QT 9 Sep 11, Homosexuality is the second stage in the descent into the pit

Rom 1:24-27 (NIV) Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. 25 They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator — who is forever praised. Amen.

26 Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. 27 In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion.

NOTE: Verse 26 is the second of three "God gave them over" phrases and describe the descent into the gutter--greater and greater degrees of sin.  In this case, sexual lust and permissiveness (verse 24), and the passion for things they create (verse 25), causes God to give them over to shameful lusts.  It is not just 'lust,' as seen in the preceding verses, but shameful lusts.  Shameful means to give offense to our moral sensibilities and to injure our reputation (thefreedictionary.com).  We call these shameful acts, homosexuality.  It was not the way God created us.  And by the way, the research that we are born this way is very questionable.  None of the studies have been repeated.  But, actually, it would make sense that our DNA structure would have a same-sex gene, since sin has caused a decay in God's originally perfect creation (Rom 8:20, 21 (NIV) For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.)  Our rebellion in the garden started a process that has not only destroyed ourselves but destroyed the very world created for us.  We were not created to die; we were not create to live without God; and we are not served by our rebellion to God.  The hope, for those who repent and turned to God through Jesus Christ, is the liberation from our bondage and decay.  We think we are free because we can choose to sin, but we don't even know what real freedom feels like, because we are so much in bondage to our sin.