Lewis
I think this thread is a good one and of course very controversial. When I see these threads on Homosexuality, I for the most part will tend to stay away from them, but when the kids and family is at stake, well, then the Gloves are off.
I will give as little of my opinion as possible, but lets see what God tells us through his word.
First, Lets take a look at what the word Homosexual is in the Greek.
Now there are three words for homosexual that is used in the Greek The most common one and its the one paul uses in Romans and Galations is
πορνεία This word is pronounced Pornia...This word is where we get the word pornography from.
This single word is loaded. Here is what this one word means.
illicit sexual intercourse, adultery, fornication, homosexuality, lesbianism, intercourse with animals, sexual intercourse with close relatives.
OK, Now lets look at this loaded verse in context....
Galations 5:19-21
19 Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
In the Greek language you can remove all the words here that describe the sins and replace them with the single word Porneia in Greek and it will mean the same thing.
Here these verses are all in the wrong place. It should be one verse and that single word πορνεία covers all of these sins. And notice that in the Text, the word homosexual does not appear...yet this very word means just that. This sin of homosexuality is so bad that it takes at least 17 words in the english laguage to describe...
So to summerize;
summarizeThe first group of sins relates to man’s defilement in the area of sex. Immorality is from porneia, from which is derived the English pornography. The term has a broad meaning, referring to all illicit sexual activity-especially, but not limited to, adultery, fornication, homosexuality, bestiality, and prostitution.
In 1 Corinthians 5:1, Paul uses the term to refer to a form of incest (sexual relationships of a man with his mother or stepmother) that even the pagans did not practice. In the next two chapters (6:13, 18; 7:2; cf. Eph. 5:3; 1 Thess. 4:3) he uses the same word to represent sexual sin in general.
When I was first learning Greek, this was one of the words we studied and the context of this word.