Why Christians are wrong on homosexuality

There are clear indications that the debate on homosexuality in Ghana is not going away quietly as some of us would have hoped. An article by one, Andrew Solomon, threw different perspectives on the controversial issue, no wonder it dominated media discussions in Ghana back in 2013.

In this whole issue, I am particularly dismayed by the position of Ghanaian Christians and in particular its pastors and leaders. This is not because I support gay rights in any way shape or form. To argue for gay human rights is similar to arguing for incest rights or bestiality. There is nowhere to stop.

What worries me about Christians though is the rationale for the hue and cry. I believe the scriptures Christians are using in this particular fray are completely misquoted.

The usual scriptures used are Leviticus 18:22: "'Do not lie with a man as one lies with a woman; that is detestable”; and Leviticus 20:13: "'If a man lies with a man as one lies with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable. They must be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads.

To appropriate these scriptures in the current debate on homosexuality is incorrect because we are unable to carry out the punishment prescribed under the law of grace of Christ Jesus. That law, therefore, is made of no effect. Simply put, we cannot condemn gays based on that scripture.

The correct scriptural reference in this homosexual argument should rather be Romans 1:25-28: “They exchanged the truth of God for a lie and worshipped and served created things rather than the Creator--who is forever praised. Amen. Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones.

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In the same way, the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion. Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind; to do what ought not to be done”.

From this scripture, it is clear that homosexuality happens because God gives people over and gives them a deprived mind because of other sins. When an entire society indulges sin for a long period of time, sin metamorphosis into deprivation and reprobation.

Homosexuality is not the sickness. It is the symptom of a much deeper malaise. Christians are worried about the wrong things.

In Ghana, for example, I can say that Adultery affects more people and impacts more lives than homosexuality. Adultery tears up families and causes hurt for generations and there is no evidence that homosexuality has done the same. The differences in the number of practitioners are also staggering.

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For every single homosexual in Ghana, there are probably 500 adulterers, with pastors and church leaders included in that number. In fact, there is evidence to suggest that the sins and immorality of the church are the cause of homosexuality, in that wherever the church shows signs of corruption – the gay debate finds a place in public discourse.

There is the atheism and apostasy of the United Kingdom; the moral corruption and lure of money in the United States and the Adultery and unfaithfulness in the Ghanaian Church. Let us stop the hypocrisy and focus on the real cancer of adultery that has engulfed our nation.

It is ironic that today, Christian leaders are asking our politicians; mostly known-adulterers, to declare their stance on homosexuality: an act that most of them cannot even fathom engaging in.

Where is their stance on adultery? Which is the bigger sin here?

In history, homosexuality is usually the last ill to appear in every decadent society. We can talk about Sodom & Gomorrah and Rome. We are nearing that point in Ghana and instead of this bellicose, self-indulging attitude of taking out specks out of the eyes of gays, we need to begin to tackle the log in our own eyes and expose the pungent, smelling canker of adultery and unfaithfulness deeply rooted in our churches and culture.