Homosexual marriage

[freedfromsin]

The link is to a video message on this topic and one that the church needs to understand today. Please pass it on if you feel it of the Lord, God bless

http://www.gerald285.com/view/?pageID=363283

[Guest lovinghim4ever]

I know this is a long post, but please just read all the way through before dismissing me as something less than Christian. I will probably catch a great deal of resistance for what I am about to share, but everyone is entitled to their own beliefs and opinions. I mean no disrespect or offense to anyone. I respect each of your opinions without harshness or ridicule, so please give me the same respect and consideration.

First and foremost . . . YES, I AM A CHRISTIAN!

I know some very fine homosexual friends who absolutely love God, worship God and attend church regularly. I also know some very fine heterosexual friends who want absolutely nothing to do with God or church.

Why is it that when others aren't living quite the way we Christians think they should be living we immediately quote all sorts of scripture to them in an attempt to get them back on the right track? However, when we Christians aren't living quite the way others think we should be living as Christians we can somehow justify our actions with the same scripture we used against their actions?

1 Corinthians 6:9-10 says, "Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God."

The Christian world in general tends to agree that the unrighteous, idolaters, thieves, covetous, drunkards, revilers and extortioners will not inherit the kingdom of God. However, when it comes to fornicators, adulterers, homosexuals or sodomites inheriting the kingdom of God there is vast disagreement. The Bible teaches that God is not a haphazard God. He is a God of order, so please notice the order of things in this scripture. He mentions the adulterer before He mentions the homosexual. Significant? Not sure!

In Matthew 5:32 Jesus Himself says, "Whoever divorces his wife for any reason except sexual immorality causes her to commit adultery; and whoever marries a woman who is divorced commits adultery." Then, He says again in Matthew 19:9, "Whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery; and whoever marries her who is divorced commits adultery." So, if marrying a divorced person causes us to commit adultery, does that mean we are living a sinful life as long as we stay married to that divorced person? And, does that mean we will go to hell if we are married to that divorced person when we die? I'm talking about Christians who marry and divorce after becoming Christians.

Why do so many Christians believe it is not sin to be divorced for reasons other than adultery, but it is sin for anyone to be in love with someone of the same sex? I have always been taught that there is no one sin greater than another. Sin is sin in the eyes of God. So, if sin is sin, how can so many Christians justify adultery through divorce, but condemn love through homosexuality? Do people draw their beliefs from the majority rules concept, or do they draw them from crossing whatever moral lines they want justification for?

Too many heterosexual Christians today enter marriage with the idea that if things don't work out they'll just get a divorce. They somehow explain away the scriptures about divorce in an attempt to justify themselves in order to stay right with God. The general consensus of this Christian society has accepted irreconcilable differences as an appropriate cause for divorce, but according to Jesus the only acceptable cause for divorce is adultery!

Many married heterosexual Christians cannot stay in a committed, loving, monogamous relationship, but they condemn the homosexual who can. Sounds like a pretty messed up double standard if you ask me. I must let you be you, and you must let me be me. And, we must all let God be God. We must let God work out all our kinks. It is not up to us to judge. We don't always have to agree, but we must always let others live their own convictions without taking offense or passing judgment.

What do I believe about homosexuality? Well, I know what the Bible says about it. I have read those scriptures more times than I can remember, however, because of the many different human Bible translations these days, I am not convinced that they actually mean what tradition says they mean. I don't believe all homosexual feelings are lustful. And, I have a very difficult time believing that God will send someone to hell for simply being in love with someone of the same sex. His mercy endures forever!

I just cannot wrap my compassion or my understanding around God not approving of real love. Now, I'm not talking about lustful experimentation. I am talking about genuine, monogamous love.

HIS mercy endures forever!

[anitarose]

Hey,

This is coming from someone who is married to a homosexual. Yes we had a relatively monogamous marriage---until I found out he was cheating on me with another man.

The Scriptures clearly state what God thinks of homosexuals. After all, He destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah because of sodomy and homosexuality. Go back to the OT if you really want to know what God thinks of it. Go to Romans 1 and read that over too.

Even if it's in a monogamous relationship, God says it wrong. It even goes so far as to say in Romans 1:32 that anyone who APPROVES AND CONDONES of such acts will have the same punishment. That is why I am no longer with my husband. I can't approve and/or condone him having sex with a man, in any way shape or form. I am not going to hell for anyone.

The homosexual church (Metropolitan Christian Church) throws all these scriptures out the window. They believe that it was not literal. You can't have it both ways with God. You cannot love God and continue to sin. It don't work that way.

My ex asked me 2 weeks ago what my church would do if he walked in and announced he was both psychic and gay. I said we'd love him. One of my pastors, when I told them this question said yeah, we'd love him, but we'd cast the devil out of him first. Maybe that was a harsh response, but it is very true---homosexuality has a devil behind it. So does lust. So does greed. So do a lot of other sins.

I still love my husband, don't get me wrong. I haven't stopped loving him. I just cannot condone his lifestyle. I won't. I'm not expected to.

I'm sure there are others that can put more into this than I can, but I'm only speaking from what I know and have experienced firsthand. I love the homosexual community---I've had some really good friends that were gay---but I cannot condone, nor have I ever condoned, their actions. I've just loved them as people. That's all God asks us to do anyway.

Anita

[kari21]

I know some very fine homosexual friends who absolutely love God, worship God and attend church regularly.

"Why do you call me 'Lord, Lord,' and not do what I tell you?" (Luke 6: 46)

If they are unrepentant and continue in the lifestyle condemned by God as an "abomination" they are worshipping God in vain.

"Many will say to Me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name? And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!' " (Matthew 7:22-23)

"Wherefore the Lord said, For as much as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honor me, but have removed their heart far from me." (Isaiah 29:13)

"And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire." (Matthew 3:10)

You cannot bear good fruit if you are not obeying God. If they are willfully disobeying Gods holy law, their "fruit" is useless to God.

Why is it that when others aren't living quite the way we Christians think they should be living we immediately quote all sorts of scripture to them in an attempt to get them back on the right track?

It's not at all about how Christians think they should be living, but about how God commands them to live.

"For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet." (Romans 1:26-27)

"If a man lies with a male as he lies with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination." (Leviticus 20:13)

Gods moral law never changes. What was an abomination in the OT is an abomination in the NT.

The Bible teaches that God is not a haphazard God. He is a God of order, so please notice the order of things in this scripture. He mentions the adulterer before He mentions the homosexual. Significant? Not sure!

The order does not change the statement: ..."nor homosexuals will inherit the kingdom of God."

You cannot continue willfully in sin and be a Christian. We are commanded to turn from sin, to "repent." All of those who claim to be Christian, but who's lifestyle is in direct continual conflict with Gods word, are Christians in name only. They have not truly repented nor been regenerated by the Holy Spirit.

So, if marrying a divorced person causes us to commit adultery, does that mean we are living a sinful life as long as we stay married to that divorced person? And, does that mean we will go to hell if we are married to that divorced person when we die? I'm talking about Christians who marry and divorce after becoming Christians.

Again, those who are WILLFULLY living in sin, who WILLFULLY continue to disobey God, are fooling themselves when they claim they are born again believers.

Too many heterosexual Christians today enter marriage with the idea that if things don't work out they'll just get a divorce.

They would be wrong.

Many married heterosexual Christians cannot stay in a committed, loving, monogamous relationship, but they condemn the homosexual who can.

Being in a stable relationship does not negate Gods command against homosexuality.

Well, I know what the Bible says about it. I have read those scriptures more times than I can remember, however, because of the many different human Bible translations these days, I am not convinced that they actually mean what tradition says they mean.

It is not "tradition," it is Gods unchanging word. What translation can you quote that does not condemn homosexuality? The condemnation against homosexuality in God's word hasn't changed since it was handed down to men through the Holy Ghost.

I don't believe all homosexual feelings are lustful. And, I have a very difficult time believing that God will send someone to hell for simply being in love with someone of the same sex.

God doesn't send anyone to hell because they are in love with someone of the same sex, or because they haven't accepted Christ as their saviour, their place is in hell because they have transgressed Gods law...and that is called SIN. And homosexuality is SIN.

His mercy endures forever!

True. But where in the Bible does it say that God is ALL merciful? Or that God is ALL loving? God is indeed merciful and loving, but he is also a God of WRATH. And he will punish those who trangress his law.

I am the Lord, I change not. (Malachi 3:6)

Are you aware that God HATES those who willfully sin against him without repenting?

Psalm 5:5, "The boastful shall not stand before Thine eyes; Thou dost hate all who do iniquity,"

Psalm 11:5, "The Lord tests the righteous and the wicked, and the one who loves violence His soul hates."

Lev. 20:23, "Moreover, you shall not follow the customs of the nation which I shall drive out before you, for they did all these things, and therefore I have abhorred them."

Hosea 9:15, "All their evil is at Gilgal; indeed, I came to hate them there! Because of the wickedness of their deeds I will drive them out of My house! I will love them no more; All their princes are rebels."

So much for "God hates the sin, but loves the sinner."

CARM writes: "God hates sin. But, He does not punish sin. He punishes the sinner. Sin cannot be tied up and thrown into a fire. It cannot be put in a box or glued to a stick. It is rebellion. It is rebellion in the heart. It is breaking God's Law. Sin occurs inside the heart and mind of people. Therefore, God must punish the sinner. Why? Because He is both Holy and Just and the person who sins offends God. God's Holy and Just character will not allow Him to ignore these offenses."

"For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins," (Heb. 10:26).

[Scarletprayers]

And yet...........................no real answer to lovinghim4ever's question! Divorce is rampant in the church yet it is glossed over, people who committed adultry, divorce and marry the person they commited adultry with attend service as a couple and its okay...................but just mention homosexual's and the big guns come out.............hyporoacy!

[kari21]

And yet...........................no real answer to lovinghim4ever's question! Divorce is rampant in the church yet it is glossed over, people who committed adultry, divorce and marry the person they commited adultry with attend service as a couple and its okay...................but just mention homosexual's and the big guns come out.............hyporoacy!

The answer is: No matter what the sin...those who live a life in deliberate defiance of God's holy law, are Christians in name only, and not truly born again.

[kat8585]

And yet...........................no real answer to lovinghim4ever's question! Divorce is rampant in the church yet it is glossed over, people who committed adultry, divorce and marry the person they commited adultry with attend service as a couple and its okay

I see this all the time in many churches. It's so sad.

[Smalcald]

Well it is a good point to some degree.

We can't ignore scripture though. I think scripture is clear, we cannot marry people who are gay and we cannot ordain openly practicing gay people, sex is reserved for one place and that is a Holy Marriage between one man and one women as Christ described it. However homosexual sex is a sin no worse than an unbiblical divorce or fornication or having sex outside of marriage or cheating on your husband or wife, or any other sex outside of marriage.

To me we should find a way to deal with this in the Church without always going ballistic on it and hurting the entire body of Christ. Many decades ago ordaining women were all of the rage and debate along with the feminist movement in the 60's and 70's. Many churches now ordain women and accept it fully; others just quietly went on not ordaining women, which is what my congregation has done. The storm has passed and we can move on. I think the same will happen with these issues surrounding homosexuality, it is a hot button topic in society today and in churches. The storm will pass though and those congregations which want to remain traditional will quietly continue doing so.

[OneLight]

There is no stepping around any scripture. When we find ourselves searching to try and make something not as bad as it is, then we are playing games with Gods word. The only reason that homosexuals are deemed more sinful then adulterers is because of the nature of the sin. Homosexuals are probably looked at in a better light then pedophiles. Again, the nature. We are judging with our flesh and not Gods word when we do this. Sin is sin and the only one that can not be forgiven is the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. Try to see the sin through the eyes of the Word, not the flesh.

In Gods Love,

OneLight

[Guest LadyC]

there is only ONE thing that redeems us and makes us worthy in God's eyes, and that is repentance.

it doesn't matter one iota how much some homosexual claims to love God, if they do not have a repentant heart, if they have not asked for forgiveness and rejected their former lifestyle, they are not going to see heaven. period.

thoughtful, you really should change your nickname. i'm not sure what you're thoughtful towards, but it's not towards God's word. yes, God does tell us He alone will judge the sinner. but He also, absolutely, tells us to judge right from wrong and to speak out against that which is wrong. homosexuality is wrong, whether you like it or not, and it is our responsibility to tell them the truth so that they might come to repentance. and if we don't, if we remain silent and they die without Jesus, their blood is on our hands.

for the record, i've never opposed rights that come along with a civil union. but it ain't a marriage.