ALTERNATE LIFESTYLES OR VILE AFFECTIONS
By Wayne Camp
Romans 1:25-27 Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen. For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet.
We hear much today about the "alternate lifestyles" of some people. It is not politically correct to refer to the facts as they have always been considered in society. But, the word of God does not change and God’s moral standards for his creatures are the same as they have always been. Therefore, I am asking a question: Is the homosexual simply following a different lifestyle, or has he been given up to vile affections?
Since I am a Christian and since I believe the Bible to be the inspired word of God (as do all true Christians), I must answer the question from the Word of God. In the passage above it is evident that the practicing homosexual is engaged in vile affections. There is no way these vile affections can be squared with the word of God and made acceptable. They simply are not pleasing to God; they are, in fact, abominable in the sight of God.
Man, by nature, does not want to retain God in his knowledge. He desires that God leave him alone. And, that is exactly what God has done to the homosexual. He has left him to his own vile affections. He has given him over to a reprobate mind.
One of the worst judgments God can bring upon a man in this life is to simply leave him alone to his own devices. When God sent Hosea to prophesy to the nation of Israel
concerning their sins and the judgment he would bring upon them, God instructed the prophet just to leave the tribe of Ephraim alone. Hosea 4:17 Ephraim is joined to idols: let him alone.
Their idolatry had become so extensive that God said to the prophet, "Let him alone." When men and women do not want to retain God in their knowledge, one of the ways God may judge them is to simply forsake them and give them up to vile affections. The sin under consideration in the scriptures above is the sin of vile affections, or homosexuality. When men and women are abandoned to their own depraved affections the men will begin to lust after men and women will begin to lust after women, among other things. It is a mark of Divine judgment when one turns to homosexuality. It is a signal that he very well may have been abandoned by God. This abandonment may be temporary or permanent. If the person repents and turns from his sin of homosexuality, God may grant him faith to lay hold of the Lord Jesus Christ. But, if he goes on pursuing his vile desires, he will be permanently abandoned by God to be lost forever.
The dominant sin of Sodom and Gomorra was the sin of homosexuality. Men were burning in their lusts for other men. For this God destroyed those wicked cities and they stand in history and Scripture as a monument to God’s retribution against such sins.
Call this unnatural affection an alternate lifestyle if you will but, be assured, God considers it a vile affection and an abomination!
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Last updated on Friday, March 04, 2011
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