homosexuality

Homosexuality and the Church

This summer, “Songs of Praise,” a show on BBC, aired the union of Jamie Wallace and Ian McDonald, which created controversy within the Christian community. It wasn’t necessarily that it was a same-sex marriage that ignited the controversy. It was that it was performed in a Christian church and broadcasted on a faith-based show.

Many people were delighted that the church is coming into a new age of thinking. For some reason people today seem to think that the homosexual lifestyle is a brand-new modern romance and that people who celebrate the traditional marriage, do not understand. The truth is that homosexuality has existed for thousands of years. It is true that it may seem like somewhat of a new lifestyle because it is more widely accepted. This has a lot to do with the ability to spread news throughout the world via TV and the internet.

There are still cultures today that forbid it. According to Biblical teachings, it is a sin. Jesus said while on the cross, “Lord, forgive them because they know not what they do.” A lot of people truly do not think it is wrong. Like Jesus, we as believers pray for God’s forgiveness in their lives and at the same time pray that their eyes are opened to truth.

I am not writing this article to the unbeliever; however, as I understand they are accepting this lifestyle because they are viewing it without the light of truth. I am writing it to the believer, who claims that Christ is their Lord and yet walks in this lifestyle. And I am writing it to those who although, may not walk in this lifestyle, praise and celebrate people who do.

“For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge?” 1 Corinthians 4:12 (ESV)

“My brothers, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back, let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.” James 5:19-20 (ESV)

Those who believe in the teachings of the Bible know that there is a community of believers, who are missing the mark.

“The Christian Institute’s Director Colin Hart said: ‘It is deeply offensive to see same-sex marriage celebrated in such a way on what is supposed to be a Christian devotional programme.’” https://www.christian.org.uk/news/songs-of-praise-same-sex-promo-upsets-viewers

He continued to explain that the program was set up for those who cannot go to church and that the majority of Christian churches do not adhere to same-sex unions, especially in a Christian church setting. He stated that a faith-based show was no place to promote that lifestyle.

Jamie Wallace, one of the grooms, said, “Jesus preaches about love, inclusion, kindness and compassion.”

He also stated, “As a committed Christian, being able to marry the man I love with all my heart and soul, before God, in the church I love, with my family, friends and the congregation around us, is something I’ve dreamed of.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7370127/Gay-wedding-broadcast-Songs-Praise-time

He is right. Jesus did preach about, love, inclusion and kindness. But somehow Jamie missed the part about SIN and DEATH. God is a god of love, but he is also a God of justice and will not wink at sin. Instead, he LOVED us so much that he sent his son to DIE for each of us so we can be FREE from sin and death. That was huge!!! He didn’t make that enormous sacrifice so that we could continue to celebrate our sinful lifestyles! That would make Jesus’ blood, his death and raising from the dead, worthless. He wants us FREE from the bondage of sin.

If Jamie is a Christian, as he claims to be, perhaps he does not read his Bible. Or maybe he doesn’t have a personal relationship with the Lord that Christians experience.

If he had read some scriptures, especially in Revelation, he would understand that God instituted the marriage bond as an example of things to come, as he had done many times to explain the spiritual realm. The marriage unit is holy and pure. Scripture references Jesus as the groom who is coming for his bride, who is the church, the body of believers. If he read Genesis, he would understand that God made a man and a woman to become one and multiply the earth.

It is impossible for people of the same gender to become one. They can state that they are married and united but unfortunately will never be able to be one true unit. God created a man for a woman and a woman for a man. Simple biology proves that. To say otherwise, is mocking the institute that God created. And he stated that he will not be mocked. (Galatians 6:7)

All Jamie would have had to do was read the first chapter of Romans. Let’s start at verse 18.

“For God in heaven unveils his holy anger breaking forth against every form of sin, both toward ungodliness that lives in hearts and evil actions. For the wickedness of humanity deliberately smothers the truth and keeps people from acknowledging the truth about God.”

(Interesting how people easily dismiss and forget that God can express holy anger towards sin.)

Then let’s skip to verse 24-28. (TPT)

“This is why God lifted off his restraining hand and let them have full expression of their sinful and shameful desires. They were given over to moral depravity, dishonoring their bodies by sexual perversion among themselves, all because they traded the truth of God for a lie. They worshiped and served the things God made rather than the God who made all things—glory and praises to him for eternity of eternities! Amen!

For this reason, God gave them over to their own disgraceful and vile passions. Enflamed with lust for one another, men and women ignored the natural order and exchanged normal sexual relations for homosexuality. Women engaged in lesbian conduct, and men committed shameful acts with men, receiving in themselves the due penalty for their deviation.

And because they thought it was worthless to embrace the true knowledge of God, God gave them over to a worthless mind-set, to break all rules of proper conduct.”

Let’s make it clear, Christians, or believers of the teachings of Jesus are not cruel, mean, judgmental accusers. Reading the Bible, we realize that God is to be revered, even in our own lives. We try to live a life acceptable to the Lord because we love him and we seek to help those who are living a life that will lead them to destruction.

God loved us enough to destroy the sin in the world with a flood, destroy Sodom and Gomorrah by fire because of sexual perversion, and inspire Paul, by his Spirit, to write the book of Romans for the Christians then and now. God does not change. If he said it then, why would he change now?

We should humbly remember:
1. It is extremely important that we speak truth in LOVE. (1 Corinthians 13:1)
2. It is extremely important that we FORGIVE those who are confused. (Luke 23:34)
3. It is extremely important that we teach people TRUTH. (John 8:32)

I heard someone state how strange it is that the rainbow became the emblem of the homosexual lifestyle. The Lord used the rainbow as a promise that he would never flood the earth again, which, ironically, he did because of rampant sin throughout the earth.

What do you think? Where are you on this matter? Is the church behind times? Should we close our eyes and our mouths and simply say, “Que sera, sera. Whatever will be will be? Or do we just preach love and grace, ignoring the warning of his justice? Should we not warn those who call themselves Christians and perhaps save them from walking away from their eternity with Jesus? Should we not reveal hope to the lost so they can taste real freedom?

Do you think that God is, indeed, the same yesterday, today and forever as was stated in Hebrews 13:8? Or has he changed with the times and has accepted what he once called sin? If so, why bother going to the cross at all?

What do you think? Where do you stand? What will you do?

 

Yes, I’m going there.

Yes I am going there.

I thought about it and prayed that I could explain the stirrings in my heart regarding the issue, possibly without offending anyone. I know there are other people in the Christian community that are not sure where they stand, or why. Hopefully this can simply answer some questions. If that is you, this is something you might find interesting. If you already have a firm opinion, whether it is the same or different then this may not be for you.

The pendulum has swung from one extreme to the other and now there seems to be confusion in the camp.  Let me start with a dream that I had several years ago before we even begin.

“I am in a crowd of people. There is a protest. I am not sure if I am the one protesting with a sign or if those with the signs are arguing against what I am standing for. But there is turmoil. I am standing with those that are in a LGBT crowd because  I am a lesbian.  Suddenly I begin to cry.  And I think to myself. “Why? Why don’t they want me to share love with someone like they do?”

That was the conclusion of the dream. I realized after the dream that many people are simply looking for acceptance and love. That desire is in all of us. Unfortunately some people only hear judgment from the Christian circle. We do need to love and we need to understand the basis for disagreement.

As believers we get our direction from the word of God. Of course if you have done any research or any Bible reading at all about the subject you come across the same scriptures. I don’t want to be redundant but let’s go over a few quickly to understand some of the arguments.

In Genesis God made a male and female-in his image–and said to them to be fruitful and multiply. That is also in the new testament found in Mark 10 regarding a man and woman becoming one flesh. In Leviticus 18 it states that one should not lie with a man as with a woman as it’s an abomination.  In Romans 1 the Bible states that God gave people over to their debased thinking because they tried to suppress the truth and claimed to be wise on their own; ignoring the God that gave them life.

He allowed their passions to control them. It’s not inclusive of homosexuality, but includes other things too such as greed, envy, all kinds of sexual sins, cruelty, murder, quarreling, deceit, viciousness, pride, etc.

So why have people in the church decided that homosexuality is in a different class? For one thing, I have come to believe that sexual promiscuity is considered dishonorable for this reason: the Lord compares the things in this world, things we see–to things in the spiritual world, things we do not see.

For example the Lords prayer states “thy kingdom come, they will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” There is a correlation between heaven and earth. In Ephesians 5 Paul compares marriage here on this earth to the relationship between Christ and the church.

According to the Word of the God, the Church (those that call themselves believers of Christ) are referred to as the bride of Christ. There are several scriptures that refer to the church as the bride. Here are just two examples.

“And the marriage of the Lamb has come and his Bride has made herself ready.” Revelation 19:7b (ESV)

“Then I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, dressed like a bride ready for her husband.” Revelation 21:2 (GWT)

The Lord is comparing his union to the church to a marriage union between a man and a woman.

Wait that seems intolerant. I thought God was love?

I believe He isn’t just filled with love BUT he IS love. He cannot be anything else. He is also a creative God. Since he loves and he creates, he has created this world and everything in it and a universe that just keeps growing. He cannot stop!

And he wanted his creation, his children, those created in HIS image, to be able to create out of love as well. That is why he made sex possible. It is the way that humans can express their love, enjoy one another in an intimate way and create life. Two people who have dedicated themselves to one another can reproduce someone in their likeness, just as Adam and Eve were made in the likeness of God.

As far as the homosexual lifestyle; it is not possible to reproduce or become one. You might argue that not all heterosexual marriages reproduce…but they were intended with the possibility. A bolt and nut can be twisted together and become one unit. But two bolts cannot become one, nor can two nuts. That is why even if two people of the same-sex “get married” they cannot become one as the Lord intended.  Women have different dispositions, thought patterns and even hormonal challenges than men.  Two of the exact same puzzle pieces cannot connect to make a complete puzzle.

Let’s go back to my dream.  What about the need for love?  Shouldn’t we just live and let live? Why get involved in other people’s choices?  What about this talk about being a God of LOVE? Doesn’t he care?

Remember I am talking to those in the church. And this is where there seems to be division in the church. You have one side that says this lifestyle is sin. You have another group who state that if God is love this must be right because he wouldn’t condemn someone who just wants love. So lets just accept the lifestyle and call it normal. Of course there is the saying, “Love the people and hate the sin.” What does that even mean?

It believe it means to accept people, show them kindness, treat them as you want to be treated. God states that we are to love our neighbor. But when it comes down to accepting the lifestyle as “right” we have to choose. Do we believe what the Bible says or do we fear what people say?  Even though our God IS love he also does not accept a different gospel than what is written in his word.

He DOES love, but his love looks different from ours and sometimes even harsh. His ways aren’t always ours. Even parents today sometimes seem harsh about something if they believe it might cause any harm to their kids.  Sometimes their love has to be tough.

God only wants what is the VERY best for us. But we are accepting artificial love instead of his best. It’s like having artificially flavored orange juice instead of freshly squeezed orange juice from a freshly picked orange straight from the tree. It’s not his best. He is not trying to be hateful but loves us enough to set us free. It is the enemy of our souls that is deceiving our hearts like he tried to deceive Adam and Eve in the garden. They questioned, “Did God really say…?”

I believe that the bottom line is this: God created the institution of marriage to compare it to his relationship with us. Changing it up to satisfy ourselves is mocking him.

“Make no mistake about this: You can never make a fool out of God. Whatever you plant is what you’ll harvest. If you plant in the soil of your corrupt nature, you will harvest destruction. But if you plant in the soil of your spiritual nature, you will harvest everlasting life. We can’t allow ourselves to get tired of living the right way. Certainly, each of us will receive everlasting life at the proper time, IF we don’t give up. Whenever we have the opportunity we HAVE to do what is good for everyone, especially for the family of believers.”  Galatians 6: -10 (GWT)

And that is why I wrote this…for the family of believers. Please understand: We have a God that loves us beyond measure!!!! He loves us so much that he died for our sins (each of us) and he went to hell to take our place. YOU are victorious because He is victorious. He stole the keys of death from satan and rose again to life, so that we can have life. You CAN experience his love. He loves you; he loves each of us perfectly!

I hope this answered any question you had on the Christian perspective. It brewed in my heart for some time. We each have the freedom of choice.  And I am stating what I believe; hence my blog’s title:…I Believe….

Choose for yourself.