Same sex relationships

 

The bible has been written using a series of euphemisms and dysphemisms. It is important to understand the difference between the two words, so, running the risk of sounding condescending, here is a definition of the words.

 

Euphemism,

                   Inoffensive word or phrase substituted for one considered offensive or upsetting. 

 

Dysphemism,

                     This is the opposite of the above because it is meant to be offensive. It is an offensive word or phrase deliberately substituted to cause offence.

 

Jesus spoke in parables and used either euphemisms or dysphemisms depending on who he was speaking to. The reason Jesus spoke in parables was because he only wanted his disciples to understand what he was saying.

 

Matthew 13:10-13

                            10 The disciples came to him and asked, "why do you speak to the people in parables?" 11 He replied, "because the knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not them. 12 Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them. 13 This is why I speak to them in parables.

 

When Jesus spoke to the people he polarised them; they either loved him or hated him. Neither group fully understood what Jesus was saying when he spoke in parables but one group reacted by attacking him and the other by asking him to explain. One group became his disciples and the other his enemy. To his disciples he gave the secrets of heaven.

 

Jesus used euphemisms when speaking to his disciples. He would substitute phrases to help them understand his message. Sometimes the message we deliver is best fed, to the people, in small helpings (example of a euphemism). We want them to understand but it would be too harsh to digest if fed all at once (another example). So, Jesus used euphemisms like weeds, yeast and mustard seeds (Mat. 13:24, Mat.16:6 and Mat13:31) to teach his disciples.

 

He spoke to his enemies using dysphemisms and would often substitute phrases to enable them to understand how he and his Father felt about them.

Here are some examples: 

 

Matthew 23:33

You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape

being condemned to hell?

 

Matthew 23:27

Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the dead and everything unclean.

 

Matthew 16:4

A wicked and adulterous generation looks for a sign, but none will be given it except the sign of Jonah. Jesus then left them and went away.

 

Jesus is using phrases to enable the people he was addressing  to understand how he saw them and how he felt about them. This is important because Jesus and God both speak in the same way.

In Romans (1:18-32) we read about God's wrath against mankind. He is angry because mankind has turned away from Him and He says that they are without excuse (Romans 1:20). God is telling them that they neither glorify Him nor give Him thanks or retain accurate Knowledge of Him and He uses dysphemisms to make it clear how He feels about them.

The church of the day, just like today's churches, was anti homosexual and so this dysphemism was to let all the established churches know that God felt the same about them as they felt about homosexuals. He also used the words murderers, gossips, slanderers and God haters but only the dysphemism about homosexuals has been taken literally.

 

God’s Wrath Against Sinful Humanity (Romans 1:18-32)

18 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, 19 since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20 For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.

21 For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles.

24 Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. 25 They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.

26 Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. 27 In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error.

28 Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done. 29 They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; 31 they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy. 32 Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.

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If we look at some other biblical references to homosexuality in the New Testament we see that they are all using dysphemisms to let false teachers know how God feels about them.

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1 Timothy 1:3-11

Timothy Charged to Oppose False Teachers NIV

3 As I urged you when I went into Macedonia, stay there in Ephesus so that you may command certain people not to teach false doctrines any longer 4 or to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies. Such things promote controversial speculations rather than advancing God’s work—which is by faith. 5 The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. 6 Some have departed from these and have turned to meaningless talk. 7 They want to be teachers of the law, but they do not know what they are talking about or what they so confidently affirm.

8 We know that the law is good if one uses it properly. 9 We also know that the law is made not for the righteous but for lawbreakers and rebels, the ungodly and sinful, the unholy and irreligious, for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers, 10 for the sexually immoral, for those practicing homosexuality, for slave traders and liars and perjurers—and for whatever else is contrary to the sound doctrine 11 that conforms to the gospel concerning the glory of the blessed God, which he entrusted to me.

 

We see the same in 1 Corinthians 6:1-11.

 

Therefore we believe:

God doesn’t have a problem with homosexuality but He does with false teachers.

If you are gay you are welcome in the ‘Oasis’ but we consider false teachers to be queer (dysphemism - meant to offend false teachers only).