Pete Buttigieg, mayor of South Bend, Indiana, is one of the many democrats running for President. He is gay and he is “married” to a man. He also has a very pro-gay political agenda. However, unlike most, Pete Buttigieg tries to use religion to promote the gay lifestyle and agenda. Being an Episcopalian, Pete Buttigieg faces no criticism from his church for his sexual behavior. Episcopalians do not believe that homosexuality is sinful. Of course, this position puts them at great odds with Scripture.
Buttigieg recently made the national news when he said in a public statement to Vice President Mike Pence, “If you got a problem with who I am, your problem is not with me — your quarrel, sir, is with my creator.”
Mike Pence believes homosexuality to be sinful and that marriage is between a man and a woman. However, Pence is also on public record saying that homosexuals should be granted the same civil liberties as other people. Pence’s opposition to the practice of homosexuality does not deny civil rights to homosexuals.
It is also my position as a Bible believer, that since all humans are free agents, they have the God-given ability (not permission) to live their lives as they please, provided that they do not “harm” their “neighbor” (Romans 13:10). As shown by the previous context in Romans 13, those whose sins result in “harm” to their neighbor (other people) must be punished by civil authorities. While all sin must be denounced and opposed, not all sin harms neighbors and we leave those judgments in the hands of God who will one day judge even “the secrets of men” (Romans 2:16). Free agency includes free speech, which means that people like Buttigieg and Pence ought to be free to discuss their differences about moral issues and still accept each other’s personal rights.
Our Creator And Homosexuality
But what about Mayor Pete’s statement about homosexuality and the “creator?” Mayor Pete’s implication is that his “creator” approves of homosexuality and gay marriage. My immediate reaction to Mayor Pete’s statement was that he must have a different “creator” than I do! The Creator that I serve has condemned homosexuality in every dispensation of human history! There has never been a time when our Creator has approved of homosexuality. It is regularly condemned in Scripture alongside other sins — including other sexual sins. Mayor Pete’s “creator” doesn’t exist. It is a fiction.
God designed marriage to be between a male and a female (Genesis 2:24; Matthew 19:4-6). God does not join same-sex couples in marriage.
The Patriarchal Dispensation: Under what we call the Patriarchal dispensation, the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah were incinerated by God for the sin of homosexuality (Genesis 19:5, 24; Jude 7). Not only has God always condemned homosexuality, He also defines it as unnatural. The apostle Paul wrote, “For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of the error which was due” (Romans 1:26-27).
That homosexuality is “unnatural” is obvious from the fact that human civilization would cease if everyone was gay. Procreation would stop and humanity would soon expire. Of course, we must not ignore the spiritual consequence that “those who practice such things are worthy of (spiritual) death” (Romans 1:32; compare Romans 6:23).
The Mosaic Dispensation: The Law of Moses explicitly forbade homosexuality and even made it a capital offense (Leviticus 18:20 & 20:13). Note: We are no longer under the Law of Moses, so I am not suggesting that we should have the death penalty for the sin of homosexuality. I cite these passages, as well as Genesis 19, to prove that the “Creator” or God of the Bible has condemned homosexuality in every age of humanity.
The Gospel Dispensation: The New Testament also condemns homosexuality. As shown above, Romans 1:26-27 explicitly condemns homosexuality. While it might be argued that Romans 1:18-32 addresses the past actions of Gentile people, the sins that are listed in that text are repeated elsewhere in the New Testament. For example, Paul wrote the Corinthians, “Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God” (1 Corinthians 6:9-10). Paul told Timothy that the law was made “for fornicators, for sodomites, for kidnappers, for liars, for perjurers, and if there is any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine” (1 Timothy 1:10). And as noted above in connection with Genesis 19, the inspired Jude characterized the sexual conduct of the condemned people of Sodom and Gomorrah as aberrant and sinful (Jude 7). Both the Old and New Testaments explicitly condemn homosexuality.
Conclusion
Mayor Pete Buttigieg’s “creator” cannot be the “Creator” of the Bible. While God is a loving and merciful God who is always willing to forgive sinners, He will do so only after they have repented. Peter wrote, “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9; see also Luke 13:3-5). After specifying homosexuals and sodomites as people who will not enter heaven, Paul said to the Corinthians, “And such were some of you…” (1 Corinthians 6:9-11). His point was that they had repented of their sins and were no longer practicing them (see 2 Corinthians 7:7-10 for his explanation of the nature of genuine repentance). God forgives and accepts those who repent of their sins and meet His other conditions of salvation, including faith, confession and baptism (Acts 2:38, 41; Romans 10:10). This means that the “fornicators” of 1 Corinthians 6:9 had to stop having unmarried sex. The “adulterers” had to stop having sex with those not their mates, and the “homosexuals” had to stop having sex with those of their same gender. No matter what the sin was, they had to stop it in order to be forgiven by the one, the true and the only Creator. Mayor Pete’s “creator” is a mere fiction.
—Tim Haile