How can God condemn love between two people?
Question:
I might have just not read Don't you dare change my mind, but why is homosexuality bad? carefully enough, but it seemed like the only reason why homosexual sex was a sin was that it was for pure pleasure only and without the intention of reproduction. Wouldn't that mean if a heterosexual couple had protected sex, that would be just as bad? I didn't see anything that addresses the love between a homosexual couple. Is it truly a sin to sincerely fall in love with someone of the same sex? It almost sounds like the Bible says that God loves marriage and the love between two people in an earthly relationship. But if the couple is gay, He loathes the relationship, and no matter what, both participants are condemned to hell, despite "...so whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life". I'm not saying I'm gay, I'm quite young and have my whole life to decipher my sexuality, so I try not to concern myself too much right now. But I can't help but have all these questions in my head, about the Bible, God's law, and why God wants us to live the way He tells us, and why something so simple turns so complicated and divides people.
If I was gay, does that mean I simply don't have the right to love? If I sincerely fell in love with someone of the same sex, is my loving him condemning me to eternal damnation? Would I behave to sustain from sexual activity ("..don't deprive your spouse of their needs.") for my whole life? Would I be forced to be single and a virgin, or be with someone I could never fully fulfill the needs of? I saw that a verse basically said homosexuals will not inherit the kingdom of heaven, but my mind instantly goes back to John 3:16 ".. so all who believe in him."
I completely understand and agree with the arguments of homosexual couples being unfaithful to each other, and the relationship based mostly on sex, but what if the couple was stable, faithful, sincere, and made each other better people and followers of God, just like the Bible instructs our relationships to be? Is it really possible that love, a thing from heaven and God Himself, could be such a wicked sin?
Answer:
In Don't you dare change my mind, but why is homosexuality bad? I gave several reasons why homosexuality is wrong, backed up by a number of secular sources:
- Homosexual relationships are unstable
- Homosexuality is deadly
- Homosexuality tries to use the sexual organs of the body in ways the body is not designed.
- That God calls it a sin
- Those who support homosexuality use deceptive arguments to justify the practice.
Nowhere did I state that something done for pure pleasure is wrong. Sex between a husband and wife is pleasurable, even when the couple is not trying to have a child. "Let your fountain be blessed, and rejoice with the wife of your youth. As a loving deer and a graceful doe, let her breasts satisfy you at all times; and always be enraptured with her love" (Proverbs 5:18-19). Therefore pleasure is not the determining factor that makes homosexuality wrong.
The idea of "safe sex" is a myth. Condoms reduce the odds of picking up a sexually transmitted disease, but they can never totally eliminate the risk.
You wonder if a claim of love then justifies homosexuality. The idea you are presenting is that if love is involved, then something that God calls sin is no longer a sin if love is involved. I Corinthians 6:9-10 calls fornication, adultery, and homosexuality sins. Does adultery become acceptable if the people involved in it claim that they are in love? Does fornication become less sinful if the people claim that they are in love? The truth is that most people involved in these sins think they are in love, yet it is the act that is sinful. The emotions of the people involved in the sins do not change the nature of the sins.
Now I have a question for you. Can a person really believe in God while ignoring God's commands? Jesus noted:
"But why do you call Me 'Lord, Lord,' and do not do the things which I say? Whoever comes to Me, and hears My sayings and does them, I will show you whom he is like: He is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently against that house, and could not shake it, for it was founded on the rock. But he who heard and did nothing is like a man who built a house on the earth without a foundation, against which the stream beat vehemently; and immediately it fell. And the ruin of that house was great" (Luke 6:46-49).
Belief in God does not truly exist unless it is accompanied by obedience to God. "For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also" (James 2:26). As Jesus said, "If you love Me, keep My commandments" (John 14:15).
John 3:16 does not imply that God accepts people in whatever sins they decide they want to keep. "What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?" (Romans 6:1-2). Sin separates us from God. "Behold, the LORD'S hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; nor His ear heavy, that it cannot hear. But your iniquities have separated you from your God; and your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He will not hear" (Isaiah 59:1-2).
Have you ever read past John 3:16? "For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God" (John 3:17-21). Jesus came and died to save us from sin. If we remain in sin, we remain condemned. "I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish" (Luke 13:3).
God's laws are not arbitrary. As God told the Israelites, "And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all His ways and to love Him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments of the LORD and His statutes which I command you today for your good?" (Deuteronomy 10:12-13). God's laws keep the followers out of danger. Nor are God's laws difficult to follow. "By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep His commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome" (I John 5:2-3).
Complexity is not caused by God but by men who refuse to acknowledge that God knows what is best for His creation. They come up with thousands of alterations in an attempt to keep the sins that they favor. This is why Jesus pointed out, "Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it" (Matthew 7:13-14). There are many ways to Hell, but there is only one way to Heaven. God offers a unified plan (Ephesians 4:4-6). It is men who distort this. "I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed. For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ" (Galatians 1:6-10).
I would like you to read Using Love as an Excuse. Make sure to look up each of the passages cited. Love does come from God -- God who is holy and without sin. True love cannot exist in sin because God has no sin. "This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all" (I John 1:5). The conclusion then is that the "love" of fornicators, adulterers, and homosexuals are mockeries of true love. After all love, "thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth" (I Corinthians 13:5-6).
