What is a Christian?

What is a Christian? Are we an elite club or do we follow Christ?

I have an old friend, a non-believer, who has written a blog post I think Christians need to read and ponder. It has to do with our response to homosexuality and how we live as Christians. I wept when I read it. Folks, this is an issue that makes my heart ache. Once upon a time, the hatefulness I witnessed in some Christians about homosexuality rocked my faith so hard that I turned my back on God for well over a decade. By His grace, I am back, still with questions. I have dear friends, some of whom have distanced themselves from me because I cannot say with certainty that I think how they live is morally right. I have never and would never take a moral high ground and attack their behavior because I truly don't believe that is my place. We all need Jesus and it is He who must direct our hearts. My place, I feel, is to love them, pray for them and be here for them if they need to talk about what God is directing them to do. I don't need to make anyone sorry for their actions or force someone to repent. Is it a sin?  I believe that it is, based on the scripture. There is no evidence, however, that it is a worse sin than premarital sex, or gossip or lying.  I certainly won't  rank somebody else's sin above or below my own arrogance or ignorance or fill in the blank here. It is God who will judge us all at the end of our days and I don't want His job, thank you very much.

I still have questions, as I said. Why would God make someone gay and not allow them to fulfill the desires of their hearts? Did He in fact, create people to be gay?  There are many things in life I don't understand. I don't know why God allows young babies to be taken from their mothers or young mothers to be taken from their children.  What I do believe is that faith IS the answer.  My own understanding is unimportant. This life is just a prelude of what is to come for those who believe in Jesus. Perhaps God just wants us to follow Him utterly, giving up our own selfish desires in exchange for His holy ones. Many things we think of as "natural" have been forbidden by God: infidelity, lust, gluttony. My heart goes out to all people who face such a tremendous sacrifice as homosexuals are called to make. They need our love and our support, not our condemnation.

             Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and                     take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever                     loses his life for me will find it. What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world,                     yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? For the Son of Man is                     going to come in his Father's glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according             to what he has done. I tell you the truth, some who are standing here will not taste death before             they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom."   Matthew 16:24-28

If you'd like to read more on this subject, check out this and this and, if you can handle some colorful language, especially, this.

Comments

[Everyday Mommy]

A very compelling post. Our family has much experience in this area as three of my husband's siblings are in the homosexual lifestyle. Here are some thoughts:

The Bible clearly and plainly tells us that the practice of homosexuality is a sin (Genesis 19:1-13; Leviticus 18:22; Romans 1:26-27; 1 Corinthians 6:9).

Romans 1:18-32 addresses man's denial and disobedience toward God. When a person denies God and embraces sin Romans tells us that God “gives them over” to their depravity. God does not create a person with homosexual desires. The Bible tells us that a person becomes a homosexual because of their own choice.

All sin is offensive to God, but there are degrees to sin. Some sins are worse than others as some consequences are worse than others. For example, the consequence of murder is greater than the consequence of hate. However, the eternal consequences are the same. Each and every sin will lead to eternal condemnation (Romans 6:23). All sin is committed against a holy and righteous God, and is therefore worthy of an infinite and eternal penalty.

Does God hate homosexuals? No. Does God hate sin? Yes. Can a person truly be a Christian and continue, defiantly in homosexuality? No (1 Corinthians 6:9). Can a person truly be a Christian and continue, defiantly in any sin? No.

Ephesians 4:15 instructs us to "speak the truth...in love." 1 Peter 3:15 teaches us to proclaim the truth, but to do so with "gentleness and respect." We should share the truth of Christ and the freedom found in Him with the homosexual just as we would anyone else who is lost.

God’s forgiveness is just as available to a homosexual as it is to a liar, adulterer, idol worshipper, murderer, glutton, etc.

"The LORD redeems the soul of His servants, and none of those who take refuge in Him will be condemned." Psalm 34:22

[Guinevere Meadow]

Thank you for this post. I have many similar questions, but I'm sometimes afraid to voice them for fear that people will think my faith is weak. (How wrong-headed is THAT? Hm.) While I do think that homosexuality is a sin, like you, I don't think it is any worse than any other sin. Real Christians still commit sins, sometimes intentionally, sometimes not. I am bothered when a church denies membership and fellowship to someone because of homosexuality.

Thanks for writing about your struggles in faith about this. So many questions, so few answers. Few answers that we can understand at this stage of life.

[Joo]

Thank you both for your responses. I've wanted to write about this subject for a long time. It's hard for me. I want to know God's heart but I've avoided looking at what the Bible says because what I really want is to believe that it isn't a sin. I want to believe that I can applaud and support my gay friends in their relationships. I want to stand up in their weddings and celebrate their anniversaries and cheer them on without reservation. I love them and so I want what they want. But in light of what God has spoken through His word which instructs our lives, and because I do love them so much, I can't. I can't pretend it's okay when it is killing them spiritually. People cannot understand that if they think that this life is all there is. Those who live entirely for pleasure cannot understand a call to sacrifice sexual longing for a desire to live solely for God. That goes for straight "Christians" who have premarital sex as well as homosexuals. I've heard it said that the opposite of homosexual is not straight, it's holiness. Talk about an identity crises! That's why it makes me sick when Christians say hateful things to or about them. We deliver them right into the hands of the enemy when we treat them with disgust.

Is it a choice to become gay? My gay friends will argue emphatically that it is not. I believe abstinence is always an option. But please, please, don't insult gay people by pretending it should be easy for them. It takes great courage to turn away from this sin. It is a highly politicized and well organized community and they won't let go of one of their own easily. It is only by refuge in the Lord that they can find strength to turn away. So that's where we need to start. We need to let them know about the love of Jesus, not point our fingers in disdain.

[Everyday Mommy]

Fleeing from sin, any sin, is never easy. If it was a task that man could accomplish then Christ died in vain. But, the very fact of His brutal crucifixion and death as an atonement for our sin illumines the very nature of sin.

Jesus tells us in John 8:34, ""Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin."

The Apostle Paul describes our relationship to sin in Romans 6:6 "Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness?"

None of us want to embrace the notion that we are slaves. We all have the mistaken idea that we are in charge, that we're the master of our own destiny. Many people think of Christianity as restrictive. But, the truth is that true freedom, freedom from slavery, is found only in Christ.

Choice is merely an illusion when one is still bound by the task master; sin. The choice is not heterosexual or homosexual. The choice is slavery or freedom.