The Bible & Sexual Sins

In writing an article as plain as this, I know there may be the possibility of offending some. Please understand this is not my purpose at all. From history we learn a very clear lesson: Playing the “quiet game” about our problems and “sweeping them under the rug” doesn’t make them go away it actually makes them worse. The Bible is very clear about the heinous nature of sexual sins and their punishment. Notice how the Bible deals with sexual sins.

Incest—A Crime Against One’s Family. Incest, having sexual relations with a family member, is condemned as harshly as any sin in the Bible. In Leviticus 18:6-18, the Bible condemns sexual relations with anyone who is kin to you, except your mate. In fact, the Bible makes it very clear that to commit incest blood relation is not necessary. Sexual relations with an “in-law” or step brother or sister would also be considered incest (Lev. 20:17, 19-21). Truly, the sexual sin of incest is a crime against one’s family.

Harlotry—A Crime Against One’s Body. The selling of one’s body for profit is also strongly condemned in Scripture. In Deuteronomy 23:17 God told the people of Israel that female and male prostitution was sinful. God saw the problems prostitution would create when He warned, “Do not degrade your daughter by making her a prostitute, or the land will turn to prostitution and be filled with wickedness” (Lev. 19:29). Aside from the biblical problems involved with harlotry, think about the medical problems it creates. AIDS and STDs are contracted and given to others every day by prostitutes all across this world. Not only is it a biblical and medical problem, but it is also a very serious psychological problem. Think about the low state of self-worth one has to enter into to sale their body. Truly, prostitution is a crime against one’s self.

Child Molestation—A Sin Against the Innocent. The Bible portrays children as a precious and innocent creation of God (Matt. 19:14). Child molestation is the horrid monster that takes away that innocence. Child molestation by a parent is condemned with the idea of incest in Leviticus 18. Child molestation by another adult who is not kin to you is condemned along the lines of adultery and fornication. The only place in the Bible that sex is approved is between two scripturally married people (Heb. 13:4). A man would have to be sick mentally to take advantage of a child sexually. Child molestation would have to be the most heinous sex crime ever committed. Truly, it is a crime against the innocent!

Homosexuality—A Crime Against Nature. Homosexuality is a sin that the Bible has much to say about. The Apostle Paul said, “For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due” (Rom. 1:26-27). In the Old Testament God had this to say about homosexual practices: “You shall not lie with a male as with a woman. It is an abomination” (Lev. 18:22). Regardless of what our modern world says about the practice of homosexuality and gay marriages, the Bible still says they are a sin. And, it is the Bible we will be judged by, not the practices of our society (Jn. 12:48). Truly, homosexuality is a crime against nature!

Dear friend, the Bible is very clear on sexual sins. They are a crime against God, one’s self and all those a person is associated with. In the church of Christ we do not approve or support such sins as these because they are condemned in the Bible. May those who have committed such ungodly acts of immorality be prosecuted to the full extent of man’s law and may they repent of these acts before they are punished everlastingly by God!