A Message of Hope for Homosexuals

Put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.
—Ephesians 4:24

Another myth about homosexuality says that 10% of the population is homosexual. That number comes from a study more than 50 years ago by Dr. Alfred Kinsey. He claimed that 10% of the men he surveyed were homosexual. It was later demonstrated that a significant percentage of his sample came from the prison population, where men are more likely to commit homosexual acts. A more telling study comes from 1993; a survey of 3,321 men revealed that 2% of them had engaged in homosexual conduct within the last 10 years and only 1% of that group claimed to be exclusively homosexual.

Why do homosexuals want to perpetrate this myth of 10%? Well, it makes homosexuality seem more normal. If 10% of the population is homosexual, then it must be all right. But is that logical? Studies show that 10-15% of Americans are alcoholics. But do we want to say alcoholism is okay? Inflating their numbers also helps hide homosexuality’s connection to pedophilia. Now it would be wrong to suggest that all, or even a majority, of homosexuals are pedophiles. But there are a disproportionate number of assaults against children by homosexuals as compared to heterosexuals. And the reason is clear. Homosexuality represents a degradation of a person’s mind. And if a person will sink that low and there are no restraints from God’s law, there’s no telling what other sins he will commit as well.

And that leads to a seventh myth about homosexuality, which is that homosexuality is a fixed desire and cannot be changed. The argument goes that since people are born gay, it is futile as well as cruel to try to get people to change their sexual orientation. But sexual orientation is not nearly as fixed as you would be led to believe that it is. Studies have shown that homosexuals’ sexual preferences are very fluid. A heterosexual shift is a possibility for all homosexuals who are strongly motivated to change.

Those of us who proclaim God’s truth about homosexuality are accused of offering only despair to homosexuals. But it is the person who rejects God’s Word who has the message of despair. He is the one who says to a homosexual, “You are the way you are and you can’t change it no matter how hard you try.” But Christians have a message of hope. “Yes, you may be inclined to this sin or that sin, but the good news is that Jesus Christ died for us so that we don’t have to stay the way we are. There’s a way to life and freedom and it is through Jesus Christ.” We have a message of hope for the world today.

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Today’s devotion is excerpted from “Why Gay Is Not Okay” by Dr. Robert Jeffress, 2008.

Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, Copyright © 1960,1962,1963,1968,1971,1972,1973,1975,1977,1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.