"Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God." (1 Corinthians 6:9-10)I help run a Christian Facebook group of almost 74,000 members. For the most part it is a debate group based on the theology of different denominations and is generally intelligent and resourceful. We keep it strict and require all claims to be supported. This weeds out a lot of the nonsense and keeps it running pretty smoothly, But every so often anti-homosexual rhetoric makes its way in and being a sin in the Bible, many if not most participants are quick to grab their pitchforks. For me anti-homosexuality is an embarrassing quality of the Christian religion and I maintain that any teachings are to be taken in context.
The passage I quoted covers various sins that I have noticed are all within the same breath. For me this indicates that there is no hierarchy of sin, and is why Jesus said that we must remove the log from our own eye (Matthew 7:5) before casting the first stone (John 8:7). The problems that I have with anti-homosexuality within Christianity, notwithstanding that I believe it has been grossly taken out of context and was only referring to specific problems within communities, is that everyone commits, or can commit, the sins that Paul warned against, but not everyone wants to be gay. We have automatically alienated an entire group of people, and in so have effectively jeopardized our witnessing of the gospel.
Sometimes I want to throw in the towel. it is humiliating to be branded a hateful or close-minded person, or to be thought of as anything but loving, just because of one or two sentences in a book that takes the average expository church five years to read and study in its entirety. When we "call out" homosexuality with our finger-pointing we are hurting the entire body of Christ. The worst part of all, which no one seems to understand and which truly demonstrates the disease within the body of the Church, is that the average person has probably committed at least one of those acts that Paul warns against within the last twenty-four hours.
Christianity is not black and white: we have been killing one another for thousands of years and hateful memes and frustrating protests are nothing in comparison to what the early Christians did to one another, and still continue to do to each other today mostly executed through excommunication. In such a threat mystics have left the church because they can't reconcile the contradictions that the Internet has fostered and thereof confused alliances. They jumped ship. But for those who dare to stay, we brand the term heretic, the greatest insult one Christian can throw at another. We withstand FOR the love of Christ and neighbour, and in so persevering in the Name of the One who surpasses ALL understanding. (Philippians 4:7)
The true definition of a saint is someone who maintains their faith to the end. Perfect doctrine is not literal doctrine and Jesus warns he will not accept recklessness. (Matthew 7:21-23) Jesus gave us a NEW commandment, which is compassion. (Matthew 22:35-40) The laws the average Christian thinks he or she is keeping is actually preventing an internal analysis of the blockage that is keeping them from truly being yoked with God in peace. Christ died on a cross so that we can stop nailing each other to them. He took our place, he took on our sins, and there is no way that we can follow in The Way, with the old ways of the law.
We have ALL fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23) and I believe the only way to get back up is to actually help each other get back up. Is homosexuality a sin? The most difficult verse to tackle is Romans 1:22-27 when Paul wrote that same-gender sex will receive due punishment. What I would like to point out here is that the punishment was really due to idolatry as described in verse 25 and therefore it is possible that God placed in their hearts (verse 26) to not continue their bloodlines.
I don't have all the answers. I don't know the exact situation that Paul was preaching to, but I do know that the problem was actually "Worshipping the creation, not the Creator" (Verse 25). This is the big problem that we ALL must work through daily. Let's just sort out our own idolatry and self-deification, get honest, be healed, and move forward.
Comments
Post a Comment