Did Jesus Talk About Homosexuality?: First, who is Jesus? (Part -1)

If you have been following me the last few days you would be familiar with the series I have been going through. I have been examining the proclamation made by the new Russian law banning the publication of homosexuality to children on grounds that it is harmful information. You can read earlier instalments of this series 'here'[i]. However a strange thing happened when I started to broadcast the latest instalment of this series. I spread it across the internet on various social media sites such as Facebook, twitter and Google+ and within 15 minutes I got a comment on my Facebook post from one of my friends. For his anonymity let's call him Frank. Frank wrote:

Ian, do you know what Jesus had to say about homosexuality? Absolutely nothing.

And in response to him another friend of mine wrote:

"Absolutely nothing". 

In other words, he said exactly as much about homosexuality as he did about bestiality, incest, or torturing puppies. And yet we're still entirely justified in drawing negative conclusions about those acts, even without his help.

In sum my friend is agreeing with Frank, but points out that in contrast Jesus neither talked about bestiality, incest or torturing puppies; yet I and my friend as two Christians would put the proclamation of incest, bestiality and torturing puppies 'being wrong' in Jesus' mouth. In sum just as we would say "Jesus is against homosexuality" we would also say, "Jesus is against bestiality, incest and torturing puppies." So if Jesus didn't say anything about homosexuality, incest, bestiality and torturing puppies, on what grounds do Christians include those views to Jesus' worldview? I can't give an account for why every Christian might attribute the aforementioned views to Jesus, but my justification is due to 'reason' and the use of 'critical thinking'. In sum based on what Scripture does say it stands to reason to conclude that Jesus is against homosexuality, incest, bestiality and torturing puppies.

So narrowing our discussion to homosexuality let's ask the provocative question: Did Jesus say anything on the issue of homosexuality? There are many issues within Scripture that many people believe God is silent on: homosexuality, the doctrine of the Trinity, abortion are only three examples. One reason for this is due to what I call the 'Chapter and Verse Syndrome'. Many people want Scripture to be plain, in black and white letters, in sentence format and in a chapter and verse structure. Scripture does give a lot of information via that framework, but not everything that Scripture discusses is in plain, sentence format. Therefore then, regarding homosexuality, my friend and Frank are correct to say that Jesus never "talked" about homosexuality. So if one is looking for a verse to say something like:

1: Then Jesus replied: "As it was spoken by the prophets, thou shall never have homosexual sex. Men should never have sexual intercourse with another man; and in the same way a woman should never engage into sexual intercourse with another woman. 2: The homosexual lifestyle is wrong." - Matthew 9:1-2

They will be out of luck as it doesn't exist. However does Jesus hold to this view nonetheless? Yes.

First Things First: What did Jesus say about himself?

It is important though to first establish who this Jesus is before we determine what he believes. Christians believe that Jesus is God in the flesh (cf. John 1:14). That he existed before the creation of the world (cf. John 17:5). That he is the creator spoken of in Genesis 1:1, (cf. John 1:3), etc. So is this view correct or is he just a prophet as Muslims would suggest (cf. Surah 6:100-101)? Or is he merely a good man and or a teacher as many others would argue? Who is correct about Jesus' nature? Jesus said that unless one accepts that he is "...he..." (cf. John 8:24) they will die in their sins - i.e. be eternally damned. Who is the 'he' in Jesus discussion? Jesus carries on to the end of that chapter to answer that question; he states:

Very truly I tell you,”...“before Abraham was born, I am!- John 8:58 (cf. Exodus 3:14)

In sum the 'he' in Jesus discussion is him as God. This proclamation is a common theme throughout the Gospels where Jesus' words are recorded. In the conversation with Nicodemus, Nicodemus states:

“Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him.” - John 3:2

And then from John 3:3-21 Jesus spends time pointing out that he (Nicodemus) is not seeing the elephant in the room; in sum he is examining the results of the issue that Jesus wants him to see, but is failing to see the issue at hand. The miracles don't show that he just is from God, but rather is God himself.

However can Jesus be from God and be God? That would be like saying I am from my mother and I am my mother. Another theme throughout the pages of the Gospels is the fact that Jesus referred to God as 'Father'. This is the beginning of the formation of the doctrine of the Trinity. The year 325 AD is famous as it is the year the structured statement of belief known as The Nicene Creed was formed. Among various other points of Christian orthodox beliefs the creed states:

We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son.[ii] 

The authors of this creed are making three major distinctions, not between deities, but persons that are in the one being of God. To put it plainly the Trinity is as such: One being of God, consisting of three unique and separate persons: The Father, The Son and the Holy Spirit. Each person is the entirety of the being of God and his own identifiable person. Ergo when the person 'The Son' namely Jesus prays to his father he is praying to the person, 'The Father', who is also the same God as The Son is. The Father and The Son had before the creation of the world a communion; a communion which Jesus gave up when he entered his creation as a man, so to die as a man for the sins of men. (cf. Phil 2:6-8). Jesus prays:

And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began. - John 17:5

There are many other examples that can be given. However what is shown above is sufficient evidence for the case for Jesus' deity. So if Jesus existed before the creation of the world then he existed before Moses did. Jesus is the same God that commanded Moses to take off his sandals on Mt. Siniai for he was standing on holy ground, (cf. Exodus 3:5); he was the God who told this same Moses to tell the people that: "‘I AM has sent me to you.’” - Exodus 3:14 (also see: John 8:58); and of course this is the same Moses who wrote Leviticus 18:22, 20:13 - the first two infamous 'gay verses'.

This is just the beginning; a lot more will be said on this subject of Jesus' view of homosexuality. The picture being painted of Jesus' view on homosexuality should begin to be seen: Jesus preexisted all those who are infamous for declaring homosexuality wrong. Return for future instalments to see how Jesus deity is relevant and to his relationship to the prophets and apostles are to the claim that he spoke against homosexuality.
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[i] - 1: http://acrazychristian.blogspot.ca/2014/02/protecting-children-from-evil-info.html; 
2: http://acrazychristian.blogspot.ca/2014/03/beyond-russian-boarder-effect-of.html; 
3: http://acrazychristian.blogspot.ca/2014/03/russias-homosexual-law-is-there-wisdom.html - all links accessed on March 6, 2014
[ii] - http://www.creeds.net/ancient/nicene.htm - accessed March 7, 2014