This website could cause suicide among young homosexuals - 05/14/2005

im an eighteen year old male who is gay, i read from your site.  i think the message that you place is what causes many gay teens to commit suicide i hope that you read and post something with regard to what people like myself should do if they are gay, please dont say we choose ive been to therapy, science has reassured me that i am this way i know that i am this way.  my mother teaches sunday school at a babtist church ive gone there all my life, both my parents love me regardless.  what is a homosexual teen like me to do about the way that god made me? ive also posted excerpts from your site and would like to hear what you have to say about them.
"Some homosexual advocates will contend that homosexuality is natural, and point to homosexual activity within some animal species as evidence.  However, it’s not hard to figure out that homosexuality is decidedly unnatural.  My wife and I used to have a couple of pendant necklaces.  Each of us had half of a pendant on our necklace.  When we put our two halves together, the zigzag pattern meshed together flawlessly to create a single, whole pendant (which, by the way, bore the words of Genesis 2:24).  God made men and women different, both emotionally and physically.  Physically, we were created to fit together anatomically much like our pendant.  Our parts just match up!  Remember the child’s game of matching the round peg into the round hole, the square peg into the square hole, etc.?  The homosexual is trying to force two pegs together, in blatant disregard for God’s natural design!"
...your argument that its unnatural is based on the refrence of putting wodden blocks into holes, your arguing scince with a horribly unscientific and poor metaphor
"As further evidence of the sinful nature of homosexuality, Leviticus 18:22, and 20:13 both describe homosexuality as “an abomination.”  Romans 1:26-27 is very specific when Paul says, “For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompense of their error which was meet.”"
...the Bible does suggest homosexuality is an abomination (Leviticus 18:22), The Bible also says in Leviticus 25:44 that we may possess slaves, both male and female, provided they are purchased from neighboring nations; Exodus 35:2 says that my neighbor who works on the Sabbath should be put to death; Lev. 19:27 expressly forbids men from getting their hair trimmed; Lev. 11:6-9 states that touching a dead pig makes us unclean (Are you ready for some football?) and Lev. 19:19 forbids us from planting two different crops in the same field or wearing garments made of two different kinds of threat.  The penalty?  Lev. 24:10-16 suggests we stone people to death.
"Having established that homosexuality is a sin, we must now face that we live in increasingly pro-homosexual societies.  The media and the schools have become mouthpieces for the gay subculture, and are working hard to marginalize those of us who take a moral, biblical stance on the issue."
...the media isnt full of racial bias against people, and if you dont want your child exposed to the "gay subcultures" put them in a private school.  suicide rate amongts gay teens are three to four times more likely than heterosexual teens.  im eighteen and if i had read this when i was twelve i might have killed myself as well.  thank you for causing hate crimes with your racially motivated bias, presented in your web site
 
i dont want you to think that im an extreme who hates you and your web site, i just want to honestly know what god would want me to do since he made me this way. 
 
sincerley,
justin




CONTENDER MINISTRIES RESPONSE:


Hi Justin.  Thanks for writing to us.  I'm glad your parents love you regardless of your sexual choices.  Indeed, all of your Christian friends should love you.  The Bible teaches us to love all people, regardless of whether or not they have repented of their sins.  However, we must take a stand in pointing out sin.  The Bible is clear that sex is to occur only in a marriage between a man and a woman.  That means adultery, pre-marital sex, and homosexuality are sexual sins. 
 
You expressed your disapproval with our "square peg in a round hole" metaphor with regards to showing that homosexuality is unnatural.  If you don't like that metaphor, that's fine -- that metaphor was not the main thrust of our position.  Our main position is that homosexuality is a sin according to the Bible.  If you want to disregard the Levitical prohibitions against homosexuality as part of the obsolete Levitical laws, that's fine, but you must be prepared to disregard the other biblical teachings.  In Romans 1:26-27 Paul is very specific, “For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompense of their error which was meet.”  In 1 Corinthians 6:9, Paul wrote, “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.”  The Greek word from which the King James Bible gets the word “effeminate” is malakos, which literally means something soft to the touch, but is used as a negative metaphor to refer to a boy kept for homosexual relations with a man.  The “abusers of themselves with mankind” are those men who engage in unnatural sexual relations with other men – homosexuals. That is also how the NASB, the NKJV, and the NIV translate that verse.  Also in the New Testament is verse 7 from the book of Jude, defining exactly why Sodom and Gomorrah were punished – homosexuality.  I'm willing to disregard the Levitical passages as part of the Levitical law, but that doesn't dismiss these New Testament references.  This is in addition to the biblical teachings that sex is only between a man and woman who are married. 
 
You mentioned that rates of suicide among homosexual teens are higher than the national average, and if you had read our articles when you were twelve, you might also have been driven to suicide.  First, I'm just going to take your word for it on those numbers, as I've not seen the studies you must be citing.  The suicide rate is something you should think about.  Why do people commit suicide?  Because they have no hope.  A person who has been saved, and feels the guiding power of the Holy Spirit knows they have a hope that transcends this world.  Only a person who is bound by sin could feel hopeless enough to take their own life.  As a Christian, I frequently suffer persecution for my beliefs, but because I feel the hope that passes all understanding, I never feel such despair as to commit suicide.  That homosexual teens are so much more likely to commit suicide just reinforces that they are enslaved by sin, and desparately need to repent, accept Christ as their personal Savior, and share in the hope that makes it possible to face any persecution with joy. 
 
You accused us of racial bias, which is patently false.  We have no prejudice against any race.  The only prejudice we have is against sin.  You also suggested that if we don't want children to be indoctrinated into a moral acceptance of homosexuality, we should move them to private school.  No Justin, that's the wrong answer.  A study by researchers at the University of Western Ontario and Stanford University sought to find a genetic cause for homosexuality.  They found none.  This confirms that homosexuality is a choice -- a choice that Bible-believing Christians believe to be sinful.  Schools should not indoctrinate children into believing that homosexuality, adultery, pedophilia, or any sexual sin is morally acceptable.  Schools exist to teach our children, not indoctrinate them in particular moral or immoral doctrines.  You accused us of causing hate crimes, which is a baseless accusation.  Justin, you should consider the hopelessness that causes rampant suicide among homosexual teens.  Consider that a life that is redeemed and guided by the Holy Spirit does not have that hopelessness.  I encourage you to repent of your sins and share in the hope that transcends this world.  If you want help in this regard, there are a couple of good resources I would suggest.  Stephen Bennett was a homosexual who has since repented and accepted Christ.  He runs Stephen Bennett Ministries to homosexuals:  www.sbministries.org.  I also suggest Exodus International:  http://www.exodus-international.org/.  You can find some local ministries to homosexuals at that site, as well as testimonials from dozens of people who escaped the hopelessness of homosexuality.  I hope that you will seek God's will for your life.   
 
In Christ,
 
Ben and Jennifer Rast
Contender Ministries