In response to @TheBedKeeper comments of Romans 1 – Part I

After I posted my comments on the news of Lady Gaga received honorary citizenship of Sydney, I received two rather interesting mentions on my Twitter by Brian Bowen, a gay Christian and blogger of The Bed Keeper.

Contrary to nature was women having sex w/animals as idol worship. (Romans 1:23). @yueh Romans 1:26 – 27, Contrary to Nature
Romans was about HETEROsexual idolatry w/same gender-not gays |http://tinyurl.com/3rbgcue | #lgbt @yueh Romans 1:26 – 27
@yueh

Well here are my brief responses to Brian’s comments on Chapter 1 of Romans.

¹⁶For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
¹⁷For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”
¹⁸For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.
Romans 1:16–18 (ESV)

NOTE: This is talking about unbelievers (pagans and atheists), not about people who twist the word of holy scriptures. They do not worship the one true God, they adhere to their worldliness and idolatry.

¹⁹For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them.
²⁰For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.
Romans 1:19–20 (ESV)

NOTE: Through His creation, God laid down the natural laws of the world, and it is plain for us to see, so no one is with the excuse of not knowing the Creator. During the creation, the law of marriage was also laid down. (Genesis 2:18 – 24). Man and woman shall become one flesh, not two men or two women, or man/woman with an animal.

²¹For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.
²²Claiming to be wise, they became fools,
Romans 1:21–22 (ESV)

NOTE: Referring back to v18, everyone knows there is only one God by His creation, yet they suppress the truth, nothing to do with false prophets or teachers.

²³and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.
Romans 1:23 (ESV)

NOTE: Unbelievers worship either idols resembling mortal man or animals, or even themselves.

²⁴Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves,
²⁵because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.
Romans 1:24–25 (ESV)

NOTE: Again it has nothing to do with false prophets or teachers, because of their idolatry, God gave the unbelievers up in to their own lusts of impurity thoughts, and dishonoring of their bodies, as in sexual immorality, which Paul expand in the next two verses.

²⁶For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature;
²⁷and 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.
Romans 1:26–27 (ESV)

NOTE: This is a follow up to the previous verses. God gave them into unnatural passions, instead of natural relations between a man and woman established by God in His creation, men committing sexual acts with another men, same as the women, and some with animals. Paul also uses the word translated here as “passion” in Colossians 3:5 and 1 Thessalonians 4:5; both are related to the illicit sexual act.

The explanation of the laws in Leviticus makes it clear that these acts are an abomination in the eyes of the Lord.

God didn’t create a gay or a lesbian in His creation; so all gays and lesbians are indeed turning away from natural laws that are been established by the Creator.

All the references in Acts mentioned just simply refers to how deeply the worship of idols have gone into the societies during that period, nothing more.

²⁸And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done.
²⁹They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips,
³⁰slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents,
³¹foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless.
³²Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.
Romans 1:28–32 (ESV)

NOTE: Pagans and atheists didn’t acknowledge and gave thanks to God; God handed them over to a worthless mind, which is described in v 29-31, which leads to all kind of sins that results in the downfall of a civilisation. Even though it is so clear to them that the result of this act is death, they didn’t repent but promoted and approved those who practice sinful and evil deeds.

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Comment (1)

Brian Anthony Bowen
18 Jul 2011 - 1:23 am

Hi Steven (aka @yueh)

Thank you for taking the time to share your considered response.

I was struck by a couple references you made saying that these passages had nothing to do with false prophets or teachers. I agree, however never in the book do I allude to such, so I’m not certain as to why that seems to be the thrust of your response in those occurences.

You also said God didn’t create gays or lesbians in His creation. However, Jesus would disagree with that, Who taught in Matthew 19:11-12 that indeed there are those who are whom He refers to as “born eunuchs.” They are neither castrated, nor celibate. For 1 thing, He covers those descriptions as well, and for another thing, neither castration nor celibacy are birth conditions, but rather are choices made outside the womb, either by oneself, or by others. These born eunuchs are not heterosexual, or they would not be exempted from heterosexual marriage, and Paul would not have instructed them to marry (each other) in 1 Corinthians 7:8-9 for purposes of maintaining sexual purity.

It’s also noteworthy that the men “gave up natural relations with women.” Only heterosexual men would be able to “give up” natural relations with women, and only if they had actually been with women (i.e. they were married). Gay men don’t have “natural relations with women to give up.” Therefore, I stand by the understanding I shared in The Bed Keeper that these were not even homosexual people being described, but were heterosexuals whose custom it was to engaged in same gender sexual expressions as acts of idol worship, especially to the fertility goddess. That is a violation of the First Commandment, “Thou shall have no other gods before Me.” Secondly, if they had previously been with women (most likely married), that is a violation of yet another of the Ten Commandments, “Thou shall not commit adultery.”

Far too many theologians attempt to portray Romans 1 as some kind of typical condition of the people being described, and attempt to portray gay people as bein guilty of all the same sins listed in verses 29-32, all the while missing the big picture of the violations of the Ten Commandments that were being disregarded. However, you are correct to say this is a parallel reflection of the Leviticus verses condemning the very same things: heterosexual married men engaging in acts of idolatry and adultery, and the bestial aspects of idol worship being committed by heterosexual women (who engaged in natural acts), but not with each other…..but with animals…..The translation you share here differs greatly from the phraseology used by Paul to describe the acts the women committed as differentiated from the acts committed by men in both the King James, and Amplified Translations.

Finally, as most theologians, you left off the next three verses of Scripture:

THEREFORE YOU have no excuse or defense or justification, O man, whoever you are who judges and condemns another. For in posing as judge and passing sentence on another, you condemn yourself, because you who judge are habitually practicing the very same things [that you censure and denounce].

[But] we know that the judgment (adverse verdict, sentence) of God falls justly and in accordance with truth upon those who practice such things.

And do you think or imagine, O man, when you judge and condemn those who practice such things and yet do them yourself, that you will escape God’s judgment and elude His sentence and adverse verdict? Romans 2:1-3