Truth really can be stranger than fiction.
First Page - Now launched! All the stories are true, or based on real events. Unlimited reading for $4.99 / month. No downloads. Read on your phone, tablet or computer.
La verdad puede ser más extraña que la ficción.
First Page - ¡Ya está en marcha! Todas las historias son verídicas, o están basadas en hechos reales. Lectura ilimitada por $4.99 / mes. No hay que descargar nada. Lea en su teléfono, tableta u ordenador.
Manna Minutes Podcast: Eye-opening Bible study in less than five minutes! Access all episodes here.
Manna Minutes en español:
Estudio bíblico que nos hace abrir los ojos en menos de cinco minutos! Acceda a todos los episodios aquí.
Manna Minutes Podcast auf Deutsch:
Augenöffnendes Bibelstudium in weniger als fünf Minuten! Alle Episoden finden Sie hier.
Was There A Curse On Helen's Romantic Life?
The Third Man by Angela Sheffield is based on a true story. Read chapter one now!
View Content By Specific Category
¿Qué tiene que ver conmigo? por Teófila Gottfried
Lo que leemos en la Biblia tiene que ver con todos los seres humanos, sean cristianos o judíos, ateos o agnósticos, budistas, musulmanes o adherentes a alguna de las filosofías o nuevas religiones que surgen en el mundo. ¿Por qué? Ver mayor información sobre este interesante libro.
Scripture of The Day - St. John 14:6
Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
Escritura del día - San Juan 14,6
Jesús le dijo: Yo soy el camino, y la verdad, y la vida; nadie viene al Padre, sino por mí.
Bibelstelle des Tages - Johannes 14,6
Jesus spricht zu ihm: Ich bin der Weg und die Wahrheit und das Leben; niemand kommt zum Vater, denn durch mich!
Exposing Lies In Unclobber by Colby Martin: Christian Response To LGBTQ Lifestyles
This response to Unclobber: Rethinking Our Misuse Of The Bible On Homosexuality by Colby Martin is based on the one page cheat sheets for all six clobber passages: Genesis 19, Leviticus 18 and 20, Romans 1, 1 Corinthians 6 and 1 Timothy 1.
Let's jump right in. We'll look at what Colby Martin says in Unclobber, including the scriptures he uses, followed immediately by the biblically based response that cannot be refuted.
Genesis 19: A City Destroyed For Sin
The Genesis passage speaks of the destruction of the city of Sodom.
According to Unclobber by Colby Martin, "It's not about homosexuality. The male characters in the story are not gay. They are power hungry monsters who wanted to gang rape foreigners. The Bible explains the sins of Sodom for us in multiple places. Homosexuality is never mentioned. Rather, the focus is on pride and failure to show hospitality."
Our response: In what passage of the Bible does it say Sodom's sin was pride and failure to show hospitality? In Jude 7, we read, "Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire."
We have just read the biblical passage that plainly tells us that the "sin" of Sodom and Gomorrha were of a sexual nature, and most vile. Why does Colby Martin in Unclobber change their sin to pride and lack of hospitality?
What's more is that we know that homosexuality was a major sin in Sodom when we pay attention to what we read in Genesis. Verses 4 and 5 of Genesis 19 tell us the men of Sodom surrounded Lot's house, and told him to hand over the two men in his house, so they could violate them. Now then, verse 8 tells us that Lot offered the men his daughters instead of the two male guests. The men of Sodom did not want Lot's daughters. In other words, they did not want women. They wanted men. What is that but homosexuality? There is no way to get around this truth. Sodom was destroyed for its sin of fornication, which clearly included homosexuality. That is the truth according to biblical scripture.
Leviticus 18 And 20: It Is An Abomination
According to Unclobber by Colby Martin, "The Hebrew word 'toevah' did not imply 'vile', 'gross', 'subhuman'. Toevah was about a violation of cultural boundaries..."
Our response: Leviticus 18:22 says, "Thou shalt not lie with mankind as with womankind. It is abomination." If "toevah" does not mean abomination, why does verse 24 of the same chapter (18) of Leviticus read, "DEFILE not ye yourselves in any of these things..."? If something defiles, it is filthy. And at the end of the same chapter, we also read, "...That ye commit not any one of these abominable customs, which were committed before you, and that ye DEFILE not yourselves therein..." Simply violating a cultural boundary does not constitute defilement.
Scripture says a person DEFILED himself or herself by engaging in the forbidden acts described in these chapters of Leviticus. Anything that defiles is vile. It is gross and filthy. Period. There is no avoiding this truth that looms before us.
According to Unclobber by Colby Martin, "The prohibition is about a specific act, not any / all same-sex activity."
Our response: First, does Mr. Martin even teach against that specific act? Second, Has Colby Martin forgotten that God's Word reveals that even unnatural (not of God) affection can be filthy? We read, "...God gave them up unto VILE AFFECTIONS, for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature. And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly..." (Romans 1:26-27).
We have just read that men lusting after men, and women lusting after women is unnatural and vile. That is God's Word, not opinion. We don't need to go so far as to commit the act when the affection itself is vile and sinful. This is why Jesus said adultery can be committed in the heart (Mat. 5:28). The physical act does not have to take place to be sin. When it takes place in the heart, sin has been committed.
No Prohibition Against Lesbians In Leviticus...Really?
According to Unclobber by Colby Martin, there is "no prohibition against lesbians" in the Leviticus passages (chapters 18 and 20).
Our response: The 18th chapter of Leviticus lists numerous female relatives with whom males are not to have sexual relations. Does that mean only the male is guilty in incestuous relationships? Of course not. Do we not read in the 20th chapter of the same book (Leviticus) that BOTH the male and the female are guilty of committing incest? We most certainly do. In fact, we have a long list showing that what is sinful for the man is also sinful for the woman. Let's look at just one of the many examples. We read, "If a man lie with his daughter in law, BOTH of them shall surely be put to death. THEY have wrought confusion (perversion). THEIR blood shall be upon THEM." (Lev. 20:12). Plural. Both the male and the female are guilty.
So, when we read, "Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind. It is abomination" (Lev. 18:22), we should know to apply this also to two women in a homosexual relationship. This is not guesswork, but rather sound doctrine. Do we read anywhere in the Scriptures that God told Eve not to eat from the forbidden tree of the knowledge of good and evil? No, we do not. Scripture says God told ADAM not to eat from the tree. Does that mean it was okay for Eve to eat the fruit forbidden to Adam? The answer is obvious. Eve was the leader in breaking God's command to not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. God is no respecter of persons (Acts 10:34). What was wrong for Adam was also wrong for Eve. The lesbian couple is no less guilty than the gay male couple.
The Leviticus Clobber Passages Are For Israel?
According to Unclobber by Colby Martin, "Leviticus was written for the Jewish people as they entered the promised land. Not for us, 3,000 years later."
Our response: 2 Timothy 3:16 says, "ALL scriptures is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness". Is not 2 Timothy scripture? Why then does Colby Martin's Unclobber attempt to exclude its authority? What's more is Mr. Martin directly contradicts the Bible in saying Leviticus was for Israel. In many passages, including Leviticus, God plainly says that His Law was to be kept by Israel AND by the STRANGER (foreigner) in their midst (Lev. 18:26). And does Colby Martin in Unclobber forget that 1 Peter 1:25 says, "The word of the Lord endureth FOREVER..."? Does he also forget that Psalm 100:5 says, "...his truth endureth to ALL generations"? Let us not be deceived by Colby Martin's Unclobber, rather let us clobber the diabolical attempt to make the unholy acceptable to God.
The Apostle Paul's Beliefs On Homosexuality...According To Colby Martin
According to Unclobber by Colby Martin, Romans 1 is "not Paul's beliefs on homosexuality. He borrowed rhetoric from common Jewish sources, which were originally written to be anti-Gentile."
Our response: Again, did not 2 Timothy 3:16 tell us that ALL scripture is inspired by God? Is not Romans 1 scripture? And, let's not forget that Paul was an apostle, a missionary expressly sent to the GENTILES. Paul said, "I speak to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify mine office" (Romans 11:13). Does Colby Martin really expect us to believe the apostle to the Gentiles who magnified his ministry would use anti-Gentile rhetoric?
What is more is that Paul is very careful to specify when he says something coming from his thoughts, such as in the case of 1 Corinthians 7:12, in which he says, "But to the rest speak I, not the Lord." We do not find such a statement of his in the Romans passages. Therefore, what Romans says is directly inspired by the Spirit of God. And, what do we do with all the Old Testament scriptures speaking against homosexuality as a grave sin? Paul, not having been born yet, certainly did not write them.
The Christian Bible On Sexual Identity...According To Colby Martin
According to Unclobber by Colby Martin, Paul uses a couple of Greek words in 1 Corinthians 6, and 1 Timothy 1, that could be translated as "behavior" or "identity". Colby Martin says, "A person's sexual identity is not what is at stake in these verses."
Our response: The Bible clearly reveals that males are to identify themselves with the male gender. They are to behave and look like boys and men. Women are to identify with the female gender. They are to behave and look like girls and women. We read, "The woman shall not wear that which pertaineth unto a man, neither shall a man put on a woman's garment. For all that do so are abomination unto the Lord thy God" (Deuteronomy 22:5).
There is no disagreement with this truth in the New Testament. We read, "Know ye not that the unrighteousness shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters...nor EFFEMINATE..." (1 Corinthians 6:9). And what does "effeminate" mean? It "means marked by qualities more typical of women than men" (Merriam Webster). Finally, we read, "Doth not even nature itself teach you, that, if a man have long hair, it is a shame unto him? But if a woman have long hair, it is a glory to her" (1 Corinthians 11:14-15). Let us not attempt to counter argue this by mentioning Samson. He was a Nazirite (Judges 13:5).
Unclobber by Colby Martin is a dark attempt to "christianize" what is not of Christ...at least not of the Christ who died on the cross for all the world. The LGBTQ community, as well as the rest of the world, would do well to remember that wolves in sheep's clothing come in the form of pastors, evangelists, missionaries, prophets and even Christs...false Christs who can even work miracles (Matthew 24:24).
When we genuinely care about someone's well-being, we do not tell them lies. We tell him the truth. The same God whose Word tells us in no uncertain terms that homosexuality is an abomination also sent His Son to save us FROM ours sins and sinful lifestyle. We need only sincerely repent, and receive Christ as Savior and Lord who will transform us into saints, if we yield to Him.
Based on true events, The Third Man by Angela Sheffield, brings the Bible up close and personal as the characters face real issues of life: Betrayal, deceit, romance, bitterness, anger against God, hopelessness, will power, perplexity, triumph, unforgiveness, mental illness, and the "Alcohol made me do it" excuse. Read chapter one FREE now.
Copyright notice: This website and its content is copyright of © Heavenly Manna (HeavenlyManna.net) 2002-2016.
Comments/Comentarios:
Send Comments or a Private Message about One of Our Services / Envíe Comentarios o un Mensaje Privado acerca de nuestros servicios
Once comments reach 10, they close. IF YOU USE PROFANITY, WE WILL REJECT YOUR COMMENT AUTOMATICALLY.
We're a small team, please be patient as we review comments.
©2003 - 2013 Heavenly Manna Ministries
Images: courtesy of Free Digital Photos, openstockphotography.org, FreeFoto.com, Wikimedia Commons. Multiple crosses image - Wikimedia Commons - C.G.P Grey - Animation by Heavenly Manna