The Risky Truth behind the Homosexual Lifestyle

Anymore, we are being encouraged to ignore the gay pride parades and consider the homosexual lifestyle to be virtually indistinguishable from the heterosexual lifestyle … but is this true? Generally speaking, is the homosexual lifestyle different from the heterosexual lifestyle simply in the gender of one’s partner? Is there no risk associated with the homosexual lifestyle?

Increased sexual promiscuity among the gay community has led to a greatly elevated risk of sexual disease among homosexuals. Gay activists Marshall Kirk and Hunter Madsen wrote in their book, After the Ball, “Alas, it turns out that, on this point, public myth is supported by fact. There is more promiscuity among gays (or at least among gay men) than among straights; … Correspondingly, the snail trail of promiscuity—sexually transmitted disease—also occurs among gay men at a rate five to ten times higher than average.”^[1]

Some of these sexually transmitted diseases are very serious and life-threatening. Based on data from a National Notifiable Disease Surveillance System report in April 2014, there were 9,000 cases of syphilis in America in 2012, and 84% of these were among men who had sex with men. To provide perspective, it is estimated that homosexuals—both male and female—comprise only about 3.5% of the American population, yet homosexual men comprised 84% of syphilis cases in 2012.^[2] In 2013 the reported number of syphilis cases nearly doubled, rising to 16,000 cases. According to the Center for Disease Control, the vast majority of new reported syphilis cases come from men who have sex with men.^[3] And according to an article in Current Concepts in Gastroenterology, male homosexuals are 14 times more likely to suffer from syphilis than male heterosexuals, and they are also eight times more likely to have hepatitis.^[4] Furthermore, homosexuals are at great risk of contracting HIV and AIDS—a virtually non-existent threat to heterosexuals. Michael Fumento writes in his book, The Myth of Heterosexual AIDS, “[A]s rare as male breast cancer is, more native-born American males are diagnosed with the disease each year than the total number who have contracted AIDS through heterosexual intercourse since the AIDS epidemic began.”^[5]

HIV and AIDS in North America and Europe is not only an almost exclusively homosexual problem, it is an epidemic within the homosexual community. In 2010 The Washington Post reported, “One in five gay men in the United States has HIV, and almost half of those who carry the virus are unaware that they are infected, according to a new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study. The study tested more than 8,000 men in 21 cities in 2008, making it the most comprehensive such research by the CDC.”^[6] Despite these figures, as many as half of all homosexual young men engage in unprotected sex according to some studies. Moreover, Bill Muehlenberg reported that “a recent Health in Men study by the National Centre in HIV Social Research found that 55 per cent of homosexual men did not disclose their HIV status to casual partners at any stage during the six months prior to the survey.”^[7]

Not surprisingly, Scripture is in perfect harmony with this observed reality. When the Apostle Paul wrote about homosexuality in Romans chapter one, he associated it with sexually transmitted disease. Romans 1:18, 21, 24 and 26–28 says:

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. … For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. … Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, … For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error. And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done.

The HIV and AIDS epidemic—which in its sexual transmission is unique to same-sex relationships—can be considered a penalty within their own bodies for their error. According to the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, this dangerous and unhealthy lifestyle is the consequence of suppressing God’s truth and refusing to honor God and to be thankful to Him for those truths.

In light of the Genesis creation account, it is reasonable to conclude that one of these suppressed truths is God’s design of marriage as consisting of a male and female united together in marriage to become one flesh. So long as this truth is accepted, homosexuality is never an option. It is only when this truth is suppressed that homosexual relationships are made possible, and with it, the dangerous consequences.

Whether or not society wishes to admit it, the data reveals that the debate regarding the acceptability of homosexuality encompasses far more than the question of whether homosexuals and heterosexuals are being treated fairly. This debate is truly a clash of two lifestyles. More importantly for us Christians, it is a clash of two spiritual worldviews.

As horrifying as the physical consequences of this lifestyle may be, it pales in comparison to the spiritual consequences of suppressing God’s truth. In Romans 2:2, the Holy Spirit uses the Apostle Paul to remind his readers, “We know that the judgment of God rightly falls on those who practice such things.” And in Revelation 20:8, we are told that those who are defined by their sexual immorality will suffer judgment in Hell, “But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.”

This is a sober thought, but for those of us who may be nodding our heads in agreement with the justice of God, let us not be too quick to point the finger. Just as Romans 2:2 warns the unrighteous of God’s judgment, so also the very next verse is a warning to the self-righteous. Romans 2:3 says, “Do you suppose, O man—you who judge those who practice such things and yet do them yourself—that you will escape the judgment of God?” There are many ways to suppress the truth of God. Just because we do not suppress God’s purpose and design for sex and marriage does not mean that we are not suppressing God’s truth and commandments. Consider for example Jesus’ teaching in Matthew 22:37–39, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.” Are we obeying Christ’s command? Are we loving our neighbors? Are we loving our homosexual family members, friends, neighbors, and co-workers? Are we telling them the truth that could spare them a lifetime of disease and an eternity in Hell? Every one of us should fear the consequences of suppressing God’s truth—whether it takes the form of homosexual immorality, or of fear to adequately love those ensnared by homosexual immorality. And who are we to say that one form of suppressing God’s truth is less evil than another?

This article is excerpted from the book Laid Bare: Uncovering the Relationship Between Homosexuality & the Gospel.