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The Spread of HomosexualityThe Watchtower—1970 | May 15
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The Spread of Homosexuality
AMONG the things that make these days critical and hard to deal with is the spread of homosexuality. We read that “perhaps as many as 12 million American men and women” are homosexuals. (Time, October 24, 1969) In the Netherlands homosexuality has spread so much that the country has been called a “mecca of homosexuals.” And today homosexual themes and overtones crop up in stage plays, in motion pictures and even on the television screen.
Contributing to the spread of homosexuality is the trend toward legalizing it. Some years ago Britain made homosexual acts between consenting adults legal. Canada and West Germany, during the past year, have done the same. And two states in the United States have adopted similar legislation.
No small factor in the spread of homosexuality is the attitude of growing numbers of clergymen. A few years ago ninety Episcopal clergymen went on record defending homosexual acts between consenting adults as not being wrong in themselves. The softening attitude of the clergy toward homosexuality is also indicated by the result of a survey involving 3,000 Protestant clergymen. Published in McCall’s magazine of February 1968, the survey said:
“To follow a single thread through 3,000 letters is not easy; but one such thread was so clear as to be unforgettable—the surprising compassion extended to the homosexual.”—P. 147.
In some areas homosexuals live virtually in a world of their own. Thus one businessman in Los Angeles who owns two $60,000 homes boasts: “I live in a completely gay [homosexual] world. My lawyer is gay, my doctor is gay, my dentist is gay.”
WHAT IS IT?
There seems to be some vagueness on the part of many as to just what homosexuality is. The common impression is that only sodomy is homosexuality, that is, males having intercourse with one another. Sodomy is homosexuality, but not all homosexuality is sodomy. According to Webster’s Third New International Dictionary homosexuality is “erotic activity with a member of one’s own sex. . . . libidinal [sexual, lustful] gratification is sought with members of one’s own sex.”
Therefore any activity such as kissing, petting, fondling, that is calculated to arouse the passions of another of the same sex is homosexuality. And while most persons think of homosexuals as males, the term applies equally to females who carry on the same practices. However, there is another word that is limited to female homosexuality, namely, lesbianism.
DOES LEGALIZING IT MAKE IT RIGHT?
Even though one government after another legalizes homosexuality between consenting adults, does this make it right? Whether governments consider it a private matter or a public crime is something for which they must bear responsibility. But each individual must decide for himself his own attitude toward homosexuality. Lovers of God, truth and righteousness take the position of the apostle Paul: “Let God be found true, though every man be found a liar.”—Rom. 3:4.
The Bible, the Word of Jehovah God, cites the warning example of the people of Sodom and Gomorrah who lived over 3,800 years ago. As do so many homosexuals in modern prisons, they desired to gratify their lusts by raping men, in this case two angelic guests that came to visit the patriarch Lot, the nephew of Abraham. Concerning Sodom and Gomorrah the disciple Jude tells us that because of their having “gone out after flesh for unnatural use, [they] are placed before us as a warning example by undergoing the judicial punishment of everlasting fire.”—Jude 7; Gen. 19:1-29.
In his laws to the nation of Israel, Jehovah God clearly condemned homosexuality as something detestable and even prescribed the death penalty for it: “You must not lie down with a male the same as you lie down with a woman. It is a detestable thing.” “Where a man lies down with a male the same as one lies down with a woman, both of them have done a detestable thing. They should be put to death without fail. Their own blood is upon them.”—Lev. 18:22; 20:13.
The Christian Greek Scriptures are just as explicit as to how detestable homosexuality is in the sight of Jehovah God: “That is why God gave them up to disgraceful sexual appetites, for both their females changed the natural use of themselves into one contrary to nature; and likewise even the males left the natural use of the female and became violently inflamed in their lust toward one another, males with males, working what is obscene and receiving in themselves the full recompense, which was due for their error . . . those which was due for their error . . . those practicing such things are deserving of death.” Similarly the same apostle (Paul) tells us very explicitly that “neither . . . men kept for unnatural purposes, nor men who lie with men, . . . will inherit God’s kingdom.”—Rom. 1:26, 27, 32; 1 Cor. 6:9, 10; 1 Tim. 1:9, 10.
Yes, even if homosexuality be legalized, even if it becomes ever so popular, even if the whole world becomes like Sodom and Gomorrah, yet for Christians the truth of God’s Word still stands—homosexuality is something detestable, both to Jehovah God and moral man.
FRUSTRATING AND UNNATURAL
Since the laws of Jehovah God are in the best interests of man, it does not surprise Christians to find ever so many among the medical profession and other healing professions who speak out against this practice. They often speak of the frustration of the homosexual. And Dr. D. J. West, a leading London authority, who, incidentally, believes in tolerating homosexual acts between consenting adults, states: “No doctor should advise a young person to rest content with a homosexual orientation without first giving a grave warning about the frustration and tragedy that so often attend this mode of life.”
That this is not just the heterosexual viewpoint is apparent from a recent book by two homosexuals. After telling that there is a hierarchy of respectability for meeting places, the ‘gay’ bar being the most respectable and the street the least so, the authors go on to say:
“The street pickup is even more impersonal than the others; the conversation is shorter, there is less loitering, one comes to the point with crude and brutal rapidity that even the participants wish could somehow be prolonged.
“They meet, they have their sex, and they do not know each other’s names. They were lonely before, and they are lonelier after, gripped by despondency and by disappointment in themselves. . . . They walk aimlessly into the night, . . . perhaps searching . . . in the most disrespectable place, precisely because they think so little of themselves and of the type of sex life they are pursuing.”—The Homosexual and his Society, by D. W. Cory and J. P. LeRoy.
Not that this is the lot of all homosexuals. But it may well be the lot of the great majority. As Dr. West put it, “the frustration and tragedy that so often attend this mode of life.”
Underscoring the words of Dr. West is the statement of a practicing homosexual who admitted: “My life is a complete mess. But don’t let me make you think I am happy. I’m not. I’m miserable and looking for a way out. . . . I’m miserable and frustrated and tormented.”
Is it any wonder that the practice of homosexuality is so often frustrating? The Creator made the two sexes to complement each other, both for the purpose of ‘filling the earth’ and to bring fulfillment and happiness to each other. That man and woman were intended for each other is indicated by the very structure of the sex organs. Marital intimacies, carried on with consideration for each other, strengthen the marriage tie as well as the personality of each. Yes, where both husband and wife play the proper role according to God’s standard, marriage is beautiful and upbuilding.—1 Cor. 7:3-6; Eph. 5:22-33.
Does not the very soundness of the Bible’s heterosexual position at once underscore the unsoundness of the homosexual position? In the homosexual relationship one party often feigns or acts the part of the opposite sex, physically, mentally and emotionally, and so it is based on a lie. As the book Homosexuality, authored by the Society of Medical Psychoanalysts, Research Committee, said, “It is irrational to try to find feminine qualities in a male sexual partner.”
The spread of homosexuality means that many persons are taking up a way of life that so often brings frustration and misery. It is something detestable and loathsome in the eyes of God and lovers of righteousness. Our knowing what to do to avoid such an unhappy outcome, one disapproved by God, is the wise course to take. The following article discusses homosexuality’s causes and prevention.
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Avoiding the Snare of HomosexualityThe Watchtower—1970 | May 15
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Avoiding the Snare of Homosexuality
TO AVOID that which can bring tragic consequences, it is wise to know something about the possible causes. With regard to homosexuality, there is much uncertainty as to cause. It is now generally recognized that physical factors, such as body-build or hormones, are not primarily responsible for homosexuality. What, then, are believed to be the significant causes?
Some possible causes are discussed by Dr. Albert Ellis, in his book Homosexuality, Its Causes and Cure (1965). He believes that the condition is largely due to certain fears. He tells of curing ever so many homosexuals by helping them get rid of these underlying fears. Bearing this out is the recommendation of one of the leaders in America’s homosexual movement, Donald Webster Cory:
“The aim of therapy [should be] to relieve the hostility and fear of relationships, sexual and otherwise, with the other sex . . . The reasons for this are twofold: . . . to aid the homosexual to get at the root of the problem, and not to attack what is merely a symptom—his problem is not so much that he is attracted to males, but that he is in flight from females.”
Then again, a young boy may get started in homosexuality by being seduced by homosexual men. There was a glaring example of this in Vancouver, Canada, where some homosexuals seduced thirty-five young boys between the ages of ten and fourteen and then made traffic out of them.
In many cases the older men gave the young boys wine or liquor, knowing that the youths would then be more vulnerable to their immoral advances, even as God’s Word notes: “Fornication and wine and sweet wine are what take away good motive.” (Hos. 4:11) The prophet Habakkuk also warned against this practice of using alcoholic drink as a preliminary to seduction: “Woe to the one giving his companions something to drink . . . in order to make them drunk, for the purpose of looking upon their parts of shame.” (Hab. 2:15) Thus when older men, strangers, offer to buy a young boy an alcoholic drink, there may be an ulterior motive.
PARENTAL RESPONSIBILITY
When a young man turns to homosexuality, the trend today is to implicate his father and mother as possibly having laid the basis for their son’s unnatural practice. Authorities believe that the parents may do this even before their child reaches the age of six. Thus, according to Dr. Irving Bieber, an international authority on the subject: ‘A disinterested father and an overbearing mother are the perfect combination to produce a son that is a homosexual.’ He further stated: “I do not believe it is possible to produce a male prostitute if a father is affectionate to his wife and son and supportive of the son’s masculinity.”
Also, according to this doctor, “fathers seem to have an absolute veto power over the homosexual development of their sons.” Properly reared boys do not fear womankind.
To homosexuality, then, as to so many other problems of life, the old adage applies: “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” Each father should take an active interest in his son and help him to develop a strong masculine personality. How can he do this? Most importantly, by setting a good example. As the apostle Paul put it: “Stay awake, stand firm in the faith, carry on as men, grow mighty.” (1 Cor. 16:13) Basic is exercising self-control. A strong masculine personality is not excitable, is poised, is reasonable instead of emotional and takes a protective attitude toward those of his family. Also each father should inculcate in his son honor and respect for womankind; this he can do by dealing lovingly with his wife.
Likewise each mother should respect her husband’s headship and guard against becoming too possessive or overbearing, for by doing so she may estrange her sons from womankind.
Also, both parents can explicitly warn their children against the evils of homosexuality. Such knowledge of homosexuality is a protection. Where fathers and mothers fail to instruct and warn their sons properly, they may fall prey to designing homosexuals.
INDIVIDUAL RESPONSIBILITY
Whereas there is a measure of parental responsibility, there is, primarily, individual responsibility. Each youth has to be alert to avoid the snare of homosexuality. One may not overlook the strength of the sex drive, of the sexual appetite, and the possible pitfalls to which this can lead. Without the fear of God or a natural love of goodness to act as a restraint, the heart of man may explore unnatural means for sensual satisfaction. The more one goes against what is normal and right, the more the sensualist appears to be drawn to it. (Gen. 8:21; Jer. 17:9, 10) While this strong tendency is not limited to the homosexual, it does seem to help to account for the hold the practice has on so many.
While doubtless for most youths homosexuality seems abhorrent, should a person note any inclination or curiosity along this line he must firmly resist it, heeding the advice of the apostle Paul: “Abhor what is wicked.”—Rom. 12:9.
Hence young persons do well to hate those practices that launch one on the frustrating life of homosexuality. On this aspect of the subject, Dr. D. J. West says: “Kissing, fondling, close bodily contact, and mutual masturbation are common forms of love-making with which both male and female homosexuals begin their sexual careers.”
Helpful in this regard, then, is appreciating the fact that autoeroticism or masturbation is no mere innocent pastime but rather a practice that can lead to homosexual acts. How so? In that self-induced masturbation may make it easier and more tempting for one to engage in mutual masturbation, which is a form of homosexuality. Sincerely striving against this practice will go far to protect a youth.
Likewise helpful in avoiding the snare of homosexuality is to bear in mind what has been said as to how frustrating and unnatural it is. That it is extremely selfish and hardening can be seen by the way homosexuals importune strangers, by their seduction of boys and by the prevalence of homosexual rape in prisons. The evidence indicates that abnormal sexual desire is far more difficult to control than is the normal desire.
FREEING ONESELF FROM ITS BONDAGE
Many homosexuals claim they cannot change. But the testimony of many in the medical profession is that they can change if they really want to. The book Homosexuality, by the Society of Medical Psychoanalysts, Research Committee, states that “every homosexual is a latent heterosexual.” The Bible further gives testimony that one can change from filthy and degrading practices. Thus the apostle Paul, after telling that homosexuals will not inherit God’s kingdom, adds: “Yet that is what some of you were. But you have been washed clean.”—1 Cor. 6:9-11.
The homosexual who wants to change must continually tell himself that, regardless of how easy and sensually pleasant the practice might be, it is bad. He must take to heart the counsel: “O you lovers of Jehovah, hate what is bad.” Yes, he must actually hate bad “pleasures.” Further, he must ‘keep considering virtuous, chaste and praiseworthy things.’ Filling his mind with God’s truth will help him, for as Jesus said: “The truth will set you free.”—Ps. 97:10; Phil. 4:8; John 8:32.
Of great importance is for the homosexual to realize that he cannot please God if he continues this detestable practice. So filthy is it in God’s eyes that in the Bible such morally unclean persons are called dogs. God’s law to Israel states: “You must not bring the hire of a harlot or the price of a dog [“male prostitute,” AT] into the house of Jehovah your God for any vow, because they are something detestable to Jehovah your God, even both of them.” (Deut. 23:18) All those who, like scavenger dogs of the streets, practice disgusting things such as sodomy and lesbianism are debarred from gaining everlasting life in God’s new system of things. (Rev. 22:15) How important it is, then, for one sincerely to strive to please God by having nothing to do with homosexual practices!
A person who is making progress in his desire to please God should not get discouraged if he cannot at once clear his mind and feelings from all wrong thoughts and emotions. He must keep on fighting, however, taking encouragement from the fact that even the apostle Paul confessed to not being able to do fully what he wanted to do. But he did not give up the fight. He did not yield to the flesh, but he ‘pummeled his body and led it as a slave,’ so that he could say: “For all things I have the strength by virtue of him who imparts power to me.”—1 Cor. 9:27; Phil. 4:13; Rom. 7:13-25.
One of the great helps in this fight is prayer to Jehovah God. Pray for forgiveness, also for help and especially for more of God’s holy spirit. Yes, “persevere in prayer.”—Rom. 12:12; Phil. 4:6, 7.
Homosexuality is increasing in spite of its being a wrong, unnatural and frustrating way of life. Those in bondage to it can be freed from it if they really want to. Eternal life is at stake! So by all means, do your utmost to avoid the snare of homosexuality.
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