Post by Messenger on Mar 9, 2007 10:38:30 GMT -5
I feel that it is important that I state here that everything that I say here, is straight from the Bible! It does NOT reflect ANY denominational belief!
How does God look at homosexuality? Long before it was even stated formally by God, we can see that He CLEARLy did NOT create men to have sexual relations with other men, nor woman with other women!
Genesis 2:21-24, clearly states
21 So the LORD God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man's ribs and closed up the place with flesh. 22 Then the LORD God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.
23 The man said,
"This is now bone of my bones
and flesh of my flesh;
she shall be called 'woman, '
for she was taken out of man."
24 For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.
This states that it is His wish that ONLY a man & a woman have sexual relations with each other! NOT 2 men & NOT 2 Women!
Now we flip over to Genesis 18:16-33:
16 When the men got up to leave, they looked down toward Sodom, and Abraham walked along with them to see them on their way. 17 Then the LORD said, "Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do? 18 Abraham will surely become a great and powerful nation, and all nations on earth will be blessed through him. 19 For I have chosen him, so that he will direct his children and his household after him to keep the way of the LORD by doing what is right and just, so that the LORD will bring about for Abraham what he has promised him."
20 Then the LORD said, "The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and their sin so grievous 21 that I will go down and see if what they have done is as bad as the outcry that has reached me. If not, I will know."
22 The men turned away and went toward Sodom, but Abraham remained standing before the LORD. 23 Then Abraham approached him and said: "Will you sweep away the righteous with the wicked? 24 What if there are fifty righteous people in the city? Will you really sweep it away and not spare the place for the sake of the fifty righteous people in it? 25 Far be it from you to do such a thing—to kill the righteous with the wicked, treating the righteous and the wicked alike. Far be it from you! Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?"
26 The LORD said, "If I find fifty righteous people in the city of Sodom, I will spare the whole place for their sake."
27 Then Abraham spoke up again: "Now that I have been so bold as to speak to the Lord, though I am nothing but dust and ashes, 28 what if the number of the righteous is five less than fifty? Will you destroy the whole city because of five people?"
"If I find forty-five there," he said, "I will not destroy it."
29 Once again he spoke to him, "What if only forty are found there?"
He said, "For the sake of forty, I will not do it."
30 Then he said, "May the Lord not be angry, but let me speak. What if only thirty can be found there?"
He answered, "I will not do it if I find thirty there."
31 Abraham said, "Now that I have been so bold as to speak to the Lord, what if only twenty can be found there?"
He said, "For the sake of twenty, I will not destroy it."
32 Then he said, "May the Lord not be angry, but let me speak just once more. What if only ten can be found there?"
He answered, "For the sake of ten, I will not destroy it."
33 When the LORD had finished speaking with Abraham, he left, and Abraham returned home.
Here, God reveals His Plans for Sodom & Gomorrah. He states VERY clearly in verse 20, that their sin is "grievous", & because it is, He intends to destroy these 2 cities. What was their sin?
Genesis 19:5 says:
They called to Lot, "Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so that we can have sex with them."
Men having sex with other men. Going against the natural order of what God had INTENDED for man. Even before it was ever written down, we see that God had an intense hatred for homosexuality. Did He hate those who WERE practicing homosexuals? The answer is a resounding-NO! He LOVED the people in Sodom & Gommorah! He even states that if there were only 10 righteous people there, He would spare them! Yet, there were not even 10 righteous people there!
I think that this is a very graphic example of showing the whole concept of God's love for ALL men-that while he LOVES the sinner, He HATES the sin.
The first time that God's feelings about homosexuality are actually written down, is found in
Leviticus 18:22
" 'Do not lie with a man as one lies with a woman; that is detestable.
Here it is in black & white-whether your Bible says destestable, an abomination, or whatever-God IS saying that homosexuality IS a sin! As God is holy, He CANNOT abide a sin like homosexuality in His prescense!
Perhaps you can see where I am going with this.
Now we come to the present day.
We see what should surely turn the stomachs of ANY Biblical Christian-acceptance of the homosexual lifestyle into God's church.
If a church is TRULEY Biblical in it's belief, can they accept practicing homosexuals into their fellowship? The answer is a resounding-NO! Homosexuality is a sin! If anyone "claims" to be a Believer, he CANNOT accept practicing homosexuals into the church! There is NO room for argument here! Look at what Scripture says.
Isaiah 5:20
Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.
Isn't this exactly what some churches ARE doing? And what does God have to say to them? WOE TO THEM! Whenever we see the word "woe" in Scripture, it is NEVER good! Than we have
Matthew 6:23
But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!
Here we see that even God's light is changed into total darkness, when ANY sin is let into a Believer's life!
1 John 1:6 states
If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth.
And what IS the truth?
John 14:6
Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
Since Jesus states that He is the TRUTH, we, as His folowers MUST follow His teachings & His teachings alone! All throughout the Gospels, what was Jesus' message? Hate sinners? NO! He loved the people!
Matthew 23:37
"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing.
And what does John 3:16 say?
"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
If we "claim" to be true Believers, we must NOT hate homosexuals! We must see them as sinners, like us, who are in desperate need of the Savior that WE know-Christ Jesus. BUT-we MUST obey Paul's admonition, that we find in
2 Corinthians 6:14
Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness?
Believers & practicing homosexuals CANNOT fellowship TOGETHER! Sin CANNOT exist next to holiness! Peter states it VERY CLEARLY, in Acts, when he says in
Acts 5:29
Peter and the other apostles replied: "We must obey God rather than men!
Here it is, folks! We MUST obey God, rather than men. What did Jesus say about following Him?
Matthew 10:38
and anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.
Mark 8:34
Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.
Luke 9:23
Then he said to them all: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.
We must forsake EVERYTHING, (& this DOES include our misguided thinking about practicing homosexuals!), & ONLY follow Him! We MUST forsake this misguided notion that practicing homosexuals & Believers can fellowship together! This is NOT "homophobia". This is NOT predjudice. This is NOT hatred or intollerance. This is GOD's WORD! This is what the BIBLE SAYS! Are we going to follow God & what HIS WORD says or not?
Let ALL those churches who accept practicing homosexuals into their fellowship do so at their own peril!
That's my opinion.
Bill
How does God look at homosexuality? Long before it was even stated formally by God, we can see that He CLEARLy did NOT create men to have sexual relations with other men, nor woman with other women!
Genesis 2:21-24, clearly states
21 So the LORD God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man's ribs and closed up the place with flesh. 22 Then the LORD God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.
23 The man said,
"This is now bone of my bones
and flesh of my flesh;
she shall be called 'woman, '
for she was taken out of man."
24 For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.
This states that it is His wish that ONLY a man & a woman have sexual relations with each other! NOT 2 men & NOT 2 Women!
Now we flip over to Genesis 18:16-33:
16 When the men got up to leave, they looked down toward Sodom, and Abraham walked along with them to see them on their way. 17 Then the LORD said, "Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do? 18 Abraham will surely become a great and powerful nation, and all nations on earth will be blessed through him. 19 For I have chosen him, so that he will direct his children and his household after him to keep the way of the LORD by doing what is right and just, so that the LORD will bring about for Abraham what he has promised him."
20 Then the LORD said, "The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and their sin so grievous 21 that I will go down and see if what they have done is as bad as the outcry that has reached me. If not, I will know."
22 The men turned away and went toward Sodom, but Abraham remained standing before the LORD. 23 Then Abraham approached him and said: "Will you sweep away the righteous with the wicked? 24 What if there are fifty righteous people in the city? Will you really sweep it away and not spare the place for the sake of the fifty righteous people in it? 25 Far be it from you to do such a thing—to kill the righteous with the wicked, treating the righteous and the wicked alike. Far be it from you! Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?"
26 The LORD said, "If I find fifty righteous people in the city of Sodom, I will spare the whole place for their sake."
27 Then Abraham spoke up again: "Now that I have been so bold as to speak to the Lord, though I am nothing but dust and ashes, 28 what if the number of the righteous is five less than fifty? Will you destroy the whole city because of five people?"
"If I find forty-five there," he said, "I will not destroy it."
29 Once again he spoke to him, "What if only forty are found there?"
He said, "For the sake of forty, I will not do it."
30 Then he said, "May the Lord not be angry, but let me speak. What if only thirty can be found there?"
He answered, "I will not do it if I find thirty there."
31 Abraham said, "Now that I have been so bold as to speak to the Lord, what if only twenty can be found there?"
He said, "For the sake of twenty, I will not destroy it."
32 Then he said, "May the Lord not be angry, but let me speak just once more. What if only ten can be found there?"
He answered, "For the sake of ten, I will not destroy it."
33 When the LORD had finished speaking with Abraham, he left, and Abraham returned home.
Here, God reveals His Plans for Sodom & Gomorrah. He states VERY clearly in verse 20, that their sin is "grievous", & because it is, He intends to destroy these 2 cities. What was their sin?
Genesis 19:5 says:
They called to Lot, "Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so that we can have sex with them."
Men having sex with other men. Going against the natural order of what God had INTENDED for man. Even before it was ever written down, we see that God had an intense hatred for homosexuality. Did He hate those who WERE practicing homosexuals? The answer is a resounding-NO! He LOVED the people in Sodom & Gommorah! He even states that if there were only 10 righteous people there, He would spare them! Yet, there were not even 10 righteous people there!
I think that this is a very graphic example of showing the whole concept of God's love for ALL men-that while he LOVES the sinner, He HATES the sin.
The first time that God's feelings about homosexuality are actually written down, is found in
Leviticus 18:22
" 'Do not lie with a man as one lies with a woman; that is detestable.
Here it is in black & white-whether your Bible says destestable, an abomination, or whatever-God IS saying that homosexuality IS a sin! As God is holy, He CANNOT abide a sin like homosexuality in His prescense!
Perhaps you can see where I am going with this.
Now we come to the present day.
We see what should surely turn the stomachs of ANY Biblical Christian-acceptance of the homosexual lifestyle into God's church.
If a church is TRULEY Biblical in it's belief, can they accept practicing homosexuals into their fellowship? The answer is a resounding-NO! Homosexuality is a sin! If anyone "claims" to be a Believer, he CANNOT accept practicing homosexuals into the church! There is NO room for argument here! Look at what Scripture says.
Isaiah 5:20
Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.
Isn't this exactly what some churches ARE doing? And what does God have to say to them? WOE TO THEM! Whenever we see the word "woe" in Scripture, it is NEVER good! Than we have
Matthew 6:23
But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!
Here we see that even God's light is changed into total darkness, when ANY sin is let into a Believer's life!
1 John 1:6 states
If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth.
And what IS the truth?
John 14:6
Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
Since Jesus states that He is the TRUTH, we, as His folowers MUST follow His teachings & His teachings alone! All throughout the Gospels, what was Jesus' message? Hate sinners? NO! He loved the people!
Matthew 23:37
"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing.
And what does John 3:16 say?
"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
If we "claim" to be true Believers, we must NOT hate homosexuals! We must see them as sinners, like us, who are in desperate need of the Savior that WE know-Christ Jesus. BUT-we MUST obey Paul's admonition, that we find in
2 Corinthians 6:14
Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness?
Believers & practicing homosexuals CANNOT fellowship TOGETHER! Sin CANNOT exist next to holiness! Peter states it VERY CLEARLY, in Acts, when he says in
Acts 5:29
Peter and the other apostles replied: "We must obey God rather than men!
Here it is, folks! We MUST obey God, rather than men. What did Jesus say about following Him?
Matthew 10:38
and anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.
Mark 8:34
Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.
Luke 9:23
Then he said to them all: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.
We must forsake EVERYTHING, (& this DOES include our misguided thinking about practicing homosexuals!), & ONLY follow Him! We MUST forsake this misguided notion that practicing homosexuals & Believers can fellowship together! This is NOT "homophobia". This is NOT predjudice. This is NOT hatred or intollerance. This is GOD's WORD! This is what the BIBLE SAYS! Are we going to follow God & what HIS WORD says or not?
Let ALL those churches who accept practicing homosexuals into their fellowship do so at their own peril!
That's my opinion.
Bill