In this generation, in this
present hour a war has broken out, a war of such enormity, that, without prayer
is going to end in disaster. It is a civil war of beliefs on what is
socially right. At this moment, our country though seemingly unified, is filled
with the deepest of hates caused by a contemptible dissension.
Before we get started, I want
to express my opinion on the matter at hand. I don’t think it is right to point
fingers at this one thing and forget the others; sex before marriage, (fornication)
gluttony/lack of self-control, hate, murder, slander etc. They all bear heavy
consequences; just as homosexuality is wrong, these are also wrong in the eyes
of God
James 2:11
11For he who said, “You
shall not commit adultery,” also said, “You shall not murder.” If you do not
commit adultery but do commit murder, you have become a lawbreaker.
However,
in this entry I am discussing Homosexuality because as a Christian, I feel it
is my duty to address something that I have noticed for quite some time and
that is Christians ‘supporting’ and ‘encouraging’ the homosexual lifestyle.
There are two extremes that
just can’t seem to meet in the middle and find the balance. The first, which
can be largely blamed for the second is the ‘judgment’ and hate of Gays,
Lesbians, Bisexuals, and Transgender. Christians running around condemning the
‘sexual immoral’ among other things, has a) given Christianity the worst
reputation of all religions, and b) has caused ripple effect that has thrust us
into a terrible situation.
(Galations 5:15
If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each
other.)
The predicament of which I speak, is extreme #2 and that is the exact opposite of extreme 1; - hate and condemnation- acceptance, no judgment, just love. While it does seem Biblical, it is actually not; and that’s the reason it’s a bad situation. People can clearly see the first is wrong, and have thus run in the other direction, only they have gone slightly too far; to something that is less perceptible as wrong in this age.
Each side deals with
judgment, and both parties have gone to the far right and left of it. One side
fleeing from it altogether while the other uses it ruthlessly without shame.
Both sides are equally wrong, and I am not condemning either of them I merely
wish to bring light to the topic so that everyone might see the truth.
So, in order to discover what
that truth is, let’s get an understanding of what ‘judgment’ is.
Judgment
I think another cause for the
‘acceptance’ ‘no judgment’ movement has stemmed from our lack of understanding
of what ‘judgment’ actually is.
Over time, the definition of
‘judgment’ has been changed and confused into something that it doesn’t mean.
Man has come to think that
because the Bible says “do not judge,” we cannot look at someone and say or
think they are in sin. I am here to say that this point view is false, if this
misnomer was the case, then we Christians would never be able to say a word, or
bring correction, or ever preach as Jesus did, saying “Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Nor
would Jesus have been able to tell the adulterous woman, “go and sin no more.”
For if our modern definition
of the word was true, then Jesus himself would have been sinning; and we know
that that is not the case.
Now, I will give the exact
definition from the Greek in the Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible:
Judge; (Greek: Krino) to
distinguish, i.e. decide (mentally or judicially); to try, condemn, punish,
conclude, condemn, damn, decree, determine, esteem, sentence to.
Judgment in the Bible is
defined as condemnation and that is what we are NOT allowed to do. God is the
almighty ‘judge;’ he decides who is, and is not bad and what their fate will
be.
Matthew
7:15-20
15 “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s
clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. 16 You will know
them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from
thistles? 17 Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad
tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit,
nor can a bad tree bear good fruit.19 Every tree that does not
bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Therefore by
their fruits you will know them.
Luke 6:44
Each tree is
recognized by its own fruit. People do not pick figs from thornbushes, or
grapes from briers.
Galations
5:19-26
19The acts of
the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery;20idolatry
and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition,
dissensions, factions 21and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I
warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God
22But the fruit
of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness,
faithfulness, 23gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is
no law. 24Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with
its passions and desires. 25Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in
step with the Spirit. 26Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying
each other.
Luke 6:44 says,
“You will recognize;” if we are not looking how
can we even begin to see?
It is impossible for someone
to not observe a person. That’s exactly what a ‘first impression’ is; it’s all
about what you first observe and ‘decide’ about a person.
I am saying this so that you
can distinguish between judgment as it’s defined in the Bible and what it is
defined as now; to put it simply, condemnation would be you seeing a person and all of their
garbage, and then deeming them as worthless garbage when you yourself are unclean and unworthy to judge. Whereas, we are to see the
sin – as well as the good – and love them regardless, sin is sin, it is wrong
in every form (addiction, hate/murder, gluttony/lack of self control, sex before
marriage etc). The problem is people get too caught up on seeing the sin,
forgetting that they too sin, and then form an ungodly contempt and superiority
towards them.
Spreading
the Gospel and saying “repent!” is letting the unbeliever know that they are in
sin, but if they don’t turn to God, God Himself will judge them. And if nobody
is saying ‘repent of sexual immortality’ then nobody will know that it’s sin to
begin with. For if there is no recognition of sin, there can be no repentance
of it.
As my dad has always said,
“hate the sin, love the person.” And that very principle was demonstrated on
the cross; God hates sin, but he loved us so much that he gave up His only son
for people who don’t even care about Him! That’s the glory of God, He is truly amazing.
“Love your neighbor as
yourself”
The Gospel or ‘good news,’ is
the story of love. How can you take the Gospel and preach it in hate?
So Christians, when you go to
preach sexual perversion is wrong, or anything for that matter, check your
heart; ask yourself why you’re doing it. Is it because it is vile in your eyes
or because you hope for them to turn from their sin and know Christ?
The second greatest commandment
is this, “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
Have you learned to love
others so much that you sit and travail over it? Do you love so much that you
can feel your heart breaking apart for them? Do any of us love so much that we
would die for our friends?
We must love with all our
hearts; Jesus went even further than just dying for His friends, he died for
people who don’t even know his name, people who both hate and love Him, He died
for all.
John 15:13 Greater love has no
one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.
The secret to loving others
as yourself is, obeying the first and greatest commandment. Deuteronomy 6:5 ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart
and with all your soul and with all your mind.’
“I hold this one thing
against you”
This world has become so very
‘politically correct,’ you can’t say anything anymore without offending or
practically starting riots, which brings me to one of my favorite quotes, by
Martin Luther, “Peace if possible, truth at all costs.” I love it because it’s
the picture of Jesus’ life on earth. He didn’t walk around looking to start a
fight, He simply spoke the truth and people didn’t like it. If you want to be a
follower of Christ, be prepared to be hated, you just have to get over it; you
are called to offend the people of this planet!
Matthew 10:34
"Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.
"Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.
(The sword, being truth: Ephesians
6:17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the
Spirit, which is the word of God;
John 17:17 Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is
truth)
Luke 12:51
Do you think I
came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division.
Though Christians have been
called to offend, (by lovingly spreading the truth, not shoving it down
people’s throats) we are not, we have instead allowed tolerance and acceptance
of sin to become prevalent within the Church. The Church was designed by Christ
as a place for Christians to come together to walk out their faith and rejoice.
It was purposed as a holy gathering!
This may sound harsh, but it
is scriptural – The Church was designed for the Christian, not the unbeliever;
not those practicing sin. God specifically instructed us to correct those
within the church who claimed to be a follower but were practicing evil, so
that they would repent, or, if they did not repent, expel them from amongst us.
1 Corinthians 5:9-12
9 I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral
people— 10 not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral, or
the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters. In that case you would have to leave
this world. 11 But now I am writing to you that you must not associate
with anyone who claims to be a brother or sister but is sexually immoral or
greedy, an idolater or slanderer, a drunkard or swindler. Do not even eat with
such people.
12 What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church?
Are you not to judge those inside? 13 God will judge those outside. “Expel
the wicked person from among you.”
In verse
10, it talks of the people who are not followers of Christ, “The people of this
world.” For those who are saved are not of this world, and when Paul
says, “anyone who claims to be a brother or sister…” he means, anyone who
claims to be a Christian. This scripture would be labeled as “judging” in the
world’s eyes, I mean, how can we possibly tell someone to leave the Church!
Paul doesn’t just say, ‘expel them,’ he says ‘do not associate with them.’ That
is major judgment! And it is acceptable! Yet somehow, it has now come to be
considered unacceptable.
This
passage shows us that we are supposed to judge the brethren, but not the
unsaved, for those who are unsaved are judged by God already, the Bible and its
law condemns them.
It is not
our job to make sure they are living according to God’s word, when they do not
profess to. It is when they are saved that we are to bring correction.
The above
passage shows just how serious God is about keeping the church ‘clean,’ and if
that is not enough, here are two examples of Jesus telling John to write
letters to the churches:
Revelation
2:14-16 (The Church of Pergamum
14Nevertheless, I have a few things against you: There are some
among you who hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to entice the
Israelites to sin so that they ate food sacrificed to idols and committed
sexual immorality.15Likewise, you also have those who hold to
the teaching of the Nicolaitans.16Repent therefore! Otherwise, I will soon
come to you and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth.
Revelation
2:20-22 (The Church of Thyatira
20Nevertheless, I have this against you: You tolerate
that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophet. By her teaching she misleads
my servants into sexual immorality and the eating of food sacrificed to idols.21I have given her time
to repent of her immorality, but she is unwilling.22So I will cast her on
a bed of suffering, and I will make those who commit adultery with her suffer
intensely, unless they repent of her ways.
These passages clearly show
that God does not tolerate, ‘tolerance.’
When you accept the
homosexual lifestyle, or encourage it, you are as guilty as the man or woman
practicing it. It is ungodly and sinful to accept sin as being o.k. or morally
right.
Now, the question might
arise, “well, I am a Christian and I sin, does that mean I am going to hell?”
The answer is no, the
difference is, these people (in the scriptures above) were practicing sin,
their hearts were not submissive to or fearful of God. Whereas, a God fearing
man or woman may be tempted by and succumb to his/her flesh, but he/she is
repentant and is not living a lifestyle contrary to the law. It’s all in the
heart, active pursuit is what changes everything. In John 14:15 Jesus
says, 15"If you
love Me, you will keep My commandments.
Though you may fail to be perfect in keeping His commands, you still
try your hardest.
Sexual Immorality/Perversity
I think if now, you understand tolerance is considered by God to be
sin, you may be asking what does that matter, if we are speaking of homosexuality; well this is why I made the above point clear. You may agree
with not tolerating now, but you may not know that anything contrary to
Heterosexuality is in fact wrong.
The Bible very clearly states that our bodies are ‘temples’ and when
you do unnatural things when them, you are defiling and filling yourself with
filth. Sexual immorality has been amongst man ever since the fallen angels came
to the daughters of men. It is not something God condones by any means; sex was
meant to be pure and beautiful, for the purpose of procreation. God
blessed/commanded humans two times -that I know of- to, “Be fruitful and
INCREASE IN NUMBER; fill the earth….” (Genesis 1:28 Genesis 9:1)
Homosexuality is utter rebellion towards God’s word.
Let me pull up some blatant scriptures so there can be no doubt left
within your mind.
Romans 1:24-27
24Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts
to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. 25They
exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created
things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.
26Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their
women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. 27In the same way
the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust
for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in
themselves the due penalty for their error.
1 Corinthians 5:9
9I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral
people
5:11-13
11But now I am writing to you that you must not associate with
anyone who claims to be a brother or sister but is sexually immoral or greedy,
an idolater or slanderer, a drunkard or swindler. Do not even eat with such
people.
12What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are
you not to judge those inside? 13God will judge those outside. “Expel the
wicked person from among you.”
1 Corinthians 6:9
9Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God
Leviticus 18:22 - "Do not lie with a man as one
lies with a woman; that is detestable."
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."
In conclusion
- Bearing the name of Christ: we must take care as Christians
bearing the name of Christ to not make our religion one of hypocrisy;
either by hating or accepting.
1 Peter 11:12
11 Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from
fleshly lusts which wage war against the soul. 12 Keep your behavior excellent
among the Gentiles, so that in the thing in which they slander you as
evildoers, they may be cause of your good deeds, as they observe them, glorify
God in the day of visitation.
- The Christian Obligation: As Christians it is our duty to spread the truth.
Is it right for us to keep the truth to ourselves? There are so many lies
floating around, and we have to counter them with God’s word.
- Don’t
Bible Bash: Use
wisdom in everything; not everyone is ready for the Gospel, if you feel
like you should speak with someone about their salvation, pray about it
first and make sure it is God telling you to. Be sure not to shove your
opinions and knowledge down anyone’s throat.
- Friendship with those practicing sin: Continue on in your friendship, although
certain things should change, for one, make sure your friend knows that
you believe in Christ and that you don’t agree with their lifestyle, but
you love them nonetheless and don’t condemn them. Then pray in your own
time that God would open the door for you to speak into their life about
salvation.
Now, the purpose of this blog post is not to bash gays or those
who support them, I only hope to bring light to the darkness. I want Christians
to understand the severity of this. If you support and encourage homosexuality,
not only are you deceiving and leading those who live that lifestyle astray,
-as a Christian condoning unchristian behavior- but you are also, sharing in
the sin.
Both parties must find the balance, ‘judgment’ cannot be
done without love, and acceptance cannot be done without first judging whether
it is acceptable in God’s eyes.
The time has come for Christians to stand up for what has always
been right, to uncover the evil hiding behind its seductive mask. If we accept
sin, we too become the darkness.
James 4:17
17If anyone, then, knows the good they
ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them.
