Wish I Could Say . . . .

A few weeks back now, I covered a post about a pastor who had made an unfortunate statement regarding the proper techniques to take with training up children. It was and is my opinion that he made a mistake but was also misunderstood. I wish I could say the same for this one, but I can't.

Here is Lalaith's take on it, and she also links to the news stories on the topic, which I would encourage you to go to as well.

It seems very clear to me that this man was aware of the uproar about the previous pastor and rather than being careful about what he said and taking the warning, he decided to get purposefully more offensive. I don't think that's something that Christians are ever supposed to be. These are words that are supposed to apply to Christians: humble, wise, harmless, meek, gentle, long-suffering, patient, kind (Gal. 5:22, Matt. 10:16). WE are not supposed to be offensive. Oh, we will without doubt offend, but it should never be because of the way we presented something or because we spoke when we should have listened, or because we didn't speak when we should have comforted and encouraged.

The gospel is offensive enough. We are not supposed to be. We are supposed to try to live peaceably with ALL men (Romans 12:18) - that includes gays and lesbians. And living peaceably is NOT putting them in a town with an electrified fence around it. That's not kindness or gentleness; that's not harmless and meek. That's certainly nothing close to LOVE. That's oppressive and cruel. It's wrong; it's sin.

And to be completely practical about it, it certainly would not end homosexuality. How many homosexuals came from homosexual homes? The vast majority don't; they come out of a heterosexual homes. That town of homosexuals might never reproduce to have their own generation, but you'd never run out of new tenants. It's amazing how many things that are wrong also make absolutely no sense. Some things do. Stealing - I want that therefore I take it. It makes a kind of sense. But that? No sense. It's just horrible.

Practicing homosexuality is sin, yes. Practicing shunning of homosexuals is ALSO sin. Seeing them as something less than a person is sin. Regarding them as anything less than made in the image of God is sin.

Now onto the things that Lalaith brings up from this.

First, a few things to get clear. One, God has made it very clear that homosexuality is wrong - that never changed. (Lev. 18:22; I Cor. 6:9) Two, the God in the OT and the God in the NT are the same. The difference is not in His Person, but rather in His dealings with people. In the OT, God is shown as the Head of a nation - therefore, the nation is generally held to His moral law. Whores, homosexuals, witches, etc. were not to be permitted within the nation. By the time of the NT, God had left Israel because they repeatedly turned from Him, and He, through Christ's death, was about to open the floodgates for all nationalities. Three, the edicts of the OT (how we are supposed to deal with one another and what our attitude is supposed to be) is summed up in the first commandment to love GOD with all our heart. That's OT - Deut. 6:5. That is the summary of all that Jesus taught in the NT - He says so in Luke 10:27.

There is no disconnect between the OT and the NT. There is no difference in God's Person. And there is no problem with taking the ENTIRE Bible all at once and following it to the letter. If you take the whole Bible all at once and follow it to the letter, you will love the Lord your God with all your heart and love your neighbor as yourself. And in loving them, you absolutely will NOT try to force your beliefs on them.

Moving along, sex has multiple reasons - one is definitely for pleasure; one is definitely for reproduction; and I believe that one is to help couples with communication and a sense of oneness. But none of that has anything to do with why homosexuality is wrong. It's wrong because God made things a certain way. God made man for woman and woman for man. They go together. God did not make man for man and woman for woman. It doesn't matter if it's gays or lesbians. The "natural use of the woman" doesn't mean that women were created to be sex slaves to men or that sex is all about men. It's just saying that women and men were made to satisfy each other sexually. Not men for men or women for women. The Bible REALLY isn't being sexist with that wording. I get that it can sound that way, but it really isn't what it means.

I am a woman and it is ENTIRELY natural (and pleasing for me) for my husband to be sexually satisfied with ME and by ME (and only me). I am his helper, his friend, and his companion, and I am useful to him. And there's nothing degrading about being useful to him, in emotional or physical ways. In fact, it would be VERY disconcerting to me if I were NOT useful in the area of fulfilling his sexual desires, just as it would be if I were not useful in the area of fulfilling his desire for companionship. And I think it would be to any loving wife. God made us with sexual desires and God made a proper way for them to be fulfilled. That way is heterosexually. That is ALL that that verse means. It means that men left the way that God made (a wife for them) and used each other.

And that is the story of sin: leaving God's way and substituting your own way.