What to Say to Those Who Are Gay – Part 2

Guest (Male): Hey podcast listeners, thanks for streaming today's podcast from Pathway to Victory. Pathway to Victory is a nonprofit ministry featuring the Bible teaching of Dr. Robert Jeffress. Our mission is to pierce the darkness with the light of God's Word through the most effective media available, like this podcast. To support Pathway to Victory, go to PTV.org/donate, or follow the link in our show notes. Now, here's today's podcast from Pathway to Victory.
Dr. Robert Jeffress: Hi, this is Robert Jeffress, and I'm glad to study God's Word with you every day on this Bible teaching program.
Guest (Male): On today's edition of Pathway to Victory.
Dr. Robert Jeffress: How do we deal? What do we say to friends or even family members who are involved in homosexuality? Let me briefly give you three suggestions. Number one, devote time to pray for them. Prayer changes things. Prayer changes people, too. Secondly, don't argue with them. Thirdly, demonstrate compassion.
Guest (Male): Welcome to Pathway to Victory with author and pastor Dr. Robert Jeffress. As our culture grows more confused about human sexuality, many Christians wonder if the Bible is truly clear on the subject. Have we simply misread the scriptures all these years? Today on Pathway to Victory, Dr. Robert Jeffress shows us that God's Word means exactly what it says. But first, let's take a moment to hear some important ministry updates.
Dr. Robert Jeffress: Thanks, David, and welcome again to Pathway to Victory. Today I want to talk with you about a sensitive topic. I titled today's message, "What to Say to Those Who Are Gay." Few programs are brave enough to go here, but Pathway to Victory is, and we do it with gentleness, humility, and a longing to demonstrate the love of Jesus. This has been our calling for 30 years to carry light and life into dark places. And we're deeply grateful for the growing army of friends all across the country who are banding together with Pathway to Victory, fueling this ministry with monthly automated gifts. I'm so encouraged when our friends step forward each month and say, "Dr. Jeffress, we're with you." And we call those friends our Pathway partners. You can sign up to become a Pathway partner when you visit PTV.org. Now, when you give your first gift as a Pathway partner, or when you give a one-time generous gift on our 30th anniversary, I'll make sure you receive a copy of my brand new book, "Seven Lessons From My 70 Years."
Guest (Male): David and I will share details about this exclusive offer a bit later in the program.
Dr. Robert Jeffress: But right now, let's open our Bibles together for today's study. I titled my message, "What to Say to Those Who Are Gay." How can Christians especially afford to condone what God has so clearly condemned? Well, the answer is many people, believers and unbelievers alike, have bought into what I call seven myths about homosexuality. Remember myth number one? It's the myth that the only prohibitions against homosexuality are in the Old Testament and therefore not applicable today. Myth number two, and we continue to hear it, Jesus never condemned homosexuality, which leads to a third myth about homosexuality, and that is the Bible's condemnation of homosexuality is based on a misunderstanding of the text. A fourth myth that you've heard often is that science has proved that people are born gay. Have you heard that before? The argument goes this way: If, indeed, I have been wired to be a homosexual, if it is genetic, then how in the world could God condemn me for the way that he made me? Now, such a myth deserves both a biological and a theological response. First of all, the biological response. Has, indeed, science proved that people are born gay? In 1993, and this is the key point, Dr. William Bine and Dr. Bruce Parsons, researchers at the New York State Psychiatric Institute, reviewed all of the evidence for the biological causation of homosexuality. And they concluded in the archives of General Psychiatry that, quote, "There is no evidence at the present to substantiate a biologic theory of sexual orientation." No, science has not yet proved a genetic link to homosexuality. But let's suppose at some future date such a genetic link is proved. My response to that would be, so what if there is a genetic link to homosexuality? The fact is there have been studies that have suggested there is a genetic link to alcoholism, a genetic link to violence. I was reading this week, some suppose there's a genetic link to adultery. But are we willing to excuse all of those behaviors on the basis of my genes made me do it? I don't think so. I mean, when you think about it, doesn't the Bible teach that all sin is inherited? Myth number five. Homosexuals enjoy the same kind of healthy, monogamous relationships as heterosexuals. Ladies and gentlemen, the idea of long-term monogamous homosexual relationships is a myth. Yes, there are some exceptions, but they are exceptions, not the rule. Here are the facts. While a high percentage of heterosexual married couples remain married for 20 years or longer, the vast majority of homosexual relationships are short-lived and transitory. According to a study in the Netherlands, one of the most gay-tolerant nations in the world, they discovered that the average duration of a homosexual relationship is 1.5 years. And while a high percentage of heterosexual married couples remain faithful to each other, homosexual couples, the same study revealed, engage in a high degree of promiscuity. This study concluded that among committed homosexual couples, not just transitory couples, but committed homosexual couples among them, they had an average of eight different sexual partners a year outside of their relationship. And by the way, this comes from the highly respected journal AIDS. And what kind of sexual activity do homosexuals engage in? Because we have a mixed group here today and because there are some children who are present in the audience, I'm not going to give you a description of what homosexuals do. But let me tell you, if you think all they do is hold hands and kiss or even try to just simply replicate the heterosexual act, you are very naive. What they do is so filthy, it is so degrading that it is beyond description. And it is their filthy behavior that explains why they are so much more prone to disease than heterosexuals. Now, what I'm going to read to you does not come from the Focus on the Family magazine, okay? This is coming from the Center for Disease Control, a government organization on their website. Listen to this. Men who have sex with men are five to six times more likely to contract hepatitis B virus than heterosexuals. Men who have sex with men are twice as likely to contract hepatitis C. And although homosexuals are less than 3% of the population, according to a poll by New York's Hunter College, homosexuals account for 64% of all cases of syphilis. And by the way, don't let anyone mislead you. AIDS is primarily and predominantly a homosexual disease. Now, I made that comment last week and I had some of the brethren here in a nice way challenge me on that. They said, "Oh, that's not true, Pastor. You need to check your facts because it's just as much a heterosexual disease as a homosexual disease." Those poor souls, they have been brainwashed by the media into believing that. You want to hear what the facts are about the relationship between AIDS and homosexuality? First of all, when it was first labeled and discovered by the Center for Disease Control in 1982, you know what the original name for AIDS was? It was called Gay Related Immune Deficiency Syndrome, the GRIDS disease. Gay Related Immune Deficiency Syndrome, because it was so prevalent among homosexuals. Then later the name was changed when it spread to the heterosexual community through blood transfusions and women who were having sex with bisexual men. And that is why the Center for Disease Control right now and the Federal Drug Administration both prohibit homosexual and bisexual men from donating blood. Listen again to the federal government's Center for Disease Control. Quote, "Men who have sex with men have an HIV prevalence 60 times higher than the general population, 800 times higher than the first-time blood donors, and 8,000 times than repeat drug users." By the way, I came across a press conference that featured Matt Foreman, who is the Executive Director for the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. He said to his own convention, quote, "With 70% of people living in this country with HIV being homosexual or bisexual, we cannot deny that HIV is a gay disease." End of quote. Did you hear that? 70% of the people in this country with HIV are homosexual or bisexual. According to one estimate, homosexuals account for 80% of all of the serious sexually transmitted diseases in this country. 80%. Why is there such a higher rate of hepatitis, AIDS and other diseases among homosexuals? Why is that? It's because what they do with one another is unnatural. It is against nature, and nature has exacted its own penalty for the sin. It is a myth that homosexuals engage in the same kind of monogamous healthy relationships as heterosexuals. That leads to a sixth myth about homosexuality, and that is that 10% of the population is homosexual. Have you heard that before? 10% of the population is homosexual. Have you ever wondered where that comes from? It comes from a study back nearly 50 years ago by Dr. Alfred Kinsey. He released a study entitled Sexual Behavior in the Human Male, in which he claimed that 10% of the 5,300 men he surveyed were homosexual. Of course, it was later demonstrated that 25% of his sample came from the prison population. Everyone knows that in prison, men are more likely to commit homosexual acts even if they are not oriented that way. A much more telling study comes from 1993, a survey of 3,321 men revealed that 2.3% of them had engaged in any kind of sexual conduct, homosexual conduct, within the last 10 years and only 1% of that group claimed to be exclusively homosexual. Now, what's interesting is, privately, many homosexual advocates know that the 10% number is inflated. One advocate confesses, "I think people probably have always known that the 10% figure was inflated, but it was a nice number that you could point to, that you could say one in 10, and it's a fairly good way to get people to visualize that we are here." Why do homosexuals want to perpetrate this myth of 10%? Well, one reason is it makes it seem more normal. If they can say, "Well, 10% of the population is homosexual, therefore it must be all right." But is that really logical when you think about it? Statistics show that 10 to 15% of Americans are alcoholics. But do we want to say alcoholism is okay or desirable because 10 to 15% are alcoholics? But there's a darker reason that homosexuals want to inflate their numbers. By inflating their numbers, it helps hide one of the darkest secrets about homosexuality, and that is its connection to pedophilia, sex with children. Now, whenever I've been in a debate with people, whenever I've talked about this subject linking homosexuality and pedophilia, people said, "That's unfair because everybody knows that only 20 to 40% of sexual assaults against children are committed by homosexuals." And that's true. 20 to 40% of assaults against children are committed by homosexuals, but think about this: If homosexuals are only 2% of the population, and yet they account for 20 to 40% of all of the attacks against children, that means that a child is 10 to 20 times more likely to be assaulted by a homosexual than by a heterosexual. And even if you buy their myth of 10% of the population being gay, if 20 to 40% of all assaults are by homosexuals, if 10% of the population is gay, that still means a child is two to four times more likely to be assaulted by a homosexual than by a heterosexual. Amazingly, some gay activists don't even try to hide the link between homosexuality and pedophilia. There are some who right now are actively involved in trying to legalize sex between adults and children by lowering the age of consent or removing it altogether. In an article entitled "Pedophilia and the Gay Movement," published in the Journal of Homosexuality, author Theo Sanford chronicles the end to, what he calls, quote, "the oppression toward pedophilia." End of quote. He notes that in 1980, the largest Dutch gay organization, quote, "adopted the position that the liberation of pedophilia must be viewed as a gay issue and that ages of consent should therefore be abolished." By acknowledging the affinity between homosexuality and pedophilia, this organization has quite possibly made it easier for homosexual adults to become more sensitive to the erotic desires of younger members of their sex, thereby broadening gay identity. Now, in all fairness, it would be wrong to suggest that all homosexuals are pedophiles. It would be wrong to even suggest that the majority of homosexuals are pedophiles. But the truth, nevertheless, is there. There are a disproportionate amount of assaults against children by homosexuals than by heterosexuals. You can't deny that. And the reason is very clear. Homosexuality is perverse. It 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 to what other sins he will commit as well. That leads to a seventh myth about homosexuality, and that is that homosexuality is a fixed desire and cannot be changed. Since, the argument goes, people are born gay, it is futile as well as cruel to try to get people to change their sexual orientation. It's just, it's just uncaring to tell people they need to change their sexual orientation. But people's sexual orientation is not nearly as fixed as you would be led to believe that it is. Again, going back to Dr. Kinsey, this time from the 1970, a study revealed that people's sexual preferences, it's very fluid. For example, 81% of homosexual men and 93% of lesbians had changed or shifted their sexual behavior after the age of 12. 58% of gay men, 77% of lesbians reported a second shift in their sexual preferences, and 31% of gays and 49% of lesbians reported a third shift in their sexual orientation. Dr. Irvin Bieber, who is the Director of the New York Center for Psychoanalytic Training, has treated over 100 homosexuals who desired to change their orientation. Dr. Bieber's conclusion, "a heterosexual shift is a possibility for all homosexuals who are strongly motivated to change." Furthermore, Dr. Bieber said, "The misinformation that homosexuality is fixed and cannot be changed results in, quote, incalculable harm to thousands of homosexuals." And that's the irony of this whole discussion. Those of us who proclaim God's truth about homosexuality, we're accused of being the ones who offer nothing but despair and desperation to homosexuals. But I want to suggest to you, it is the liberal, it is the person who rejects the truth of God's Word, who is the one who has a 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." I've read a few of the blogs this week and last week on the gay websites and people who would write in, and some have written in and they have said, "I dare him to stand up and say homosexuality is a choice. Why would he think it was a choice? Why would anybody choose this kind of depressing and degrading behavior?" See, people who say that, they have bought into Satan's lie that they cannot change, that they are doomed to be that way forever. But, ladies and gentlemen, those of us who are Christians and have the Word of God, we are the ones who have a message of hope for people. We're the ones who have the message, "Yes, you may be inclined to this sin or this sin or this sin, but the good news of the gospel is Jesus Christ came and died for you and for me so that we don't have to stay the way we are." There is a way to life and freedom and forgiveness, and it is through the cross of Jesus Christ. We are the ones who have a message of hope for the world today. And that leads me to a consideration today. How do we deal? What do we say to friends or even family members who are involved in homosexuality? Let me briefly give you three suggestions. Number one, devote time to pray for them. Devote time to pray. Prayer changes things. Prayer changes people, too. Secondly, don't argue with them. Don't argue with them. People have asked me the last several weeks, "Are you open to sitting down in a dialogue session with leaders from the homosexual community in order to build a bridge with them?" I have spent years arguing with homosexual activists, and I've learned the hard way it is futile to sit down and talk with them. In their minds, the only way to build a bridge with them is to quit preaching that homosexuality is a sin, and they won't be satisfied with anything short of that. You see, the truth is, this issue is not an intellectual issue. It is a spiritual issue. And if someone will not listen to the Spirit of Almighty God, they're not going to listen to you, and they're not going to listen to me. So there's no reason to sit down and argue with them. On the other hand, when you have a homosexual friend or family member who is open to the truth, you share with them in a loving but firm way what God's Word says, but only when they're interested in listening to you. Thirdly, demonstrate compassion. Demonstrate compassion, especially to those of you who have children who may be homosexual. I've seen through the years Christian parents who find out that their son or daughter is homosexual. And they think the best thing they can do is to cut that child off, to say, "As long as you engage in that lifestyle, you're not welcome in our house." That is the biggest mistake you will ever make. No, you don't have to approve of what they're doing, but that son, that daughter needs to know they have a father, they have a mother who loves them. Now, I want my children to know, no matter what they do, I'm still their dad. And they're always still welcome at my house. And your children need to know that as well. Because there will come a day when that child, that son or daughter, will hit rock bottom, just like the prodigal son did. And they are more likely to take that first step toward home if they know they're going to be welcomed when they're there. So, you don't have to approve of what they're doing. You don't have to invite their homosexual lover into your home, but let that son or daughter always know that you love them. Demonstrate compassion to family members, to friends who are involved in homosexuality. Yes, homosexuality is a sin. It's a perversion of God's plan. But please hear me today. It is not a sin beyond God's forgiveness. The truth of the gospel applies to homosexuals, it applies to adulterers, to drunkards, to thieves, to all of us who have fallen short of God's plan. Jesus said, "For God so loved the world. For God so loved you that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him will not perish, but will have eternal life."
Guest (Male): Do you believe what Jesus said about our sin? There's no sin beyond God's forgiveness. So if you've been carrying shame, lay it down. And if you've been praying for someone you love, don't stop. That same love is reaching for them, too. Since our very first program in 1996, 30 years ago, Pathway to Victory has refused to look away from the hard subjects, the ones that make us squirm a little. We've been doing this for three decades and we're only getting started. But a ministry like this doesn't run on its own. God works through his people to keep it going strong. So today, would you give a special 30th anniversary gift? When you do, I'll send you my brand new book. I can't wait for you to hold this in your hands because it's unlike anything we've ever published. My book is called "Seven Lessons From My 70 Years." It reads and feels more like a journal than a book, with a few nostalgic pictures along the way, and it's all drawn from God's Word. My book is yours with my thanks. When you support Pathway to Victory with a special 30th anniversary gift, some pastors suffer from loneliness, but I can attest that I don't feel alone because God has provided wonderful friends like you to come alongside Pathway to Victory, and to use our partnership to pierce the darkness with the light of His Word. Thanks so much for responding today. Here's David with all the details.
Guest (Male): Today, when you give a generous gift to support the ministry of Pathway to Victory, you're invited to request Dr. Jeffress's brand new book, "Seven Lessons From My 70 Years." Call 866-999-2965, visit PTV.org, or text PTV to 78800. And in celebration of 30 years of ministry, we've gathered Dr. Jeffress's most requested messages from the past three decades into a complete teaching series called "Truth You Can Trust." And we'll send it to you on DVD video and MP3 format audio disk as a thank you for your especially generous gift of $75 or more. One more time, call 866-999-2965 or make your request online at PTV.org. You could write to us if you'd like. PO Box 223609, Dallas, Texas, 75222. That's PO Box 223609, Dallas, Texas, 75222. I'm David Mullins, wishing you a great weekend. Then join us again next week when our 30-year anniversary celebration continues with more of the most impactful messages from Dr. Robert Jeffress. That's coming up Monday on Pathway to Victory. Pathway to Victory with Dr. Robert Jeffress comes from the pulpit of the First Baptist Church of Dallas, Texas. What if your next vacation changed the way you read your Bible forever?
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