Are There Degrees of Morality?
Homosexuality, Murder & 'Good Deeds'
by Henry Velez, Editor

If one were to attempt to establish a moral case for homosexuality from the Bible, it would come as no great surprise that the attempt was a futile one. However what may seem obvious to some is not to others. Depending on one's beliefs there is only one side to the issue of homosexuality in regards to morality.

Too often this discussion cannot take place without it eventually leading into a chaotic barrage of personal attacks. Here we will try to look at it in a reasonable fashion.

One of the things that constantly has me in amazement is how fervently one from a 'religious' (rather than 'spiritual') standpoint will attack someone who is homosexual. The reasoning behind this is usually, "What they are doing is wrong according to the bible!" But what many well intentioned people seem to overlook is the fact that not everyone subscribes to the morality laid out in Scripture. That does not make the Bible invalid. Nor does hat does absolve homosexuality as a non-moral issue either.

While others may divide homosexuals into other groupings, I tend to divide them this way. There is the group of homosexuals who know inwardly that what they do is biblically/morally wrong but desire the lifestyle so much they defy their own conscience and pursue it anyway. Then there is the group who not only practice the homosexual lifestyle but fervently deny there is anything 'wrong' about it other than society's lack of approval.. which they work hard to change. And finally there is the group who not only practices being a homosexual, but insists the Bible is either silent, non-condemning or even endorses such behavior. This last group has gotten to the point that some self-declared 'gay-churches' actually have 'priests/pastors' who are openly gay and simultaneously teaching from the Bible. (Albeit inaccurately and lacking the Holy Spirit to properly understand what they read.)

Before assuming too much, let's take a look at the more explicit verses directly from the Bible which take a stance regarding the issue of homosexuality.

Leviticus 18:22
22 "`Do not lie with a man as one lies with a woman; that is detestable."

1 Corinthians 6:9-10
9 Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders
10 nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.

Romans 1:25-27
25 They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator-- who is forever praised. Amen.
26 Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones.
27 In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion. 

Now that we have the stance the Bible takes on homosexual behavior directly before us, it would be unreasonable to conclude from any of these verses that the Bible is in any way taking a favorable moral position on the lifestyle. Rather it condemns it as sinful behavior. Now.. if you take a look at ICor6:9 (above) you'll notice that homosexuality is listed right alongside any kind of sexual immorality and adultery.

Moral Relativity
That is why I am so amazed that the same people who can come down so hard against a known homosexual have no problem at all throwing a baby shower for a friend or relative who is about to have a child out of wedlock. Certainly that pregnancy came about by way of 'sexual immorality' (fornication).  There seems to be no great distinction between that or adultery, idolatry or male prostitution for that matter.

So how then does one sort this out? Given that the Bible makes it's own position known clearly, how can we proceed from there in regards to those who wish to live a life of fornication or homosexuality? Certainly each is wrong from a biblical perspective. The answer lies in setting each element in it's proper place.

First of all, not everyone subscribes to what is known as Biblical Truth. The people who do, in it's right context, are known as Christians. Those who do not are not Christians. 

Many will establish their own personal set of morality and call it "christianity", but that does not qualify it as such from a Biblical standpoint. Out of all this is where discernment and maturity is often lacking.. knowing when and why to 'judge'. Christians are not, as too many mistakenly think, required to disassociate with anyone who is engaged in ongoing immoral behavior. The responsibility they 'do' have is to disassociate with anyone who calls themselves a Christian who pursues immoral behavior. The following verses lay this out very clearly.

1 Cor 5:9-13
9 I have written you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people--
10 not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters. In that case you would have to leave this world.
11 But now I am writing you that you must not associate with anyone who calls himself a brother but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or a slanderer, a drunkard or a swindler. With such a man do not even eat.
12 What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside?
13 God will judge those outside. "Expel the wicked man from among you."
So then, Christians have the responsibility to discern immoral behavior amongst themselves and to distance themselves from those who call themselves Christians but pursue immoral behavior. That is not the same as finding that there is fault in a Christian, for no one in this flesh is perfect. There is a difference between being imperfect and choosing a constant lifestyle that is in direct contradiction to the morals of the Bible.

What then should be the Christian's stance towards non-christians; who do not profess a faith in God or His morals as laid out in the Bible? The following verses give Christians their direction in this regard.

Matt 28:18-20
18 Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."" 

Acts 10:42
42 He [Jesus] commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one whom God appointed as judge of the living and the dead. 

Proper Perspective
The role of Christians towards non-Christians is to make them aware of the mercy.. the salvation from sin's judgment via repentance and faith in the atoning blood of Jesus. Making someone aware is not the same as forcing them to convert against their will or by way of compulsion. This is where things usually come to a clash as the Christian and the homosexual begin to interact.

In order to make any person aware of the cleansing of sin, the precept that the person is even 'in sin' must be established. Not everyone is willing to admit that they have genuine Biblical sin in their life. When a Christian meets up with a homosexual it is easy to think pointing out his sin will be no problem. However, for a person who does not give any creed or belief to the Bible, what they do sexually has no moral value about it. This does nothing to save them from eventual judgment before God but it does pose a problem for these two parties to communicate.

Too often it is assumed by the Christian that his role is to 'come down hard' on the sinner's sin in order that the non-Christian see their need for God's mercy and plan for salvation. In actuality the only responsibility is to declare that all people, including the one being spoken to, have sinned and are in dire need of God's plan of salvation. The homosexual is in a position wherein, if he or she continues in his or her homosexual lifestyle they will be judged by God at death for their sins. Judged by God, not Christians. After death, not now. There is a way of presenting the seriousness of the issue without making the mistake of condemning the person simply because they did not convert from their ways immediately. It is not wrong to discern sin and call it for what it is, however it is wrong to declare a judgment of finality concerning someone's particular future. That is God's realm of authority and He has laid out His message of terms so that Christians might help others realize their need for salvation.

One Message To All
But this is not a message aimed only or especially at homosexuals. This same message of man's sinful predicament in need of God's mercy, grace and salvation is just as true for all people. It matters not whether one is going to hell because of homosexuality or for being a liar. Whether it be for committing robbery, adultery, premarital sex, drug abuse, child molesting, selfishness, hatred, slander, envy, gluttony, pride, murder, violence, greed, gossip or any of a number of other sins people commit in their life.. the result without God's salvation is the same. Eternal suffering in hell.

So then (in regards to judgment) the homosexual is no better, and no worse, than any other person who lives out their non-Christian life in unrepentant sin. Referring once again to the Bible on this;

Rom 3:22-23
22 This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference,
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 

Note that it does not say, 'most' or 'a large percentage' but.. "all" have sinned. Therefore all are in need of the righteousness that comes from God, not from one's own attempts at a good life.

This is the point where I believe we are at the crux of why so many people, Christian or not, find it so easy to condemn acts of homosexuality, or murder, or rape, child molesting, etcetera. It is because too often people still believe that the seriousness of sin in God's eyes is just as relative to Him as it is to them. This is a grave error that mistakenly equates temporal consequences with eternal consequences.

In God's eyes, all sin is "missing the mark". Anything falling short of His righteousness, His character or His love is sin. Any sin in one's life, even once, is enough to deserve eternal judgment. Therefore God provided a way to achieve mercy.  We as humans conveniently have chosen to put sin into levels of degrees; big sins versus little sins.

Consequences
We consider hatred for someone as 'natural' whereas we consider murder as the act of a psychopath. We consider lust as an unavoidable, playful, mental act that hurts no one whereas we consider adultery a 'real' act of sin. Even with adultery many will dance about saying it is not 'wrong' if the two people love each other. Rationalization knows no bounds and has zero regard for God's definitions of such acts. God however has declared that all sin is equal. We however tend to look at the consequences for evil acts and rate them accordingly.

It is true, some sins have lesser consequences in this temporal life. The person who lies to a stranger is likely to face less consequences than the person who steals from a bank. The person who gossips about their relatives is likely to faces lesser consequences than the person who murders their spouse. But the seriousness of the sin is not based on the consequences.. it is based on a violation of God's character and commands, thus making all sins equal in God's eyes. To see what I mean, let's reference the following verses;

James 2:10-11
10 For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.
11 For he who said, "Do not commit adultery," also said, "Do not murder." If you do not commit adultery but do commit murder, you have become a lawbreaker. 

Galations 5:19-21
19 The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery;
20 idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions
21 and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. 

I John 3:14-15
14 We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers. Anyone who does not love remains in death.
15 Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life in him. 

Matt 5:27-28
27 "You have heard that it was said, 'Do not commit adultery.'
28 But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. 

So then, let us look at what we have laid out before us. In the book of James we find that, in God's view, anyone who breaks one part of the law is at guilt with the One who laid down all of the law. In the book of Galatians we see acts of hatred, jealousy, rage, selfishness and envy listed alongside sins such as idolatry, witchcraft, drunkenness, orgies and all these with the consequence of keeping a person out of the kingdom of God.

In John 1 we see clearly that God equates the act of hatred as being equal to murder. Hatred is simply murder that has not had opportunity or impunity to act itself out. And finally in the book of Matthew, God considers the act of lusting in one's heart as equal to the committed act of adultery. Again, adultery is merely the completed desire of what lust wishes to carry out, as with murder and hatred.

What conclusion can we draw from all this? It should seem obvious that there really is no one righteous of their own merit, no not one. It would then follow that everyone is in need of God's mercy on God's terms. Those who wish to ignore His terms will not receive this mercy and will be held liable for their sins upon judgment at life's end. Those who accept God's terms receive forgiveness and continual mercy in order to have the freedom, not to sin with impunity.. but the freedom to pursue a relationship with God that is clean. A relationship of love.

But how about people who believe God will weigh out their own 'good' deeds against their 'bad' deeds and cancel the record out so as to deserve the right to enter eternity with God, an eternity free of judgment?? Unfortunately there are two major problems with this line of thought.

The first problem is that God has only one Sacrifice He is willing to accept for the removal of sins.. the blood of Jesus on the cross and faith in His resurrection along with repentance. Therefore attempting to "pay off" one's sins with good deeds is regarded as invalid. This would be equal to a person owing $1,000,000 to their credit card company and asking to have the debt cancelled out for serving coffee in the company lobby during the weekends. The credit card company does not want free labor in their lobby, they want $1,000,000. God has laid out His terms and accepts no other payment than what He has declared. Any such 'good' deeds are worthless in the economy of wiping out a debt of sin.

The second problem with attempting to 'earn' one's way into God's presence with good deeds is that by doing so, one is making a formal rejection of the sacrifice God suffered on their behalf. This is a rejection of His son, Jesus the Christ. It is a statement to God which says, "I don't want your help paying my debt, I reject it and have decided to pay my way on my own." Unfortunately, rejecting the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross and His resurrection is not going to make one's collection of good deeds set well when offered at judgment.

At this point one can humble themselves and say, "I recognize the facts, God.. you are calling the shots.. I come asking for mercy on Your terms. Tell me what I must know and I will place my faith in You." Or one can dig into their pride and say, "I have a sizable collection of good deeds, in my opinion, and if that's not good enough.. then God better start seeing it my way." 

Summary
I myself have no delusions concerning my own purity or goodness before God. Of my flesh and heart I can honestly say there are few sins, if any, that I have not committed and there is no way what pittance of 'good deeds' or 'character' or virtue I may possess could ever allow me a peaceful relationship with God solely on their own merit. But in God's eyes, I am clean, I am forgiven, I am sinless because of the atonement He provided on my behalf. A day doesn't go by that I don't need His grace and forbearance. He himself mediates like a lawyer to maintain that eternal sacrifice to my account with a passion and love words cannot describe.

In the end, the real issue is not so much whether homosexuals are worse sinners than shoplifters or those who commit premarital sex. The real issue is whether or not people are willing to take an unflinching look at God's valuation of sin and look at their own condition in all honesty. There is but one conclusion, and each person must decide what they will do with God's terms for mercy. They can embrace it or reject it and substitute something else in it's place. Ignoring traffic tickets and warrants will buy one some time with temporal judgment. But in regards to eternal judgment, ignoring the issue of sin comes with an eventual day of reckoning. In my opinion and reasoning, it is better to make peace while the terms are still available.