Asking for a Friend - Week 1: Homosexuality

In week one of our series called Asking For a Friend, Pastor Mel directly confronts seven common questions about same-sex attraction and behavior by firmly placing biblical authority above personal feelings or cultural context. He begins by outlining four views on rules versus context (and Bible versus feelings), rejecting the first three positions that allow feelings to override Scripture and affirming the fourth: the Bible is God’s unchanging, authoritative Word, so any apparent conflict is resolved by submitting our context to it, not vice versa. Addressing the frequent objection that “Jesus never mentioned homosexuality,” Mel shows that Jesus explicitly upheld and intensified the moral law on sexuality—condemning lust as heart-adultery, restricting divorce, and reaffirming God’s creation design of male and female in marriage. He further cites the moral law in Leviticus, the judgment on Sodom and Gomorrah for “unnatural desire”, and Paul’s clear listing of homosexuality alongside other sins that exclude people from the Kingdom of God. Mel points out the immediate hope: “such were some of you” but you were washed, sanctified, and justified in Christ.