Allie Beth Stuckey (50:42)
Okay, again. Could it have been that Christians and conservatives are starting to talk about this because homosexuality had become much more accepted, had become much more rampant. And the push for things like civil unions and later the complete redefinition of marriage, the redefining of gender altogether, has actually caused a response and a reaction among Christian conservatives who believe, as Christians have always believed and as Jews believed before us, that God made us male and female in his image. But of course, they always claim that it's actually the reverse. And she also goes on to say that the ESV is the worst translation. It's the most demonic, most evil translation. And of course that is the best translation. I believe that is my favorite translation. I like the nasb. I also like the nkjv. I think those are fine. I like the ESV because it is a word for word translation while also remaining pretty colloquial. Not as colloquial as the niv, but the NIV is a thought for thought translation. So it's just not quite as exact. I like the NA or the ESV just because it's easier to read. But I also can really trust that this is an accurate and thoughtful interpretation. In my opinion, it's the best. So that's what I've been using. The ESV study Bible is incredible. And she of course demonizes it. So let's go ahead and debunk this. And a lot of people have done really good work. And so I have taken some of the work of Denny Burke and stand to reason, they have both debunked a lot of the, specifically the lies about the Greek words and the interpretations. They have debunked those. And so I want to go through some of the things that they have pointed out. So throughout the 2000 year history of the Christian Church, all Christians from every tradition, so we're talking about Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Protestant, have recognized that The Bible forbids sexual activity outside of marriage, including and especially activity between persons of the same sex. This firmly held belief has been in place well before the word homosexuality was coined in the English language. And I will get to my take on that in just a second. But here's what's important. We actually do know with this word that these documentarians say that we don't know what it actually meant and what Paul meant when he used this word arsenicoitai. And this is based on today's best scholarship of the Greek word. This is according to stand to reason. It literally means according to context and everything we know about the Greek language and historical context of the time. It means men who lie with a male. It is not surprising that the most prominent English translation, the NIV 2011 revision, translates the Greek as men who have sex with men. Also, the two words that make up arsenokoitai, arsen and koiti appear close together in two Greek Old Testament verses in what is known as the Septuagint. These verses are Leviticus 18:22 and 20:13, the very two verses in the Mosaic Law that condemn homosexuality. Leviticus 18:22. You shall not lie with a male as a man lies with a woman. That's an abomination. Leviticus 20:13, if a man lies with a male with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination. Not just adultery, but abomination. They shall surely be put to death, their blood is upon them. And so again, you don't actually see this documentary going into those verses and explaining the mistranslation there. They are only focused on this one word, homosexuality. But when you look at these passages in Leviticus, for example, that forbid this, they say a man lying with a man, as one would lie with a woman. So that's not rape, that's not pederasty, that's not pedophilia, that's not prostitution. That is having sex with a man as a man would and should be having sex with a woman, AKA according to Scripture, just his wife. The reason why homosexuality was not seen translations pre1946 is not because the concept was not there in the original Greek, but because this word homosexuality is fairly new in our lexicon. Really. We don't see this word homosexual until like the late 19th century. And so of course, it took the revisers of these different versions of Scripture time to catch up to the cultural lexicon. That is always what happens. That is still something that's happening. But very faithful theologians and scholars, New Testament, Old Testament, Greek, Hebrew scholars have taken pains for centuries now to ensure the proper interpretation of these, of these passages. So in other words, according to these organizations, Paul invents a new Greek word that literally means men who lie with a male. And the two words that he used to create this new one are found together are the ones found together in Leviticus. Also in the documentary, they talk about clobber passages. These are parts of the Bible which seem to forbid homosexuality. I have also heard Andy Stanley use that term, clobber passages. That these passages are just used to clobber gay people. In the documentary, they of course say that Genesis 19, the story of Sodom and Gomorrah. Sodom, that's where we get the term sodomite. They argue that this, that their sin in Sodom and Gomorrah wasn't actually homosexuality, but it was actually a lack of hospitality or it was actually a desire to rape, had nothing to do with homosexuality, which is not true. All you have to do is read the passage in Genesis 19 also again, Leviticus 18:22, you shall not lie with a man that's an abomination. Leviticus 20:13. And then Romans 1:26 through 27, they say this is the clobber passage. However, they do not attempt to reinterpret this because that word homosexuality isn't actually in Romans 1. And so the entire premise for their argument doesn't even apply. So they just call it a clobber passage. They say this is what Romans 1:26,27 says, which they just dismissed. For this reason, God gave them up to dishonorable passions, for their women, exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature. And the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error. So we don't even have any kind of translation issue there. They would just have to back up into that verse and say, yeah, this probably had to do with some kind of pedophilia or rape or some kind of system of power, oppressor versus oppressed. But we don't have any evidence for that in this passage. It is very clear we are talking about adult females, we are talking about adult men that they had disordered passions because they worshiped the creature rather than the Creator, and because of their disordered love, the rest of their lives were disordered as well. And we saw that in their sexuality. That is, Romans one is talking about. The Bible is not confusing pedophilia with Homosexuality. We actually see a guard against pedophilia in the very first chapter of the first book of the Bible that God created them, man and woman. The words that are used there denote that these are adults. And we know that they're adults because they are also charged with being fruitful and multiplying. So right there we see that at the very least, a woman has to be of childbearing age in order to fulfill one of the purposes of marriage, which is to have children. The Bible is not confused about that. It is extremely clear that homosexuality is a forbidden kind of love, is a forbidden kind of desire, is a forbidden kind of romantic interaction. And here's what I always go back to when I've responded to the premise of this argument over and over again. Even if you were to take out every single verse that prohibits homosexuality, even if you were to give in to this false idea that they were misinterpreted and that the consensual relationship between two men or two women is not explicitly forbidden throughout Scripture, even if you were to say wrongly that that is the result of some kind of political wedding between evangelicalism and Republicanism, you are still left with how the Bible positively defines marriage throughout Scripture. There's only one way that the Bible positively describes sexuality and marriage. Intimate relationships throughout Scripture, and that is between one man, one woman. That's it. So even if you don't look at any of the negative passages towards homosexuality and you're only left with how God positively defines these things, that is the only definition that you get. That is the only kind of marriage or sexual union that God calls holy. And I'll finish with my alliteration that I've explained many times in just a second. Let me tell you about our last sponsor for the day. Our last sponsor for the day is my Patriot Supply. You've seen it before. When disaster strikes, grocery store shelves go empty overnight. The worst time to prepare for a situation like that is in the aftermath or when it is actually happening. You want to make sure that you are better safe than sorry. Go ahead, get a three month emergency food supply kit from my Patriot supply and make sure that your family is taken care of in this way. These are 2,000 calorie day meals that will be good for three months and they're good in storage for up to 25 years. So hopefully you'll never need them. But if you do, you will be so glad that you have them. You want to get one kit for every member of your family. So it doesn't cut it. Just get one kit for everyone to share. You're not going to get enough nutrients that way. Get one kit for every member of your family. Go to preparewithally.com when you do, you get a really good discount. This is a four week emergency food supply. Sorry, the discount is for four week emergency food supply. Go to preparewithally.com so here's the problem with these documentarians, with everyone who hold these positions. They want to find a way to fit their sin into Scripture. And so they are looking for every possible way that they can get around the sanctification process, that they can try to subvert the call to deny ourselves, take up our cross, and to follow Christ. I mean, just like everyone has at one point, they want to try to be okay with their sin. They want to convince themselves that God is okay with their sins. And so this is a valiant effort to try to redefine what God calls good and holy. And here's what I like to remember. This is the alliteration. I think I first said it in 2019, and it's been really helpful for me, and hopefully to you guys as well, to remember how God defines marriage. Even if we are to put away all of these so called clobber passages and all of the questionable passages that aren't really questionable at all. The definition of marriage as between one woman and one man is rooted in creation. We see it in the very first chapter of the first book of the Bible. These documentarians don't take issue with this, or they don't say they take issue with this. They don't say that this was misinterpreted, but we see it right in Genesis 1:27, that God created man in his own image, in the image of God. He created him. Male and female. He created them, and God blessed them. And God said to them, be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the heavens, and over every living thing that moves on the earth. Then we've got Genesis 2:24. A man shall leave his father and mother, hold fast to his wife. The two shall become one flesh rooted in creation, reiterated throughout Scripture. And so again we see in Genesis 2, we see in the Ten Commandments that you are to honor your father and mother, not just your parents, not just the grownups in your home. These are not arbitrary distinctions. These are sex, distinct distinctions. Your father and mother, husband and wife, man and woman. All of these are very specifically and purposely defined and reiterated throughout Scripture. So rooted in creation, reiterated throughout Scripture, repeated by Jesus himself. We already read Matthew 19, 4, 5. So he goes back to creation. In response to a question about divorce, he goes back to the definition of marriage itself. The reality of the gender binary and its purpose, not just physically, but also spiritually, which brings us to its spiritual significance. Representative of Christ and the church. And this is an incredible passage that we read in Ephesians 5, specifically Ephesians 5, 22, 33, where Paul says, I know that this mystery is profound, but I am saying that this refers to Christ and the church. So just as the church is to submit to Christ and Christ takes care of and sanctifies the Church, so the wife is to submit to her husband, and the husband is to care for and help make holy and sanctify his wife. And that reality that the earthly bond between one man and one woman signifies represents the eternal marriage between Christ and the church, shows how deep and purposeful and profound those gender distinctions are. That submission and headship dichotomy that is supposed to reflect Christ in the church cannot be reflected between two men or two women. This also bucks up against their entire egalitarian idea that men and women are all called to the exact same things. And then, as it is representative of Christ in the church, it is reflective of the Gospel. The Bible starts with a marriage between a man and woman. It ends with a marriage between Christ and his church. That's how important the definition of marriage is. Nowhere in Scripture do we see homosexual unions or gender bending of any kind described in a positive way. And all of the negative passages about these relationships or about this behavior are not coincidentally the ones that these people take issue with. But listen, if you love God, you are not just reading the Bible asking, what can I get away with? You are reading the Bible asking, how can I glorify God the most? How can I most closely align my life to what he says is good and right and positive and holy? And that's not the mentality that these people have. Because. And I don't think that this is difficult to say. I don't think this should be controversial. These people don't love God. They don't serve the God of Scripture. They serve the God of self. And the God itself is a very cruel God. And it wants you to sacrifice everything on its altar. It wants you to sacrifice all that God says is good, right, and holy on its altar. It will do whatever it can to get what it wants. And it leads people to hell. This documentary absolutely will play a role in further enslaving and oppressing people in their sin. Look, no matter what you feel your orientation is, or your identity is, or your feelings are, God does love you and he sent his son to die for you. And you are no worse than me. You are no further off than any of us were before we came to Christ. God's grace is for you. It can transform you. It can release you from the power of your sin, the addiction that you have to lust or whatever it is in your life that you feel like you can't escape from. God has the power to release you from that. His redemption is also for you. So I encourage you, buy you an ESV study Bible, really read it, join a local Bible preaching, Bible believing, Bible teaching church and get plugged in and taste and see that the Lord is really good and he's not good because he allows us to do whatever we want. That he is good because he is the satisfaction that you trying and failing to find everywhere else. So that's the good news. Not that God is okay with your sin, because he's not. I thank the Lord for that because sin is bad for us and it leads us to hell and it separates us from God. All right, that's all we've got time for today guys. We will be back here tomorrow. Sa.
