Sodomy / Homosexuality
Sodomy
From the 1828 Webster's dictionary: "SOD'OMITE, n. 1. An inhabitant of Sodom. 2. One guilty of sodomy. SOD'OMY, n. A crime against nature."
American Heritage dictionary: 1969, "sodomite, One who practices sodomy. Sodomite, An inhabitant of Sodom. Sodomy, 1. Anal copulation of one male with an another 2. In some legal usage, anal or oral copulation with a member of the opposite sex, or any copulation with an animal."
Wikipedia encyclopedia: "Sodomy is a term of religious origin used to characterize certain sexual acts. The term is most commonly used to describe the specific act of anal sex between two males, or between a male and a female. The term "sodomy" also may include non-coital sexual acts such as oral sex and other paraphilia. It is sometimes used to describe human-animal sexual intercourse (bestiality). Laws forbidding certain types of sex acts have been found in some pre-modern cultures and are prevalent in some industrialized nations as well. The term sodomy derives from the name of the ancient city of Sodom, which according to a common interpretation of the Bible, was destroyed by God for its sins. In today's common language it identifies the practice of anal or oral intercourse."
Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary: "Function: noun Etymology: Middle English, from Old French sodomie, from Late Latin Sodoma Sodom; from the homosexual proclivities of the men of the city in Gen 19:1-11, 1 : copulation with a member of the same sex or with an animal 2 : noncoital and especially anal or oral copulation with a member of the opposite sex"
The first instance of sodomy in scripture is found in Genesis 9:20-24
"And Noah began to be an husbandman, and he planted a vineyard: And he drank of the wine, and was drunken; and he was uncovered within his tent. And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without. And Shem and Japheth took a garment, and laid it upon both their shoulders, and went backward, and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces were backward, and they saw not their father's nakedness. And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done unto him."
Sodom and Gomorrah were built by the Canaanites, Ham's descendants (Gen 10:6-20), so is there any wonder that the descendants of Ham would grew up learning that not only sodomy was ok?
"But before they lay down, the men of the city, even the men of Sodom, compassed the house round, both old and young, all the people from every quarter: And they called unto Lot, and said unto him, Where are the men which came in to thee this night? bring them out unto us, that we may know them [have sex with them]. And Lot went out at the door unto them, and shut the door after him, And said, I pray you, brethren, do not so wickedly. Behold now, I have two daughters which have not known man [virgins]; let me, I pray you, bring them out unto you, and do ye to them as is good in your eyes: only unto these men do nothing; for therefore came they under the shadow of my roof."Genesis 19:4-8
These were both men and boys wanting to have sex with other men!
Leviticus 18:22-26 "Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination. Neither shalt thou lie with any beast to defile thyself therewith: neither shall any woman stand before a beast to lie down thereto: it is confusion. Defile not ye yourselves in any of these things: for in all these the nations are defiled which I cast out before you: And the land is defiled: therefore I do visit the iniquity thereof upon it, and the land itself vomiteth out her inhabitants. Ye shall therefore keep my statutes and my judgments, and shall not commit any of these abominations; neither any of your own nation, nor any stranger that sojourneth among you:"
The Lord allowed nations to be destroyed because they practiced sodomy / homosexuality, and just as then, He will allow those nations today to be destroyed.
Leviticus 20:13 "If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them."
Deuteronomy 23:17 "There shall be no whore of the daughters of Israel, nor a sodomite of the sons of Israel."
1 Kings 14:24 "And there were also sodomites in the land: and they did according to all the abominations of the nations which the LORD cast out before the children of Israel."
1 Kings 15:12 "And he took away the sodomites out of the land, and removed all the idols that his fathers had made.
1 Kings 22:46 "And the remnant of the sodomites, which remained in the days of his father Asa, he took out of the land."
2 Kings 23:7 "And he brake down the houses of the sodomites, that were by the house of the LORD, where the women wove hangings for the grove."
Canaanites [Ham's children the recipients of Noah's curse on Ham for incest] settled in Sodom, the fact that they lived in the city of Sodom made them Sodomites by location. These being the descendants of Canaan most likely grew up learning that not only incest was ok, that sodomy was ok as well based on the reaction of the town upon the angels entering it.
Romans 1:22-32 "Claiming to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man, birds, four-footed animals, and reptiles.
Therefore God delivered them over in the cravings of their hearts to sexual impurity, so that their bodies were degraded among themselves. They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshipped and served something created instead of the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. This is why God delivered them over to degrading passions. For even their females exchanged natural sexual intercourse for what is unnatural. The males in the same way also left natural sexual intercourse with females and were inflamed in their lust for one another. Males committed shameless acts with males and received in their own persons the appropriate penalty for their perversions. And because they did not think it worthwhile to have God in their knowledge, God delivered them over to a worthless mind to do what is morally wrong. They are filled with all unrighteousness, evil, greed, and wickedness. They are full of envy, murder, disputes, deceit, and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, arrogant, proud, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, and unmerciful. Although they know full well God’s just sentence—that those who practice such things deserve to die—they do not only do them, but even applaud others who practice them."
Did you notice that not just participating in homosexual acts are prohibited, but those who approve of such acts are just as guilty of it?
1Corinthians 6:9-11 "Do you not know that the unjust will not inherit God’s kingdom? Do not be deceived: no sexually immoral people, idolaters, adulterers, male prostitutes, homosexuals, thieves, greedy people, drunkards, revilers, or swindlers will inherit God’s kingdom. Some of you were like this: but you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God."
1Timothy 1:8-11 " Now we know that the law is good, provided one uses it legitimately. We know that the law is not meant for a righteous person, but for the lawless and rebellious, for the ungodly and sinful, for the unholy and irreverent, for those who kill their fathers and mothers, for murderers, for the sexually immoral and homosexuals, for kidnappers, liars, perjurers, and for whatever else is contrary to the sound teaching based on the glorious gospel of the blessed God that was entrusted to me"Jude 1:7 "Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire."
Jude 5-7 " Now I want to remind you, though you know all these things: the Lord, having first of all saved a people out of Egypt, later destroyed those who did not believe; and He has kept, with eternal chains in darkness for the judgment of the great day, angels who did not keep their own position but deserted their proper dwelling. In the same way, Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them committed sexual immorality and practiced perversions, just as they did, and serve as an example by undergoing the punishment of eternal fire."
There is a judgment awaiting for homosexuals! But it is not to late to change!
1 Corinthians 6:9-11 "Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God."
Transgenders
Deuteronomy 22:5 "A woman shall not wear anything that pertains to a man, nor shall a man put on a woman’s garment, for all who do so are an abomination to the Lord your God."
The Bible forbids cross-dressing in the strongest term, "an abomination", which is what a "transgender" individual does.
Although men's wear and women's wear is different according to culture, any deliberate attempts to appear as the opposite sex is sin. And 1 Corinthians 11:14 tells us that it is a shame for a man’s hair to be long like a woman’s.
Even if one has their anatomy surgically altered, ones fundamental genetic identify remains the same as they were born with.