The belief among liberals that scoring a basket while playing with a Nerfoop means you’ve just won the NBA title reached new heights on June 8^th, when noted theologian and political morality master Congressman Ted Lieu (D-CA) thought he had made a Scriptural slam-dunk with this immortal moment.

Lieu: I just thought I would recite for you what Jesus Christ said about homosexuality:
…
…
…
I yield back pic.twitter.com/KTMbtXMtnC

— Acyn (@Acyn) June 8, 2022

Lieu said:

“In March of this year the Washington Post published an article titled, GOP lawmakers Push Historic Wave of Bills Targeting Rights of LGBTQ Teens, Children, and their Families. In April the Washington Post published another article titled, Some Republicans Fear Party Overreach on LGBT Measures.

“I just thought I would now recite what Jesus Christ said about homosexuality.”

Lieu was silent for about 20 seconds, then said, “I yield back.”

Unfortunately for Rep. Lieu, while Jesus did not list homosexuality by name He did mention the Congressman.

Jesus replied, “You are in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God.”

Lieu’s attempt at insinuating since Jesus did not specifically address homosexuality in the Gospels He was cool with it is a variant of the “shellfish game.” The shellfish game consists of liberals arguing that since the prohibition of gay activity is rooted in the same Mosaic, or Old Testament if you prefer, Law that prohibits Jews from eating shellfish, since we are no longer under the Law, but under grace, the Law condemns us as hypocrites if we say one clause or section of clauses applies while others do not.

This argument quickly crashes down when examining the words of — you guessed it — Jesus Himself. As writer Gary Demar pointed out some years back:

First, sexual relationships are defined in the earliest chapters of Genesis. Adam’s solitude was remedied with the creation of Eve, a female, someone physically, emotionally, and constitutionally designed specifically for him (Gen. 2:18–25). God didn’t create another man and also a woman so Adam could choose. He created a woman, a human complement designed sexually literally to fit with Adam.

This is why Paul describes homosexuality as “unnatural” (Rom. 1:26–27). The physical side of same-sex sexuality is unnatural, like trying to pound a square peg into a round hole. The shellfish argument has no validity since sexual identity (male and female) and the definition of marriage (man and woman) are creation ordinances. There is no prohibition in Genesis regarding shellfish (Gen. 1:28–31).

Demar points out that when Christ referred to the sanctity of marriage, He pointed not to the Law but Genesis.

Second, the New Testament follows the Old Testament creation ordinance of marriage defining it as between a man and a woman. Jesus confirms this in Matthew 19:4–6:

“Have you not read that He who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? ‘So they are no longer two, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate’” (also see Eph. 5:25–33; cf. 1 Cor. 7:2–3, 10–16; 1 Tim. 3:2, 12).

There is no homosexual option. Jesus does not go to Leviticus to make His case; He goes back to Genesis.

Demar also points to the Scripture in which Jesus dismissed the Mosaic Law dietary restrictions without similarly releasing humanity from His moral code.

“Are you so dull?” he asked. “Don’t you see that nothing that enters a person from the outside can defile them? For it doesn’t go into their heart but into their stomach, and then out of the body.” (In saying this, Jesus declared all foods clean.)

He went on: “What comes out of a person is what defiles them. For it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come — sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. All these evils come from inside and defile a person.”

Gee, look at the first sin Jesus mentions. Apparently, to Him, it was a sufficiently heinous act to warrant leading off His list.

Every one of us struggles with sin every single day. Every one of us falls short of being who and what God calls us to be. Every one of us needs God’s grace every single day to so much as get through the day. We don’t need to waste time pointing out the sins of others when we have our own with which to deal.

What we also don’t need is sanctimonious politicians who think quoting Scriptures out of context makes them a spiritual authority. So, for Ted Lieu and variations thereof, I leave this reminder.

“Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.”