Word.
Realize that masses of people, gay and straight alike, are rejecting God based on such misinformation.
But thanks be to God, this herculean task is not required to receive God's Grace!
No, even heterosexuals can come to Y'shua! -- * smile *
Whoever you are, whether you are gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered, questioning or straight...
- I urge you to come to Y'shua right now, just as you are! You will be accepted by God -- if not by everyone who claims to be His people.
Y'shua of Nazareth promises:
"All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out."
And again,
Sadly, if you are gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgendered you must be especially careful when seeking fellowship with God's people. Many Christians who otherwise appear to be walking in the Light and Love of God have major blind spots in this area as you doubtless already know.
Attending a congregation where you are condemned and rejected or where you must remain closeted is worse than not attending service at all! You will do better to worship God alone, to fellow with like-minded Believers on the Internet etc.
Of such Christians Y'shua says:
Revelation 3:15 I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot.
16 So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.
17 Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:
Just as YOU are!
Don't believe the lies.
Who cares, I'm glad YOU'RE here!
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