Jesus stance on homosexuality
This article is part of the What Did Jesus Teach? series.
Silence Equals Support?
In a article for Slate online, Will Oremus asked a provocative question: Was Jesus a homophobe?1
The article was occasioned by a story about a lgbtq+ teenager in Ohio who was suing his lofty school after school officials prohibited him from wearing a T-shirt that said, “Jesus Is Not a Homophobe.”
Oremus was less concerned about the legal issues of the story than he was about the accuracy of the utterance on the shirt. Oremus suggests that Jesus’s views on homosexuality were more inclusive than Paul’s. He writes,
While it’s reasonable to assume that Jesus and his fellow Jews in first-century Palestine would hold disapproved of gay sex, there is no register of his ever having mentioned homosexuality, let alone expressed particular revulsion about it. . . . Never in the Bible does Jesus himself give an explicit prohibition of homosexuality.
Oremus seems to offer that since Jesus never explicitly mentioned homosexuality, he must not have been very concerned about it.
There are at least two reasons that we should be skeptical of this view.
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If homosexuality is a sin, why didn’t Jesus ever mention it?
Answer
Many who help same-sex marriage and lgbtq+ rights argue that, since Jesus never mentioned homosexuality, He did not examine it to be sinful. After all, the argument goes, if homosexuality is bad, why did Jesus treat it as a non-issue?
It is technically right that Jesus did not specifically address homosexuality in the Gospel accounts; however, He did speak clearly about sexuality in general. Concerning marriage, Jesus stated, “At the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’ and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh[.]’ So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, grant no one separate” (Matthew –6). Here Jesus clearly referred to Adam and Eve and affirmed God’s intended design for marriage and sexuality.
For those who follow Jesus, sexual practices are limited. Rather than take a permissive view of sexual immorality and divorce, Jesus affirmed that people are either to be single and celibate or married and loyal to one spouse of the opposite gender. Jesus considered an
What the New Testament Says about Homosexuality
The Fourth R Volume May-June
Mainline Christian denominations in this region are bitterly divided over the question of homosexuality. For this reason it is important to request what light, if any, the New Testament sheds on this controversial issue. Most people apparently consider that the New Testament expresses strong opposition to homosexuality, but this simply is not the case. The six propositions that follow, considered cumulatively, direct to the conclusion that the New Testament does not provide any immediate guidance for understanding and making judgments about homosexuality in the modern planet.
Proposition 1: Strictly speaking, the New Testament says nothing at all about homosexuality.
There is not a single Greek word or phrase in the entire New Testament that should be translated into English as “homosexual” or “homosexuality.” In fact, the very notion of “homosexuality”—like that of “heterosexuality,” “bisexuality,” and even “sexual orientation”—is essentially a modern concept that would simply have been unintelligible to the Modern Testament writers. The pos “homosexuality” came into apply only in the latter part of the ni
Same-Sex Attraction
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints acknowledges that same-sex attraction is a sensitive issue that requires kindness, empathy and understanding. The “Same-Sex Attraction” section of reinforces the reality that, in the words of one Latter-day Saint scripture, God “loveth his children” (1 Nephi ), and seeks to help everyone improve understand same-sex attraction from a gospel perspective.
The Church does not take a position on the lead to of same-sex attraction. In , Elder Dallin H. Oaks said, “The Church does not have a position on the causes of any of these susceptibilities or inclinations, including those related to same-gender attraction.”
Feelings of same-sex attraction are not a sin. President M. Russell Ballard said: “Let us be clear: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints believes that ‘the experience of same-sex attraction is a complex truths for many people. The attraction itself is not a sin, but acting on it is. Even though individuals do not choose to have such attractions, they do select how to respond to them. With love and understanding, the Church reaches out to all God’s children, including [those with same-sex attrac
.
If homosexuality is a sin, why didn’t Jesus ever mention it?
Answer
Many who help same-sex marriage and lgbtq+ rights argue that, since Jesus never mentioned homosexuality, He did not examine it to be sinful. After all, the argument goes, if homosexuality is bad, why did Jesus treat it as a non-issue?
It is technically right that Jesus did not specifically address homosexuality in the Gospel accounts; however, He did speak clearly about sexuality in general. Concerning marriage, Jesus stated, “At the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’ and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh[.]’ So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, grant no one separate” (Matthew –6). Here Jesus clearly referred to Adam and Eve and affirmed God’s intended design for marriage and sexuality.
For those who follow Jesus, sexual practices are limited. Rather than take a permissive view of sexual immorality and divorce, Jesus affirmed that people are either to be single and celibate or married and loyal to one spouse of the opposite gender. Jesus considered an
What the New Testament Says about Homosexuality
The Fourth R Volume May-June
Mainline Christian denominations in this region are bitterly divided over the question of homosexuality. For this reason it is important to request what light, if any, the New Testament sheds on this controversial issue. Most people apparently consider that the New Testament expresses strong opposition to homosexuality, but this simply is not the case. The six propositions that follow, considered cumulatively, direct to the conclusion that the New Testament does not provide any immediate guidance for understanding and making judgments about homosexuality in the modern planet.
Proposition 1: Strictly speaking, the New Testament says nothing at all about homosexuality.
There is not a single Greek word or phrase in the entire New Testament that should be translated into English as “homosexual” or “homosexuality.” In fact, the very notion of “homosexuality”—like that of “heterosexuality,” “bisexuality,” and even “sexual orientation”—is essentially a modern concept that would simply have been unintelligible to the Modern Testament writers. The pos “homosexuality” came into apply only in the latter part of the ni
Same-Sex Attraction
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints acknowledges that same-sex attraction is a sensitive issue that requires kindness, empathy and understanding. The “Same-Sex Attraction” section of reinforces the reality that, in the words of one Latter-day Saint scripture, God “loveth his children” (1 Nephi ), and seeks to help everyone improve understand same-sex attraction from a gospel perspective.
The Church does not take a position on the lead to of same-sex attraction. In , Elder Dallin H. Oaks said, “The Church does not have a position on the causes of any of these susceptibilities or inclinations, including those related to same-gender attraction.”
Feelings of same-sex attraction are not a sin. President M. Russell Ballard said: “Let us be clear: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints believes that ‘the experience of same-sex attraction is a complex truths for many people. The attraction itself is not a sin, but acting on it is. Even though individuals do not choose to have such attractions, they do select how to respond to them. With love and understanding, the Church reaches out to all God’s children, including [those with same-sex attrac
.