How Does God Feel About HOMOSEXUALITY?
I can remember hearing the anecdote of “the frog in the boiling pot.” The boiling frog story is a widespread narrative describing a frog slowly being boiled alive. The premise is that if a frog is placed in boiling water, it will jump out, but if it is placed in cold water that is slowly heated, it will not perceive the danger and will be cooked to death. The story is often used as a metaphor for the inability of people to react to significant changes that occur gradually.
I feel very strongly that people should make themselves aware of gradual change lest they suffer eventual undesirable consequences.
Redefining of the “Family Unit”
The culture that you and I are in is attempting to “redefine” the family unit. It’s not only a political hot button, but it is all over our TV screens. Old shows like “Modern Family” now pale in comparison to the new show this fall called “A New Normal”.
This is another one of those controversial / cultural subjects that we church are questioned on. I am finding a lot of churches are not willing to touch this, but that’s never been our style. Let me give you my three rules when it comes to “addressing cultural issues”.
Three Rules For Adressing Controversial and/or Cultural Issues:
- Where the Bible speaks, we will take a stand.
- Where it is unclear, we will look for principles that apply.
- Where there are no principles that apply, I’ll simply give you my opinion.
Here’s the deal, we don’t have to agree on everything, but when we disagree, let’s do so in love. So when it comes to this question, “Is homosexuality a sin?”, rather then MY OPINION … I’ll let the Bible speak on this (it speaks clearly)
Leviticus 18:22 – “Do not lie with a man as one lies with a woman; that is detestable.”
Romans 1:24, 26-27 – “Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another…Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. 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.”
My stance (not popular politically or socially) but it is biblical. Bottom line is,
the Bible CLEARLY does not CONDONE homosexuality.
Some ask: “What about the thought that a person is BORN that way?” First of all, I am a pastor, not a doctor or a scientist. But maybe there was alcohol abuse in your family. The question is, can someone be born with a bent toward alcohol? Scientist will say that because there was alcohol in your family, you will be an alcoholic. I don’t believe that at all.
You Don’t Have To Surrender to “Your Feelings”:
The POWER of the risen Christ in my life has given me the ability to overcome anything. Does it mean we overcome it once and we have completely defeated it, “NO!” But as we rely on the power of the risen Christ, He gives us the power each day to be strong.
If you are still wondering, “Is a person born with a bend toward homosexuality?” Let me ask you this, if you are a Christ Follower, why would you surrender to that is opposed to God’s Word? Wouldn’t you WANT to rely on Christ and His strngth and power for everyday life?
If you haven’t faced this question, you will someday …How do you respond to a friend who says, “I am gay.” (The answer to that … depends)
#1 - If they are not saved, you do not judge them.
We are to love them as Christ would. We are to pray for them. We are NOT to talk about them, be mean-spirited to them, tease or bully them. Do not look down on them. What we are to do is to befriend them with the motivation of pointing them to Christ.
1 Corinthians 5:12-13 – “What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? God will judge those outside.”
#2 – If they are a Christ follower who has struggled with this.
Then you say the EXACT SAME THING! If they mess up or give into the sin, don’t kick them out of your church. Try to encourage healing. Point them to God’s Word and allow Him to do a healing work in their life.
2 Corinthians 2:6-8 – “The punishment inflicted on him by the majority is sufficient for him. Now instead, you ought to forgive and comfort him, so that he will not be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. 8 I urge you, therefore, to reaffirm your love for him.”
#3 – If they are a Christ Follower who says, “I am gay.”
Well, I know I am “on the edge with this,” but I don’t want you to miss this. The scripture deals with a BIGGER & BROADER thing than “sexual sin.”
The Bigger question is this:
“How do we deal with those who claim to be Christ followers …
… but consistently live a life OUTSIDE of the Bible, willfully and blatantly?”
1 Corinthians 5:9-11 – “I have written you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people- not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral…In that case you would have to leave this world. But now I am writing you that you must not associate with anyone who calls himself a brother but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or a slanderer, a drunkard or a swindler. With such a man do not even eat.”
When To Speak Up – When To Shut-Up
(Addressing the line, “You Can’t Judge Me”)
This is a classic come back. Some people say, “You can’t judge me.” Well, yes and no, let me explain because the Bible is very clear on this as well. The clear teaching is this:
- Judge not those outside the faith.
We are to love people who are outside of the faith. Pray for them and ask the Lord for opportunities to share the love and fulfillment that comes from a relationship with God through Jesus Christ.
- Judge those inside the church.
Let me be real clear, if there is a person that claims to read the same Bible I do, claims to be a Christian and chooses to live diametrically opposed to God’s Word, you better believe you have a right to speak up. As a matter of fact, it is your repsonsibility.
FINAL THOUGHT:
Like I said earlier, we don’t have to agree on everything, but when we disagree, let’s do so in love. So when it comes to this question, “Is homosexuality a sin?”, yea, I think the Bible is quite clear. Are homosexuals welcome at our church? You better Believe It! But we will not compromise, water-down or dilute the pure message of love, forgiveness and hope of Jesus Christ.
When it comes to how we should respond to people who claim to be Christ Followers and are sinning … we should call them out. But to those who DO NOT claim to be Christ Followers and are sinning, we love them and and try to build a relationship with them in hopes of them encounetering the all loving, totally suffient, completely fulfilling relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.
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