It’s mean to say homosexuality is a sin!

Answer:

I'm going to assume that you actually are thirteen. I have my doubts because your writing skills do not match a typical thirteen-year-old male. Nor are the arguments you present those that a typical thirteen-year-old male would make on his own. So my suspicion is that you are either older than you claim or that you have been coached by other people or both. This won't change my answer, but I want to be upfront with you about what I see.

First, let's clarify a point. I did not say a homosexual will be punished with death. I stated that under the Old Testament homosexuality was punishable by death. We don't live under the Old Testament laws but under the New Testament laws. Some terms changed with the change of the covenants.

Because you find a death penalty harsh, it doesn't negate the fact that it existed and that it demonstrates how serious of a crime God sees homosexuality being. You tried to take it to an extreme by claiming that handling a football or eating shellfish carried a death penalty -- these did not. They made a person unclean. See the article "Uncleanness" for more details. But let's pick another sin that carried a death penalty back then, say adultery. Because adultery was punishable by death under the Old Law, does that change anything? You forget that the Old Testament was written by God, just like the New Testament which we live under. You're using the same false reasoning that God condemned the Israelites for using: "Surely you have things turned around! Shall the potter be esteemed as the clay; for shall the thing made say of him who made it, "He did not make me"? Or shall the thing formed say of him who formed it, "He has no understanding"?" (Isaiah 29:16). Your understanding is not a requirement for something to be right or wrong.

Next, you attempt to throw "authority" behind your argument by citing something a Catholic priest told you. Sadly, you can find a priest somewhere who will support just about any position. Rather than citing an individual priest who could say just about anything, you would have been better off citing the Roman Catholic church's official stance: "Every human being is called to receive a gift of divine sonship, to become a child of God by grace. However, to receive this gift, we must reject sin, including homosexual behavior—that is, acts intended to arouse or stimulate a sexual response regarding a person of the same sex. The Catholic Church teaches that such acts are always violations of divine and natural law." [Catholic Answers, "Homosexuality"] This is different from what you stated since your statement allows the possibility that if homosexuals were allowed to marry, then homosexual acts would be tolerated -- they are not in your church.

Next, there is an attempt to redefine sin. You want to say that the physical acts of homosexuality are wrong while ignoring lust. First, let's be clear. Unrepented homosexuality will keep a person out of heaven. It isn't something that is up for debate.

"Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God" (I Corinthians 6:9-10).

"Realizing the fact that law is not made for a righteous person, but for those who are lawless and rebellious, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers and immoral men and homosexuals and kidnappers and liars and perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound teaching, according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, with which I have been entrusted" (I Timothy 1:9-11).

"For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due. ... who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them" (Romans 1:26-27, 32).

Now notice that Paul doesn't just condemn the physical acts of homosexuality, he also speaks of the passions and lusts with precede these acts. That ought to be clear to any Christian because we know that lusting after sin is not much different than committing the sin. "But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart" (Matthew 5:28). This is because sin begins in the heart, not in the actions. "What comes out of a man, that defiles a man. For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within and defile a man" (Mark 7:20-23).

Next, you attempt to hint that homosexuality is genetic by claiming to know a second-grade boy who said he was homosexual. First, I wouldn't be surprised at anything a second-grader said. They repeat things they hear without knowing what it really means. They say things just because they can get a strong reaction from people. And sometimes you find some who think it is cool to be bad.

Second, unless this boy had something physically wrong with him to trigger puberty at a very early age, a seven to eight-year-old has no concept of what sex is on his own. A child who acts out sexually would only do so if someone taught him. It is one of the warning signs that counselors look for in dealing with sexual molestation. A seven to eight-year-old boy normally has no sexual desire of any sort because the body hasn't matured yet.

Therefore, I would conclude that the statement by your friend was a lie.

That then leads to the next argument. In a desperate attempt to justify homosexuality, you broaden its definition to say that any desire for male companionship is homosexual -- it is not. We all have a built-in desire for friends. And there is a phase that children go through where the desire for friends of the same gender is very strong. That is where you get young boys saying "Girls are yucky" and putting up signs saying "No girls allowed." It is a part of the development process for men to model themselves after other men, just as girls go through a phase of modeling themselves off of other women. This phase has nothing to do with homosexuality.

Just because a boy, or even an adult, wants to hang around boys and feels more comfortable with men because he doesn't understand girls, it doesn't mean that the person is homosexual -- which means wanting to do sexual acts with someone of the same gender. When we read, "the soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul" (I Samuel 18:1), it means they were the very best of friends. It does not even hint that they had sex together. That is one of the shames of today's homosexual movement, it makes men afraid to have close male friends for fear of someone thinking or accusing them of having sex. Those normal human behaviors are distorted and destroyed because a few want to pervert sexual behavior.

Finally, you take the approach that it is wrong to tell someone they are in sin if that sin happens to be one you favor. If I talk to someone and find out they are committing fornication, I do inform them that their soul is in danger. I do the same for those who are committing adultery, and those who lie, and those who steal from the store, and a host of other sins. I do this because God said that unrepented sins will destroy them. As God told the Israelites, "Repent, and turn from all your transgressions, so that iniquity will not be your ruin. Cast away from you all the transgressions which you have committed, and get yourselves a new heart and a new spirit. For why should you die, O house of Israel?" (Ezekiel 18:30-31).

Unlike you, I actually care about people enough that I can't stand seeing them squander their lives on the temporary pleasures of sin. Therefore, I help people out of their sins but helping them to see what is sin, why it is sinful, and how to leave their sins behind. Homosexuality, just like fornication, adultery, and any other sin can be overcome. After listing the grave sins that some of the Corinthians had been involved in, including homosexuality, Paul reminded them, "And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God" (I Corinthians 6:11).