The analogy of a slippery slope is used to describe a situation that is getting progressively worse.  At the top of the slope is the level ground where firm footing can be found.  However, one step down the slippery slope causes a loss of traction and begins a slow descent.  Another step down the slope increases the speed of the slide.  Further steps make it harder and harder to gain traction, and the ability to return to the level ground becomes more and more difficult.  Eventually, the descent down the slippery slope proceeds unabated at an alarming rate of speed until the bottom is finally reached with a resounding crash.

This analogy describes the progression of the United States regarding the wicked and sinful practice of homosexuality.  In this bulletin, I have recently described this descent into degradation in articles entitled “The Parable of the Boiling Frog” (6/22/08) and “The Water is Getting Hotter” (4/24/09).  I am now provoked to expound upon this issue again because of current events that demand to be rebuked.  The pace at which homosexuality is advancing in this nation is deadly dangerous, and godly Americans should be alarmed for the fate of their country.  All signs now indicate that the nation is proceeding at break-neck speed down the slippery slope, and all that remains is the terrible crash that happens at the bottom of the path to total corruption and defilement.

Let us think back for a moment and consider how homosexuality was regarded in the United States until recent times.  For most of the nation’s history, Americans stood upon the bedrock of God’s word pertaining to the subject of homosexuality.  As the Scripture defined it, homosexuality was considered to be abomination unto God (Gen. 13:13; 19:5-7; Lev. 18:22; 20:13; 1Ki. 14:24; Rom. 1:24-27; 1Cor. 6:9; Jude 7).  It was considered to be so shameful that the word “homosexuality” was not even used in polite company.  Sodomy laws were written to prosecute what the law called “crimes against nature,” which is a Bible description based upon Romans 1:24-27.  Even the scientific community recognized the obvious truth about homosexuality, and it was classified as a mental disorder.  Most people would not even talk about the subject because the mere mention of it brought shame and embarrassment.

Now let us consider how homosexuality has progressed in this nation in recent years.  The so-called “sexual liberation” movements of the 1960s called upon Americans to be opened-minded about all kinds of deviant behavior, and homosexuals seized the opportunity to promote their type of debauchery.  As they gained influence, they were able to put pressure upon politicians and others to gain acceptance.  Sodomy had been a felony in every state, but Illinois repealed their sodomy laws in 1962, and other states began to follow in the early 1970s.  In 2003, the Supreme Court of the United States struck down all state sodomy laws in their ruling on Lawrence v. Texas.  Due to protests and even riots in 1969 and 1973, the American Psychiatric Association (APA) reclassified homosexuality from a mental disorder to a “sexual orientation disturbance” in 1973.  In 1980, homosexuality was reclassified again as “ego-dystonic homosexuality,” and in 1987 it was completely declassified as a disorder.  Today, the APA considers homosexuality to be normal social behavior.  Currently, as a result of the efforts of politicians, psychiatrists, entertainers, and the news media, homosexuality is presented to the nation as a valid “alternative lifestyle.”  More and more, homosexual advocacy is becoming a part of the curriculum in government public schools (even as I write this on June 5, 2009, the Tennessean is reporting that Metro Nashville schools are now allowing students to access homosexual websites on the internet).  There are even some churches that accept unrepentant homosexuals (Episcopal, Lutheran, Methodist, Presbyterian), and some ordain homosexuals as “priests” or “pastors.”  Six states have now passed laws to permit marriage licenses to be issued to homosexual persons (Connecticut, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont).

Perhaps the crowning achievement thus far in this parade of offenses against God occurred when President Obama declared the month of June to be “Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Pride Month.”  This means that our nation is now observing a month to celebrate this abominable, deviant behavior.  It also means that the nation’s image to the rest of the world is that of Sodom, for our nation stands for the same corruption that was characteristic of that wicked city.  In fact, a recent article in the Russian newspaper Pravda described America’s image in this way: “...amongst the modern, enlightened American societal norm, as well as that of the general West, homosexuality is not only not a looked down upon life choice, but is often praised as a virtue.”  Sadly, this is what our nation has become.

It has taken our nation less than fifty years to slide down this slippery slope, and we cannot know when the slide will end.  Yet we do know that there will be an end.  If the Lord tarries, then there are two possible outcomes for the nation.  Either the nation can make tremendous efforts to regain traction, repent of this wickedness, and ascend back to the solid ground of God’s will, or else the nation can slide all the way to the bottom of the slope and realize the same fate as Sodom.  When the outcry of Sodom’s sins was so great and their sins were so exceedingly grave, God destroyed them (Gen. 18:20; 19:13, 24-29).  If the United States follows the behavior of Sodom, will the nation not also follow Sodom’s demise?  “The wicked will return to Sheol, even all the nations who forget God” (Ps. 9:17).  “Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people” (Prov. 14:34).