I have been hearing and reading a lot about the issue of sexual deviance recently, and I regretfully admit that I’m not really shocked.

The Des Moines school board election, the new policy in the University Student Apartments, letters to the editor in the Daily, right down to the guys on the dorm floors discussing the latest and greatest of their sexual conquests over the weekend all have contributed to the dumbing-down of my conscience.

What I find interesting, however, is a large number of these people who practice such sins defend themselves with the Bible. What does the Bible really declare about sex? What does it say about deviance? Is the religious right twisting the scripture to defend its unreservedly “homophobic,” pro-nuclear family stance while God sits figuratively tied up with duct tape slapped across His mouth?

If I were to use afternoon talk shows as the cultural indicator of our dearly cherished values, I would say the more appropriate question might rather be, “When is sex NOT O.K.?”

The Bible could not be any clearer in its reply. It says in Genesis 1: 27 and 28 that “God created man in His own image … male and female He created them. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the earth.” ‘ Does this mean, then, that it’s fine with God for a man to have sex with as many women he pleases? Jesus Christ, quoting the Father, said in Matthew 19:4-5, “Have you not read that He which made them at the beginning made them male and female, and said, ‘For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they two shall be one flesh?”‘ It is clear, through unbiased interpretation of the Bible, that God has beautifully ordained male female marriage relationships (thus sex), and not other forms of “pseudo-marriage relationships.”

If these passages were not quite clear enough, let’s examine a few more passages on the topic of sexual relationships forbidden by the Bible. What are some examples of such sinful relationships? Probably the most popular one in our society (and campus) is adultery/fornication, sex between two consenting persons not married to each other.

One only has to go so far as the ten commandments to figure out that God doesn’t condone it. “Thou shalt not commit adultery” (Exodus 20:14). The Bible also condemns incest and molestation (Leviticus 18:7-17). The same chapter then addresses homosexuality. Verse 22 says, “Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination.” Lastly, and probably the “least appreciated” form of sex that God forbids, is bestiality (Leviticus 18:23). These would most likely cover all other forms of sexual sins practiced by individuals.

Many have purported that the New Testament (which contains the words of Jesus Christ and the Apostles) has abolished these “old-fashioned” laws regarding sexual deviance.

This is simply not the case. The New Testament, instead, further establishes them (Matthew 5:17-18; Romans 3:31). In fact, the New Testament states clearly the eternal consequence for practicing such lifestyles. Paul, whom many homosexuals assert was gay, says in I Corinthians 6:9-10 and I Timothy 1:9-10, that homosexuals, along with fornicators, adulterers, thieves, murderers, liars, and all “unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God.”

Personally, I read the King James (Authorized) Version of the Bible. Instead of the term, “homosexual,” the King James Version uses the term, “abusers of themselves with mankind.”

This version, however, is only a translation, as are all other more modern English translations, and anyone who is bilingual can tell you that one can never always get the full concept or “flavor” of an idea across to another person via the use of translation.

What does the original Greek version say without any culturally linguistic slants put on it by our language? The Greek word Paul uses here in both I Corinthians 6:9 and I Timothy 1:10 is arsenokoitai. After checking a Greek lexicon, I found that the word arsenokoitai, defined as “a male homosexual … sodomite,” is a combination of the two Greek words, arsan, “male,” and koita, “marriage bed” or, euphemistically, “sexual intercourse” (A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament, Bauer, Arndt, & Gingrich). It is also interesting that Paul, in I Timothy 1:10 labels these people as those “that defile themselves with mankind.”

In Leviticus 18:24 (the verse immediately preceding the aforesaid verses outlawing incest, homosexuality, etc.), we read, “Defile not yourselves in any of these things: for in all these the nations are defiled which I cast out before you.” Paul again catalogues all those who practice such sins as “worthy of death” in Romans 1:18-32. Never once does the New Testament minimize the gravity of sexual sin.

Now, I want the reader to understand one very important thing. “ALL have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). A very commonly held misconception among those who commit sexual sins is that they sincerely think that Christians do not believe in the universality of sin. For true Christians, this is false. Let me explain.

Every one — you, I, your womanizing roommate, your lesbian classmate — has fallen short of God’s perfect standard. “There is none righteous, no, not one,” (Romans 3:10).

I am positive that not one man with hormones can, even if he is a virgin, deny that he has at one time or another committed a sexual sin in his thoughts. If this is in fact the case, then we are all adulterers, for Christ said, “You have heard that it was said by them of old time, ‘Thou shalt not commit adultery.’ But I say unto you, That whosoever looks on a woman to lust after her has committed adultery with her already in his heart,” (Matthew 5: 27, 28).

If only our hearts could be on trial, we would surely be locked up without a chance in the world for parole! “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know [begin to understand] it?” (Jeremiah 17:9)

The difference between me and the average ISU student womanizer, loose girl, homosexual, or what have you, lies not in my intrinsic righteousness or “goody-two shoesedness,” but the simple fact that I have forsaken my life of sin by trusting and following Christ, having accepted his loving forgiveness.

His open arms await the truly repentant person who will come running into them. Until you decide to do that, you can continue living your life in rebellion against your Maker and get outraged with someone like me by calling me a “homophobe,” social reject, prude, or whatever your heart desires. When you’re done, though, just remember to call me forgiven.

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Michael J. Ives is a freshman in Business at Iowa State University.