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WHAT'S WRONG WITH ROSIE?

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Dr. Richard Flanders
Juniata Baptist Church
Vassar, Michigan
"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." (I Corinthians 6:9-10)
Recently a major television network broadcast what amounted to an "info-mercial," disguised as a news special, publicizing the campaign to open the door for homosexual couples to adopt children in Florida. This campaign is led by famous talk-show host Rosie O'Donnell who has "come out" as a lesbian in her effort to promote the cause. The two-hour prime-time program was thoroughly biased in favor of Rosie's point of view. A paid political advertisement could hardly have been more supportive of the gay-adoption movement. Yet the viewer who knows the Bible and the facts about homosexuality could see through the propaganda and got a better understanding of the danger the "gay-rights" movement poses to American society.

Our culture's religious foundation has always condemned homosexuality as a sinful contradiction of God's plan for marriage and the family. The fact is that all the major religions of the world prohibit same-gender sexual activity! Disapproval of homosexuality is not a new thing. The Bible clearly speaks against it again and again. The Book of Genesis says that "the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners before the LORD exceedingly" (Genesis 13:13). Their sin was homosexuality (Read Chapter 19). The Book of Leviticus says that it is an "abomination" to "lie with mankind as with womankind" (Leviticus 18:22). Hebrew kings called homosexual prostitutes "sodomites" and condemned them (See Deuteronomy 23:17; I Kings 15:12, 22:46; and II Kings 23:7). The New Testament describes homosexuality in terms of "vile affections . . . against nature" (Romans 1:26-27). We are told that "abusers of themselves with mankind" shall not "inherit the kingdom of God" (I Corinthians 6:9-10). Without a doubt, the Bible and Christianity oppose homosexual activity as sinful. Rosie and her media friends see it differently.

First of all, they seem to regard the homosexual mind and the actions it produces as inborn. Since the scientific data so overwhelmingly contradicts this idea, however, the program approached the issue with a devious question: "Is it a choice?" A conservative spokesman was given just enough air time to answer in the affirmative without explanation. Rosie, on the other hand, argued passionately and persuasively that it is not. Who would choose to be homosexual? A better question to consider would have been, "Is it genetic"? Many people feel overcome by destructive behavior that is not dictated by DNA, but concerning which they say they have no choice. The prominence of homosexual activity in prisons cannot be explained by genetics. The prevalence of it in some societies compared with its rarity in others cannot be explained by heredity. The fact (reported on the special program) that foster children reared by homosexual couples are more like to live as adult "gays" clearly points to a non-genetic cause for homosexuality. For many years, the American Psychological Association listed it as an emotional or mental disorder. The church used to deal with it as a binding sin. Groups that work for the recovery of homosexuals say that home environment, early sexual experiences, and spiritual problems can contribute to the adoption of the gay lifestyle. Even though some say that they had no choice in being involved in homosexuality, the truth is that living that way is not inborn. Increasingly the opposition to homosexuality is being treated as if it were prejudice against a race. Traditionalists and religious conservatives are being labeled as bigots because they believe that homosexual behavior is wrong. The result is a strange new kind of persecution that has the approval of the politically correct everywhere! Organizations such as the Boy Scouts and the Salvation Army which maintain their long-standing policies against homosexuality, as the Supreme Court says they may, are being vilified for their beliefs and practices as if they were the Ku Klux Klan! People have a right to disapprove of certain behavior, and we all should respect that right. It is not the same as discriminating against people because of their race!

The show went on to ask if homosexuals can be caring parents. Yet again, the question is "loaded" and is not the right one to ask. Two better questions would be these: (1) Should homosexual partnerships be regarded legally as marriages? (2) Are there long-term negative effects on children reared by homosexual couples?

The issue of same-sex "marriage" is the key to the question of homosexual adoption. Homosexuals all over the country are already adopting kids, as single adults. Whether we approve or not, many adoptive parents have gay or lesbian "lovers," some live-in and some not. Rosie is not fighting for homosexuals to adopt kids; she is fighting for homosexual couples to gain marital privileges before the state. As you know, Congress has already spoken to this issue in the Defense of Marriage Act (1995). They wrote, and President Clinton signed, a federal law defining marriage as the legal union of a man and a woman. But the gay rights movement is still pushing for the legitimization of same-sex partnerships. And this is what Rosie's Florida campaign is really doing. The trouble with this proposal is that it jeopardizes the institution of the family for future generations. No civilization has survived the normalizing of homosexual behavior. The family must have a clear legal identity for it to continue as the building-block of a society. If a marriage can be two men or two women as well as a man and a woman, what is to prevent the legal acceptance of polygamous families, or incestuous arrangements, or any number of perverted relationships? Society must protect the traditional family by giving it unique privileges and rights-such as adoption.

The other question was also not really addressed on Rosie's program. Is it harmful or dangerous for children to be brought up in a homosexual home? The idea was presented repeatedly that homosexual people can be loving and responsible childcare providers. What was not addressed were the strong arguments that research has provided against assigning kids to homosexual guardians. Here are some of those arguments.

1. Social research has found conclusively that children are best reared in the home of their married mother and father. Also adopted children brought up by married heterosexual couples do better physically, emotionally, academically, and behaviorally overall than those who live in other arrangements.
2. Children brought up by homosexual couples have been shown to be more likely to experience gender confusion and to experiment with homosexual behavior. Developmental Psychology, a textbook written by Tasker and Golombok in 1995, reported that 12% of children reared by lesbians became practicing lesbians themselves, which is about 4 times the base rate of female homosexuality among adult women. More recent studies confirm such findings for both boys and girls in homosexual "families"!
3. Children brought up by homosexual couples are more likely to be sexually promiscuous as adults than those reared by married couples.
4. Homosexual couples experience a significantly higher rate of domestic violence and a significantly lower rate of "monogamous" fidelity. A report published in 1991 showed that "the incidence of domestic violence among gay men is nearly double that in the heterosexual population." Many surveys have demonstrated that homosexual "couples" are very rarely "faithful" to one another. In 1993, Brad Hayton of the Pacific Policy Institute concluded, in a published study of proposals to sanction same-sex marriage, that homosexuals

". . . model a poor view of marriage to children. They are taught by example and belief that marital relationships are transitory and mostly sexual in nature . . . they are taught that monogamy in marriage is not the norm . . ."

5. Homosexual live-in relationships usually last only a few years. According to a classic study of homosexuality by Saghor and Robins, the average male live-in arrangement lasts only 2 to 3 years.
6. Those who live a homosexual lifestyle are far more likely, according to statistics, to contract AIDS and other major diseases, to experience long-term depression, to have addiction problems, and to attempt suicide, than the rest of us.
7. There is a greater risk of molestation by homosexual "parents." Adolescence magazine stated in 1996 that 29% of those in a study that had been reared by a homosexual reported sexual abuse by that "parent," compared to only 0.6% of those reared by heterosexuals. This risk certainly cannot be ignored in the light of the child abuse by homosexual priests that has been exposed recently.
8. In summary, homosexual partners provide homes for children that are statistically less stable, more dangerous, and less healthy than do married couples.

Obviously the reluctance of child protection officials to assign kids to same-sex "lovers" is not the product of mindless prejudice. There are many reasons not to do it, for the sake of the children!

Rosie is wrong about "gay adoption." She is also wrong about the homosexual condition. She wants us all to accept this behavior as inborn and somehow normal. Yet even a limited understanding of human reproduction would keep thinking people from calling it "normal." Fifty years ago society and science considered homosexuality a disorder. When the media in the sixties began to inform us of the habits and culture of these people, and defined for us the terms of their private slang (such as "gay"), they questioned society's treatment of them but still considered the behavior abnormal. But in the '70's the "Gay Rights" movement began to push politically for society to accept their ways as normal, and even as constitutionally protected! It was political pressure that caused professional associations to drop their classification of homosexuality as an illness. But logical minds still recognize the verdict of nature against this behavior. It is not bigotry that calls it perversion; it is reason.

The Bible calls homosexual activity sinful, and in the past most societies have agreed. Then many were persuaded to call it a sickness. Now we are being asked to call it healthy. But if our society fully sanctions it in this way, the normal family as an instituion will be doomed! The experience of countless human generations has proven that the best arrangement for rearing children is by the biological parents in a legal, life-long union. The best situation for children who cannot be reared by their own parents is with a couple in a heterosexual marriage. When people come to think that every sort of sexual connection is acceptable and normal, the basis for solid families disappears. Marriage must be defended and upheld in our generation if it is to survive in future ones! Make no mistake about this. The traditional institution of marriage is under assault today by the gay-rights movement, and particularly by Rosie's adoption campaign!

Rosie is also wrong about curing homosexuality. It can and is being done! Christian ministries such as Exodus, Where Grace Abounds (WGA), Eagles' Wings, and Amazing Grace Ministries, as well as many local churches are seeing them converted to Christ and changed! The Bible that condemns homosexual behavior also offers hope to homosexual people! Read what the Word of God says in I Corinthians 6:9-11. Verses nine and ten list the "effeminate" and "abusers of themselves with mankind" (descriptions of homosexual orientation and behavior) as those with sinful habits which prevent them from inheriting God's kingdom. Then verse eleven says,

"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."
This early Christian congregation was populated with people who had been "washed" from sinful lives. Notice that this washing results from being "sanctified" and being "justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God." Justification is the act of God by which he declares the sinner righteous in His sight when he puts his faith in Christ for salvation. Read a thorough description of justification in Romans 3, 4, and 5. Sanctification happens for the justified believer when he puts his faith in Christ for daily victory over the sinful impulses of his flesh. Read about this in Romans 6, 7, and 8, as well as in the book of Galatians. We are justified by faith in Christ, and we are sanctified through the Holy Spirit, also by faith. When a man or woman overcome by homosexuality turns to Jesus Christ and trusts Him to save his soul, the Spirit of God immediately comes to live within him. God's Spirit then gives him victory over his sins as he trusts God for that victory day by day!

"This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law . . . And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit." (Galatians 5:16-18, 24-25)
"Whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?" (I John 5:4-5)
Rosie is wrong about the homosexual condition, homosexual couples, and the homosexual cure, as well as about "gay adoption." But there is nothing about her or others of her mindset that cannot be corrected by the Word of God and by the Savior it presents. There is hope for the men and women who are caught in the degrading and depressing homosexual trap. That hope is in Christ Jesus!

"This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief." (I Timothy 1:15)

Monthly Article
5/02
by Dr. Rick Flanders
currently Pastor of
Juniata Baptist Church
Juniata Baptist Church
5656 Washburn Road
Vassar, MI 48768
juniatabaptist@juno.com
(517) 823-7848

Dr. Rick Flanders Biographical Data

Converted in 1963 through a radio ministry.
Earned B.A. and M.A. degrees from Bob Jones University.
Honorary D.D. from Pensacola Christian College.
Pastor at Juniata Baptist Church since 1973.
On BCPM Board, (Baptist Church Planting Ministry)
and also MACS. (Michigan Association of Christian School)


Articles published in the;
Sword of the Lord
Baptist Preacher,
Frontline,
Christian View of the News,
Pulpit Helps,
Maranatha Watchman
Church Bus News,
and other national periodicals.


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