Is being Gay a Sin?
Is being gay a sin? Should the church condone homosexuality and gay marriage? Should Christian bakers make wedding cakes for gay weddings? Is being gay something that is “healable“?
I think gay marriage is wrong. I think the Bible makes it clear that it’s a sin to be gay and that marriage should be between one man and one woman. Since God put Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden and not 2 Adams, or 2 Eves, or 2 Eves and 1 Adam, or 2 Adams and 1 Eve, or 3 Eves, or 3 Adams, then I, in my naivety, assume that’s the way God wants us to be (we must be accepting like a child: Matthew 18:1-5).
Homosexuality is just one of many, many, many, many sins. But it’s one sin that supporters try to equate with love by saying things like “Jesus would approve of any type of love“. It’s magnitudes worse when ministers and church officials take this position (Matthew 18:6). The problem with that line of thought: it confuses love with lust of the flesh (fornication). It’s like saying adultery, prostitution, or premarital sex is not a sin. We all sin: call it a sin. You might say it’s not fornication if the two are married, but Jesus clearly says, in Matthew 19:5: “And it said, because of this a man leaves his father and his mother and clings to his wife and they become both one flesh“, He clearly states a male female relationship in Matthew 19:4: ‘He replied and told them, “Did you not read that he made them at the beginning of creation, male and female, did he not?”‘
As Christians we should love the sinner but not the sin (we don’t drop anyone off a rooftop because they’re gay, nor should we ostracize them). John 8:1-19, Luke 7:36-50. We should have compassion and treat others with respect.
On a religious establishment level…
I don’t understand how any church or religious organization can condone gay marriage. We’re so afraid to offend someone by telling the truth, so politically correct, and so desperate to add members to our congregations, that we abandon the clear teachings in the bible. In a lot of cases, we’ve become some homogenized, pasteurized, synthetic, misguided version of Christianity. If Jesus walked into some churches, I believe He would be horrified by what He hears and sees. Jesus didn’t shrink from telling the truth, nor did He degrade the person or persons He was talking to – we should try to do the same.
Because of the recent gay marriage decision by the Supreme Court, some churches have made the decision to no longer perform weddings… the minister sends the couple to the local Justice of the Peace to be married, and then instead of a wedding, the couple has a church service calibration of their love. This ensures the minister will not be required by the state or federal government to perform a same sex wedding.
On a political level…
I think issues like gay marriage should be a state decided issue, not a federally mandated issue. Legalizing gay marriage is a very slippery slope to be on. We, as Christians, should have the courage to stand up for our beliefs and not give in on everything.
Most Christians don’t speak up, a large majority don’t even vote: not voting and not speaking up is basically agreeing with the other side by default. If we, as Christians, are upset about this, the first place we need to look is in the mirror: according to Franklin Graham, around 75% of Christians did not vote in the last 2 election cycles. If the only choice is the lesser of two bad choices, then we should vote and make that choice.
One of the most lasting things a President does is select Supreme Court Justices: we are reaping the harvest of liberal Judges appointed by a liberal President.
Fools will be Fools but the Faithful will Lead
Someone wrote recently that the Supreme Court decision on gay marriage will help gays be accepted and not maligned so much by their families, etc. Really? The liberal mind is so delusional and misguided. The problem here is not the gay person; the problem here is the person not accepting their own family member. Loving someone is hard, and unconditional love (like you’re supposed to have in a family) is even harder: that’s what prayer is for. Accepting is not the same as approving. You can’t push a string; you can only lead from a position of strength, which comes from faith, and love. In most cases (there are always extreme cases and exceptions) I think better results would be achieved by accepting and making clear your disapproval of their choices and actions, and still loving them, than by banishing someone.
Does God Loves Gays…
I saw a photo to of a “gay pride” march with a banner from a church that said “God is proud of you“. I have to say no, God’s not proud of you; he loves you, like God loves all us sinners. God’s not proud of someone for being gay. I have a very strong belief that God is saddened by the whole gay movement, and heartbroken that some of those professing to be church leaders embrace it.
What would Jesus do?
I think Jesus would talk with a gay person or couple just like he did with “the woman at the well”. He would not shun them or turn them away. Jesus would look in their heart, and say to them the things that only He would know to say. Jesus and his disciples spent a lot of time healing and casting out demons and evil spirits. I know this will make some people’s heads explode, but what if being gay is something that is “healable” or “castoutable”? Obviously it’s not the normal mode of operation for the species or else the human race would have died off millennia ago. It’s hard for those of us who are merely mortal, to explain to someone who thinks they are perfectly happy and doing nothing wrong, that being gay is a sin and not normal… however, I’m confident that Jesus could explain it to them in a way they’d understand. Then, if they asked for healing, once the veil of their sin was removed, they would be thankful.
My next article will deal with Christians doing business with homosexual customers: should they or shouldn’t they.
Until Next Time,
Fred
Here are a few links that underscore my points:
Update 10/19/2015: Bishop at Vatican Synod: ‘One Can Still Perceive the Smell’ of the ‘Smoke of Satan’ in Vatican Document
Update 10/15/2015: Famed Theologian’s Point-by-Point Defense of Biblical View on Traditional Marriage.
