Homosexuality is a sin
Published:Saturday | January 14, 2012 | 12:00 AM
THE EDITOR, Sir:
The debate rages on - and today I feel inclined to add my two cents' worth. On Thursday, January 12, 2012, both Joseph Green and Elaine Hope mentioned and contrasted the biblically prescribed punishment for the sin of homosexuality, so evidently there is consensus that homosexuality is a sin.
Why then is there a debate? There is a debate because persons insist on erasing the great big distinction between 'goodness' and 'morality'. For the most part, people would like to know or think that they are considered as being good, failing to understand that there is no one 'good', but God.
If indeed the response at the polls is an indication of what Joseph terms as the JLP's 'recent outburst', I believe that it is fair to say his guesstimate of the homosexual population in Jamaica is on the very conservatively lower end.
Even as a nation with what many believe to be 'Christian' roots and way too many churches, Jamaica remains a highly immoral country. Shacking up and premarital sexual relationships are the order of the day, and when that is formalised in marriage, it is not unusual to expect the added dimension of an extramarital affair. So, indeed, the gays do feel justified in asking, 'What makes my sin bigger than yours?'
Elaine gave a reasonably good answer when she stated that the heterosexual relationship can be legalised and, in so doing, nullify the 'sin issue'; whereas the gay couple will have to completely disengage, which doesn't usually happen.
Abominations
But it goes deeper than that.
Romans 1:21-32 gives an exhaustive list of abominations carried out by the 'reprobate-minded'; interestingly, though it starts out with, as verses 26-27 puts it: vile affections, women changing the natural use into that which is against nature, and likewise men leaving the natural use of women burning in lust towards each other working that which is unseemly, even much so God gave them over to their reprobate minds. So the case is set out in the Bible against this practice, as with every other that bears the name sin.
What makes homosexuality such a big issue on the 'sin' list is that it is a lifestyle sin. The person committing fornication or adultery, stealing or even murder can quit cold turkey. The same is not true for homosexuals, especially since they often convince themselves that there is nothing wrong with it anyway, and some go even as far as to say God understands.
Of course, what they fail to understand is that although God is indeed love, God abhors sin so much so that His own precious Son had to die so that we could be reconciled. But we must not kid ourselves - homosexuality is a sin and buggery is still illegal in Jamaica.
MELEISA WITTER
May Pen, Clarendon