It is becoming increasingly unpopular and unacceptable to go with God's Word on matters of sexuality, especially anything gay related. The amount of churches and Christians are growing who are tossing out and twisting what the Bible says in regards to homosexuality. The more the world accepts and celebrates it, the more Christians and churches are caving to it and calling us hateful who do not join. They try to paint it that God only condemns prostitution among men, not loving relationships......though any sex between men is now accepted by these "progressive Christians." As the Democratic platform embraces and pushes all things gay, the Christians in the Democratic Party fall in line with all things liberal and preach a pro-gay theology.
To be honest, it isn't easy in these days to be attracted to the same sex and follow what the Bible says. No, I have never come close to swallowing the lies, but it is difficult to stand up against these lies from the pit of hell. I have argued and argued with Christians of this persuasion, and ironically have been called bigoted and hateful. If you personally deal with same-sex attractions and believe giving in to be wrong, you are as bad as Christians who do not struggle in that area and don't fall in line with liberal ideology.
But I believe 100% that sex between two people of the same gender is still sin and anyone engaging in it will go to hell, as the Bible says. It doesn't matter what government, church, or individuals try to twist the Bible to say otherwise, the Bible very clearly says so.
I am not entirely sure what motivates so many professing Christians to believe and say otherwise, but I have a couple of theories:
1) Dedication to liberal ideology: I touched on this already. Party trumps everything, as even the conservatives and Christians in the Republican Party showed this last election. No matter how bizarre or evil the things the liberals push, Christians in the Democratic Party must comply, and will always comply.
2) Sympathy. They feel badly for gay people, and don't think it is fair that they can't give into their sexual desires, date, marry, and do whatever else they want to do in relation to anything gay.
3) Moral bankruptcy. I don't believe you can be part of the Democratic Party and not have your morals erode. With everything the Democratic Party stands for and embraces, one cannot help but be affected.
If you really think about it, this push by liberal Christians to say gay is OK with God is really absurd. Of all the sins in the Bible, how can the Bible be wrong on that one? God didn't change His mind on the other sexual sins, so what makes this one so special?
But the church is not blameless in this matter. We have twisted and ignored what the Bible says about divorce and remarriage and have winked at sex outside of marriage. We have not held our moral ground when we should have, and have caved in these other areas. It should be no surprise that so many churches are caving in this area. One has to wonder how long it will be before conservative churches also cave on this issue. Hopefully never, but only God knows. I do believe the battle will grow worse, and the day may come when you can't even have a job if you dare say it is wrong and sinful. Rights and freedoms of Christians usually lose in the face of gay rights.
But as the conservative church continues to take a stand against this sin, they cannot forget that these are people God loves caught up in this sin. Yes, some of them are hateful and want to stamp out all Christians who dare disagree with them, but God loves even the most militant gay person.
And we also must not forget there are people dealing with this issue all around us. For years, I sat in the church pew struggling and hurting. Most people had no clue to my struggles. I heard the jokes, the disparaging remarks, the mocking, etc. I am not alone. Guys (and women) like me are all around Christians. We sit in the pews you sit in. We are in your family, we are in your circle of friends. Some of us manage to marry and make it work. Others remain single, hoping no one ever suspects the truth as we laugh off comments and questions about dating and marriage,
The conservative church must never give in. It is not love to pat a person on the back and tell them their sin really isn't a sin and God is fine with their lifestyle. I shudder when I think of all the souls being led astray by pro-gay theology, and how many will miss Heaven after being assured they are OK the way they are and that they can be Christian and gay.
On the flip side, we must be careful how we fight this sin and agenda and be careful we don't shoot the wounded among us. We are no better if we cause people to miss Heaven because of our attitude and hate towards what they struggle with.
Good text, as usual. I would like to comment on two points
ReplyDeleteFirst, when you listed the possible reasons why people left the Biblical teaching on homosexuality, you mentioned sympathy. I get that - nowadays, sexual pleasure is almost considered a human right. When we put man on the center of the Universe and not God, it makes all the sense in the world to reason "why begrudge gays the pleasures of sex just because it's different?" That reasoning depicts the Church as being mean, as not caring. Fact is, God knows what is best for humans, and He is loving. At the core of the Christian life is self denial - not just for people with SSAs, but for every single person. Straight people have to deny themselves too - they have to wait for marriage to have sex, and they have to keep faithful to their spouses - so it is not a matter of only gays having to deny themselves.
The other point is the so called "Democratic Party Agenda" - not being an American, I cannot comment much on your politics, but I do understand that it is not only Democrats which have the so called gay agenda, though it is much more they than the GOP guys. I think this should not be out as a partisan topic. Here in my country it is also the leftist parties that most support the gay activists' agenda, but not exclusively. When we single them out it comes through as a political issue, and then all political passions contaminate the discussion.
Mark, thank you for your stand on this very difficult issue. As you know, my fictional novel, Ryan's Father, deals with this subject. My prayers go out to your friend. There's a ministry I highly recommend. Perhaps he can check it out. It's Tim Wilkin's Cross Ministry http://crossministry.org/newsite/
ReplyDeleteMark, I have a lot of respect for your honesty. I had no idea you struggled with same sex attraction. I have gay children so I am aware. I don't know if you have heard of Sy Rogers. My husband I heard him speak and have been encouraged by his own testimony and his ministry. Here is a link to his testimony https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gbVgcKZQtg&t=8s
ReplyDeleteThanks Andi
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