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It is hardly possible this week to listen to the news without hearing something about "gay rights" in the military.
While they try very hard to focus on the issue of legal rights of equal treatment for homosexuals, the issue is much bigger than that when applied to any public setting. Occasionally, I hear this alternate issue referenced as a "hygiene" issue, which is designed to treat it clinically, rather than on an emotional or personal level.
The fact is this: When soldiers shower together, it is supposed to be a hygiene issue. But there are reasons why co-ed showering is not allowed. It is because it is self-evident that co-ed showering would inject an emotional (sexual) aspect to the hygiene experience that is unacceptable from a moral standpoint.
If a gay man showers with a straight man, how can this remain a mere act of personal hygiene? Is it not the same, emotionally speaking, as co-ed showering?
There are laws against voyeurism ("peeping toms") for the same reason. Such actions violate the personal privacy rights of those being spied upon. Do not these same rights of privacy apply in the shower? Or does one have to give up those rights when they join the military?
The only way to avoid this moral/privacy problem would be to make sure all gays and lesbians showered alone. Is that really feasible in the military? I don't think so, because it is not even feasible in the public school locker rooms. So the rights of students (at least the straight ones) are being violated all the time, often without their knowledge. This generates a lot of resentment and anger, and often times it is expressed in violence against gays.
The government "solution" is to create a new category of "hate crimes" in order to have an excuse to increase the punishment on cases of assault. The real solution should be to stop the voyeurism, even if it means not allowing gays or lesbians to shower in a group.
So the question is whether or not minority "gay rights" take precedence over "privacy rights" of the majority. If they determine that "gay rights" take precedence, then by the same reasoning, they would have to repeal all laws against voyeurism. Peeping Toms will have a heyday.
What Does the Bible Have to Say?
Insofar as enforcement is concerned, biblical law regulates behavior, not human nature itself. At least that is the venue of the Old Covenant, which regulates behavior as an outside force. The New Covenant, of course, changes people from the inside, and so it certainly does apply to BEING, rather than to mere DOING.
The law is clear in Lev. 20:13 (NASB),
"If there is a man who lies with a male as those who lie with a woman, both of them have committed a detestable act; they shall surely be put to death. Their bloodguiltiness is upon them."
It is clear that the law is speaking of DOING, rather than BEING. Because the law is an expression of the mind and will of God, it is clear that God thinks of such actions as "detestable." No amount of protest or argument can change this. One can only agree or disagree with the Bible. In the New Testament Paul tells us in 1 Cor. 6:9 and 10 (NASB),
(9) Or do you not know that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, norhomosexuals, (10) nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, shall inherit the kingdom of God.
Paul writes from a New Covenant perspective, and so the righteous standard is greater. It deals with BEING, and not mere DOING. Yet read the next verse . . .
(11) AND SUCH WERE SOME OF YOU; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and in the Spirit of our God.
In other words, some of the Corinthian believers had been homosexuals in the past, but they were "washed" (i.e., cleansed or purified) and sanctified and justified by Christ. They were no longer practicing homosexuals, but had put on the mind of Christ. The implication is that they were HEALED emotionally or possibly of genetic damage.
There was a lot of immoral activity in Corinth, much of it sanctioned by religion. Christianity was different. It required faith first and then obedience to God (His law). Anyone who used to be a thief or murderer had to stop doing so. If he refused, he was put out of the Church. So also with homosexual behavior. There was a righteous standard of behavior, based upon biblical law, that had to be maintained.
So if a Christian believer remained NOT HEALED of homosexual tendencies, he was still required to agree with the righteous standard of the law and cease such behavior. Further, if not healed emotionally in this life time, he is still a believer, but to enter the Kingdom of God, he will have to be healed at the resurrection.
The Goal of the World System
There are now nations which have made it illegal to read this verse aloud in public. They especially hate the NASB, because of its use of the term "homosexual." If things continue as they are going, it will eventually be classified as a "hate crime" to read certain portions of Scripture. After all, if governments can legalize gay voyeurism and trample upon privacy rights, they will have no problem with book burning.
The first thing will be to revoke tax-exempt status to any 501(c)3 "church" that preaches this portion of the Word. Next, they will simply prosecute everyone for "hate crimes" if they dare to affirm the divine inspiration of "every Word that proceeds out of the mouth of God."
Church boards will then have to decide if they want to retain their tax-exempt status or not. And they may have to go underground in order to teach the whole truth and nothing but the truth. It would be wise for them to sell their buildings and assets before they are confiscated by the government.
We have been heading in this direction for many years. The real agenda behind the world's power brokers is to use the gay-lesbian community (along with others) to destroy Christianity. These people hate the Word of God because they hate God Himself. They do not really care about gays or lesbians, but they see such people as valuable assets in their assault on God.
The Old Covenant solution is to regulate the behavior of gays and lesbians, essentially banning such behavior. The New Covenant solution goes beyond mere regulation. It is to bring inner healing to gays and lesbians, so that they may function as God intended from the beginning.