Noah and Homosexuality

In Genesis 6:5 God says “And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” This text indicates that all man thought of was how to do evil, at least in the sight of God. This text does not go into detail of what it was that mankind was doing that God saw as so offensive. But as in all cases other Scripture sheds light on what was happening and how God perceived these issues.

In Genesis 18-19 we have the story of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. In this story Abraham intercedes with the Judge of All of the Earth – The Son of God – who came down to check out Sodom and Gomorrah and see if what He had heard was accurate. We know from other Scriptures that God did not come down to get information for Himself, for He knows everything about the Earth. But God came down to check things out so that He could give His people some awareness of how He thinks and how He sees things.

God shared His intent with Abraham and Abraham begins to intercede for the people of Sodom and Gomorrah. He eventually pleads (that is a legal term to indicate that someone is talking to the Judge in your behalf) that if 10 righteous people were in Sodom and
Gomorrah, that God would save the cities. God readily agrees to this because of Abraham’s lack of understanding of how wicked these cities were. They were in fact as wicked as those in the time of Noah, and they would be destroyed as the people of Noah’s were.

In the story of Sodom and Gomorrah we find out a little of what the people of Sodom were doing that was evil. While negotiating with Abraham, God sent two of His angels into Sodom to check on the people and to communicate His intent to Lot. Lot does not know that these two men are angels but he invites them to his home. While there the people of Sodom come to sexually assault the two men. Lot does his best to defend the two visitors, and the people turn on Lot and are willing to assault him. So it appears that homosexuality was a common practice in Sodom.

We also know that when Lot was instructed by the angels to leave that he attempted to talk to his daughters and their husbands, and they all ignored his warnings. Thus the hearts of the people of Sodom were not impressed by any spiritual movings and they thus testified that along with homosexuality, they had hearts that were not sensitive to the movings of God. Thus any thing that God would attempt to communicate with the people He would have been ignored by them while they were doing whatever they wanted to do. Thus any thing that God would warn against would be likely to be done by the people as a testimony of their ignoring of God, and His counsel, while they did whatever was in their hearts to do.

In Leviticus 18 we have a list of a variety of activities that the nations, which God dispossessed to clear a place for Israel to live, did on a regular basis. In the list are various incestuous activities, then bestiality, and homosexuality. God perceives these activities as defiling and abomination. He warns His people to stay away from these activities, lest they turn out to be like the dispossessed nations of Canaan.

In Romans 1:21-32 God states that the same general principles of evil that Sodom, Gomorrah, and Canaan were guilty of, that the Romans, in the time of Paul, were practicing on a regular basis. So this shows that time does not usually stop anyone from doing evil and that nations practice abominable behaviors because they do not seek help from God and will not abide by His principles or commandments.

In our final example, Jesus says that in the last days the people will again behave like the people in the time of Noah. Matthew 24:37-39. The same behaviors of the time of Noah will be repeated in the end times about the time of the Second Coming of Jesus. All we have to ask ourselves today is whether homosexuality is increasing and becoming a norm of our society. If the answer is yes, then it would be reasonable to believe that homosexuality was prevalent in the times of Noah because when a people think evil continually then God’s perceptions of normal human relationships will be challenged and the thinking of sinful man will replace the commandments of God.

We have spoken to the subject of polygamy as a rebellious act against the standards of God in an earlier study. Homosexuality is another manifestation of the evil of man’s rebellious nature. Noah would have spoken out against this rebellion against the revealed will of God and would have been pleading for his people to give up this sinful act and return to the principles of God so that they could be forgiven, healed, and be in right relationship with God. But the people of Noah’s time ignored this preacher of righteousness, and the people in the end will do the same thing.

It is the purpose of these studies about the time of Noah to give the people in the end the opportunity of learning what the Bible and history has told us. What happened in the time of Noah will be repeated. We have the opportunity to learn what God wants us to do and then to do it. I do not share these thoughts with the idea that society will change and come into harmony with the Word of God. I share these thoughts to find at least one other person that will leave the ranks of the non-believers and come and join the people of God who will go into God’s last day ark – His church. I pray that as we review these issues that we will make the decision to join God and His people and be saved when the final destruction arrives.