I sometimes have an overwhelming desire to remain motionless — sequester myself from society and the busyness of people as they carry out their seemingly frivolous lives. I just want to seal myself inside a cocoon and hibernate until the stresses that life creates subside. But I am wholly cognisant of this asinine thought pattern because in order for stress to be eliminated you have to deal with it, not hide away like a coward and just wish for them to magically dissipate. So as I sequester myself inside my time frozen cocoon I forcefully catapult myself outside and just live life. As a prospecting pastor I realise that this is a foolish thinking pattern, but I'm still human. I still have faults; I am nowhere near to being flawless and I never will be, so neither should people expect me to be so flawless or even strive towards it. It is a futile attempt. The attempt of its futility alone would bring with it more unnecessary stress and strife.
So why, as human beings, do we strive towards perfection? To me, a perfect life would be boring. Neither is there such a thing as a "normal life"; there's just life. Life is not some invisible construct that drives unknown forces such as "luck" and "bad luck." Luck is the most quintessential human delusion. Life is simply a gift given by God. How you decide to live your life is just life — not a normal life, or a rich life, or a poor life. The poor can be richer than the rich just as the rich can be poorer than the poor. But that depends on how one chooses to perceive things. For me, as a Christian, the poor man who has Jesus Christ in his heart is far richer than the rich man who does not have Jesus Christ. In the same way, an atheist can view that as completely insignificant, for they refuse to believe in something greater than their own logic — human logic, overall, which is in itself of fleeting value, ergo ultimately undependable and unreliable. Furthermore, as a Christian and therefore God's authority being the ultimate authority and the wisdom He has decided to bless me with in which I now write, I believe myself to be correct in all that I speak in matters of God because I speak on God's authority. Do not become presumptuous and choose to believe that I am saying I'm never wrong; I'm wrong plenty of times. When it comes to matters of God, however, I only speak them when I know they are indubitably true, for it is the Holy Spirit speaking through me on God's authority. Ergo, the poor man in Jesus Christ is far richer than the rich man without Jesus Christ, and no matter the opposition I may face, that fact, as it appears to me, will always remain true. Yet to the atheist mind, it is false, simply due to their limited logic. However, in spite of their belief in its professed falsity, they are always erroneous because of the authority of God, who has authority over all things and all beings. Belief in God does not bring Him into existence; He does not need us to believe in order for Him to exist. He just simply is. A large number of people who do not believe in His existence and authority does not make either of those things false. Because this is infallibly true, their minds grow frustrated and therefore come into a state of contention.
It is often because of this atheistic contention that I often wish to sequester myself inside my cocoon of complete isolation. Not forever, though. Only for a time to get a break, but because this is life I will never get a break, and so I continually seek the comfort of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit may decide to divinely administer Himself unto me as guided by Jesus Christ, or He may choose to act through another human being — a fellow brother or sister of Christ. However He decides to administer Himself always comes as a surprise, and comfortingly so, and always at the perfect time. However, it is fair to say that not all atheists are contentious, of course. As the majority stands out, that's where the focus often relies. If it's not the majority, statistically, then it carries with it an overabundance of animosity and negativity that makes it stand out more than it should. A Christian example is the Westboro Baptist Church, whose members preach extreme hatred and condemnation towards homosexuals.
I have spouted enough exposition, so now to this blog entry's topic: It is indubitably true that the Bible (and therefore God's Word) condemns homosexuality as an abominable sin, among other sins, but the Bible also teaches love and mercy, especially towards our enemies. (Homosexuals are not our enemy, but they feel that they are.) It is also indubitably true that not all Christians (most, actually) are like WBC, but because they are indwelled with such a spirit of animosity, negativity, hatred, and even iniquity, they stick out the most and people start to believe that all Christians are like WBC church members and share their beliefs (or dare I say, cult members). That belief is a lie. Why it has become such a prevailing dilemma in modern times, I do not know. It's on the Devil's agenda for whatever reason, and I cannot say what that reason is other than to bring more and more persecution against innocent Christians who live to exemplify and teach the love and grace of Jesus Christ. (Christians who spread such animosity and hatred towards homosexuals and other people are incognisant of their support of Satan's agenda.) Instead of focusing on grace, people now prefer to focus on the Law. The Law is only applicable now in which it points out your sin in order for you to recognise it, and because you recognise it you can then repent of the sin immediately because of the grace of Jesus Christ. We no longer have to offer various kinds of sacrifices that was required under the Law in the Old Testament because Jesus was the ultimate sacrifice — the ultimate peace offering. We are no longer under Law, but under grace, no longer under the dominion of sin (Romans 6:14). People have forgotten this.
People justify that because homosexuals "love" each other and because God is love, homosexuality must therefore be legitimate. The hilarity of this fallacy amuses me. Following this line of logic, we all love animals and because we love them and God is love that would legitimise bestiality as well, but we don't utilise this line of logic here because of how repulsive the act is; and homosexuality is equally repulsive. They are equally repulsive because God says that they're both an abomination and both must not be practised in the same sentence (Leviticus 18:23). Yes, God is love, but He is not only love. He is also righteous, and holy, and just, and merciful, and when necessary He is wrathful, and many other characteristics. All of His characteristics work together as one; He does not just utilise one feature one at a time. That is how our characters function as finite beings within time. But God is infinite, who exists outside of time, ergo all of His holy characteristics function as one. Yet in spite of His manifold characteristics, they all act according to His love. Just as a parent's tough love and discipline are driven by their unconditional love for their child, which is pure, so it is the exact same thing with God, our Father.
God has clearly stated multiple times in the Scriptures that homosexuality is a sin, as well as many other sins. There is absolutely no scriptural evidence to believe the contrary. Only through foolish deniability and the rejection of God's Word can the contrary be believed. It's acceptable to love somebody of the same sex, but just because you love them does not mean it has to be sexual. Love does not need to be sexual in order for it to be love. Homosexuality is simply a product of our sinful condition. If it were completely and utterly natural, and some people seem to believe, then God would have created Adam and Joe along with Eve and Mary, not just plainly Adam and Eve. It is truly that simple, and because it is that simple, for some dastardly strange reason people choose not to accept its simplicity and instead attempt to formulate something more complex to justify a worldly belief of theirs that God's authoritative Word contradicts, forcing the dilemma to drag on and on when it shouldn't even be a debate at all. When God created Adam and Eve, they complemented each other perfectly, and I mean perfection in its full essence. The relationship between man and woman was utterly perfect, and so their love was pure — completely undefiled. And it was also man and woman so that they could birth more of God's children onto the earth; we cannot fulfil that God-given purpose through homosexuality. As a result of Eve's deception to her husband and Adam choosing to obey his wife over God, their relationship went from being perfectly complementary to being defiled, creating an almost eternal trouble in all future marriages between husband and wife (as well as other man to female interrelationships). This is what God means when He says to Eve, " 'Your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you' " (Genesis 3:16). I say "almost eternal" because when we are with our Lord Jesus Christ, this will not longer matter, for there will be no marriage in Heaven (Mark 12:25).
However, do not fret, and do not fear. Many Christians choose to condemn homosexuality and those suffering under its dominion, and they refuse to preach grace, love, mercy, and forgiveness. They point out the problem but don't offer a solution. Many will quote I Corinthians 6:9-10 that lists homosexuals (and many other types of sinners!) who will not inherit the kingdom of God. However, they always foolishly leave out verse 11, which Paul subsequently writes: Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God. Paul is talking about baptism. Some people of the Corinthian church at this time were guilty of the sins listed in verses 9 & 10, but Paul points out that all of those sins are unnatural because of the condition of their faith, including homosexuality! But Paul also mentions that some of them were like this because they were washed, sanctified, and justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit of our God. That is exactly what baptism does. Through baptism your past, present, and future sins are all justified, for you are sanctified through the receiving of the Holy Spirit through baptism, ergo the sins they were guilty of were (and still are) unnatural. However, after confession, forsaking the sin is the last and most vital step. If you repent of a sin yet still commit the sin, you are still guilty of it. Proverbs 28:13, He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy. It is not just confessing the sin, but no longer practising the sin that enables the mercy of God upon you. A criminal who serves his or her sentence and yet still commits the same crime after being exonerated at the completion of their sentence is still guilty of the crime. Or say you're a reformed drug addict. If you start indulging the drug again, are you still purified from it? Of course not! It is the same exact thing with sin — repent of the sin, resulting in God's immediate forgiveness, yet continue to commit the sin and you are still guilty of that sin. Forgiveness, even with the effects of baptism, does not grant you permission to freely commit sin and/or dwell in a particular sin; forgiveness is the recognition of the poison of your sin as God willingly cleanses you from its poison. However, for forgiveness to do its complete work, you have to put in a disciplined effort by forsaking the sin, otherwise you will never be free from its bondage. I am not saying that it's your work that saves you; God's forgiveness through Christ saves you, but you still have to put in some actual effort to fully conquer the sin. Another thing that Christian condemners leave out is I John 1:9: If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. I cannot stress that verse and the aforementioned proverb enough in my life. Those two verses are key.
With all of that I now say: It is very possible and permissible for a Christian to love a homosexual. Because we love all people, including homosexuals, we wish to point out the sin in order for them to recognise it so that they may repent of it and no longer live under its dominion, and it is our responsibility as Christians to do so. The solution to not live in homosexuality is simple: practising celibacy. Many people think of our free will as a curse or God's weakness or mistake. But they are terribly mistaken. A God who forces us to love Him or instills fear for our life into us in order to revere Him is not a loving God at all. When love is forced, it is not genuine and true, and that's what God wants from us — to genuinely and truly love Him with all our heart. Our parents do not force us to love them or respect them; we love them simply because we choose to and we choose to respect them as we mature into adults. And so it is with our Heavenly Father. Sure, our parents give us reasons to love them (or hate them, for such unfortunate souls of abuse or neglect). God has given us a multitude of reasons to love Him, the largest being the sacrifice of His Son, Jesus Christ, dying for our sins when we don't deserve that in any way. Any person who has a reason to hate God desperately searches for those reasons and misunderstands His nature. Because God wants our love for Him to be genuine and true, He has blessed us with the free will to love or hate Him, which the latter has eternal consequences, whether one chooses to believe that or not; and the remarkable and unfathomable thing with the latter is that if you choose to hate God, He still loves you! For if you change your mind at a later time, He'll still embrace you with open arms. And we become spiritually mature in revering God and His ultimate authority as a response to our growing faith and trust in Him. We can either choose to defeat our sin or to submit to it, and in order to defeat whatever sin may enslave us, it may require some necessary and arduous sacrifices. The sacrifice for homosexuality is celibacy for one's entire earthly life — in this way, one can see how free will is a gift as one chooses to conquer sin and its dominion over him or her. But consider how infinitesimal that sacrifice is to make for Jesus Christ when He gave His life for every single one of us. No sacrifice is greater than that. In order to live for Christ, we have to make many sacrifices — we have Jesus Christ to enable us to pick up our cross daily and follow Him (Luke 9:23).
