Homosexuality In the Church

I believe the pews would be pretty empty in any church if you removed those who had formerly sinned slightly. The churches would be vacant, in fact. We all know that, don't we?

And I believe that the pews would be pretty empty if you removed only those who had sinned severely in their lives. I could not be in either of those two churches. Luckily, Jesus said that it was not the healthy that needed a physician, but the sick. He said that He had come not to lead the righteous to repentance, but sinners.

So, thank you Jesus. We sinners have a place to turn when we see ourselves as the wretched sinners we are, and repent, turning away from our sins. We can turn to Jesus.

Yet, to intentionally continue in our sin, and call ourselves saved Christians as we do so, is a covenant offered nowhere in the scriptures.

There can not be a special pew for the confirmed and avid murderer, one for the enthusiastic thief, and one for the man who loves the telling of lies. There can't be a place for those who continue on in their sins with no intention of changing.

For the sake of their eternal souls, gays must realize that they aren't offered special treatment by any of the words in scripture.  Like all of us sinners, they must turn away from their particular urge or inclination to commit what God calls sin. They can't justifiably say "I'll continue on in my particular brand of sin, but towards areas of sin to which I am not prone, I will choose as God would choose."

No sinner of any sort can take that posture. We must first learn what it is that Jesus and God call sin, and we have to turn away from those things, even if it is a sin we find ourself yearning to commit, or believe we were born to commit, or find ourself particularly prone to commit.  

All sin is undesireable in those who follow Jesus.  We can't, as sinners, give the devil a free win in any area of our life - it is the same as forcing a certain loss upon our Lord's team in that same area, and He died for us.  He is also our judge - all men's judge.  He deserves our best efforts to live as cleansed people ought to live.  You cannot say you're giving your best effort - even a good effort - if you continue on stubbornly sinning in any certain particular way, and know full well that you are doing so.

God the Father and Jesus have laws and standards. And the church is their earthly 'home' for their children, the Christians.  Since the Christian accepts Jesus as their Lord, and gratefully accepts citizenship in the Kingdom of God, the Christian becomes answerable to that kingdom's standards and laws. Even while down here on Earth.

So, if a violator of one of God's laws decides to continue on, willfully, in full rejection of one or more of God's laws and standards on this particular point or that particular point, that person has chosen to reject the idea that God is his personal authority figure - that God decides what is right and wrong, God decides what it is OK to do and be, as well as 'not OK to do', and 'not OK to be.'   

Those who reject God, even on only one or two points of his law, are pretty much like the darn fine fellow who does however rob banks regularly on Thursdays. They have their good points, but their bad points are so serious that it might understandably deprive them of good standing in the eyes of their fellow citizens - or perhaps they will lose their citizenship.  

Gays can choose to stop acting upon their gay inclinations, repent of them, and seek God along with all other sinners. That's pretty much one of the defining points in becoming Christian. We have to turn away from our old ways - ways which made us enemies of our God.

Considering how intensely God speaks of the homosexual sins, we are extra well advised to not commit them.  Abomination is a word that he uses concerning only a few types of sin, homosexuality being among them.  Think of it this way for a moment, just as a consideration:

America calls itself a 'Nation Under God'.  On our nation's coins it says 'In God We Trust'.  And that God we trust in is Jesus' Father, who has warned us very strongly against homosexuality.  So, if we continue to allow (and in fact make laws blessing) gay clergy and gay marriage isn't it pretty much the same as if you lived in a log cabin, and you took your power drill and drilled holes in your quirky room mate's bedroom walls at his request because he wants to start raising termites, and feels he has a right to?

As Americans, our 'House' exists and continues to stand only by an amazing (and quite frankly almost unexplainable) show of continued tolerance from our very pure, holy, and powerful Maker.  Yet we continue to heap up our offenses against Him, even legislating them into national law.

We would do well to remember that we are absolutely unessential to the accomplishment of His plans.  He is not dependent on us, we are dependent on Him.  Even our breaths and heartbeats are allowances given to us by Him through his love and mercy, as we live lives that He may find highly offensive.  In short, He has been very good to us, He needs nothing from us, He is tolerating an amazing level of disobedience from us, and if we don't shape up it absolutely cannot be too long before He decides that the cup of our iniquities has now become full to the brim. 

Not many of the societies in the Bible were allowed to become so evil as we in America are today before being given over, by God, for destruction.  Some other nations in the world are in about the same shape.

But, so long as His mercy holds, we can still turn away from doing wrong, so shouldn't we all be trying?  Sometimes whole nations have turned back from the brink.  Remember Jonah and Assyria?  It can be done, through Jesus, through the Holy Spirit, and through the mercy of the Father, if we bow our hearts and try. 

But we must be getting close to that point of no return.  We have to be.