Saturday, July 17, 2004

God's Holy Word - my opinion & I'm entitled to it

I have written this post, and removed it.  Rewritten, deleted, added, edited, and reposted, only to remove it again.   I haven't done this once, but 3 or 4 times.  Sounds silly doesn't it?  Not that anyone is reading this blog anyway but I kept doing this so as not to hurt a particular persons feelings.  I decided that if this individual is entitled to their opinion (and is posting it for the world at large to see), then I, too, should feel free to do the same.
 
My question to this person was simple:  How do you contend with the contradictions between being openly gay and stating that you are a Christian.  I do not hate homosexuals, I only feel that they struggle with a very difficult sin.  I do not feel it is my job to "convert" them to become heterosexuals.  What I do believe God has called me to do is to share the love and sacrifice of Jesus Christ our Lord with as many people as I can.  If God thinks an individual needs improved upon, he'll do it himself.  He is perfect, I am not, nor have I ever claimed to be.  This person has said some ugly thing about me, assuming things about me that simply are not true, for example: 
 
**I was attacked by being told that because I am divorced, I could not possibly be a Christian because God is against divorce.  However, I counter this with Matthew 5:32 which clearly states that adultery committed by your spouse is grounds for divorce in God's eyes. 

**I was being accused of being a bigot as is evident in this line posted on the offending persons blog.  ".... bigots who feel the love of God is not for everyone. "  I KNOW the love of God is for EVERYONE!  That's what makes it go glorious!  I never stated otherwise and to be accused of this is beyond my understanding. 
 
**I was accused of calling this person a sinner - to quote my children "duh!" We're all sinners saved only by Christ shedding his blood on the cross for our sins.  I really thought this was pretty common knowledge in Christian circles, apparently I was mistaken.  Also, in God's eyes, all sin is equal and I also stated that.  So why accuse me of thinking I'm better than you just because I struggle with different sins than you do? 
  
** I am not "misguided", nor am I "be(ing) hateful and vicious" just because my opinion differs from yours.  You wish me to be open minded to the fact that you may be right about homosexuality being acceptable in God's eyes.  You, however, are very close-minded to the fact that I may be right and it is a sin.   
 
The site this person directed me to, "if I was open-mined" enough to read it, is blasphemy.   It twists God's Holy Word to justify homosexuality as being acceptable in God's eyes.   

In Genesis Ch. 19, there is the story of Sodom and Gomorrah.  It was destroyed by God because of the sinfulness there.   The homosexual behavior was against God's word and the people of these towns refused to repent and follow God.  They were punished.
 
The particular page I linked to is basically stating that Paul was preaching that the law up to that point is no longer in effect.  To quote the site { "What Paul says as clearly as he can," according to an evangelical Bible scholar, "is that the Law … has been eclipsed by the revelation of God in Jesus Christ and must now be seen as obsolescent." }   Basically they are stating that God had changed his mind on homosexuality.  At first God thought it was wrong, then he changed his mind and decided it was o.k.  WHAT????!!!   God is perfect, he is NEVER wrong.  So, what this site is saying is that God decided he was wrong and changed his mind.  I refuse to believe that God has ever made a mistake. 
 
If it is this persons belief that God was wrong on sexual orientation, then I pose this question to you:  Do you think God may be wrong about murder?  Divorce just because we feel like it?  Theft?  Adultery?  Where does it end?   The facts are this:  The Bible is the Holy inspired Word of God.  God is perfect. 
I'm done and will step down from my soap-box now.  Thank you for allowing me to vent.
 
Until we meet again.........






1 comment:

MerryMadMonk said...

"And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet." -- Romans 2:27 (KJV)


So Paul was warning the Romans that if men park it where it doesn't naturally belong . . .

Sounds like pretty sage advice 2000 thousand years later.

Paul doesn't explain the specific "recompence". Maybe he didn't need to. Perhaps they held knowledge that was subsequently lost by follow-on generations ... until it re-surfaced in the late 20th Century.

Good people can disagree on the Pauline meaning of "receiving in themselves that recompence of their error". But there it is.

As for myself, I prefer, as Paul puts it, "the natural use of the woman" .. to which I would add:
"ends when her feet hit the floor in the morning" ... Juuuuuuuuuuuust kidding :p