Thursday, January 22, 2004
Well the Homosexuality issue came up on one of my youth ministry lists again. As usual it will turn into a flame war and usually I stay out of those, but I did want to try to respond in a way that is real. Here's what I wrote:
Why do we always seem to have to split hairs on this issue?
It's been said on these lists a bazillion times. God loves the sinner and hates the sin. If you are a person who believes that homosexual tendencies are born into a person, (I'm still not sold on that argument, but I don't want to start a new one so I'll leave it as "if") then the person is not sinning to have that tendency. (I still say that's a huge "if") But to act on that tendency is very definitely sin as is all sex outside of marriage. Marriage is very clearly defined in the Bible as between a man and a woman, Genesis 2:24 for example.
I have heterosexual tendencies. I see many women on a daily basis who are attractive to me. To see the woman is not sin, to lust after her is. To act on the attraction in a physical manner is sin as well. God has ordained the family. God has set it up so a man and a woman get together, marry for life, have children and train those children in the way that they should go so that they will follow Him and the cycle continues. It's His will that none should perish and I believe that is the biggest reason that He set this whole plan in motion.
The tragedy is that people do not follow God's plan and they fall into sin. They are hurting and they are broken and they seek something to heal the pain. For me it was alcohol, for many it is sexual sin. Whatever the sin, the church has two choices. We can model the love of Jesus and show them the way out of the sin lovingly, guiding them toward wholeness, or we can act as if their sin is okay and allow them to keep struggling in it. Jesus said to the woman caught in sin, "neither do I condemn you (and He is God, He has the right to condemn if He wants to) but then He says Go and sin no more.
Why do we always seem to have to split hairs on this issue?
It's been said on these lists a bazillion times. God loves the sinner and hates the sin. If you are a person who believes that homosexual tendencies are born into a person, (I'm still not sold on that argument, but I don't want to start a new one so I'll leave it as "if") then the person is not sinning to have that tendency. (I still say that's a huge "if") But to act on that tendency is very definitely sin as is all sex outside of marriage. Marriage is very clearly defined in the Bible as between a man and a woman, Genesis 2:24 for example.
I have heterosexual tendencies. I see many women on a daily basis who are attractive to me. To see the woman is not sin, to lust after her is. To act on the attraction in a physical manner is sin as well. God has ordained the family. God has set it up so a man and a woman get together, marry for life, have children and train those children in the way that they should go so that they will follow Him and the cycle continues. It's His will that none should perish and I believe that is the biggest reason that He set this whole plan in motion.
The tragedy is that people do not follow God's plan and they fall into sin. They are hurting and they are broken and they seek something to heal the pain. For me it was alcohol, for many it is sexual sin. Whatever the sin, the church has two choices. We can model the love of Jesus and show them the way out of the sin lovingly, guiding them toward wholeness, or we can act as if their sin is okay and allow them to keep struggling in it. Jesus said to the woman caught in sin, "neither do I condemn you (and He is God, He has the right to condemn if He wants to) but then He says Go and sin no more.
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