A Little Help?

Homosexuality and the Bible.

What if a person came to you and asked you to show him specifically where the Bible says that same-sex romantic love is a sin? How would you show him?

What if this person claims to be a born-again Christian?
Would you start by showing him the Genesis account of the creation of Eve, like so:
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What do you think of this passage of the Bible? How does it relate to the suitability of a male "mate" for a man?

Genesis 2:18 The LORD God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him." 19 Now the LORD God had formed out of the ground all the beasts of the field and all the birds of the air. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. 20 So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds of the air and all the beasts of the field. But for Adam no suitable helper was found. 21 So the LORD God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man's ribs and closed up the place with flesh. 22 Then the LORD God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man. 23 The man said, "This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called 'woman, for she was taken out of man." 24 For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.

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What if then the person asnswered thusly:

Many people use the creation story as evidence, but is it? The theory is that as God made 2 heterosexuals that must be the ideal. Yet we are told hemade them vegan ... is veganism Gods ideal now? If Adam n Eve were both black, would being white not be Gods ideal? What if they were both redheads, would that mean all non red heads are not his ideal eather. The truth is, sexuality is not the issue here, but mans choice to sin and go against God. Don't read whats not there here.

What if then, after several more exchanges on this passage, you could see it was going nowhere, as the person was saying things like "... the bible tends to talk in heterosexual terms because most people are heterosexual..." Would you turn to a passage like this and gave these thoughts:

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What about these passages?

Do not lie with a man as one lies with a woman; that is detestable. Leviticus 18:21-23'If a man lies with a man as one lies with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable. They must be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads. Leviticus 20:13

The difference, as I see it, between this "romantic love" as you put it, and a platonic, deeply respectful relationship is that the first culminates in a physical relationship. This culmination is what is spoken against here in this passage. Heterosexual men also have desires that are frankly very unrighteous - promiscuity, sex with multitudes of women in their minds... pornography etc...We must be willing to recognize that which is not pleasing to God about our own desires. This is the first step toward putting off behaviors that are unpleasing to God and ultimately destructive to us. (I include in that all those heterosexual destructive behaviors that are not within God's design).

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What if the young man then answered you in this way:

It says if a man lays with another man into 'ebah is the sin and to 'beah is idolotry...NOT abomination or detestable. Sorry. So the real crime listed is not homosexuality (same sex attractions) but male same sex acts in idolotry. Note the start of chapter 18 of leviticus and the verse BEFORE the gay law as you see it! Its all condemning a sex act in idolotry. Nothing to do with homosexuality in general then...

Would you kinda feel like this conversation is going nowhere and the person just wants to justify what they are doing? If I were having a conversation like this, Romans 1 might come to mind ... as well as Paul's exhortations to put off all sexual immorality, but is that the right thing to bring up? This person, this hypothetical (?) person, won't even recognize that laying with another man is a sin.

What would you say to him? He says he is a born-again Christian, remember. He should care about what the Bible really says and he would claim to want to know where it says that this is truly a sin. Presumably, if he could be shown, such a one would want to stop doing these things.