WN: Lutherans to Vote on Sexually Active Gay Clergy - Washington Post

[~candice~]

actually, let me retract something i said, or at least implied. a person who still struggles daily with his urges has not yet learned quite how to take every thought captive to Christ. they can still be saved, and they should still not identify themselves as gay, but if i implied it's ok for them to be in ministry, it's not.

Definitely! No one in here is suggesting that this person should be in ministry.

[Guest LadyC]

LOL but but but... we're still going round in circles!!!

if a person is no longer gay, then this is really a moot point. i'm really tired, i think i'm confusing myself. ok, look. to many people in this thread, sexuality is black and white. not according to the kinsey scale, but according to our own logic and to scripture. you're either gay or you're not. so when the person said that the gay person can't be in ministry til they are straight, what that really means is (if i'm correctly reading that person's mind LOL) that the person can't be in ministry until they have been delivered from the bondage of homosexuality!

i know, i sound like a broken record.

but so do you

so it IS a moot point. if the person you're talking about no longer identifies himself as gay, but as a new creature in Christ, and is living an asexual lifestyle, he's "straight" according to my presumption of what whoever said that meant.

[Guest LadyC]

by the way, i know this is off topic, but today (yesterday for most of you) was my 1 month anniversary of being smoke free.

i'm no longer a smoker!

but i know i'm always going to be one step away from smoking again. which is why i can't identify myself as a smoker anymore! (i won't even refer to myself as an ex-smoker... just a non-smoker!)

i'm exhausted. i'm brain dead. i spent most of today painting our new house. can't wait to move, but i don't know how we're gonna have the place ready in ten days.

i'll shut up now. sorry i dragged this off topic. i just thought i'd boast a little.

[~candice~]

LOL but but but... we're still going round in circles!!!

if a person is no longer gay, then this is really a moot point. i'm really tired, i think i'm confusing myself. ok, look. to many people in this thread, sexuality is black and white. not according to the kinsey scale, but according to our own logic and to scripture. you're either gay or you're not. so when the person said that the gay person can't be in ministry til they are straight, what that really means is (if i'm correctly reading that person's mind LOL) that the person can't be in ministry until they have been delivered from the bondage of homosexuality!

i know, i sound like a broken record.

but so do you

so it IS a moot point. if the person you're talking about no longer identifies himself as gay, but as a new creature in Christ, and is living an asexual lifestyle, he's "straight" according to my presumption of what whoever said that meant.

LOL we are both getting dizzy. Around and around we go. I agree with you in all but one tiny thing. Being delivered from the bondage of homosexuality doesn't always result in feelings for the opposite gender. Someone can be delivered from homosexual urges and not be straight.

[Guest LadyC]

i never said it did

being delivered from the bondage of homosexuality simply means that they are no longer a slave to homosexual desires.

it has nothing to do with whether they've developed any heterosexual urges. but (i think) in the mind of the person who previously said they must go straight, they didn't necessarily mean that they suddenly developed a desire for the opposite sex. just, and only, that they were no longer in bondage to their desires for the same sex.

be sure to see the off topic post i made after the one you just responded to, ok? i was boasting to you because you're the only one here listening.

[~candice~]

by the way, i know this is off topic, but today (yesterday for most of you) was my 1 month anniversary of being smoke free.

i'm no longer a smoker!

but i know i'm always going to be one step away from smoking again. which is why i can't identify myself as a smoker anymore! (i won't even refer to myself as an ex-smoker... just a non-smoker!)

i'm exhausted. i'm brain dead. i spent most of today painting our new house. can't wait to move, but i don't know how we're gonna have the place ready in ten days.

i'll shut up now. sorry i dragged this off topic. i just thought i'd boast a little.

Wooooooooooooot!!! Congratulations on one month!

Keep at it, it gets easier .

[nebula]

you're either gay or you're not. so when the person said that the gay person can't be in ministry til they are straight, what that really means is (if i'm correctly reading that person's mind LOL) that the person can't be in ministry until they have been delivered from the bondage of homosexuality!

And that's what I was saying about the wording.

We as Christians should not be dealing with issues in the world's terms - but God's.

Homosexuality is a sin and it is a bondage.

A person who is not homosexual is not "straight." They are what they are supposed to be.

[Guest HIS girl]

If people would stick to the Word of God...it is crystal clear.

[OneLight]

*takes a really deep breath*

I am going to step out on a limb here because it is Gods calling and His word we are talking about.

God did not make man or women to be homosexuals, He gave them up because they turned away from Him in the first place.

Romans 1:18-32

...

Upon salvation, we are a new creation in Him, where we no longer live for ourselves, but for God. We are to reconcile ourselves to Him and no longer consider ourselves our own, but His.

...

1 Corinthians 6:12-20 (New King James Version)

...

If someone is plagued with desires, they need to bring it to the cross and stay there until it is finished. Fasting and prayer is a way to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, to let the oppressed go free, and that you break every yoke!

Isaiah 58:5-9 (New King James Version)

...

If one has a heart for God, they will remain steadfast and continue to seek His will in their life and not just chalk it up to "being made this way." In order to oversee a church, one needs to fulfill the following requirements.

1 Timothy 3

Qualifications of Overseers

This is a faithful saying: If a man desires the position of a bishop, he desires a good work. A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, temperate, sober-minded, of good behavior, hospitable, able to teach; not given to wine, not violent, not greedy for money, but gentle, not quarrelsome, not covetous; one who rules his own house well, having his children in submission with all reverence (for if a man does not know how to rule his own house, how will he take care of the church of God?); not a novice, lest being puffed up with pride he fall into the same condemnation as the devil. Moreover he must have a good testimony among those who are outside, lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil.

AND

Titus 1:5-16 (New King James Version)

Qualified Elders

For this reason I left you in Crete, that you should set in order the things that are lacking, and appoint elders in every city as I commanded you

[~candice~]

I really don't know how this turned into a me v's every one else thread. I agree with most of you! I was never advocating gays in ministry, only for recovered gays in ministry. I am not being emotional or PC. I thought you guys knew me better than this!