Yes, the Bible is clear on the subject of homosexuality. Sodom and Gomorrah are destroyed for their sins of homosexuality. In Revelation, St. John lists "sodomites" as one of the sins that will be indicative of the damned. In Romans 1, Paul talks about the product of distorting God's reality. He says, "And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet. [AIDs])" It's a sin. So is pride, greed, lust, and fornication. Your point? There is no reason to pick out homosexuality as this super sin that means we should hate someone. Jesus tells us to love our neighbors as ourselves. Sin is no reason to hate another human being. If anything, it should be a reason to love and disciple them.
It would seem to me that one reason why homosexuality is so hated is because it's misunderstood. Personally, I've never been tempted towards it. I think women are mesmerizing and I'm proud to say it. So, I really can't understand what it's like to struggle with that sin. The fear of the unknown is one of the strongest fears in man's psyche. We need to get past that and stop treating homosexuals like sub-humans. They are people who are struggling with sin same as us. Let's not pat ourselves on the back and think how righteous we are. The temptation towards that is strong but we need to remind ourselves to tend to the logs in our own eyes before we remove the specks in theirs. In short, let's be firm in our stance that it's a sin, while being loving and discipling those who struggle with it.
God Bless,
Stanley
That is a brilliant article.
ReplyDeleteThe reason, I think, why homosexuals are villified is because it takes the accuser's mind off his own shortcomings, particularly the one who suffer from some form of inferiority complex. The wolf-whistling made towards passing homosexuals are often from men on construction sites, to quote an example, to cover their own shortcomings during their school days, from which they would have liked to achieve, even secretly, a profession of a higher status.
Many churches do have bad attitudes towards homosexuals, one in particular, is Fred Phelps of Wesboro Church, I believe, in the Kentucky area. Reading of his attitude and activities, including "God Hates America" placards, I doubt very much that he belongs to Christ, and he will one day give an account of his actions to God.
I'm glad you beat me to this topic, Stanley. I was actually going to write an article on it, but I think you have done admirably.
ReplyDeleteI think there is a big difference between simply saying that homosexuality is wrong and against God's commands, and making fun, bullying, and treating someone like dirt. Like you said, we all are sinners before the Lord, but fornication, gossip, drunkeness and gluttony are exmaples of sins that are equally heinous, but less censured by the cultural church. (By the cultural church, I mean the church which claims to be Christ-centered, but is not truly faithful.)
In short, we should stand firm, and say that it is wrong, but not become condescending and judgemental, since that would be a sin in and of itself. We are not judges. God is.
One last note: our culture has extrapolated the Christian church's simple statements against homosexuality into bigotry and close-mindedness against "love". They have unjustly morphed gentle disapproval into the mainstream bullying of the culture.
Thank you Frank and Sarah. I appreciate your input. I feel this topic can be touchy. Partially for reasons that Sarah pointed out, but also like you said, Frank, it is a means that we build ourselves up and tear others down. It's easy and tempting. But, we must also understand where the world is coming from. They see the very fact that we're saying that homosexuality is wrong as an act of bullying. They don't think we have any grounds for making a claim like that. If we were operating under their presuppositions, we wouldn't. There is a fundamental dichotomy there. It's sad that the American church has taken this to a place God did not intend.
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