NOT A HOMOPHOBE

Why I am not a homophobe
1999 WorldNetDaily.com

Washington Post ombudswoman E. R. Shipp suggests I am "hostile to homosexuals."

In the popular lexicon, that makes one a "homophobe." I'd like to explain why I am not a "homophobe."

First of all, the Latin root "homo" simply means "man." "Phobe," or "phobia," has to do with fear. I certainly do not fear men. I also do not fear homosexuals -- though, as much as possible, I do avoid them, as Christians and Jews are cautioned to do in Leviticus 18.

Why are we cautioned to avoid homosexuals in the Bible? Here's what it says in the relevant verses of Leviticus 18 (KJV):  22. Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination.

23. Neither shalt thou lie with any beast to defile thyself therewith: neither shall any woman stand before a beast to lie down thereto: it is confusion.

24. Defile not ye yourselves in any of these things: for in all these the nations are defiled which I cast out before you:

25. And the land is defiled: therefore I do visit the iniquity thereof upon it, and the land itself vomiteth out her inhabitants.

26. Ye shall therefore keep my statutes and my judgments, and shall not commit any of these abominations; neither any of your own nation, nor any stranger that sojourneth among you:

27. (For all these abominations have the men of the land done, which were before you, and the land is defiled;)

28. That the land spue not you out also, when ye defile it, as it spued out the nations that were before you. 29. For whosoever shall commit any of these abominations, even the souls that commit them shall be cut off from among their people.

30. Therefore shall ye keep mine ordinance, that ye commit not any one of these abominable customs, which were committed before you, and that ye defile not yourselves therein: I am the LORD your God.

You see, God, speaking through Moses, tells us that practices including homosexuality will cause those involved and those around them to be spewed out of the land -- to be rejected, outcast, vomited from the land. I don't want to be too close when that happens. In other words, it's not homosexuals I fear. It is God.

"Oh, Farah," some of you are saying, "you're just not being open-minded. You're just relying on that archaic, old relic, the Bible, to form your opinion. Don't you know that book is just a lot of fables? You don't really think God inspired any of that superstition, do you?"

Well, yes, I do. And if you don't, then you've got a lot more to rethink than just whether it is appropriate for men to lie with men and women with women. You see, all of the sexual prohibitions we accept as normal today derive from this same biblical tradition -- nothing more, nothing less.

Look at the beginning of Leviticus 18. Clearly, all kinds of abominations were taking place in Egypt and Canaan, prior to God's proscriptions to the Hebrew people. There were no laws or traditions against incest -- except those, perhaps, written on the hearts of men by God from the beginning of time. In fact, incest was considered great fun in Canaan. It was sort of the national sport. Adultery was not discouraged. It was a normal pastime. Even sacrificing babies to the idol Molech was considered the cost of doing business in these lands of sexual licentiousness. Does that sound familiar?

So, if you're going to tear down the walls of 5,000 years of law and Judeo-Christian tradition with regard to homosexuality, perhaps you should consider the next domino to fall. Will it be incest? Will it be pederasty? If not, why not? If the Bible is not the authority -- the ultimate moral guide on such matters -- what is? Is it the word of the American Psychiatric Association? Is it popular opinion? Is it the ombudswoman at the Washington Post?

Do you realize there are active efforts under way now to repeal laws against sex with minors?

Ask yourself, if it's not biblical morality that stops us from moving down this slippery slope, what is it? Whatever it is, it's going to be a losing argument. Because lust has no natural boundaries. The thirst for perversion is never quenched. One form leads to another and another and another.

Unless people rediscover the ancient truths of the Bible and Ultimate Authority who breathed them into words, we are, indeed, slouching toward Egypt, toward Canaan, toward Sodom.

Joseph Farah is editor and chief executive officer of WorldNetDaily.com and writes a daily column.