Abominations 2

A homosexual counter-argument to the old testament references calling sodomy an abomination is that the old testament also called certain foods abominations (see e.g., Lev. 11:11). But the problem with that counter-argument is contained within itself. Jesus Christ proclaimed all foods clean when he said,

"And he saith unto them, Are ye so without understanding also? Do ye not perceive, that whatsoever thing from without entereth into the man, it cannot defile him; Because it entereth not into his heart, but into the belly, and goeth out into the draught, purging all meats? And he said, That which cometh out of the man, that defileth the man. For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: All these evil things come from within, and defile the man."

Mark 7:18-23. See also 15:10-20.

Unlike foods, Jesus did not purge or make clean all sexual practices. The lawgiver has the power to alter what was intended to be a temporary ordinance. However, God's laws on sexual practices are not temporary. Jesus told the woman caught in adultery, an abomination: "Go and sin no more." John 8:11.

So, why were certain foods temporarily unclean or abominations? It demonstrated that there were clean people and unclean people. It divided the Jew from the Gentile. Acts 9. Once Christ came to break down the barriers between Jew and Gentile, Ephesians 3, then those foods no longer represented that barrier.

However, Jesus Christ's virgin birth did not do away with sexual relations; it sanctified the family. But He only sanctified a family as God established - male and female parents. He did not break down the boundary between clean and unclean sex practices or between male and female, with the exception of the basis of salvation. Christ came to restore the creation order, which was that husband and wife would be male and female; He did not come to destroy the creation order, which God saw as very good.

Therefore, God the Creator has set up boundaries for sexual practice for our good and the advance of dominion mandate. The law against homosexual and other perverted sexual practices is still in effect because they involve the natural order created by God, not some symbol for demonstrating a temporary condition.

Only that which is permanent is law, at least, the law of God. That which is temporary or varying cannot be law. In the New Testament, Jesus teaches us the difference. The moral, even which is simply spoken out of your mouth defiles the man, but the food you eat, which is ejected as waste, cannot. See Matthew 15:10-20.

"Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.
Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess." Matthew 23:23-5. Ceremonial matters that have been fulfilled, for example the sacrifices of the Old Testament fulfilled by Christ’s sacrifice, are not permanent. But faithfulness, mercy, temperance, love, etc. – these remain.

Therefore, the laws of Moses which deal with those things last forever. “For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 5:18-19.