But I am hard and angry with Christians who are in denial that homosexuality is a sin. Adam and Eve (not Adam and Steve), Sodom and Gomorah, the Jewish laws….esoecially God’s creation of our bodies – the procreation process and sex…does point to God’s idea of a family unit and on the union of 2 genders. They want permission to continue in the lifestyle and flatly refused to face these clear chapters and God’s thoughts on homosexuality. The rise of gay churches led by gay ministers … I am angry at the ministers.

I am also very angry at all the judgement against New Creation church as they have prevented many
a conflicted gay Christian from seeking what I believe is God’s rescue plan. To wash them in grace, not insisting they give up their lifestyles but first establishing them in their identity in Christ. When they are established in their identity, the hurts of their childhood is washed away…the emotional abuses they had out up with will be done away…like new creations, they can start anew with new DNA. There is a recent testimony on JPM praise reports that the lesbian urges just disappeared.

Right living starts with right believing and the key is simply being loved by Christ out of sin into right living. Right living isnt about being right with God but finally being free of bondages and leaving a life of abundance and victory. For my gay friends whom I love, its about having a toilet that doesnt have to hide lubricants and swaps of blood. Its about relieving that hunger to hunt for companionship in places like bars. Its about stability and establishing healthy relationships and having children.

By denying homosexuality is a sin, gay ministers are not helping and leading the flock to a victorious life. Can gays go heaven ? I think Jesus will open the door…so the issue isnt about hell and brimstone then….its about the life on earth being a whole lot different. For every heartache, hopes and fears normally associated with the gay lifestye, Jesus could have opened that door to freedom if they let him.

This person is just full of condemnation. I reminded her of how Jesus dined with sinners and that He loved them and treated them with mercy. I told her we can’t win anyone to Christ with condemnation, but with love and kindness.

She just doesn’t get it. She turned on me and told me to get saved. A couple of non-christians have asked some questions concerning the Word, and she is attacking them. There are 2 admirers who defend her, and now all three have turned on me.

It’s like the twilight zone in there, and she is just confirming to the non-believers that the church is full of judgmental people.

Thanks if anyone is up to the challenge.

Love in Christ Jesus,
Melody

- Jesus never mentioned Gays as sinners.

- Jesus greatest condemnation of sin was the people who were the religious leaders ie the leaders of our churches today!

We are no different than the Pharisees if we focused on the sin of others, real or unreal. On the other hand, we will invite judgement – not for failing to love, but for hate and injustice.

Perhaps judgement has already started ….. there was a line set by God for Singapore ….. its not the gay line but the line of grace. Don’t go beyond grace.

Good to see your comment. Hope you and your family are doing good :) Yes, Jesus said “Go and sin no more”. But before that was the “neither do I condemn you” (John 8:11) or the healing (John 5:8) part. The grace and love of God is what attracts people to Christ and then gives them the strength when they are Christians to live for Him.

So Jesus showed love and healing before he exhorted them to live a life of godliness. Many in the Church give the impression that it’s the other way round! But the grace and love of God comes before repentance and in fact is what leads to repentance (Rom. 2:4), and the grace of God teaches us to deny ungodliness (Titus 2:4).

So I want unbelievers and sinners to know that God is a God of love and that God can heal and deliver. I don’t want them to know that they need to be fearful of sinning and God’s going to punish them if they keep on sinning. It’s true that God punishes sin but that can in no way be the overwhelming message of the Christian. The unique message of Christians ought to be about Christ who saves us from that punishment.

So to me, the emphasis and uniqueness of Christianity is the wonderful truth that in spite of our sins, Christ died for us. I want to be so consumed by the cross of Jesus Christ just as Paul was, who boasted only in the cross of Jesus Christ (Gal. 6:14).

So while we have Christians being concerned that we don’t cross some line drawn by God, I think Paul was only concerned that we get the message of the gospel of the cross out to everyone. It is precisely because we all have already crossed the line drawn by God and missed the mark and sinned that we need to hear the gospel of Christ.

I think you’ll agree with all I’ve said. And yes, I do believe we’re not there to be loved. There will be persecution when we do present Jesus as the only way to God and in other matters that we do have to stand up for. Truth does divide too. But if sinners and unbelievers persecute and hate us, I think we should make sure it’s for the right reasons before rejoicing as Jesus said. A lot of times I just think Christians are persecuted not because they have been standing up for Jesus, but because they have not been Christlike or loving enough. And this is my concern regarding this whole issue of homosexuality.

I don’t believe Jesus would be known as anti-gay the same way many Christians are. The reason isn’t because he condones the homosexual lifestyle. Of course I think He doesn’t. Rather, the reason I think is because his ministry was not focused on being against this sin or that, but being for the love of God. His ministry and His person emphasized and emphasized love and acceptance and healing before anything else. And I think that cannot be said of the Church in general.

How have you been? Good to see your thoughts on this issue.

I totally agree with you that we individually as Christians and corporately as a church should first and foremost be known as a people who show love to everyone, which includes gays, and even our enemies as commanded by Jesus. Of course, there are differences in opinions concerning how this is to be worked out practically, which will consequently affect how gays perceive whether or not Christians are loving towards them.

Sure, Jesus is known as a friend of sinners and outcasts. He ate with them, loved them and accepted them. But He also never hesitated to say to them “Go and sin no more” and even warned that something worse may happen to them if they continue in their sins (see John 5:14 and John 8:11).

If Jesus were to repeat that to gays today, He might very well be regarded as intolerant, judgmental and condemning. So when Jesus warned sinners that something worse may happen to them if they continue in their sins, wasn’t that resorting to using fear?

Having said all that, I personally feel that Christians and the church have much room for improvement in showing love and acceptance to gays. They should do that first before saying anything else, just like Jesus who loved sinners before He warned them about the consequence of continuing in sins.

But at the end of the day, even after showing love to gays, Christians cannot expect all of them to feel loved, especially gays who believe that homosexuality is normal and natural, and that they don’t need to change. Even by suggesting that homosexuality may be overcome might be perceived as offensive. Christians would just have to do what is loving and right, and leave the result to God. Don’t you think so?

Have you ever wondered why we seldom see power evangelism so common in those days? even though you have great worship at NCC and I might say a modern day Apostle Paul at NCC.

Great to see you here and we should catch up one day!

Indeed you’re right that we shouldn’t focus so much on homosexuality and that the way to love any sinner or even Christian who sin is the same way as mentioned above. It is not to confront them with judgement, but with the love and grace of God.

Long time no see, and it’s great to see you blogging again with such passion, humility, clarity, and most importantly grace. Thank you for your 2 most recent blog posts and I agree with you on a lot of points, especially our attitude toward gays.

I think sometimes people place a great emphasis on homosexuality as a sin, not knowing that sin such as self righteousness, pride, anger, bitterness can at times cause greater damage to society than homosexuality.

From that aspect, I think everyone comes before God on the same level and obtaining the same grace for our daily lives. This blog post can be retitled into any sin – “how Christians can love ____ people”. Angry, proud, fearful, worried, addicted, etc etc. And your post does address how we can treat them (or more accurately, each and everyone of us).

What I am trying to drive at is, I can not understand why homosexual Christians are in the limelight more so than self righteous, proud, and bitter Christians – even though the latter can potentially cause greater damage.

I understand what you mean when you say this “Isn’t trusting God more important? Too many Christians say they love the sinner and hate the sin. But their actions and what they’ll do because of their over-protectiveness of their kids definitely do not make gays feel loved.” towards Stanley.

I will like to take this to a certain extreme to show a point – I always wondered – what would happen if I invite a profanity blabbering, tattooed, ex criminal friend to a cell group. Will the people show him grace like Jesus would? I am not sure. The litmus test as well, would be, will these people allow this man (assuming he is repentant and has a heart for Christ), to be exposed to their children.

The answer is really not easy. Will a parent allow an ex sex offender to hang around with his children? I really do not know. I will be able to understand if a parent, will choose safety over love. In my mind, it is an impossibility to ever allow even my wife to be, to be exposed to anything that threatens her life or dignity. As my wife, I will do anything in my ability to not let harm come close to her.

Having said that, I will never doubt the Love and Power of the Holy Spirit who will enable us to do the impossible. Elizabeth Elliot is one such person who has shown that Christ in her is infinitely more powerful than anything our minds can conceive, forgiving the people who killed her husband, and eventually bringing her toddler daughter to live among the tribe.

to be continued