In other words, this valuing of humans over God finds one expression in valuing the kind of human in the mirror over the opposite sex.
He argues that, because of this humanity-infecting exchange, men and women exchange natural relations with the opposite sex for unnatural relations with the same sex. The apostle Paul locates the origin of homosexual desires in the humanity-wide exchange of the glory of God for the glory of man. This last part includes the question whether revulsion at the act of sodomy is a morally appropriate, or Christian, response.
Finally, I will try to show what a peculiarly Christian disapproval is. Then I will try to illuminate the nature of homosexual desires, showing how they relate to my own sinful desires. In what follows I will try to explain from Scripture why biblically faithful Christians disapprove of homosexual desires and practices. I have seen, like millions of others, that these spectacular realities - the cross of Christ, the gift of the Spirit, and the magnificence of God’s glory - coalesce in the pages of Scripture with such self-authenticating truth that I am bound joyfully to embrace this book as the revelation of God. Only then will a human being be capable of the natural impossibilities involved in a peculiarly Christian disapproval.Īll of this I have discovered in the Bible. It involves putting our trust in the death of Jesus to cover our sins, and relying on the Holy Spirit to help us walk in Christlike love, and bending all our behavior to the glory of God. Becoming a Christian is far more profound than changing what we disapprove of.īecoming a Christian is a miracle - sometimes called new birth. Therefore, disapproval of sinful behaviors is no evidence of saving grace. There is nothing peculiarly Christian about the mere disapproval of any human behavior. When a person becomes a Christian, he undergoes a transformation not just of what he disapproves, but of how he disapproves. It is absolutely unique among a thousand worldly ways to disapprove. That is a gift of grace through faith in Christ. But it cannot feel blood-bought, Spirit-empowered, God-honoring disapproval. The non-Christian world can feel disapproval of many things. The ability to experience a distinctly Christian disapproval of sin is a miracle from God. And it aims at the glory of God in the Christ-exalting joy of as many transformed sinners as possible. It is sustained by the supernaturally transforming work of the Holy Spirit. The reason is that truly Christian disapproval of sin is rooted in, sustained by, and aimed at spectacular realities for which non-Christians have no taste.ĭistinctly Christian disapproval of sin is rooted in the sin-covering blood of Jesus Christ. I am not interested in making common cause with non-Christians in my disapproval of the celebration of homosexual desires or acts.