As Elder Oaks' talk during General Conference has been discussed and debated a lot, I think it would be important to highlight two studies on the issue of an active homosexual lifestyle and the health risks associated therewith, both from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
As Robert A.J. Gagnon, a Presbyterian NT scholar and author of The Bible and Homosexual Practice: Texts and Hermeneutics (Abingdon Press, 2001) summarised the latter study thusly:
•In 2014, gay and bisexual men made up an estimated 2% of the U.S. population, but accounted for 70% of new HIV infections.
•More than 600,000 gay and bisexual men are living with HIV in the United States. Of those, 17.3% were unaware of their infection. Therefore, they may transmit the infection to others without knowing it. Another 500,000 sexually active gay and bisexual men are at high risk for HIV.
•In 2014, there were 6,110 deaths among gay and bisexual men living with diagnosed HIV infection.
In 2015:
•Gay and bisexual men accounted for 82% (26,376) of new HIV diagnoses among all males aged 13 and older....
•Gay and bisexual men aged 13 to 24 accounted for 92% of new HIV diagnoses among all men in their age group....
•Gay and bisexual men accounted for 55% (10,047) of people who received an AIDS diagnosis.
•Most gay and bisexual men get HIV through having anal sex without condoms or medicines to prevent or treat HIV.
•Gay and bisexual men are also at increased risk for other sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), like syphilis, gonorrhea, and chlamydia. [For example, according to a Sept. 2017 CDC report, "gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men (MSM) accounted for 81 percent (16,155) of male cases [of syphilis] where the sex of the sex partner is known in 2016 and over half of primary and secondary syphilis cases overall."]
In typically politically correct fashion, the politicized CDC here blames "homophobia, stigma, and discrimination" for these high rates. But elsewhere they acknowledge the problems that come from high numbers of sex partners over the life (the male libido untamed for lack of female partnership), including "concurrent" (i.e. polyamorous) sexual relationships. The male desire to penetrate, coupled with the lack of the appropriate receptacle in other men, undoubtedly also contributes.
One need not argue from theology and exegesis of Scripture (although such is necessary as there is a spiritual realm one is battling with on this and other issues), but also just facts (it is often the regressive left, not social conservatives, who are actually “anti-science”).
For a recent study on sexual and gender identity, another topic touched upon by Oaks, as well as the 1995 Proclamation of the Family, see the special report by The New Atlantis: A Journal of Technology & Society:
Sexuality and Gender: Findings from the Biological, Psychological, and Social Sciences by Lawrence S. Mayer, M.B., M.S., PhD. and Paul R. McHugh, PhD
This study proves, among other things:
The belief that sexual orientation is an innate, biologically fixed human property—that people are ‘born that way’—is not supported by scientific evidence.
Likewise, the belief that gender identity is an innate, fixed human property independent of biological sex—so that a person might be a ‘man trapped in a woman’s body’ or ‘a woman trapped in a man’s body’—is not supported by scientific evidence.
Only a minority of children who express gender-atypical thoughts or behavior will continue to do so into adolescence or adulthood. There is no evidence that all such children should be encouraged to become transgender, much less subjected to hormone treatments or surgery.
Non-heterosexual and transgender people have higher rates of mental health problems (anxiety, depression, suicide), as well as behavioral and social problems (substance abuse, intimate partner violence), than the general population. Discrimination alone does not account for the entire disparity.
Needless to say, much of what the media and other sources claim about sexuality and gender identity are, frankly, utterly opposed to peer-reviewed literature and science.
While there are so-called "progressive Mormons" (many of whom are, functionally, ex-Mormon in all but name) want the Church to do the (modern) socially acceptable thing in light of their social ideals and for the Church to embrace homosexuality and transgenderism, the only "true" thing to do is to continue echoing the sentiment of the Apostle Paul in 1 Cor 6:9-11:
While there are so-called "progressive Mormons" (many of whom are, functionally, ex-Mormon in all but name) want the Church to do the (modern) socially acceptable thing in light of their social ideals and for the Church to embrace homosexuality and transgenderism, the only "true" thing to do is to continue echoing the sentiment of the Apostle Paul in 1 Cor 6:9-11:
Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, not effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, not the covetous, not drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God. Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God. (1 Cor 6:9-11, 1995 NASB)
In this pericope, the apostle Paul is clearly speaking of the former propensities of these people; he is not allowing for practicing homosexuals as being true Christians, as they cannot inherit the kingdom of God. This can be seen by the use of the aorist in the phrase καὶ ταῦτά τινες ἦτε· ἀλλ᾽ ("and such were some of you but" [v.11]). Furthermore, the terms translated as “effeminate” and “homosexual” are μαλακός and ἀρσενοκοίτης; the ESV correctly captures the meaning of these terms as denoting both the active and passive partner in the act of homosexual activity ("men who practice homosexuality"). This is also brought out more explicitly by the Lexham Bible:
. . . nor passive homosexual partners, nor dominant homosexual partners.
The leading NT Greek Lexicon, BDAG, defines these terms thusly:
4692 μαλακός
• μαλακός, ή, όν (s. two prec. entries; ‘soft’: Hom. et al.; ins, pap, LXX, Philo; Jos., Ant. 8, 72 βύσσος μ.; Mel., P. 80, 594 στρωμνῆς μ.)
1. pert. to being yielding to touch, soft, of things: clothes (Hom. et al.; Artem. 1, 78 p. 73, 10 ἱματίων πολυτελῶν κ. μαλακῶν; PSI 364, 5 ἱμάτιον μαλ.) μ. ἱμάτια soft garments, such as fastidious people wear Lk 7:25. (τὰ) μ. soft clothes (Sb 6779, 57; s. λευκός 2, end) Mt 11:8ab.
2. pert. to being passive in a same-sex relationship, effeminate esp. of catamites, of men and boys who are sodomized by other males in such a relationship, opp. ἀρσενοκοίτης (Dionys. Hal. 7, 2, 4; Dio Chrys. 49 [66], 25; Ptolem., Apotel. 3, 15, 10; Vett. Val. 113, 22; Diog. L. 7, 173; PHib 54, 11 [c. 245 BC] may have this mng.: a musician called Zenobius ὁ μαλακός [prob. with a sideline, according to Dssm., LO 131, 4—LAE 164, 4]. S. also a Macedon. ins in LDuchesne and CBayet, Mémoire sur une Mission au Mont Athos 1876 no. 66 p. 46; Plautus, Miles 668 cinaedus [Gk. κίναιδος] malacus; cp. the atttack on the morality of submissive homoeroticism Aeschin. 1, 188; DCohen, Greece and Rome 23, ’76, 181f) 1 Cor 6:9 (‘male prostitutes’ NRSV is too narrow a rendering; ‘sexual pervert’ REB is too broad)=Pol 5:3.—S. lit. s.v. ἀρσενοκοίτης. B. 1065. DELG. M-M.
1133 ἀρσενοκοίτης
• ἀρσενοκοίτης, ου, ὁ (ἄρσην ‘male’ + κοίτη ‘bed’; Bardesanes 719 fgm. 3b 10, 25 p. 653 Jac. [in Eus., PE 6, 10, 25]; Anth. Pal. 9, 686, 5 and Cat. Cod. Astr. VIII/4 p. 196, 6 and 8 have the sp. ἀρρενοκοίτης; Theoph. Ant. 1, 2 [p. 60, 27]; in a vice list—ἀρσενοκοιτεῖν SibOr 2, 73; AcJ 36 [Aa II/1, 169]; cp. the association of ἄρσην and κοίτη Lev 20:13, s. Soph. Lex.: ἀ.= ὁ μετὰ ἄρσενος κοιμώμενος κοίτην γυναικείαν=‘one who has intercourse w. a man as w. a woman’; cp. the formation of μητροκοίτης [μήτηρ + κοίτη] ‘one who has intercourse w. his mother’ Hipponax 15, 2 Diehl3 [=Degani 20, 2]) a male who engages in sexual activity w. a pers. of his own sex, pederast 1 Cor 6:9 (on the impropriety of RSV’s ‘homosexuals’ [altered to ‘sodomites’ NRSV] s. WPetersen, VigChr 40, ’86, 187-91; cp. DWright, ibid. 41, ’87, 396-98; REB’s rendering of μαλακοὶ οὔτε ἀρσενοκοῖται w. the single term ‘sexual pervert’ is lexically unacceptable), of one who assumes the dominant role in same-sex activity, opp. μαλακός (difft. DMartin, in Biblical Ethics and Homosexuality, ed. RBrawley, ’96, 117-36); 1 Ti 1:10; Pol 5:3. Cp. Ro 1:27. Romans forbade pederasty w. free boys in the Lex Scantinia, pre-Cicero (JBremmer, Arethusa 13, ’80, 288 and notes); Paul’s strictures against same-sex activity cannot be satisfactorily explained on the basis of alleged temple prostitution (on its rarity, but w. some evidence concerning women used for sacred prostitution at Corinth s. LWoodbury, TAPA 108, ’78, 290f, esp. note 18 [lit.]), or limited to contract w. boys for homoerotic service (s. Wright, VigChr 38, ’84, 125-53). For condemnation of the practice in the Euphrates region s. the ref. to Bardesanes above.—RBurton, The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, 1934, vol. 6, 3748-82, lit. reff. and anthropological data relating to a variety of Mediterranean cultures; DBailey, Homosexuality and the Western Christian Tradition, ’55; KDover, Greek Homosexuality ’78; RScroggs, The NT and Homosexuality ’83; JBoswell, Christianity, Social Tolerance, and Homosexuality ’80; JBremmer, Greek Pederasty, in JBremmer, ed. From Sappho to de Sade2 ’91, 1-14; ECantarella, Bisexuality in the Ancient World ’92.—Pauly-W. 8, 1333f; 1459-68. DELG s.v. ἄρσην. M-M.
For a further discussion on the meanings of μαλακός and ἀρσενοκοίτης in this text, see Robert Gangon, The Bible and Homosexual Practice: Texts and Hermeneutics, pp. 303-331.
Clearly, in this pericope, those who engage in same-sex relationships are barred from entering the kingdom of God; Paul addresses an audience who contained former homosexuals, but were transformed by their conversion and baptism (their being “washed”), coupled with their being sanctified and justified. He is not saying that some of them were transformed and rejected such a lifestyle; they all renounced such a lifestyle.
Although his book is not available online, Robert Gagnon's essay, "Does the Bible Regard Same-Sex Intercourse as Intrinsically Sinful?" in Christian Sexuality: Normative and Pastoral Principles (ed. Russel E. Saltzman; Minneapolis: Kirk House, 2003), pp. 106-55 can be found online on his Website. It has a good discussion of Rom 1:24-27; 1 Cor 6:9; and other issues; some of his other papers on the issue of homosexuality and the Bible can be found here.
Finally, on 1 Cor 6:9-11, as Gagnon noted about the seriousness of this issue:
True love for those who struggle with gender dysphoria and same-sex attraction is not to compromise the gospel of Jesus Christ; instead, it is a call to repentance and struggle against our sinful tendencies.
Although his book is not available online, Robert Gagnon's essay, "Does the Bible Regard Same-Sex Intercourse as Intrinsically Sinful?" in Christian Sexuality: Normative and Pastoral Principles (ed. Russel E. Saltzman; Minneapolis: Kirk House, 2003), pp. 106-55 can be found online on his Website. It has a good discussion of Rom 1:24-27; 1 Cor 6:9; and other issues; some of his other papers on the issue of homosexuality and the Bible can be found here.
Finally, on 1 Cor 6:9-11, as Gagnon noted about the seriousness of this issue:
Paul was clearly concerned that believers might return to former patterns of sinful practices, including same-sex intercourse, practices that could lead to loss of salvation. In Rom 6:19, he writes “just as you (formerly) presented members as slaves to uncleanness and to lawlessness for the purpose of (living in) lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness for the purpose of (living in) holiness.” The reference to “uncleanness” identified with “sin” in 6:16-18, 20, 22-23 and shameful practices in 6:21 and leading to “death” according to 6:16, 21, 23, is a clear allusion to the range of sinful behaviors enumerated in 1:24-31, particularly the description of same-sex intercourse in 1:24-27. The entire discussion of 6:1-8:17, including the section of the argument in 6:15-23, is aimed at establishing that gentile believers who return to the pattern of sinful activity that characterized their former pre-Christian existence will not inherit eternal life (8:12-13). There would be no point to the discussion unless there was a realistic possibility in Paul’s mind that gentile Christian could once more succumb to and come under the sway of the same sinful impulse operating in the “flesh” in manifold forms. (Robert A. J. Gagnon, The Bible and Homosexual Practice: Texts and Hermeneutics [Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2001], 288; emphasis added)
True love for those who struggle with gender dysphoria and same-sex attraction is not to compromise the gospel of Jesus Christ; instead, it is a call to repentance and struggle against our sinful tendencies.
