The Word of God and Homosexuality

By V. Alexander

This book will definitively answer the following questions: 1. Were homosexuals created by God? 2. What is the root cause of homosexuality? 3. Does God love homosexuals? 4. How should homosexuals be treated by society? 5. How should the church treat homosexuals? You will see the findings of some researchers who are searching for the so-called homosexual gene' and what their findings are thus far. You will also see who God is and what gives Him the authority to say what is right and what is wrong and if what He says is for the betterment or detriment of mankind. Sin will be covered in this book. You will see what it is and where it came from. Also, the devastating effects that sin has on our environment and our lives will be explained as well. Birth defects will be covered, including the intersex defect and the parents' responsibility in raising their children. You will see the importance of parents being vigilant during the developmental years of their children. You will also see the importance of looking out for any defects (i.e., blindness, mental, physical, homosexual tendencies, etc.) a child may have and what to do if you detect them. What is a Christian? What is a mature Christian? What is the church, and how should the church react when a homosexual wants to join the church? These questions will be answered in detail as well.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Jan 9, 2018
• ISBN: 9781640792999

Book preview

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The Word of God

and

Homosexuality

V. Alexander

ISBN 978-1-64079-298-2 (paperback)

ISBN 978-1-64079-299-9 (digital)

Copyright © 2017 by V. Alexander

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the publisher. For permission requests, solicit the publisher via the address below.

Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.

832 Park Avenue

Meadville, PA 16335

www.christianfaithpublishing.com

Printed in the United States of America

Introduction

What causes a person to become a homosexual? What causes a person to seek after immoral sexual behavior? Is there such a thing as immoral sexual behavior? Does God’s Word (i.e., the Bible) talk about these issues? Should we live our lives based on scientific studies, or should we live our lives according to God’s Word? These questions and more will be dealt with in this book.

We will go through an overview of the scientific studies that are in search of the cause of homosexuality, and we will see the conclusions of those studies. Some studies claim that there is a homosexual gene. Other studies say that the number of older brothers a youngest male has will determine whether he will be a homosexual.

The title of this book is The Word of God and Homosexuality. We cannot talk about or understand what is wrong without first talking about and understanding what is right and why it’s right. Is there such a thing as absolute right and absolute wrong? To answer this question, we will look at the attributes of God and see what gives Him the authority to say what’s right and what’s wrong.

We are going to talk about sin and see what it is and how and why it affects our behavior. We shall see the effects that sin has on our environment and what those effects have on childbirth as well. We will talk about childbirth and the causes of birth defects and the parents’ role in raising children with birth defects. This will lead us into looking at a particular birth defect which is called intersex.

What does the term intersex mean, and is it something that we should be concerned about? This term will be explained, and we will see what effects that condition can have on our children. We will also talk about the vigilance that parents should have when raising their children. So that when they see abnormal behaviors in their children they will search out the root cause of those behaviors.

Do you know what a Christian is? Do you know what a mature Christian is and how to become a mature Christian? We will see what a Christian is and how to become a mature Christian. This book will set a godly foundation on how we all should live, but one of the emphases of this book is on how Christians should live their lives. We will see that the lives of Christians are not their own.

We are going to talk about death and the two deaths that Jesus went through while He was on the cross and why He had to go through them. We will see what these two deaths mean and how they came about. We will also talk about the judgment that both believers and unbelievers will go through and when they will go through them.

Once we have a godly foundation set, we then will talk about the second topic that’s emphasized in this book, and that is the homosexual lifestyle. Is there a beginning to acting out this lifestyle? Did God make homosexuals? Is He okay with that lifestyle? Should homosexuals be mistreated or ostracized or both from society? We will see that God loves all sinners but He hates all sin. We will see what God meant when He said that homosexuality is an abomination to Him.

What is the purpose of the church? Is the church a place where we go so we can feel good about ourselves? Is it a place where Christians should go to put in the hours that they set aside that week for the Lord? What about this question? Why do we go to church? These questions will be answered, and we will also talk about the church and how the church should treat homosexuals.

If you will continue reading this book, you will have a clearer understanding of who God is and what God says about homosexuality and why He says it. Many of you may be surprised about how God wants homosexuals to be treated—especially by Christians.

Science and Sexuality

There have been and still are many scientific studies going on concerning the homosexual lifestyle. Some studies are searching for biological reasons why some people are homosexuals. Other studies are looking at the mental health aspect of becoming a homosexual.

These studies are of the utmost importance to the homosexual community because they are searching for information that could possibly support their claim that they were born that way. If they were in fact born that way, then they can claim that God made them that way. If God made them that way, they can claim that they are a minority group and should be protected, as other minority groups are, by the civil rights laws.

There are studies that the scientific communities are researching to show that there is a biological link to the homosexual lifestyle. These studies are in the field of genetics. Genetics is the study of heredity. Heredity is a biological process where a parent passes certain genes onto their children. One such study is on the X chromosome. The X and Y chromosomes are referred to as the sex chromosomes, and because of the way in which the X chromosome is inherited, it is a rich resource of easily accessible genetic data and therefore provides a unique tool for those who are working in the field of genetic studies.

The other area of genetic research is in the epi-marks. The epi-mark is the epigenetic theory of homosexuality which concerns the study of changes in gene expression or cellular phenotype (the observable characteristics or traits of an organism) caused by mechanisms other than changes in the underlying DNA sequence. This research has to do with the changes in genes on the X chromosome. Some researchers think that there are some changes in the X chromosome genes that are specific in what causes some children to be born with the intersex defect (we will talk about this defect latter in the book). The homosexual community states that they have changes in their X chromosome and therefore they were born homosexuals.

Another area of study is in the mental health aspect of child development. This research deals with the brain and hormones. The thought here is that the hormones are what dictate how a child will develop.

Let’s look at the highlights of the various studies that are taking place.

The X Chromosome Study

These groups state that the homosexual males share extra genetic material from the X chromosome. Other studies found an area of the X chromosome that the researchers believed was linked to male sexual orientation.

Last year a group of scientists found that the more older male siblings a male has, the greater chance he will be a homosexual. They believe that the immune response produced by a pregnant mother increases with each son, increasing the odds of producing more feminine traits in the developing brain of the fetus. Each older brother raised the odds of the youngest brother becoming a homosexual by one third. In other words there is a 33 percent chance that the younger brother would be a homosexual.

There is another research going on with homosexual brothers. Some researchers say that they have found a gene that is unique to homosexuals. This research now uses a sample size of one thousand men. Yet other scientists have suggested that the influence of biological factors on sexual orientation may be mediated by their experiences in childhood. A child’s temperament predisposes the child to prefer certain activities over others.

The Epi-Mark Study

Some researchers believe that homosexuality can be explained by the presence of epigenetic marks (epi-marks). These are temporary switches that control how our genes are expressed during gestation (gestation is the time when a fetus is developing inside its mother’s womb. Moreover, epi-marks are modifications of histone proteins (various water-soluble proteins that are rich in amino acids). Epigenetic marks are modifications of the methyl and acetyl groups that bind to DNA histones, thereby changing how the proteins function, and as a result alter gene expression. Epigenetic marks are intended to promote normal sex development while in fetal development; however, they can be passed on to an offspring through the process of mitosis. (Mitosis is a part of the cell cycle in which chromosomes in a cell nucleus are separated into two identical sets of chromosomes). When they are transferred from one parent to an offspring of the opposite sex, it can contribute to an altered sexual development, thus leading to masculinization of female offspring and feminization of male offspring.

Another research group has developed a mathematical model that explains why homosexuality is passed through epi-marks, not genetics. They use evolution as support for their theory. They state that if homosexuality was purely dependent on a genetic trait, it would have disappeared because homosexuals wouldn’t be expected to reproduce. They go on to say that these epi-marks provide an evolutionary advantage for the parents of homosexuals. While in gestation the epi-marks protect fathers of homosexuals from underexposure to testosterone, and they protect mothers of homosexuals from overexposure to testosterone.

Many other scientists still do not buy into these studies. They don’t think that there is a gene that will make a person to become a homosexual. They feel that these studies are inconclusive at best.

Study of Identical Twins

There were tests performed on identical twins that were homosexuals. This study presupposes that if one twin is a homosexual, the other twin will be a homosexual, or if one twin is heterosexual, the other twin will be heterosexual as well. The reason being is that they are both from the same fertilized egg and have the same genome (i.e., the genetic material of an organism). This test showed that only 20 percent of identical twins are both homosexual, which leads to the hypothesis that even though identical twins share the same DNA, it does not mean that they both will be a homosexual. This study proved that a homosexual gene does not exist. The development of the homosexual lifestyle is caused by something other than the genes.

When these studies were presented to the rest of the scientific community, they did not stand up to the scientific scrutiny. The reason that these studies were shot down was because they had methodological flaws and the results were oversimplified.

The underlying purpose of these studies and others like them is to validate that the homosexual lifestyle is legitimate and should be recognized and promoted as such. Now we will look at the mental aspects that are believed to make someone become a homosexual.

Homosexuality and Mental Health

This field of study is of the hypothalamus. This portion of the brain controls many bodily functions. It’s responsible for the production of many of the body’s essential hormones that control different cells and organs. These hormones control temperature regulation, thirst, hunger, sleep, mood, and sex drive.

The anterior (located toward the front of the brain) hypothalamus of the brain participates in the regulation of male-typical sexual behavior. The volumes of four cell groups in this region (interstitial nuclei of the anterior hypothalamus [INAH] 1, 2, 3, and 4) were measured in postmortem tissue from three subject groups: women and men who were presumed to be heterosexual or homosexual. No differences were found between the groups in the volumes of INAH 1, 2, or 4. But the INAH 3 was more than twice as large in the heterosexual men as in the women. However, it was also more than twice as large in the heterosexual men as in the homosexual men. This finding indicates that INAH is dimorphic with sexual orientation, at least in men, and suggests that sexual orientation has a biological substrate.

This research is pointing to basic differences in the brain between homosexual and heterosexual people that are likely there right from the beginning, said a professor of psychiatry and behavioral neurosciences in Ontario. These could be reflecting some genetic or hormonal factors that predetermine your sexual orientation. Others, however, argue that such research is far from conclusive.

I remain skeptical, said a professor of psychiatry in New York, There’s been a history of jumping to conclusions and over interpreting findings in this field.

Several earlier studies have found what appear to be differences between the brains of homosexual and heterosexual people. In 1991, a brain scientist reported that the hypothalamus, which is involved in sexual behavior, tended to be smaller in homosexual men. Other researchers subsequently showed that the brains of homosexual and heterosexual people appeared likely to respond differently to sexual images. The researchers who conducted the new study previously reported that the brains of homosexual and heterosexual men seemed to react differently to suspected pheromones—odors and thoughts that are involved in sexual arousal.

Many researchers state that this type of research is filled with uncertainty, and it could not rule out that the findings were the result of changes that occurred in response to experiences and behaviors, rather than being inborn.

One of the issues with the research that is going on to determine the cause of homosexuality is the biases of those that are performing the research. Many researchers use what they call the double-blind technique in their studies. This technique is an experimental procedure in which neither the subjects of the experiment nor the persons administering the experiment know the critical aspects of the experiment; a double-blind procedure is used to guard against experimenter biases.

There is no conclusive evidence that the so-called homosexual gene exists. However, there is evidence that some genes may have an effect on the sexual development of some people. This in itself is not a smoking gun, so to speak, because there is more overwhelming evidence that a person’s environment and upbringing have more of an effect on how a person will develop than any gene or hormone does.

We have reviewed a condensed version of the various scientific researches that has been performed. We also have reviewed the conclusions of those that performed the research as well as the conclusions of other scientist that reviewed the research that was performed. Now we will turn our attention to the Almighty God, the one who created everything. We will look at His attributes; this will give us some insight about who He is and why He is the Almighty God.

The information given in this chapter, pertaining to the scientific research performed and their results; was obtained from a number of websites. The results of these studies that are in this chapter are summaries of the actual results determined by the various research groups.

Who Is God?

God said to Moses, I will send you to Pharaoh so that you may bring forth my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt. Moses said to Him, Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and that I should bring the children of Israel out of Egypt? God’s reply to Moses was I will be with you. Then Moses replied, When I tell the children of Israel that the God of their fathers sent me and they ask me what his name is, what shall I say to them? In Exodus 3:14 God tells Moses, " I am that I am "; then again He said to Moses,