Arguments against gay Christianity part 4 of 4
| April 12, 2011 | Posted by Joseph Keysor under Blog |
This is the 4th part of a series responding to 10 arguments supporting the false teaching that homosexuality is compatible with biblical Christianity.
8. Sodom and Gomorrah were not destroyed due to homosexuality.
It says in Ezekiel that Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed because of “pride, fulness of bread, and abundance of idleness . . . they were haughty and committed abomination.” Their pride, idleness, and excessive prosperity encouraged sexual immorality and deviancy, as well as many other sins. This clearly applies to America, the world’s blind and foolish superpower.
9. Christians should not worry about the private lives of others.
Christians should not worry about the private lives of others, that is true. We have enough problems of our own. We should however be concerned with the eternal destiny of human souls, and make some effort to share the truths of Christ. This includes God’s condemnation of sin, without which grace and forgiveness are meaningless.
10. Some people can’t help being homosexual. They were born that way – some will say God made them that way – and they should not be denied the consolations of religion.
Someone who had a troubled childhood, inadequate relations with his parents, a weak or absent or harsh and domineering father, an aloof and uncaring or critical or domineering mother, can pick up bad attitudes when he is too young to understand what is going on. These can then result in various personality disorders that seem inescapable – and there are many sins that people would like to break free from, but cannot.
Instead of saying that their sin problem – whatever it might be – is not a problem at all, but is natural and normal, they need to consider the final penalty of sin levied on the day of judgment, when unrepentant evildoers are excluded from God’s presence and sent to eternal punishment. They also need to consider that Christ has the power to set them free from whatever sin might be plaguing them, and give them a new heart, a new life, a new start, and victory. This cannot be accomplished by human will power. People try and try but experience only failure. This is because they really do love their sin more than they hate it. As was just said, Christ has the power to set people free from this. If they cannot find this power and victory they need to keep seeking until they do find it. As David said, the Lord delivers the poor “from him that is too strong for him,” and, “This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles.”
Churches, Christian leaders, and writers need to confront these issues more directly. This can be done in more depth and with more effectiveness than my brief comments might indicate. More of such teachings would especially be helpful to young people in the turmoil of adolescence who are being increasingly presented with the devilish doctrine that homosexuality is normal, a legitimate option, and that those who are opposed to it have something wrong with them.
Pastors in Bible believing churches may not be sufficiently mindful of the extent to which young people in their congregations might be puzzled by these issues or even troubled by them. Christians can be tempted by many different sins, sometimes even by thoughts of homosexuality. I don’t see mature Christians having trouble with this, but it may be an issue for some immature Christians – especially when the world is telling people “The reason you are experiencing such thoughts is because you really are gay. Don’t fight it. Be yourself. Try it, it’s healthy, it’s normal. People who tell you it is wrong are mistaken.” By the way, people can be Christians for years yet still be immature.
Christians should not assume that the idea of Christian homosexuality is so self-evidently wrong as to require no detailed discussion. More and more non-Christians who know nothing about the Bible are hearing falsehoods in this area. Sincere young Christians who maybe never had a good relationship with their father, or even older Christian men who have been damaged by a lifetime of Feminism, may have a weak self-image. Satan might sense vulnerability there even where none is outwardly evident, and begin to trouble someone with thoughts they do not understand or know how to evaluate. An occasional sermon that exposes the world’s lie that homosexuality and other forms of immorality are natural, normal, and acceptable to God, and that stresses the holiness of the Christian life that should follow salvation might, if given in the spirit of love, yield unexpected fruits.
A concise description of these matters is found in II Peter. The apostle says, “But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction.”
Peter has words for the homosexual Christians that are equally suitable. They “walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness.” They “speak evil of the things that they understand not” (God’s righteous laws) and “shall utterly perish in their own corruption.” “Spots they are and blemishes, sporting themselves with their own deceivings . . . Having eyes full of adultery, and that cannot cease from sin.”
They promise liberty and salvation with “great swelling words of vanity” but “they themselves are the servants of corruption.” They even entice people who had previously escaped from their sins, causing them to be entangled again and overcome. No one who truly looks “for a new heaven and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness,” who is diligent to be found in Christ “in peace, without spot, and blameless,” can possibly be deceived by the fables of the homosexual Christians.
This is the default footer layout. You can easily add or remove columns in the footer.
You make little distinction between a homosexual person’s feelings, attractions, orientation and homosexual sexual behavior.
Christians struggling with unwanted sexual behavior and attractions need to make this distinction.
Through an intense Christian therapy called SIT people have been able to change their behavior. Part of the therapy includes an acceptance that their desires will not change significantly, but that their relation with G-d can override their sexual desires so they don’t act upon them.
Those that are looking for a cure to become 100% straight inevitably fail. Then they turn away completely from the church.
The Bible teaches that it is not only outward behavior that is sinful, but the desire itself. If for example I want to steal something but do not do so only because I fear getting caught, I am guilty of sin. We will be judged not only by outward actions, but by the thoughts and secrets of our hearts.
We should not say it is right to have sinful desires of any kind as long as we don’t act upon them. I believe that God can work a deep personal change to heal us of sinful desires, sometimes quickly, sometimes over a long growth and trial period with repeated failures.
Therapee sexssions are not the answer for delivery from any sin that has us in bondage. Only Jesus can deliver us, and once free, we are free indeed. God told the people that He would drive the giants out slowly. But if we trust Him and wait on Him and stay in contact with Him as much as we can it will happen. Sometimes immediately and other times it is drawn out. We need to want to be free and we need to be repentant and trustfull…God can supply the necessary emotions and strength we need. He rose Jesus from the grave. He can save us from any sin.
Therapy can be helpful, especially with someone who understands spiritual truth, even unbelievers can help with good insights. But, I agree, only Jesus and the Spirit (in agreement with the Word) can really bring about healing change. He can as you say save us from any sin, including the sin of homosexuality, so that it is no longer even desirable, and temptations fade and disappear. But, if we backslide and fall, Christ is still there.
One of the main things is to understand that sin is SIN, wrong, and to be cured. Another is to try and see the reasons why we are drawn to some sins as opposed to others.
I should add therapy can also be harmful, leading us farther away from truth, based on a false philosophy of life and of people, denying sin, and God’s power to cure.