Christian Living
This may not be politically correct but it needs to be said. There are people who want to be accepted as Christians but who want to live the Christian life on their terms—not God’s terms as defined in the Bible.
In Australia we have openly-practising gays who at the same time lobby the mainline churches to be accepted as members. They want to worship regularly and be in the Body of Christ while practising homosexuality. God loves them, but condemns such behaviour. So far, the church leaders have refused to admit them, rightly so because the Bible backs their decision.
Those with spiritual discernment would see this membership bid as a satanic attempt to destroy the church. It is erosion from within, as rust on the inside would destroy a car exhaust.
If the door opens, the next logical step would be to admit practising witches, fortune tellers, palm readers and clairvoyants. If they have truly repented, fine, but not if they contravene God’s laws by continuing with the occult.
God loves the gays and every human being, there is no doubt. He is not willing that any should perish. Yet the words of Jesus are clear:
“Most assuredly I say to you. Unless a man is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” (John 14:6)
To be born again means to throw off the old life of sin and begin to live God’s way. It means a transformation as per 2 Corinthians 5:17; a renewal of the mind as per Romans 12:2.
All practising Christians were once sinners (Romans 3:23). The difference is those who are serious about God have repented and are forgiven. They have given up their sin, and decided to follow God’s instructions as written in the Bible. They might stray occasionally, confess it and be forgiven as 1 John 1:9, but that’s different to deliberately disobeying God as a way of life.
Jesus saved the adulterous woman from death by stoning, forgave her, then told her to “go, and sin no more.” (John 8:3-11) He said the same to the healed cripple (John 5:14).
It’s impossible for a person to be approved by God and to keep doing what God forbids. If that happens every Bible-believing church will lose credibility. It may as well close down and become a restaurant, which satan would love to see happen.
To continually sin makes the Bible irrevelant, of no more importance than a daily newspaper which becomes a food wrapper. In many places the Bible tells us to repent. John the Baptist preached it continually. To repent means to turn one’s life around, to be sorry for the past, to stop doing what grieves God. If a person refuses to do that, biblically they are never going to be in heaven.
None of us are perfect. Yet we can make a decision to be transformed by God’s Holy Spirit. We can trust in Jesus; decide to read God’s Word and obey it as best we can each day. We can decide to cast off the old life that God hated—and the Lord will help us.
[I'm not in "Private Messenger" so I can't read and reply to your emails sent there. I live outside the US. You can reach me at saul2_au at yahoo dot com
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I'm right there with you, Rod, but what about "Jesus came to save sinners," "Do not judge lest your be so judged," and "Let him who has no sin throw the first stone." We should not condone any sin, but isn't the purpose of Christ's church on Earth to save sinners, and that covers us all?
Rod...you hit it right on target. There is a paradox of trying to be too tolerate, yet allowing sin to come into the church. Great article!
I totally agree with your statements that God will not tolerate sin and neither should we. Homosexuality is a sin. But what do we do with sin already in the church? Only God knows the heart and "Christians" in the church may also be practicing sin i.e. pornography, affairs, stealing, lying on tax reports??? What do we do. PRAY FOR THEM, and pray that whatever is in the dark will be revealed and continue to pray for repentance within the church.
Rod, I thought you did a good job with the writing here but I feel the information presented does not do enough to support your position. For example,we do accept liars, whoremongers, fornicators and adulterers,(in fact any sinner) as church members. Many of those sins continue after accepting Christ until He does indeed change their hearts. Your article does not explain why that would not be a good process for gays as well. Also, I think it would add interest to your article to know if you would be open to admitting gays if they confessed that homosexuality was a sin and wanted to commit to change their lifestyle?
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