What Scripture Says about Same-Sex Attraction

1. What Scripture Says about Same-Sex Attraction

4. Genesis 1:26-28 Then God said, “Let us make human beings in our image, to be like us. They will reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, the livestock, all the wild animals on the earth, and the small animals that scurry along the ground.” • So God created human beings in his own image.    In the image of God he created them;    male and female he created them. • Then God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth and govern it. Reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, and all the animals that scurry along the ground.”

5. Genesis 2:18-25 Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper who is just right for him.” So the Lord God formed from the ground all the wild animals and all the birds of the sky. He brought them to the man to see what he would call them, and the man chose a name for each one. He gave names to all the livestock, all the birds of the sky, and all the wild animals. But still there was no helper just right for him. • So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep. While the man slept, the Lord God took out one of the man's ribs and closed up the opening. 22 Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib, and he brought her to the man.

6. “At last!” the man exclaimed.“This one is bone from my bone,    and flesh from my flesh!She will be called 'woman,'    because she was taken from 'man.'” • This explains why a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one. • Now the man and his wife were both naked, but they felt no shame.

7. Marriage, the Original Picture

8. Marriage, the Original Picture • Source: God's Image

9. Marriage, the Original Picture • Source: God's Image • Purpose: Procreation

10. Marriage, the Original Picture • Source: God's Image • Purpose: Procreation • Participants: Man and woman

15. Marriage, the Original Picture • Source: God's Image • Purpose: Procreation • Participants: Man and woman • Plan: Exclusive relationship

16. Marriage, the Original Picture • Source: God's Image • Purpose: Procreation • Participants: Man and woman • Plan: Exclusive relationship • Focus: Worship God

17. Marriage, the Original Picture • Source: God's Image • Purpose: Procreation • Participants: Man and woman • Plan: Exclusive relationship • Focus: Worship God Gay marriage is counterfeit marriage

18. Attacks on God's Picture

19. Attacks on God's Picture • Discounting the Old Testament

20. Attacks on God's Picture • Discounting the Old Testament • Doubting God's Word

21. Genesis 3:1 The serpent was the shrewdest of all the wild animals the Lord God had made. One day he asked the woman, “Did God really say you must not eat the fruit from any of the trees in the garden?”

22. Attacks on God's Picture • Discounting the Old Testament • Doubting God's Word We get in trouble when we:

23. Romans 1:18-32 But God shows his anger from heaven against all sinful, wicked people who suppress the truth by their wickedness. They know the truth about God because he has made it obvious to them. For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God. • Yes, they knew God, but they wouldn't worship him as God or even give him thanks. And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like. As a result, their minds became dark and confused. Claiming to be wise, they instead became utter fools. And instead of worshiping the glorious, ever-living God, they worshiped idols made to look like mere people and birds and animals and reptiles.

24. So God abandoned them to do whatever shameful things their hearts desired. As a result, they did vile and degrading things with each other's bodies. They traded the truth about God for a lie. So they worshiped and served the things God created instead of the Creator himself, who is worthy of eternal praise! Amen. That is why God abandoned them to their shameful desires. Even the women turned against the natural way to have sex and instead indulged in sex with each other. And the men, instead of having normal sexual relations with women, burned with lust for each other. Men did shameful things with other men, and as a result of this sin, they suffered within themselves the penalty they deserved.

25. Since they thought it foolish to acknowledge God, he abandoned them to their foolish thinking and let them do things that should never be done. Their lives became full of every kind of wickedness, sin, greed, hate, envy, murder, quarreling, deception, malicious behavior, and gossip. They are backstabbers, haters of God, insolent, proud, and boastful. They invent new ways of sinning, and they disobey their parents. They refuse to understand, break their promises, are heartless, and have no mercy. They know God's justice requires that those who do these things deserve to die, yet they do them anyway. Worse yet, they encourage others to do them, too.

26. Attacks on God's Picture • Discounting the Old Testament • Doubting God's Word We get in trouble when we: • We focus on creation instead of on the Creator

27. Attacks on God's Picture • Discounting the Old Testament • Doubting God's Word We get in trouble when we: • We focus on creation instead of on the Creator • Think we know better than God

28. Attacks on God's Picture • Discounting the Old Testament • Doubting God's Word We get in trouble when we: • We focus on creation instead of on the Creator • Think we know better than God • Develop a false ranking of sins

29. Matthew 10:11-15 “Whenever you enter a city or village, search for a worthy person and stay in his home until you leave town. When you enter the home, give it your blessing. If it turns out to be a worthy home, let your blessing stand; if it is not, take back the blessing. If any household or town refuses to welcome you or listen to your message, shake its dust from your feet as you leave. I tell you the truth, the wicked cities of Sodom and Gomorrah will be better off than such a town on the judgment day.

30. Matthew 11:20, 23-24 Then Jesus began to denounce the towns where he had done so many of his miracles, because they hadn't repented of their sins and turned to God. “And you people of Capernaum, will you be honored in heaven? No, you will go down to the place of the dead. For if the miracles I did for you had been done in wicked Sodom, it would still be here today. I tell you, even Sodom will be better off on judgment day than you.”

31. Attacks on God's Picture • Discounting the Old Testament • Doubting God's Word We get in trouble when we: • We focus on creation instead of on the Creator • Think we know better than God • Develop a false ranking of sins There are worse sins than homosexual behavior

32. Attacks on God's Picture • Discounting the Old Testament • Doubting God's Word We get in trouble when we: • We focus on creation instead of on the Creator • Think we know better than God • Develop a false ranking of sins There are worse sins than homosexual behavior There are sins as bad as homosexual behavior

33. Greed Insolent Hate Proud Envy Boastful Murder Disobey their parents Quarreling Break their promises Deception Heartless Malicious behavior Have no mercy Gossip Backstabbers Haters of God

34. 2 Chronicles 7:14“If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”