Homosexuality in the church today?
I'm going to try to answer a number of questions regarding the issue of homosexuality in the church today. It will not be complicated, but very easy. These are the questions I have been asked:
· As a Christian, how do we treat gays?
· Can gays come to church? Can gays be a member and a leader in the church?
· What about marrying gays in the church?
· How do we treat a friend, a brother or sister, or a son or daughter who is gay?
· What if a gay person says I am a believer?
There are a lot of questions here, but they are simple to answer. “How do we treat gays?” We treat gays just like we treat the rest of the world. We are called to love them and treat them with respect (love the sinner but hate the sin). We, as believers, have to remember that God gave us free will; free will is one of the greatest gifts God ever gave us. We are free to choose whether we follow God or not follow God and live our lives anyway we choose. Therefore, we cannot judge world.
“Can gays come to church?” The answer is also simple, “Yes, they can come to church, but NO they can't be members of the church, nor can they lead or teach others.” Membership has a higher calling. Members of the church must be believers in Jesus Christ and have made a commitment to serve him and obey him. The Scriptures speak clearly against not only homosexual sin, but also other sins such as adultery, fornication, greed, lying, murder, etc. Those who practice such life-dominating sins are welcome in the church, but have not yet made that commitment to live their lives for Christ and therefore, cannot lead or teach others yet.
About marrying gays in the church, the answer to that again is simple, “No”. I will explain that “NO” in a few minutes; but first, we’ll take a look at the Scriptures that address the sin of homosexuality and why we cannot accept that lifestyle.
Let’s begin at the beginning in Genesis 2:18-25. God did not give Adam the choice between a man and a woman; no, He just gave him his only choice of a woman as his wife. At the end of Genesis 3 we see God sent them out of the garden to be fruitful and multiply. Once again God did not say to Adam and Eve, ”I will create another man and woman to give you a choice to see who you want to be with.” The natural order of life is a man to be with the woman. It is not natural for man to be with a man or woman with a woman. Both Jesus and Paul endorsed the creation order (Mk 9:6-9 Eph. 5:31).
There is an old argument that proves this very well. If you place all the gay men on one Island, and all the gay women on another island, and heterosexuals on a third Island, at the end of 100 years you will have two empty islands and one very crowded island. The natural order of life is a man to be with a woman and to be fruitful and multiply.
Homosexual sin is described in the OT Law as “detestable” and punishable by death.
Leviticus 18:22 “ ‘Do not lie with a man as one lies with a woman; that is detestable. (NIV)
Leviticus 20:13 “‘If a man lies with a man as one lies with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable. They must be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads.
The perversion in Sodom and Gomorrah and its subsequent judgment by God is recorded in Genesis 19. It tells the story of Sodom and Gomorrah.
In Sodom we see that all the men from every part of the city of Sodom—both young and old—surrounded Lot’s house. They called to Lot, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so that we can have sex with them.” Lot went outside and said, “No, my friends, don’t do this wicked thing” (v7). Well, we all know how that story ends (Genesis 19 and Rom 1:26-27).
The New Testament addresses homosexual sin just as clear as the Old Testament. The Apostle Paul writes to the Corinthian church warning the new believers that they must change their lifestyles.
1 Corinthians 6:9–10 Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders 10 nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.
In the church today no one has a problem with this list of sinful lifestyles except for homosexuality. I just don’t understand why the church feels it can delete homosexual offenders from this list of sins. All those who practice the sins in this list “will not inherit the kingdom of God.” Just as Paul is addressing his new Gentile believers with a very strong counter-culture, life-changing message, it is important that we, too, stand strong in God’s word, even if it is contrary to our culture. We must speak God’s truth.
Paul also writes in Romans 1:26-27 describing the homosexual lifestyle as unnatural, lust-driven, indecent, chosen, and subject to penalty and judgment.
“Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. 27 In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion.”
In verse 26 God allowed people to do as they desired, even though in God’s eyes it is sin and He calls it perversion. The gay community has the right to believe and live their lives as they choose, but they will not inherit the kingdom of God. We, as believers, cannot accept or agree with that lifestyle. We must stand on the side of God – not only for God’s sake, but also for theirs.
Paul reminds Timothy that the Law is for the lawless and disobedient and “whatever is contrary to sound teaching that conforms to the glorious gospel”. Included in this list is homosexual sin.
Now we know that the law is good, if one uses it legitimately. 9 This means understanding that the law is laid down not for the innocent but for the lawless and disobedient, for the godless and sinful, for the unholy and profane, for those who kill their father or mother, for murderers, 10 fornicators, sodomites, (Strong’s 733. ἀρσενοκοίτης arsenokoítēs; arsenokoítou, masc. noun, from ársēn (730), a male, and koítē (2845), a bed. A man who lies in bed with another male, a homosexual) slave traders, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to the sound teaching 11 that conforms to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which he entrusted to me. (1 Tim 1:8 NRSV)
In Jude 7 we read, “In a similar way, Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding towns gave themselves up to sexual immorality and perversion. They serve as an example of those who suffer the punishment of eternal fire.”
Therefore, homosexuality in the Bible is sin that results in judgment. The judgment is clear: those who practice homosexual behavior (believer or nonbeliever) will not—that is, will not-- inherit the kingdom of God.
Now let's go back and answer the question, “Should the church marry gays? The church needs to stand on the side of God, so the answer to that is NO. Gays and lesbians have the right to live as they choose, but they do not have the right to redefine marriage for those of us who are believers.
We see in Ephesians, Chapter 5, Paul gives instructions for husbands and wives. Not husbands and husbands or wives and wives. Just because the world has said that marriage for gays is legal, it does not mean that as believers in Jesus Christ we must agree with that. We all know in the end times the world will become more sinful and more out of control. Praise God that He gave us Jesus that we may repent and be forgiven.
The harder part of this issue is what do we do if we have a son, daughter, brother or sister who is gay. How should we treat them? We need to treat them with love and respect but we cannot agree with their lifestyle. But isn't that how we treat the unsaved? It's so easy if a son or daughter is involved with drugs or alcohol. We will not accept that lifestyle because it sin. How would we treat a son or daughter if they were committing adultery? Would we say, “Oh, that's all right; you both can come into our home and sleep together.” No, we would not. As believers in Jesus Christ, we would sit down with them, have a loving conversation with them, let them know that their lifestyle is wrong and sin, and tell will them will not inherit the kingdom of God unless they repent. What if I was asked to attend a gay marriage? I would have to say, No; because when you attend a marriage as a believer, you are a witness to that marriage and you are saying, “I agree with the union of these two people in marriage. Again, people who are in the world have the right to live their lives in any way they want to, but they do not have the right to tell us we must accept it, agree with it, or allow it to change what we believe is wrong to be right. Believers, on the other hand, must live their lives under the Lordship of Jesus Christ and according His Law, which has been written on their hearts.
Jim Denison in his Cultural Commentary addresses his concern over the issue of “more churches accepting gays than ever before.”
Dr. Jim Denison, President Sep 22, 2014
More churches accepting gays than ever before
The National Congregations Study recently published its latest report of America's churches, synagogues and mosques. It finds more racial and ethnic diversity in our pews, more encouragement of hand-waving, amen-shouting and dancing in our aisles, and less connection to denominations, doctrines, and rules that might impede growth.
The study also found that more congregations than ever before accept gays and lesbians in active membership and in church leadership. Roman Catholics and white conservative evangelicals are the exception: the percentage of Catholic churches permitting full membership and leadership roles for homosexuals has fallen significantly, while only four percent of white conservative evangelical churches permit gays in leadership roles.
Why are most denominations going one way on this issue while Catholics and evangelicals are going the other? The answer you get depends on the person you ask. To some, Catholics and evangelicals are homophobic and bigoted. Their opposition to homosexual activity is viewed as oppressive and backwards, akin to those who opposed civil rights in the 60's. To others, Catholics and evangelicals are holding fast to biblical morality on this issue while others trade God's word for cultural acceptance.
As an evangelical who believes that Scripture forbids homosexual activity, I am clearly in the latter camp. The question for Christians like me is not so much what we believe as how we express our beliefs. We can be so harsh on this issue that homosexuals perceive us to be condemning them. Or we can be so conciliatory that they do not know what God actually says on this issue.
While we must engage cultural issues by speaking the truth in love (Ephesians 4:15), it is also truth that we must speak. God exposed false prophets in Ezekiel's time who "have misled my people, saying, 'Peace,' when there is no peace." This was the analogy he used to describe them: "When the people build a wall, these prophets smear it with whitewash" (Ezekiel 13:10). But he warned that when divine judgment comes, "I will break down the wall that you have smeared with whitewash, and bring it down to the ground, so that its foundation will be laid bare" (v. 14). If the foundation is cracked, whitewashing the walls will not prevent their collapse.
Many Christians today are whitewashing the homosexual problem in the church. Why are they doing that? I believe they are afraid to be called the bigot, homophobic, not being tolerant or loving or that they just want to be relevant to the world today. This disgusts me -- that the church is so afraid to upset the gay community by telling them the TRUTH in love! Where are the warriors for Jesus Christ? If your church is accepting gays and lesbians in active membership and in church leadership, “Run, yes, I said RUN” from that church and find one that loves the lost enough to stand on the side of God.
Isn't it a loving act when you see your brother/sister drowning to throw him/her a life preserver? If he or she is walking towards hell, don’t we tell them to turn around and look at the truth? Are we going to be like the false prophets and allow our culture to determine what is true and moral? It is God who determines what is true and moral.
But isn’t that the problem today. No one wants absolutes in their lives. Absolutely right or wrong is absolutely what they stand against. But God's Word is filled with absolutes – absolutely right or wrong, absolutely moral or immoral, absolutely just or unjust, for both sinner and sinned against.
Webster’s Dictionary defines tolerance as “the willingness to recognize and respect the beliefs or practices of others.” It does not mean that we have to accept their beliefs or viewpoint as being right. Tolerance is a two-way street. They need to be tolerant of our beliefs and viewpoints as well. We are tolerant of their beliefs, but respectfully disagree with their lifestyle. The gay community has the right to believe and live their lives as they choose, but they do not have the right to tell us how to believe and live our lives. We don’t accept or agree with that lifestyle. We must stand on the side of God.
“What if a gay person says I am a believer in Jesus Christ and I love the Lord?” How should we respond to that? Jesus links loving God with obedience to His commands.
John 14:15 “If you love me, you will obey what I command."
John 14:23 Jesus replied, “If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. 24 He who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me. John 15:10 If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love." (NIV)
If we are believers in Jesus Christ, our only option is to obey God's laws. A homosexual lifestyle is sin. This lifestyle dominates everything they do and think in their lives. As a life-dominating sin, we must extend a hand to help them overcome this sin in their lives, just like any other sin. Walter Kaiser distinguishes an important aspect of discipleship – temptation is not sin, any temptation, including homosexuality. There is “no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus" (Rom 8:1) struggling between flesh and spirit.
…All of these passages deal with sin and sexual acts. None of them speak of homosexual desires. In the Scriptures it is not homosexual temptation that is wrong, but the acts themselves. This is an important distinction, for it reminds us that the Scriptures honor people struggling with temptation rather than condemning them for their temptations. The man who has never been tempted to commit a homosexual act is not more virtuous than the man who has successfully resisted temptations. Homosexuality was a significant part of the Greek culture. It is not that Greeks were homosexual, for in fact the general practice was bisexuality, with wives being necessary for procreation, but the use of prostitutes and boys also being more or less accepted (Walter C. Kaiser Jr. et al., Hard Sayings of the Bible (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 1996, 544).
Sounds like our world today. Paul was the Christian writer most in contact with the Greek world. As previously stated, in 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 Paul needed to clear up that the homosexual act was sin and needed to be stopped. In verse 11 Paul makes an incredible statement: “…and this is what some of you used to be. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God” (BUT GOD)! Paul also reminds us in 1 Corinthians 10:13 “No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.” People can change and repent for homosexual sin. If they do repent from their sins and walk away from the lifestyle, they will be saved.
I believe today's church and today's Christians are in trouble. They are following the false prophets of the world by accepting lies to be the truth and affirming the lifestyle by allowing gays to become members and get married under God’s covenant of marriage. We see that today’s Christians are turning away from sound doctrine and turning to the culture for the truth.
"For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths" (2 Timothy 4:3–4 NIV84).
We, as believers in Jesus Christ, must stand up—yes, stand up for God and the freedom He is extending to all in sin. When we, as believers, stand before God, we will be judged by what we stand for and to whom we belong. Know this to be true: If we stand up for Jesus Christ, the world will stand against us. They will fight us, just as a drowning man fights the one who comes to rescue him. Those who are trapped in sin need to hear the truth of God. Remember the words of Jesus in John 15:18–25:
18 “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. 19 If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. 20 Remember the words I spoke to you: ‘No servant is greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also. 21 They will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the One who sent me. 22 If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin. Now, however, they have no excuse for their sin. (NIV).
Finally, Galatians 6:1-2 teaches “Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted. Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.” We must not accept the homosexual lifestyle as normal, just as we must not accept the sins of adultery, fornication, etc. In our acceptance or in our silence, we are condemning them to a path that leads to hell. Galatians reminds us that we must be willing to come alongside those caught, trapped in such sins and extend a hand to restore him/her gently.
To whom do you belong? Answer that question, and the question of homosexuality in the church today will be easy for you to answer.
I don't say these things to offend you, but to encourage you. Be men and women of courage, be strong and stand up for Jesus and proclaim His message of freedom and eternal life to all who have ears to hear.
Well, now you know what I think; tell me what you think.
Click on the comments at the top of this blog, read what other people think, and leave a comment of your own.
I'm going to try to answer a number of questions regarding the issue of homosexuality in the church today. It will not be complicated, but very easy. These are the questions I have been asked:
· As a Christian, how do we treat gays?
· Can gays come to church? Can gays be a member and a leader in the church?
· What about marrying gays in the church?
· How do we treat a friend, a brother or sister, or a son or daughter who is gay?
· What if a gay person says I am a believer?
There are a lot of questions here, but they are simple to answer. “How do we treat gays?” We treat gays just like we treat the rest of the world. We are called to love them and treat them with respect (love the sinner but hate the sin). We, as believers, have to remember that God gave us free will; free will is one of the greatest gifts God ever gave us. We are free to choose whether we follow God or not follow God and live our lives anyway we choose. Therefore, we cannot judge world.
“Can gays come to church?” The answer is also simple, “Yes, they can come to church, but NO they can't be members of the church, nor can they lead or teach others.” Membership has a higher calling. Members of the church must be believers in Jesus Christ and have made a commitment to serve him and obey him. The Scriptures speak clearly against not only homosexual sin, but also other sins such as adultery, fornication, greed, lying, murder, etc. Those who practice such life-dominating sins are welcome in the church, but have not yet made that commitment to live their lives for Christ and therefore, cannot lead or teach others yet.
About marrying gays in the church, the answer to that again is simple, “No”. I will explain that “NO” in a few minutes; but first, we’ll take a look at the Scriptures that address the sin of homosexuality and why we cannot accept that lifestyle.
Let’s begin at the beginning in Genesis 2:18-25. God did not give Adam the choice between a man and a woman; no, He just gave him his only choice of a woman as his wife. At the end of Genesis 3 we see God sent them out of the garden to be fruitful and multiply. Once again God did not say to Adam and Eve, ”I will create another man and woman to give you a choice to see who you want to be with.” The natural order of life is a man to be with the woman. It is not natural for man to be with a man or woman with a woman. Both Jesus and Paul endorsed the creation order (Mk 9:6-9 Eph. 5:31).
There is an old argument that proves this very well. If you place all the gay men on one Island, and all the gay women on another island, and heterosexuals on a third Island, at the end of 100 years you will have two empty islands and one very crowded island. The natural order of life is a man to be with a woman and to be fruitful and multiply.
Homosexual sin is described in the OT Law as “detestable” and punishable by death.
Leviticus 18:22 “ ‘Do not lie with a man as one lies with a woman; that is detestable. (NIV)
Leviticus 20:13 “‘If a man lies with a man as one lies with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable. They must be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads.
The perversion in Sodom and Gomorrah and its subsequent judgment by God is recorded in Genesis 19. It tells the story of Sodom and Gomorrah.
In Sodom we see that all the men from every part of the city of Sodom—both young and old—surrounded Lot’s house. They called to Lot, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so that we can have sex with them.” Lot went outside and said, “No, my friends, don’t do this wicked thing” (v7). Well, we all know how that story ends (Genesis 19 and Rom 1:26-27).
The New Testament addresses homosexual sin just as clear as the Old Testament. The Apostle Paul writes to the Corinthian church warning the new believers that they must change their lifestyles.
1 Corinthians 6:9–10 Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders 10 nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.
In the church today no one has a problem with this list of sinful lifestyles except for homosexuality. I just don’t understand why the church feels it can delete homosexual offenders from this list of sins. All those who practice the sins in this list “will not inherit the kingdom of God.” Just as Paul is addressing his new Gentile believers with a very strong counter-culture, life-changing message, it is important that we, too, stand strong in God’s word, even if it is contrary to our culture. We must speak God’s truth.
Paul also writes in Romans 1:26-27 describing the homosexual lifestyle as unnatural, lust-driven, indecent, chosen, and subject to penalty and judgment.
“Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. 27 In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion.”
In verse 26 God allowed people to do as they desired, even though in God’s eyes it is sin and He calls it perversion. The gay community has the right to believe and live their lives as they choose, but they will not inherit the kingdom of God. We, as believers, cannot accept or agree with that lifestyle. We must stand on the side of God – not only for God’s sake, but also for theirs.
Paul reminds Timothy that the Law is for the lawless and disobedient and “whatever is contrary to sound teaching that conforms to the glorious gospel”. Included in this list is homosexual sin.
Now we know that the law is good, if one uses it legitimately. 9 This means understanding that the law is laid down not for the innocent but for the lawless and disobedient, for the godless and sinful, for the unholy and profane, for those who kill their father or mother, for murderers, 10 fornicators, sodomites, (Strong’s 733. ἀρσενοκοίτης arsenokoítēs; arsenokoítou, masc. noun, from ársēn (730), a male, and koítē (2845), a bed. A man who lies in bed with another male, a homosexual) slave traders, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to the sound teaching 11 that conforms to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which he entrusted to me. (1 Tim 1:8 NRSV)
In Jude 7 we read, “In a similar way, Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding towns gave themselves up to sexual immorality and perversion. They serve as an example of those who suffer the punishment of eternal fire.”
Therefore, homosexuality in the Bible is sin that results in judgment. The judgment is clear: those who practice homosexual behavior (believer or nonbeliever) will not—that is, will not-- inherit the kingdom of God.
Now let's go back and answer the question, “Should the church marry gays? The church needs to stand on the side of God, so the answer to that is NO. Gays and lesbians have the right to live as they choose, but they do not have the right to redefine marriage for those of us who are believers.
We see in Ephesians, Chapter 5, Paul gives instructions for husbands and wives. Not husbands and husbands or wives and wives. Just because the world has said that marriage for gays is legal, it does not mean that as believers in Jesus Christ we must agree with that. We all know in the end times the world will become more sinful and more out of control. Praise God that He gave us Jesus that we may repent and be forgiven.
The harder part of this issue is what do we do if we have a son, daughter, brother or sister who is gay. How should we treat them? We need to treat them with love and respect but we cannot agree with their lifestyle. But isn't that how we treat the unsaved? It's so easy if a son or daughter is involved with drugs or alcohol. We will not accept that lifestyle because it sin. How would we treat a son or daughter if they were committing adultery? Would we say, “Oh, that's all right; you both can come into our home and sleep together.” No, we would not. As believers in Jesus Christ, we would sit down with them, have a loving conversation with them, let them know that their lifestyle is wrong and sin, and tell will them will not inherit the kingdom of God unless they repent. What if I was asked to attend a gay marriage? I would have to say, No; because when you attend a marriage as a believer, you are a witness to that marriage and you are saying, “I agree with the union of these two people in marriage. Again, people who are in the world have the right to live their lives in any way they want to, but they do not have the right to tell us we must accept it, agree with it, or allow it to change what we believe is wrong to be right. Believers, on the other hand, must live their lives under the Lordship of Jesus Christ and according His Law, which has been written on their hearts.
Jim Denison in his Cultural Commentary addresses his concern over the issue of “more churches accepting gays than ever before.”
Dr. Jim Denison, President Sep 22, 2014
More churches accepting gays than ever before
The National Congregations Study recently published its latest report of America's churches, synagogues and mosques. It finds more racial and ethnic diversity in our pews, more encouragement of hand-waving, amen-shouting and dancing in our aisles, and less connection to denominations, doctrines, and rules that might impede growth.
The study also found that more congregations than ever before accept gays and lesbians in active membership and in church leadership. Roman Catholics and white conservative evangelicals are the exception: the percentage of Catholic churches permitting full membership and leadership roles for homosexuals has fallen significantly, while only four percent of white conservative evangelical churches permit gays in leadership roles.
Why are most denominations going one way on this issue while Catholics and evangelicals are going the other? The answer you get depends on the person you ask. To some, Catholics and evangelicals are homophobic and bigoted. Their opposition to homosexual activity is viewed as oppressive and backwards, akin to those who opposed civil rights in the 60's. To others, Catholics and evangelicals are holding fast to biblical morality on this issue while others trade God's word for cultural acceptance.
As an evangelical who believes that Scripture forbids homosexual activity, I am clearly in the latter camp. The question for Christians like me is not so much what we believe as how we express our beliefs. We can be so harsh on this issue that homosexuals perceive us to be condemning them. Or we can be so conciliatory that they do not know what God actually says on this issue.
While we must engage cultural issues by speaking the truth in love (Ephesians 4:15), it is also truth that we must speak. God exposed false prophets in Ezekiel's time who "have misled my people, saying, 'Peace,' when there is no peace." This was the analogy he used to describe them: "When the people build a wall, these prophets smear it with whitewash" (Ezekiel 13:10). But he warned that when divine judgment comes, "I will break down the wall that you have smeared with whitewash, and bring it down to the ground, so that its foundation will be laid bare" (v. 14). If the foundation is cracked, whitewashing the walls will not prevent their collapse.
Many Christians today are whitewashing the homosexual problem in the church. Why are they doing that? I believe they are afraid to be called the bigot, homophobic, not being tolerant or loving or that they just want to be relevant to the world today. This disgusts me -- that the church is so afraid to upset the gay community by telling them the TRUTH in love! Where are the warriors for Jesus Christ? If your church is accepting gays and lesbians in active membership and in church leadership, “Run, yes, I said RUN” from that church and find one that loves the lost enough to stand on the side of God.
Isn't it a loving act when you see your brother/sister drowning to throw him/her a life preserver? If he or she is walking towards hell, don’t we tell them to turn around and look at the truth? Are we going to be like the false prophets and allow our culture to determine what is true and moral? It is God who determines what is true and moral.
But isn’t that the problem today. No one wants absolutes in their lives. Absolutely right or wrong is absolutely what they stand against. But God's Word is filled with absolutes – absolutely right or wrong, absolutely moral or immoral, absolutely just or unjust, for both sinner and sinned against.
Webster’s Dictionary defines tolerance as “the willingness to recognize and respect the beliefs or practices of others.” It does not mean that we have to accept their beliefs or viewpoint as being right. Tolerance is a two-way street. They need to be tolerant of our beliefs and viewpoints as well. We are tolerant of their beliefs, but respectfully disagree with their lifestyle. The gay community has the right to believe and live their lives as they choose, but they do not have the right to tell us how to believe and live our lives. We don’t accept or agree with that lifestyle. We must stand on the side of God.
“What if a gay person says I am a believer in Jesus Christ and I love the Lord?” How should we respond to that? Jesus links loving God with obedience to His commands.
John 14:15 “If you love me, you will obey what I command."
John 14:23 Jesus replied, “If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. 24 He who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me. John 15:10 If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love." (NIV)
If we are believers in Jesus Christ, our only option is to obey God's laws. A homosexual lifestyle is sin. This lifestyle dominates everything they do and think in their lives. As a life-dominating sin, we must extend a hand to help them overcome this sin in their lives, just like any other sin. Walter Kaiser distinguishes an important aspect of discipleship – temptation is not sin, any temptation, including homosexuality. There is “no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus" (Rom 8:1) struggling between flesh and spirit.
…All of these passages deal with sin and sexual acts. None of them speak of homosexual desires. In the Scriptures it is not homosexual temptation that is wrong, but the acts themselves. This is an important distinction, for it reminds us that the Scriptures honor people struggling with temptation rather than condemning them for their temptations. The man who has never been tempted to commit a homosexual act is not more virtuous than the man who has successfully resisted temptations. Homosexuality was a significant part of the Greek culture. It is not that Greeks were homosexual, for in fact the general practice was bisexuality, with wives being necessary for procreation, but the use of prostitutes and boys also being more or less accepted (Walter C. Kaiser Jr. et al., Hard Sayings of the Bible (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 1996, 544).
Sounds like our world today. Paul was the Christian writer most in contact with the Greek world. As previously stated, in 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 Paul needed to clear up that the homosexual act was sin and needed to be stopped. In verse 11 Paul makes an incredible statement: “…and this is what some of you used to be. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God” (BUT GOD)! Paul also reminds us in 1 Corinthians 10:13 “No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.” People can change and repent for homosexual sin. If they do repent from their sins and walk away from the lifestyle, they will be saved.
I believe today's church and today's Christians are in trouble. They are following the false prophets of the world by accepting lies to be the truth and affirming the lifestyle by allowing gays to become members and get married under God’s covenant of marriage. We see that today’s Christians are turning away from sound doctrine and turning to the culture for the truth.
"For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths" (2 Timothy 4:3–4 NIV84).
We, as believers in Jesus Christ, must stand up—yes, stand up for God and the freedom He is extending to all in sin. When we, as believers, stand before God, we will be judged by what we stand for and to whom we belong. Know this to be true: If we stand up for Jesus Christ, the world will stand against us. They will fight us, just as a drowning man fights the one who comes to rescue him. Those who are trapped in sin need to hear the truth of God. Remember the words of Jesus in John 15:18–25:
18 “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. 19 If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. 20 Remember the words I spoke to you: ‘No servant is greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also. 21 They will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the One who sent me. 22 If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin. Now, however, they have no excuse for their sin. (NIV).
Finally, Galatians 6:1-2 teaches “Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted. Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.” We must not accept the homosexual lifestyle as normal, just as we must not accept the sins of adultery, fornication, etc. In our acceptance or in our silence, we are condemning them to a path that leads to hell. Galatians reminds us that we must be willing to come alongside those caught, trapped in such sins and extend a hand to restore him/her gently.
To whom do you belong? Answer that question, and the question of homosexuality in the church today will be easy for you to answer.
I don't say these things to offend you, but to encourage you. Be men and women of courage, be strong and stand up for Jesus and proclaim His message of freedom and eternal life to all who have ears to hear.
Well, now you know what I think; tell me what you think.
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