Jesus is our model for the acceptance of other people.
Jesus invited people from all walks of life to come follow him.
He loved and he welcomed many. Yet Jesus’s words and demands
offended a lot more than they attracted, because Jesus would not
tolerate sin. He gave a stinging rebuke to the Pharisees and
scribes for their sins of oppression and pride, he scolded the
man he had recently healed at the pool of Bethesda for turning
back to sin, and after forgiving the woman caught in adultery, he
told her go and sin no more.
Jesus tells us that one cannot be his disciple unless one is
willing to forsake all, even his or her own life in order to
follow Him. The challenge to forsake everything is the same and
is yet very different for each of us, for we all have different
relationships, desires, lusts and passions some of which have
been with us since birth. On the day of Pentecost, when asked
what should they do to be saved, Peter replied, repent and be
baptized, everyone of you in the name of Jesus Christ.
Homosexuality is discussed directly in the Old and New
Testament, and in both places it is referred to as sin. Chris
Glooser, one of the leaders in the Homosexual movement of our
denomination ignored this at our clergy meeting by saying,
"homosexuality was so insignificant that Jesus did not even
mention it in his teachings." Jesus does not mention rape,
incest, kidnapping or wife abuse, yet we would not argue that his
silence on the issues indicated approval of the actions. Jesus
affirmed his position on homosexuality by his open declaration
and admission of the Old Testament to be the word of God. Jesus
7 3 ��viewed the Word of God as as absolute standard for all behavior.
"He asked the religious leaders of his day, "why do you trans
gress the commandment of God because of your traditions."
The strongest condemnation of the practice of homosexuality
is not found in some obscure, insignificant book of the New
Testament. It is found in the book of Romans; a book which is the
core of Christianity and gives us the doctrine of justification
by faith. The Romans passage illustrates that the practice of
homosexulity spread because of a rejection or the true worship of
God. Romans 1:21-27 "For although they knew God, they neither
glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking
became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. {22} Al
though they claimed to be wise, they became fools {23} and ex
changed the glory of the immortal God for images made to look
like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles. {24} There
fore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to
sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one anoth
er. {25} They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped
and served created things rather than the Creator--who is forever
praised. Amen{26} Because of this, God gave them over to shameful
lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural
ones. {27} In the same way the men also abandoned natural rela
tions with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men
committed indecent acts with other men, and received in them
selves the due penalty for their perversion.
Those who desire to practice homosexuality seeks to distin
guish between the wild gay lifestyle with the multiple partners,
bath houses, fisting and golden showers to the lifestyle of two
7 3 ��
people who want to commit similar acts but limit themselves to
each other. The Bible does not make any such disticnction. The
Old Testament states in Leviticus 20:13 "If a man lies with a man
as one lies with a woman, both of them have done what is detest
able." The penalty for this violation was death. There are six
passages in the Sriptures that bear on homosexuality and it is
condemned in each of them. How can we overturn the word of God
and claim that both the Old and New Testament is in error, and
homosexuality is actually a gift from God.
The Bible teaches there is to be a separation between the
church and the world. In the world those who committ acts of
homosexuality should have the same rights as adulterers, fornica
tors, and any other sexually immoral group. The world sets its
own moral standards.
In the church however, those who practice homosexuality
should be offered the same standard of entrance into the kingdom
as any other group of sinners and that’s to repent of one’s sin
and submit to the authority of God’s word. Love demands that we
lead people out of darkness rather than encouraging others into
this lifestyle.
The church is accused of singling out homosexuality as the
worst of sins. This is not true. The reality is that this is the
only group which demands that the church accept its sin without
asking them to repent. The group cloaks its sin in all kinds of
garbs by claiming the issue is a civil rights issue very similar
to the way the church at one time treated blacks. This is an
insult to all blacks when such a comparison is made, in that
7 3 ��
nothing in the Bible says it is a sin to practice being Black.
Regardless of how sincere one is that the Bible teaches that
the practice of homosexuality is a sin, he or she is deemed to be
a bigot and obviously is homo-phobic and is need of repentence of
homo-phobia. This is merely an attempt to silence all opposition.
We find in 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 "Do you not know that the wicked
will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither
the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male pros
titutes nor homosexual offenders {10} nor thieves nor the greedy
nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the
kingdom of God. " Does this passage make us thieve-a-phobics,
adulteryphobics, swindlerphobics or slanderphobic. Are men and
women of God not to tell the truth about sin, lest they show
themselves to be bigots and manifest sinaphobia?.
No. This passage show us those who need the liberating
power of Jesus Christ to regain control of their lives. This
section also shows the power of Jesus Christ to transform people
lives in that the next verse reads 1 Corinthians 6:11 "And that
is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sancti
fied, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and
by the Spirit of our God." There were those involved in homosex
ualtiy in the Corinthian Church but they did not start a Corin
thian Gay and Lesbian Group. They yeilded themselves to the word
of God and left that lifestyle behind.
Why is it that God created sex, and why is it that sex out
side of marriage is sin. Part of the purpose of marriage is to
give us insight into the nature of the relationship between Jesus
7 3 ��Christ and the church. It is a relationship that is to be based
on purity, commitment, sacrifice, and total surrender to the word
of God. In both the Old and New Testament we find the words "For
this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united
to his wife, and the two will become one flesh." We do not
understand all that takes place in two individuals becoming one
flesh. The apostle Paul writes of this verse" This is a profound
mystery--but I am talking about Christ and the church."
Without a willingness to yield themselves in obedience to
God’s word, it is impossible for two people to totally become one
flesh because God’s spirit is not involved in the process. We are
told that our bodies are not to be used to simply please our
selves, but they are to be the temples of the Holy Spirit which
resides within us, and that we should not pollute them by any
means, be it heterosexual or homosexual relationships.
This is not an issue of can homosexuals preach, teach,
counsel, love and minister in the name of Jesus as well as any
heterosexual can. Of course they can. But so can adulterers,
fornicators, child molesters, and wife abusers. All sorts of
people can quote on quote "do ministry". Jesus said that there
would be many false prophets. But Jesus never calls us to do
ministry, he calls us to follow Him. The test is not going to
be one’s capacity for ministry, but rather one’s obedience to the
word of God.
It is Jesus who says in Matthew 7:21-2 "Not everyone who
says to me, ’Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but
only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. {22}
Many will say to me on that day, ’Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy
7 3 ��
in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many
miracles?’ {23} Then I will tell them plainly, ’I never knew you.
Away from me, you evildoers!’
Are we willing to send people to an eternity in misery just
so that we can boast of being inclusive. Jesus was not driven by
a desire to be inclusive. His focus was to do His Father’s will
in total obedience regardless of the cost. The church cannot
afford to sacrifice truth and obedience to the word of God under
the guise of compassion. We hear a lot about the pain of homo
sexuals who feel as though the church has turned them away.
When will we start to hear and listen to the pain of those
who feel as though the church is pushing them out because of
their commitment to the inscripturated word of God. When I
became a Presbyteian, I believed in the Presbyterian Church’s
commitment to the teachings of the Scripture, and to the Bible
being the Word of God. Yet because of the loud voices of the few,
the denomination seems more willing to please those whose lives
are contrary to the word, than to stand with those who want to
preserve the truth of God’s word. Why is the pain of the one who
chooses to live contrary to the word of God more valid than the
pain of those who feel they are being forced to compromise the
word of God in order to condone sin within the church. I too
grieve at the prospect of being forced out of the Presbyterian
church over this issue.
If my brothers and sisters who seek to practice homosexual
ity are genuine in their concern for the unity of the body of
Christ, let them pick up their crosses and follow Jesus as all
7 3 ��the rest of us are commanded to do. We all have desires and
passions that need to be crucified daily. Simply calling them
God’s gifts, does not make them any less sinful. As Christians
we have control over our desires for pleasure. That’s why Christ
died and rose again on our behalf. Nothing is to be in control
of our lives except the desire to obey the word of God.
We as Presbyterians are making a decision to be guided by
the Bible in terms of sexuality, or by the wisdom of this world.
If we start to pick and choose which sins in the Bible we like
and which we do not, we will no longer have any impact on this
world for Jesus Christ. For whatever the world approves, will
eventually be approved by the church. Jesus did not seek an all
inclusive church. He said to sit down and count the cost before
becoming his disciple.
When a church or presbytery ordains a person, it does so
for the entire denomination. We have a constitution so that each
church is to held to the same standard. Being a Presbyterian
should have the same validity and testimony for Jesus Christ in
Ohio as it does in Georgia, Texas, California, New York and Iowa.
Those who desire to participate in homosexual acts are free
to enter the kingdom of God on the same basis as everyone else.
That is with a faith in Jesus Christ, and a repentance of sin.
Jesus loved, accepted, and protected the woman caught in adul
tery. The church is called to do the very same thing. Yet his
final words to the woman were, "neither do I condemn you, go and
sin no more." Let the church be a beacon of light for those who
want to leave any sinful lifestyle. Let us offer all people the
power of Jesus Christ to bring healing in their lives, to set
7 3 ��
them free from sin, and to be made a new creation in Christ
Jesus.
