On alternative lifestyles

I believe my main passage of scripture will be

Romans 1:18–32 ESV

18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. 19 For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. 21 For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. 24 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, 25 because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen. 26 For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; 27 and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error. 28 And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. 29 They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, 31 foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. 32 Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.

We will unpack this in time, but for now, let’s look at a few of the direct passages that speak against it.

Genesis 1:26 ESV

26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

We see this phrase in God’s image for the first time. It is directly tied to a command here.

So one of the first markers of what it means to be “made in God’s image” is to “rule over the other life on earth.”

And the second clear marker of what it means to be created in God’s image.

Genesis 1:27–28 ESV

27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. 28 And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

The second clear marker of what it means to be made in the image of God is to be male and female.

So I am saying that the first two things that God reveals in his Bible of what it means for mankind to be made in the image of God is to be in charge of the Earth and to be male and female.

Those two things tell us something about God. If we are to be a “reference point” or a type of logo of who God is that points to the greater picture of who God is, then we look to these two things first.

To be in charge of the life of this planet. No other species was given this charge and so no other species on Earth is made in God’s image.

This one will need to be addressed at some point because there is a movement to blur the lines between Humans and animals. I may not address it here, but it is an assault on the image of God to blur or flirt with the line between human and animal. Not because of an arrogant stance of mankind, but because of WHO we represent.

To be male and female tells us something of God. There are feminine things to be known about God and masculine things to be known about God. Im not 100% sure at this time that the bible always lays out clearly what those things have to be, but it is distinct enough for God’s word to make us aware of it. The attempt to blur those lines or to flirt with those lines becomes an assault on how God created things to be, because it begins to blur his very own image.

Picking up in verse 28, God gives them more commands based on the fact that humans were made in his image, bare his image, and live under the awesome responsibility to be a bearer of his image and do-er of his work (an ambassador if you will). This is why the punishment of sin is so fitting. God set humanity up to be the presence of God when he is away, and we immediately began disobeying him. Because he anchored all these commands into his very image and identity, disobedience becomes very personal and has to be dealt with.

A third thing comes up in Genesis 2:7 that distinguishes man from animals. God doesn’t explicitly say THIS MEANS TO BE MADE IN THE image of God here, so i dont want to say that either, but the distinction is that all the animals were spoken into existence by some manner of creation. The text uses similar language to describe how God created Adams body. But the difference is that he breathed life into Adam. This is different than what we find with “life” of other earth dwellers such as animals and plants. All things are created by God and have some sort of life force in them, but mankind operates on something different than those things.

Lets take a look at the creation of Eve and “family.”

Genesis 2:20–25 ESV

20 The man gave names to all livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper fit for him. 21 So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. 22 And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. 23 Then the man said, “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.” 24 Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. 25 And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.

This is the passage that many christians come to, to fight for what they call biblical marriage. At this point, i do not want to touch what it means for now. I just want to look at God’s intentions in this scene.

Some observations:

Because of chapter 1 and the beginning of chapter 2, verse 20 is an obvious thing. It does not say that God could not find a fit helper. It says there was none found. As Adam is looking through the animals and naming them, it seems that he is also searching for a mate. There is not a mention in previous chapters of whether there was always male and female variety plants and animals, but i believe there was because of the information in chapter 1 verse 22 where it speaks into their dna the command to multiple. My assumption here is that Adam notices pairs of animals and plants. I take some liberty in saying that, but it seems the case.

As we examine verse 20, we see God allowing this process of searching and not finding what he was looking for. God had already pre-determined to make a male and female, so it is very interesting that he allowed Adam to search for a female.

Leviticus 18:22 ESV

22 You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination.

Leviticus 20:13 ESV

13 If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination; they shall surely be put to death; their blood is upon them.

Romans 1:26–27 ESV

26 For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; 27 and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.

1 Corinthians 6:9–10 ESV

9 Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, 10 nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.

1 Timothy 1:9–10 ESV

9 understanding this, that the law is not laid down for the just but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who strike their fathers and mothers, for murderers, 10 the sexually immoral, men who practice homosexuality, enslavers, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine,

Helpful articles

https://www.focusonthefamily.com/get-help/revisionist-gay-theology-did-god-really-say/