What Does the Bible Really Teach about Homosexuality? QUOTES

1 " Nothing in the Bible encourages us to give sex the exalted status it has in our culture, as if finding our purpose, our identity, and our fulfillment all rest with what we can or cannot do with our private parts. "

― Kevin DeYoung , What Does the Bible Really Teach about Homosexuality?

2 " . . .your tolerance is not love. It is unfaithfulness. "

― Kevin DeYoung , What Does the Bible Really Teach about Homosexuality?

3 " We don't get to pick the age we will live in, and we don't get to choose all the struggles we will face. Faithfulness is ours to choose; the shape of faithfulness is God's to determine. "

― Kevin DeYoung , What Does the Bible Really Teach about Homosexuality?

4 " Taking a strange book seriously, Leviticus 18, 20 "

― Kevin DeYoung , What Does the Bible Really Teach about Homosexuality?

5 " Leviticus 18 doesn't tell us everything we need to know about sex, but it gives us the basic rules: incest is bad (vv. 6-27); taking a rival wife is bad (v 18) . . . adultery is bad (v 20); killing our children is bad (v 21); homosexuality activity is bad (v 22); and bestiality is bad (v 23). "

― Kevin DeYoung , What Does the Bible Really Teach about Homosexuality?

6 " Our feelings matter. Our stories matter. Our friends matter. But ultimately we must search the Scriptures to see what matters most. "

― Kevin DeYoung , What Does the Bible Really Teach about Homosexuality?

7 " But before we get up close to the trees, we should step back and make sure we are gazing upon the same forest. As is so often the case with controversial matters, we will never agree on the smaller subplots if it turns out we aren’t even telling the same story. The Bible says something about homosexuality. I hope everyone can agree on at least that much. And I hope everyone can agree that the Bible is manifestly not a book about homosexuality. "

― Kevin DeYoung , What Does the Bible Really Teach about Homosexuality?

8 " They took a bite from the forbidden fruit, and the fruit bit back. "

― Kevin DeYoung , What Does the Bible Really Teach about Homosexuality?

9 " the right conclusion can be handled in the wrong way. Focusing on other people’s sins, while ignoring our own, would be the wrong way. "

― Kevin DeYoung , What Does the Bible Really Teach about Homosexuality?

10 " The biblical teaching is consistent and unambiguous: homosexual activity is not God’s will for his people. Silence in the face of such clarity is not prudence, and hesitation in light of such frequency is not patience. The Bible says more than enough about homosexual practice for us to say something too. "

― Kevin DeYoung , What Does the Bible Really Teach about Homosexuality?

11 " It’s hard not to conclude from a straightforward reading of Genesis 1–2 that the divine design for sexual intimacy is not any combination of persons, or even any type of two persons coming together, but one man becoming one flesh with one woman. "

― Kevin DeYoung , What Does the Bible Really Teach about Homosexuality?

12 " God is love, but this is quite different from affirming that our culture’s understanding of love must be God. "

― Kevin DeYoung , What Does the Bible Really Teach about Homosexuality?

13 " Few things are more important in life than repentance. It is so important that the Gospels and the Epistles and the Old Testament make clear that you don’t go to heaven without it. Ezekiel said, “Repent and turn from your transgressions” (Ezek. 18:30). John the Baptist said, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matt. 3:2). Jesus said, “Repent and believe in the gospel” (Mark 1:15). Peter said, “Repent and be baptized” (Acts 2:38). And Paul said God “commands all people everywhere to repent” (Acts 17:30). "

― Kevin DeYoung , What Does the Bible Really Teach about Homosexuality?

14 " Our feelings matter. Our stories matter. Our friends matter. But ultimately we must search the Scriptures to see what matters most. Don’t discount the messenger as a bigot if your real problem is with the Bible. "

― Kevin DeYoung , What Does the Bible Really Teach about Homosexuality?

15 " For two millennia the church has focused on worshiping a Christ who saves, a Christ who forgives, a Christ who cleanses, a Christ who challenges us and changes us, a Christ who convicts us and converts us, and a Christ who is coming again. If, as the Apostles’ Creed tells us, Jesus Christ is coming again to judge the living and the dead (Acts 17:31; Rev. 19:11–21); and if those who repent of their sins and believe in Christ will live forever with God in his new creation (Mark 1:15; Acts 17:30; Rev. 21:7; 21:1–27) through the atoning work of Christ on the cross (Isa. 53:1–12; Rom. 5:1–21); and if those who are not born again (John 3:5) and do not believe in Christ (John 3:18) and do not turn from their sinful practices (1 John 3:4–10) will face eternal punishment and the just wrath of God in hell (John 3:36; 5:29); and if among those in the lake of fire excluded from the heavenly garden are the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars (Rev. 21:8, 27)—then determining what constitutes sexual immorality in God’s mind has everything to do with the storyline of Scripture. Is homosexual activity a sin that must be repented of, forsaken, and forgiven, or, given the right context and commitment, can we consider same-sex sexual intimacy a blessing worth celebrating and solemnizing? "

― Kevin DeYoung , What Does the Bible Really Teach about Homosexuality?

16 " When Christians maintain that homosexual behavior is sinful or that marriage can only be between a man and a woman, you can count on a chorus of voices declaring confidently that these old views are on the “wrong side of history.” The phrase is meant to sting. It conjures up pictures of segregationists clinging to their disgusting notions of racial supremacy. We are meant to think of the church persecuting Galileo or of flat-earthers warning Columbus about sailing off the edge of the world. The phrase seeks to win an argument by not having one. It says, “Your ideas are so laughably backward, they don’t deserve to be taken seriously. In time everyone who ever held them will be embarrassed. "

― Kevin DeYoung , What Does the Bible Really Teach about Homosexuality?

17 " A rant is not an idea, and feeling hurt is not an argument. To be sure, how we make each other feel is not unimportant. But in our age of perpetual outrage, we must make clear that offendedness is not proof of the coherence or plausibility of any argument. Now is not the time for fuzzy thinking. Now is not the time to shy away from careful definitions. Now is not the time to let moods substitute for logic. These are difficult issues. These are personal issues. These are complicated issues. We cannot chart our ethical course by what feels better. We cannot build our theology based on what makes us look nicer. We can’t abdicate intellectual responsibility because smart people disagree. "

― Kevin DeYoung , What Does the Bible Really Teach about Homosexuality?

18 " As Christians we ought to fear being on the wrong side of the holy, apostolic, and universal church more than we fear being on the wrong side of discredited assumptions about progress and enlightenment. "

― Kevin DeYoung , What Does the Bible Really Teach about Homosexuality?

19 " Darkness must not be confused with light. Grace must not be confused with license. Unchecked sin must not be confused with the good news of justification apart from works of the law. Far from treating sexual deviance as a lesser ethical issue, the New Testament sees it as a matter for excommunication (1 Corinthians 5), separation (2 Cor. 6:12–20), and a temptation for perverse compromise (Jude 3–16). "

― Kevin DeYoung , What Does the Bible Really Teach about Homosexuality?

20 " First, the way in which the woman was created indicates that she is the man’s divinely designed complement. "

― Kevin DeYoung , What Does the Bible Really Teach about Homosexuality?