The Bible on homosexual acts

You hear some folks saying that the Bible doesn't really say anything condemning homosexual activity. Here are a few Bible passages that clearly do:

"Do you not know that the unjust will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators nor idolaters nor adulterers nor boy prostitutes nor sodomites nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor robbers will inherit the kingdom of God" (1 Corinthians 6:9-10).

"For this cause God delivered them up to shameful affections. For their women have changed the natural use into that use which is against nature. And, in like manner, the men also, leaving the natural use of the women, have burned in their lusts one towards another, men with men working that which is filthy, and receiving in themselves the recompense which was due to their error" (Romans 1:26-27).

"Now we know that the law is good, if any one uses it lawfully, understanding this, that the law is not laid down for the just but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, immoral persons, sodomites, kidnappers, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine" (1 Tim. 1:8–10).

"You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; such a thing is an abomination" (Leviticus 18:22).

"Likewise, Sodom, Gomorrah, and the surrounding towns, which, in the same manner as they, indulged in sexual promiscuity and practiced unnatural vice, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire" (Jude 1:7).

Now some folks try to spin these passages and other passages and so dismiss them, saying they are about others things and not homosexual acts per se - but that's all just spin.  

As for the argument that Jesus never said anything specifically against homosexual acts, so, the argument goes, such acts are therefore not condemned, there is a logical problem. Just because something is not named that does not mean it is permitted. Jesus did not specifically name bestiality, incest, the use of chemical weapons against civilians, and so on, but that does not mean that they are therefore morally permissible.

Moreover, Jesus said he came not to abolish the law (including Leviticus above):  "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. Therefore anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven." (Matthew 5:17-19)

There are some practices that are changed, but the law itself, and the underlying teachings contained in them, are not changed.

When it comes to marriage, in the context of a question about divorce, "(Jesus) said in reply, “Have you not read that from the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female’ and said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’?" Notice that marriage - the appropriate context for sexual acts - involves a man and a woman.

The Bible - tradition - Church teachings - all clearly condemn homosexual acts.

I specify "acts" because people may have homosexual inclinations due to any variety of causes, but that inclination in and of itself is not a sin, and the individual who has such feelings is not simply just for that reason committing a sin. It is only in acting on such inclinations that one sins.

Again: Homosexuality is not a sin, it is a condition. We sin when we act.

And even if a person falls and sins in that way, he or she can still repent and find forgiveness and mercy from God, as is true of all of us sinners.

Pax et bonum