The explicit root-and-branch rejection of morality by gays has been real, pervasive, and baleful in its effect on both the quality of life that we create for ourselves within the [gay] community, and our P.R. [public relations] with straights…. There’s a simpler, darker reason why many gays choose to live without morality: As ideologies go, amorality is damned convenient. And the mortal enemy of that convenience is the value judgment…. Without morality, there can be no compelling basis for responsibility to others.
—Marshall Kirk and Hunter Madsen, After the Ball.1
A thick fog of confusion obscures the debate about homosexuality. This is by design; one of the fundamental strategies of the culture of death is to generate uncertainty and misunderstanding so that people will be intimidated into remaining silent.
Nowhere does this principle apply more than to what Scripture says about homosexuality.
Does the Bible Forbid Homosexuality?
“Gay-friendly” clergy tend to use the terms “love” and “acceptance” interchangeably, claiming that we must love everyone, because we are all children of God.
It is certainly true that Jesus commanded us to love everyone. God made each person in His image and likeness, so we all have dignity. But it certainly is not true that we must tolerate and accept sinful behavior.
Because homosexual persons possess human dignity, they must be loved and respected. Homosexual tendencies are not sinful if they are not wanted. But homosexual activity is immoral and absolutely anti-biblical.
This is a very important point. Simply having same-sex attraction [1] is not sinful. It becomes sinful when one entertains these feelings, or when one acts on them, or lives a homosexual lifestyle.
Scripture warns repeatedly against living a sinful lifestyle:
For if we sin wilfully after having the knowledge of the truth, there is now left no sacrifice for sins, but a certain dreadful expectation of judgment, and the rage of a fire which shall consume the adversaries. (Hebrews 10:26-27)
What shall we say, then? shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. For we that are dead to sin, how shall we live any longer therein? (Romans 6:1-2)
But he said that the things which come out from a man, they defile a man. For from within out of the heart of men proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and defile a man. (Mark 7:20-23)
These are only a few of the multiple instances that Scripture warns us of the consequences of a sinful lifestyle.
Anyone who has seen cursing, blaspheming homosexual activists simulating sex at a “Gay Pride” parade, or who has heard them express their hatred of God, or has read their hate-filled screeds against the Catholic Church, should have no problem discerning whether they follow God or follow the devil.
Beware of false prophets, who come to you in the clothing of sheep, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. By their fruits you shall know them. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, and the evil tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can an evil tree bring forth good fruit. (Matt. 7:15-18)
We often hear the empty platitude of “love” in defense of homosexuality. Many consider that to love one’s neighbor or to be charitable, they must accept someone’s lifestyle, even if it is sinful. So, we must ask what true love is. Is it truly loving to allow someone to do something that is harmful? Would a loving parent let their child play in the middle of a busy road? Would a loving person encourage their friend to engage in risky behaviors?
The mind’s greatest power is its ability to deceive itself. Nowhere is this more evident than in the pitiful spectacle of radical feminists, abortionists, corrupt politicians, and homosexual activists masquerading as Christians, proclaiming that they are “devout Catholics,” and denying that the Bible condemns homosexual behavior.
Of course, homosexual persons are to be loved and respected, and homosexual tendencies are not sinful if they are not wanted. But homosexual activity is immoral and absolutely anti-biblical.
The “Queen James Bible”
After hearing such self-justifications, many pro-family Christians wonder what “bible” the homophiles are getting their information from.
Believe it or not, there is an actual “Gay Bible.” The “Queen James Version” alters the eight verses in the 1769 King James Version that deal with homosexuality “in a way that makes homophobic interpretations impossible.”2
A person may disagree with the Bible on what it says about homosexuality, but it is just flat dishonest to produce a new version and then pretend that it is genuine. Perhaps this is why the editors (butchers?) of the “Queen James Bible” have wisely chosen to remain anonymous.
In reality, few sins are condemned by the Bible as explicitly as sodomy. Both the Old and New Testaments contain passages stating quite plainly that people who engage in homosexual activity will not inherit the Kingdom of Heaven.
The Old Testament
In fact, the sins of Sodom and Gomorrah have become the standard by which the sins of other cities and countries were judged in many Scripture passages.
The Case of Sodom
Homophiles boast about being great propagandists. Their specialty is the classic half-truth — deliberately telling only that part of the story that supports their allegations.
For example, they are fond of saying that Sodom was destroyed by God — not because the townspeople were homosexuals, but instead because they weren’t hospitable to travelers. Dissenter Father John J. McNeill advances this flimsy argument in his book The Church and the Homosexual, and it is repeated ad nauseam on many homophile websites.
What the homophiles intentionally omit from this account is Genesis 19:4-8:
But before they went to bed, the men of the city beset the house both young and old, all the people together. And they called Lot, and said to him: Where are the men that came in to thee at night? bring them out hither that we may know them:
Lot went out to them, and shut the door after him, and said: Do not so, I beseech you, my brethren, do not commit this evil. I have two daughters who as yet have not known man: I will bring them out to you, and abuse you them as it shall please you, so that you do no evil to these men, because they are come in under the shadow of my roof.
It is glaringly obvious to any person with even the slightest knowledge of the Bible that to “know” someone in this context is to have sexual intercourse with them.
Lot fleeing Sodom and Gomorrah
This is certainly not the only case of deliberate misinterpretation of the Bible that homophiles are guilty of. We all know Matthew 8:5-13 as the edifying story of the centurion who had so much faith in Jesus that he said to Him, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof; but only say the word, and my servant will be healed,” the words we repeat at every Holy Mass. Yet some homophiles say that this passage proved that the centurion was a homosexual [2] and that his servant was his lover!
Obviously, those who claim that Scripture does not condemn homosexuality are either ignorant or deceptive. Some of the more explicit condemnations of homosexual behavior in the Bible are Leviticus 18:22 (“You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination”), Leviticus 20:13 (“If any one lie with a man as with a woman, both have committed an abomination, let them be put to death: their blood be upon them”), and Jude 7 (“As Sodom and Gomorrha, and the neighbouring cities, in like manner, having given themselves to fornication, and going after other flesh, were made an example, suffering the punishment of eternal fire”).
Homophiles often dismiss the Old Testament condemnations of homosexuality on the grounds that there are many laws it describes that we do not follow now. These include not eating fish that have no fins or scales (Leviticus 11:9-12), and the breaking of an earthen vessel if a gecko or chameleon falls into it (Leviticus 11:29-33). But forbidding homosexuality does not stop at the Old Testament.
The New Testament
Perhaps the most eloquent and pointed condemnation of homosexual activity in particular and a permissive society in general is contained in Romans 1. Every Christian activist should be familiar with this chapter, because it describes our Western culture with a terrifying clarity:
For this cause God delivered them up to shameful affections. For their women have changed the natural use into that use which is against nature. And, in like manner, the men also, leaving the natural use of the women, have burned in their lusts one towards another, men with men working that which is filthy, and receiving in themselves the recompense which was due to their error…Who, having known the justice of God, did not understand that they who do such things, are worthy of death; and not only they that do them, but they also that consent to them that do them.
The prophetic Romans 1 shows us that homosexual behavior and other perversions of nature and society are as old as civilization itself — and as current as the headlines in today’s newspapers. If a homophile objects to Old Testament prohibitions on homosexual behavior, find out what he has to say about the first chapter of Romans and 1 Corinthians 6:9-10, which plainly states that those who commit homosexual acts (and do not repent) will not enter the Kingdom of God.
Know you not that the unjust shall not possess the kingdom of God? Do not err; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor the effeminate, nor liers with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor railers, nor extortioners, shall possess the kingdom of God.
Many try to claim that, since Jesus did not speak directly about same-sex relationships in the Gospels, they must be permissible. This is absolutely false. The simple reason that Christ did not specifically address it [4] was because, at that time in Israel, gay relations were not accepted. No one was disputing that they were wrong.
At the end of the day, the Bible clearly forbids homosexual activity. And the Bible’s teachings aren’t the only teachings that condemn it.
What Catholic Tradition Says
Tradition (those teachings that the Apostles passed down orally) also forbids homosexuality [5]. (To read more about Tradition and why it’s important, see here [6]. Tradition, with a capital T, refers to divinely revealed truths that come from God [7] from either Christ or the Apostles, whereas tradition refers to human traditions or customs.) There are multiple sources from Tradition that condemn this sin, but here are just a few.
Take what Cyprian of Carthage has to say [5]:
Oh, if placed on that lofty watchtower, you could gaze into the secret places – if you could open the closed doors of sleeping chambers and recall their dark recesses to the perception of sight – you would behold things done by immodest persons which no chaste eye could look upon; you would see what even to see is a crime; you would see what people embruted with the madness of vice deny that they have done, and yet hasten to do – men with frenzied lusts rushing upon them, doing things which afford no gratification even to those who do them (Letters 1:9 [A.D. 253])
And Eusebius of Casesarea:
[H]aving forbidden all unlawful marriage, and all unseemly practice, and the union of women with women and men with men, he [God] adds: ‘Do not defile yourselves with any of these things; for in all these things the nations were defiled, which I will drive out before you. And the land was polluted, and I have recompensed [their] iniquity upon it, and the land is grieved with them that dwell upon it.’ [Lev. 18:24-25] (Proof of the Gospel 4:10 [A.D. 319])
Or St. Augustine:
[T]hose shameful acts against nature, such as were committed in Sodom, ought everywhere and always to be detested and punished. If all nations were to do such things, they would be held guilty of the same crime by the law of God, which has not made men so that they should use one another in this way. (Confessions 3:8:15 [A.D. 400])
St. Augustinus or Augustine of Hippo Statue, Czech Republic
Why is Homosexuality Sinful?
God created man and woman to be sexually compatible and procreative. Sexuality is a gift from God, one that is designed to be utilized only within marriage between a man and a woman. Because of this incredible, beautiful, and dignified gift, any deviation from it is a degradation of this gift. Such deviations include adultery, pedophilia, fornication, or homosexuality.
The Bible affirms the goodness of marriage and the respect sexual relations between husband and wife deserve. Hebrews 13:4 exhorts spouses to respect the dignity of their marriage and to keep relations only within the marriage:
Marriage honourable in all, and the bed undefiled. For fornicators and adulterers God will judge.
But sexuality is a gift from God, to be enjoyed only within the bounds of marriage. Sex as a gift is affirmed in verses such as Proverbs 5:15-19, or Canticles (Song of Solomon) 2:16, 4:16-5:1.
Any Sin Can Be Forgiven–Including Homosexuality
It is also important to note that attraction to someone of the same sex is a result of original sin [1]. Thus, God doesn’t “make” one gay. The inclination to sin (referred to as “concupiscence”) [8] is a tragic result of original sin. Concupiscence includes the inclination towards sexual sins, such as masturbation, adultery, fornication, and yes, homosexuality.
Just as many struggle with the sin of addiction, or of pride, or of lust, many struggle with the sin of homosexuality. Just as with any other sin, God’s forgiveness is always readily available for this sin. Like the father of the prodigal son [9] in the Bible, God is eager to forgive us, if only we will let Him.
The Confession by Giuseppe Molteni (source:
Just like with any other sin, those struggling with same-sex attraction can absolutely get to Heaven, if only they repent of sin and follow Jesus:
Then Jesus said to his disciples: If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For he that will save his life, shall lose it: and he that shall lose his life for my sake, shall find it. (Matt. 16.24-5)
No one is too sinful for God’s forgiveness. Often, we can feel we are unworthy, or that God will hate us, or will abandon us for being too sinful. But this is not the case, as stated by Jesus Christ Himself to St. Faustina:
I perform works of mercy in every soul. The greater the sinner, the greater the right he has to My mercy. My mercy is confirmed in every work of My hands. He who trusts in My mercy will not perish, for all his affairs are Mine, and his enemies will be shattered at the base of My footstool. (Diary of Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska, 723)
Never let your past keep you from God. He knows your past and offers His mercy and forgiveness at every moment. He is eager for reconciliation with you.
Those Who Struggle with Same-Sex Attraction Have a Calling
God loves each person individually and more deeply than we can possibly imagine. Even though we are all sinful, He loves each of us. Those who struggle with same-sex attraction are no different in this regard. So, no, God does not hate gay people, but He is calling them to something higher than homosexuality. He hates sin and the effect it has on us, and He wants us to experience true freedom and peace.
Additionally, all people have a calling. God doesn’t make mistakes, and we are all called to be holy. Every individual has a specific and unique place in God’s plan that no one else can fulfill. This is known as a person’s vocation [10].
It doesn’t matter what sins someone has committed or struggles with currently – they are called to holiness and unity with the eternal and all-powerful God. This calling is what each of us is designed for, and unity with God is the only thing that will make us truly, deeply happy. But such a lofty, beautiful calling does not include sin. Thus, if one wishes to fulfill their vocation, one must repent of their sins and follow God.
Conclusion
It is a tragic thing to see individuals live so far from God, unaware of His great love and care for them. Holy Scripture and Tradition both forbid homosexuality because it is not what we are designed for. Just like with any other sin, it hinders us from full communion with God.
Understanding what the Bible and what Tradition both say about homosexuality can equip us to be more compassionate for our brothers and sisters who struggle with this sin, and it can help us to point them to the narrow path to Heaven.
This article was originally published in May 2020 by Dr. Brian Clowes and was most recently updated in December 2023 by Marisa Cantu.
+ Endnotes
[1] Marshall Kirk and Hunter Madsen. After the Ball: How America Will Conquer Its Fear & Hatred of Gays in the 90s. New York City: DoubleDay, 1989.
[2] Billy Hallowell. “’Queen James Bible’: Now There’s a Gay-Friendly Version of Scripture.” The Blaze, December 13, 2012. The Christian Apologetics & Research Ministry [11] (CARM) has done a great job of debunking this nonsense.