The Gospel and Homosexuality
I'm at the end of my annual summer mission trip, and as I've traveled I've had some extra time to read the Bible and meditate. I've written a significant amount here about homosexuality and gay marriage. I've been meditating on the question of why. Why is this happening? Why now? Why here? I've also been meditating on the fact that God is in control. It is only through His common grace that evil in the world is restrained. And it is through our obedience that He blesses us:
"He requires you to fear Him, to live according to His will, to love and worship Him with all your heart and soul, and to obey the Lord's commands and laws..." - Deuteronomy 10:12-13
In the area of homosexuality, have Christians been living according to God's will? Have we been obeying God?
I don't think so. In America, until very recently homosexuality has been hidden. Homosexuals lived "in the closet." And Christians ignored those with homosexual desires leaving them to eternal separation from God (in other words, hell). But God requires that Christians reach out to EVERYONE so that they may hear the gospel and be saved. Have Christians been sharing the gospel with homosexuals? No. We've ignored homosexuals until recently.
So I wonder if God is telling us, WAKE UP! There are people I love who need to hear the gospel. My Son gave his life, he paid the death penalty so that you and ALL SINNERS may live and have eternal life. Spread this good news to every one!
"He requires you to fear Him, to live according to His will, to love and worship Him with all your heart and soul, and to obey the Lord's commands and laws..." - Deuteronomy 10:12-13
In the area of homosexuality, have Christians been living according to God's will? Have we been obeying God?
I don't think so. In America, until very recently homosexuality has been hidden. Homosexuals lived "in the closet." And Christians ignored those with homosexual desires leaving them to eternal separation from God (in other words, hell). But God requires that Christians reach out to EVERYONE so that they may hear the gospel and be saved. Have Christians been sharing the gospel with homosexuals? No. We've ignored homosexuals until recently.
So I wonder if God is telling us, WAKE UP! There are people I love who need to hear the gospel. My Son gave his life, he paid the death penalty so that you and ALL SINNERS may live and have eternal life. Spread this good news to every one!
posted by BrickBalloon
Read This Post In Our: Christianity in America Blog Archive
9 Comments:
If it is GOD's will for us to not be gay, then let it be by his wrath that we are punished. The world is filled with people pretending to be God when they themselves are sinners. Do not judge anyone because it is not your place to. And trust and believe that the people that have "come out of the closet" know the bible scriptures just as well as you so called christians. We just have different beliefs. God Bless all of you.
Fridda, thank you for your comments. I appreciate your taking the time to write.
The problem is sin... our disobedience of God. We are all sinners. We ALL (Christians, faux Christians, Muslims, atheists, Buddhists...) are sinners. We ALL disobey God and that means we ALL face God's wrath and punishment, unless we can find someone who will substitute for us and take the punishment we deserve.
Having knowledge of the Scripture is not what saves someone. We can have different beliefs about some things. For example, some people baptize by sprinkling and some by dunking. That's okay. But to be saved you must believe in the right Jesus. Humanity has made up many different Jesus' to suit our desires, but only the true Jesus saves.
"And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved." - Acts 4:12
1st John gives the characteristics of a true Christian, meaning someone who is trusting in the true Jesus for their salvation. One point is that a Christian does not embrace and accept sin.
Yes, Christians sin. But Christians fall into sin and when they find they are sinning, they reject it and struggle to get out of sin. If someone is not struggling with sin, they are not a Christian.
On the other hand, someone who willingly dives into sin, embracing their sin and accepting is not a Christian. They are not saved.
Are they not saved because they sin? No. They are not saved because they are refusing to turn away from sin (that's called repenting) and accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.
Accepting sin and claiming to be saved through "Jesus Christ" means that person has created a "Jesus" in their own image. They have created their own "Jesus" who does what they want him to do. Instead of bowing before Jesus Christ completely as their Lord and Savior, they have created a Jesus who bows before them.
1st John also says that if we say we are not sinning, we are calling Jesus Christ a liar.
I am a born again Christian and the son of a Baptist minister whom has retired. I feel that homosexuality is immoral and against God's divine plan and "design" if you will, for reproduction. However, I am not of the perspective, or belief, that homosexuality is a choice, but rather, that it is pathological and a disorder.
I have seen more attacks on Christians in the past few years, simply for their views on homosexuality. There is a rise of "hatred' or 'scorn' for Christians based on this one topic alone. Even though Christ teaches that the world will reject you, it is readily transparent when it comes to the topic of "accepting homosexuals as O.K.".
Is there anything in the New Testament, where Jesus spoke directly about homosexuality? I have researched this topic, and there seems to be different translations and versions of an account where Jesus said that God would punish homosexuals (Book of Luke) vs. that of God would accept homosexuals based on spiritual belief and not sexual orientation.
With recent attacks on organizations that are associated with Christian values and beliefs (Boy Scouts of America) and homosexuality, and in England, where it is considered a hate crime to preach against homosexuality, it seems almost as if the view that homosexuality is ok is being 'indoctrinated' and if one views it as an immoral sexual deviant act (which it is), then they are held in utmost contempt for their views as well as viewed as a 'hateful and ignorant' person.
The American Psychological Association removed homosexuality as being a disorder in 1974 due to pressure from homosexuals.
What is alarming, is that the APA is currently arguing whether homosexual pedophilia should be regarded as a sexual orientation and protected by federal law.
I do realize homosexuality and pedophilia are two seperate things, but then organizations such as NAMBLA, quite frankly, scare me.
The church is being targetted by such individuals, as well as any organization that associates with christian values (Boy Scouts of America, YMCA, recent catholic priest scandals).
I am unable to fathom how something so obviously wrong is being championed as acceptable.
A message by John McArthur may shed a lot of light on the issues you raise. Here is a link to the transcript. The audio is available for purchase from his ministry.
A Nation Abondoned By God - Pt 2
The basic point of the message is that we are now seeing God's blessing being withdrawn from America. As a country goes into sin, God turns that people over to their sin by withdrawing His blessing and allowing people to, more and more, do what is right in their own eyes.
When Jesus walked on earth in his humanity did he speak directly about homosexuality? No. But his purpose was not to come and speak about the law, it was to proclaim the Kingdom of God and died to pay our penalty for sin. Jesus did not specifically condemn rape, pedophilia, beastiality or pornography either. He did not talk about incest. He did not talk about child (human) sacrifice. There are many sins he did not talk about, but that does not mean they are not wrong.
Homosexuality is specifically identified as wrong twice in the Old Testament and twice in the New Testament. 1 Corinthians 6:9 straight out says that homosexuals will have no part in the Kingdom of God.
BUT... do not put homosexality in a class different from any other sin. We all are condemned by our sin. And we all have the free gift of God's grace available to us. Someone who has practiced homosexuality, and who repents and trusts that Jesus has paid the price for their sin... all their sin... is saved. We all are condemned by our sin. And someone who has practiced homosexuality is saved in the same way as anyone else, through repentance and faith.
I found the message "A Nation Abandoned By God" available as an audio file free. I think it is there for a limited time. Here is the link:
A Nation Abondoned by God.
These are the weekend archives of audio messages. I think there are links that will get you to the daily messages also. This message was a two-parter during the week, so it may be summarized for the weekend.
hey...
my sister wrote something on this blog and i happened to stumble upon it while googling her name. i guess it was a good thing.
im a christian struggling to get out of homosexuality. desperately trying to change but to no avail. depression kicks in and becomes substitute for the act of sex. yet it all leads me to the same place. i know that this is not the will of God. but i cant seem to see a future for me. anyway i want to encourage whoever reads this to try and stay on the right path. there's only one. despite what may seem normal and accepted. it's not n the eyes of the only one we have to face. anyway... thanks for reading.
This post has been removed by the author.
Thank you for your encouraging comments.
For someone who is looking for help, I recommend exodus international: http://www.exodus-international.org/
This is to the brother who googled his sister. I honestly beleive that people can try not to be gay if they choose to live a life of lies. You can try to pray, go to churches, see psychiatrists, counelors, pastors, etc. But what is embedded in us, is what is. I tried to do all of the things above to not be homosexual to no avail. Why did I not want to be gay? Because of society, it is a hard life to live. Homosexuals can barely walk down 42nd Street in Manhattan (the most diverse city in the world), without being looked at as if you have just killed someone. My parents still have trouble with me being this way. Like I said, I tried, but in the end I chose to be me. I would rather be living this life than living a life of a single bitter old lady, or the disgusted wife of a man.
I want to clarify something: I am not choosing to be gay because I beleive God made me this way or because I feel like it is accepted by many. I AM this way because there is nothing else I can do. In the end, GOD is the one who will judge me, and I am certain that He will not turn me away because I love someone of the same sex unconditionally.
I am proud of the brother who gave up his happiness, because he is stronger than I was to ENSURE his entry into the kingdom of heaven.
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