by Bill Jackson<\/p>\n
A few days ago, some publicity was given to a gentleman in our area who was posting religious messages on a well-traveled highway, but on property owned by his religious group, and with their consent. The point of the article was that his messages were resented by much of the populace, and this was especially so when he posted a condemnation of homosexuality, based on Romans 1:26-27. The writer then made the point that “there is a difference among many scholars” as to whether this condemns homosexuality or not.<\/p>\n
The writer then cited a professor at a local theological seminary who had replied that “the verses should be seen in the bigger argument Paul makes, over three chapters. In these chapters, Paul doesn’t build a case against homosexuality, but rather against humankind’s rebellion against God. The chapters lead in the direction of grace and forgiveness. Romans shouldn’t be taken verse by verse out of context and used as condemnation of anyone.” Those are his words: Romans has no message of condemnation of anyone!<\/p>\n
I wrote the gentleman, wondering if he had found something in his study of Romans that I had missed. He was prompt and gracious in replying, but was no more decisive than when the reporter quoted him. It is amazing that one who is a teacher of preachers in one of the larger denominations could have missed the points in Romans 1 that speak of<\/p>\n
How could this teacher have missed it?<\/p>\n
It is freely granted that Romans deals with the plan of God whereby all men can be justified before God. But, within that context<\/strong>, the sins of men are dealt with, so that the reader may see why the forgiving plan of God was needed! How could any man state that “Romans doesn’t condemn anyone, and it’s taking it out of context if one points to any condemnation?” We would, and have, direct the professor to see the wording “women changing the natural use to that which is against nature….men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burning in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly….<\/em>” Does the learned professor think Paul is speaking of chess or horseshoes?<\/p>\n It all proves that men will freely change any matter from God, freely insert their own wills into any area wherein God has spoken, freely sanction what they will, and freely mislead others under the influence of their false teaching. The pity of it all!<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Bill Jackson A few days ago, some publicity was given to a gentleman in our area who was posting religious messages on a well-traveled highway, but on property owned by his religious group, and with their consent. The point of the article was that his messages were resented by much of the populace, and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[35,120],"class_list":["post-88170","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-homosexuality","tag-romans"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":57578,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-the-condemnation-of-homosexuality-universally-immoral\/","url_meta":{"origin":88170,"position":0},"title":"Is the Condemnation of Homosexuality Universally Immoral?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 2, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"by Doy Moyer I know. Sounds like an odd question, but it's one posed to an atheist recently based on all the condemnation of those who believe homosexual practice is sinful. He was objecting to the idea of universal, objective morality. In the process of this, he asked what kind\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":15740,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/where-does-it-say-that-a-person-who-approves-of-homosexuality-is-also-condemned\/","url_meta":{"origin":88170,"position":1},"title":"Where does it say that a person who approves of homosexuality is also condemned?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 14, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I'm certain that the Bible tells us that he who approves of homosexuality is condemned also, I just can't seem to find it anywhere. Can you help me with that? Answer: The passage you are looking for is in the last half of Romans 1 where Paul details the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":41920,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/has-science-proven-that-homosexuality-is-caused-in-the-womb\/","url_meta":{"origin":88170,"position":2},"title":"Has science proven that homosexuality is caused in the womb?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 18, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: My English class began writing persuasive speeches on contemporary issues. We were allowed to pick our own topics. I choose homosexuality - and how it is not a choice - because of my passion for the topic. So I began my research and came across \"Scientific Facts Regarding Homosexuality\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":31014,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-homosexuality-innate-or-natural-for-some-people\/","url_meta":{"origin":88170,"position":3},"title":"Is homosexuality innate or natural for some people?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 23, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I have a question about something that I'm really confused about. It deals with homosexuality. In Romans 1, it talks about men and woman going against nature and having unnatural relations with the same sex. I've read on a pro-gay theology site about how the original Greek words phusikos\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3350,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/i-believe-some-people-are-born-with-homosexual-tendencies\/","url_meta":{"origin":88170,"position":4},"title":"I believe some people are born with homosexual tendencies","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 28, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I am almost 69 years old.\u00a0 I married a man when I was twenty, and he was twenty. He never liked me sexually.\u00a0 I was married to him for seven years, and we had sex five times.\u00a0 Under the influence of sodium pentathol, he admitted he liked men sexually.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":998,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-a-person-be-born-gay\/","url_meta":{"origin":88170,"position":5},"title":"Can a person be born gay?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 1, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I was just wondering if you had any biblical defense for someone saying they are born gay. I think it's a choice and I was wondering if any scriptures helped support this. 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