Is Homosexuality A Sin?

I have seen and heard the Bishop of New Hampshire on several interviews and he speaks of Jesus and salvation and seems quite convincing that he is truly a Christian and that there is nothing wrong with homosexuality and that we have been interpreting scripture wrong to make this a sin when in fact it isn’t.

Q. I’m quite confused on this issue that seems to be very prominent in many churches. I have seen and heard the Bishop of New Hampshire on several interviews and he speaks of Jesus and salvation and seems quite convincing that he is truly a Christian and that there is nothing wrong with homosexuality and that we have been interpreting scripture wrong to make this a sin when in fact it isn’t. We have some family members who claim to be homosexual and are living with their partners which adds to my confusion. Can you shed some light on this issue?

A. I don’t see how anyone could misinterpret the scriptures concerning homosexuality. For example, Leviticus 18:22 & 20:13 both say that if a man lies with another man as one lies with a woman both have done what is detestable. And how about Romans 1:26-27?

Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. 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.

These passages simply can’t be misunderstood if you read them as they’re written. Homosexuality is a sin. But like every other sin it can be forgiven because like every other sin it was paid for at the cross. And like every other sin, you don’t have to stop doing it before you can be forgiven. Once we’re born again, any sin we commit, no matter how many times we’ve done the same thing in the past, is forgiven and forgotten the moment we ask.

We don’t have to like it or even tolerate it in our presence, but we do have to recognize that we’re all sinners, and while some sins seem worse than others from the human perspective, all are equally detestable to God and unless paid for at the cross will result in our eternal exclusion from the presence of God.