Christianity, Love, and Homosexuality -- Hot Topic!
I try to not do hot topic posts until I feel God has released me to do so (which is also true of many experiences in my life that I will not share until God has told me it's time to). Within the last two days God has opened the doors to me to address this topic. Let me get a few things out of the way first: 1. This is not a gay bashing post and would never be! 2. If you comment with hatred on this post I will remove it. 3. God is the same God yesterday, today and forever and He is a God of Love.
Warning: Long post ahead. :)
The first instance of homosexuality is in Genesis 19 in the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. A couple of angels appeared and Lot took them into his home. The men in the city surrounded his house and wanted these men (the angels) to come out so they could have sex with them. Lot refused and offered up his two virgin daughters, but they didn't want the women they wanted the men. The men tried to force their way into Lot's home and the angels blinded them to keep them out of the house. The angels told Lot to go get his sons-in-law (not officially married to Lot's daughter but promised to them) and for him and his family to leave the city quickly because God was going to destroy it because of the evil that was in the city. (The sons-in-laws thought Lot was joking so they didn't leave and they were told to leave and not look back, but Lot's wife looked back with longing and she was turned into a pillar of salt. How you like that cliff notes version? haha)
And there are more stories like this. In Leviticus it says that having sex with someone of the same sex is a detestable sin. This is also said in the New Testament repeatedly.
But the Bible NEVER says that we are to treat the people who choose homosexuality any less than anyone else or any less than we treat ourselves!
Sin is sin. It doesn't matter if your sin is "small" or "large" in your eyes; all sins keep us from God. "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 6:23. No matter your sin it is still separating you from God.
So if you are living a homosexual lifestyle you are sinning.
If you are a man and you see a woman, who is not your wife, and think "nice boobs" you are sinning!
If you are a preacher preaching hate and being judgmental... guess what?? you're sinning too!
"A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." John 13:34-35
This came directly from Jesus' mouth. We will be known as Christians by the LOVE we show, not the hate or Bible thumping.
In Romans 13:9-10 it says "...Love your neighbor as yourself. Love does no harm to its neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law." If you're out speaking out against gays or muslims or anyone YOU are doing harm to your neighbor!
The LOVE chapter!! 1 Corinthians 13!! I would type the entire thing, but I won't.. but here are some highlights in my own words.
Verse 1: If you preach but you don't have love you're just annoying.
Verse 2: I can be incredible at many things that I do for God but if I don't love then I am nothing.
Verses 4-7: "Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres." Those are just too good to paraphrase!
Verse 13: "And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love."
1 Corinthians 16:13 Be firm in your faith, have courage and be strong, but always do everything in love.
We are called to be loving AND remain strong in our faith. We can be a close follower of Jesus Christ AND love everyone!
Ephesians 4:2 "Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love." I'm not the most gentle and not at all a patient person, but I try very hard to be love to everyone. I am human, and I'm so far from perfect you could fit a universe in the gap. But God calls us to love one another, He didn't put any exceptions into that commandment. And the commandment to love others is a commandment that is said over and over and over throughout the Bible.
Colossians 3:11-14 This is for us Christians: "Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity." This is pretty self explanatory. We cannot expect to win people to Christ if we are not loving them as Christ does!
James 2:8-9 When you love others you are doing right, but if you show favoritism you are sinning.
1 Peter 3:8-9 Live in harmony with each other, be sympathetic, compassionate, and love one another. Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult.
Treat each other kindly, live in peace, and love each other.
1 Peter 4:8 "Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins."
1 Peter 4:11 "If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the VERY WORDS OF GOD. If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen."
OH that is so good! If you are preaching and you are bending God's Word to fit your agenda you are in the wrong!
Here's another good one!! 1 John 4:20 "If anyone says, 'I love God,' yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen cannot love God, whom he has not seen. And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother."
If you cannot love the people you can see and interact with then you cannot love God. And if you do love God (who you can't physically see) then you are to love others.
Recently on a post about a preacher preaching on a college campus about homosexuality I had many people reply to my post. There were a couple people who said that God hates gays. This is so far from the truth!!! God IS love. Love and hate cannot coexist! We know that God is love, therefore He cannot hate. At all! Period. God does not approve of our sins no matter what the sins are, but He will always and without any kind of argument love US as people. He loves us whether we are walking in a relationship with Him or not. He loves us whether we believe He exists or not. He loves us even when we worship other gods instead of Him. He loves us even if he is Hurt by our choices and He always wants us to turn to him and be in a relationship with Him. He loves us unconditionally.
The definition of unconditional is: not subject to any conditions. Some synonyms are: wholehearted, unrestricted, unquestioning, complete, total, absolute, and unequivocal. That's some pretty incredible love!
We have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). We are all guilty of sinning. But we are all completely LOVED by God.
We are loved and accepted by God just the way we are, however when we choose to accept Christ as our Lord and Savior we are to strive to be made new in Him. That means we are to live our lives the best we can so that everything we do glorifies Him and brings glory to His name. None of us are perfect, and we aren't going to succeed at this all the time. We are going to fail over and over again, but thankfully God is a God of love, forgiveness, and grace.
One of the people on the thread asked if they kill someone every day of their lives and on their death bed ask for forgiveness would they be forgiven and the answer to that is: if the confession and asking of forgiveness is sincere (God knows our hearts) then yes that person is forgiven. I know that is hard for us humans to understand, but like I've said God is a God of love and he doesn't want anyone to perish. He wants us all to choose Him and an everlasting life with Him.
I don't succeed at living exactly like Christ every day. I fail at it every single day. But I talk to God and I work hard at it all the time. I strive for it every single day.
Love is the greatest commandment we have been given. Do not let people who claim to be Christ-followers, who do not show love, lead you to think that is how our God is. Even in the Bible God calls these types of preachers "false prophets".
God loves you. I love you.
We do not need to agree with the actions of others, but we do need to love them the way Christ has loved us.
Warning: Long post ahead. :)
The first instance of homosexuality is in Genesis 19 in the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. A couple of angels appeared and Lot took them into his home. The men in the city surrounded his house and wanted these men (the angels) to come out so they could have sex with them. Lot refused and offered up his two virgin daughters, but they didn't want the women they wanted the men. The men tried to force their way into Lot's home and the angels blinded them to keep them out of the house. The angels told Lot to go get his sons-in-law (not officially married to Lot's daughter but promised to them) and for him and his family to leave the city quickly because God was going to destroy it because of the evil that was in the city. (The sons-in-laws thought Lot was joking so they didn't leave and they were told to leave and not look back, but Lot's wife looked back with longing and she was turned into a pillar of salt. How you like that cliff notes version? haha)
And there are more stories like this. In Leviticus it says that having sex with someone of the same sex is a detestable sin. This is also said in the New Testament repeatedly.
But the Bible NEVER says that we are to treat the people who choose homosexuality any less than anyone else or any less than we treat ourselves!
Sin is sin. It doesn't matter if your sin is "small" or "large" in your eyes; all sins keep us from God. "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 6:23. No matter your sin it is still separating you from God.
So if you are living a homosexual lifestyle you are sinning.
If you are a man and you see a woman, who is not your wife, and think "nice boobs" you are sinning!
If you are a preacher preaching hate and being judgmental... guess what?? you're sinning too!
"A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." John 13:34-35
This came directly from Jesus' mouth. We will be known as Christians by the LOVE we show, not the hate or Bible thumping.
In Romans 13:9-10 it says "...Love your neighbor as yourself. Love does no harm to its neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law." If you're out speaking out against gays or muslims or anyone YOU are doing harm to your neighbor!
The LOVE chapter!! 1 Corinthians 13!! I would type the entire thing, but I won't.. but here are some highlights in my own words.
Verse 1: If you preach but you don't have love you're just annoying.
Verse 2: I can be incredible at many things that I do for God but if I don't love then I am nothing.
Verses 4-7: "Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres." Those are just too good to paraphrase!
Verse 13: "And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love."
1 Corinthians 16:13 Be firm in your faith, have courage and be strong, but always do everything in love.
We are called to be loving AND remain strong in our faith. We can be a close follower of Jesus Christ AND love everyone!
Ephesians 4:2 "Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love." I'm not the most gentle and not at all a patient person, but I try very hard to be love to everyone. I am human, and I'm so far from perfect you could fit a universe in the gap. But God calls us to love one another, He didn't put any exceptions into that commandment. And the commandment to love others is a commandment that is said over and over and over throughout the Bible.
Colossians 3:11-14 This is for us Christians: "Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity." This is pretty self explanatory. We cannot expect to win people to Christ if we are not loving them as Christ does!
James 2:8-9 When you love others you are doing right, but if you show favoritism you are sinning.
1 Peter 3:8-9 Live in harmony with each other, be sympathetic, compassionate, and love one another. Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult.
Treat each other kindly, live in peace, and love each other.
1 Peter 4:8 "Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins."
1 Peter 4:11 "If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the VERY WORDS OF GOD. If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen."
OH that is so good! If you are preaching and you are bending God's Word to fit your agenda you are in the wrong!
Here's another good one!! 1 John 4:20 "If anyone says, 'I love God,' yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen cannot love God, whom he has not seen. And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother."
If you cannot love the people you can see and interact with then you cannot love God. And if you do love God (who you can't physically see) then you are to love others.
Recently on a post about a preacher preaching on a college campus about homosexuality I had many people reply to my post. There were a couple people who said that God hates gays. This is so far from the truth!!! God IS love. Love and hate cannot coexist! We know that God is love, therefore He cannot hate. At all! Period. God does not approve of our sins no matter what the sins are, but He will always and without any kind of argument love US as people. He loves us whether we are walking in a relationship with Him or not. He loves us whether we believe He exists or not. He loves us even when we worship other gods instead of Him. He loves us even if he is Hurt by our choices and He always wants us to turn to him and be in a relationship with Him. He loves us unconditionally.
The definition of unconditional is: not subject to any conditions. Some synonyms are: wholehearted, unrestricted, unquestioning, complete, total, absolute, and unequivocal. That's some pretty incredible love!
We have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). We are all guilty of sinning. But we are all completely LOVED by God.
We are loved and accepted by God just the way we are, however when we choose to accept Christ as our Lord and Savior we are to strive to be made new in Him. That means we are to live our lives the best we can so that everything we do glorifies Him and brings glory to His name. None of us are perfect, and we aren't going to succeed at this all the time. We are going to fail over and over again, but thankfully God is a God of love, forgiveness, and grace.
One of the people on the thread asked if they kill someone every day of their lives and on their death bed ask for forgiveness would they be forgiven and the answer to that is: if the confession and asking of forgiveness is sincere (God knows our hearts) then yes that person is forgiven. I know that is hard for us humans to understand, but like I've said God is a God of love and he doesn't want anyone to perish. He wants us all to choose Him and an everlasting life with Him.
I don't succeed at living exactly like Christ every day. I fail at it every single day. But I talk to God and I work hard at it all the time. I strive for it every single day.
Love is the greatest commandment we have been given. Do not let people who claim to be Christ-followers, who do not show love, lead you to think that is how our God is. Even in the Bible God calls these types of preachers "false prophets".
God loves you. I love you.
We do not need to agree with the actions of others, but we do need to love them the way Christ has loved us.
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