July 09, 2015

HOW SHOULD A CHRISTIAN RESPOND TO HOMOSEXUAL MARRIAGE?

           A CHRISTIAN RESPONSE TO THE LGBT MOVEMENT

             (LGBT = Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Movement)

When Christians engage people committed to the LGBT beliefs, in meaningful debate, five Christian beliefs must held intact: 1. A belief in the absolute authority of the Bible (2 Timothy 3:16,17), 2. A mindfulness that winning souls to Jesus constitutes the major work of the Church (Matthew 28:18-20), 3. A wise and proper spirit must be maintained when engaged with non-Christians (Eph. 4:15; Matt. 10:16), 4. A concern for cultural uprightness is secondary, not primary in the ministry of the Church (Romans 13:1, 2, 8-14; 2 Timothy 3:1-9), and, 5. An acceptance of the fact that polemical engagement with non-believers is totally dependent upon the Holy Spirit, Who alone can give understanding to the human mind.

MAJOR SCRIPTURES DEALING WITH LGBT ISSUES:

MARK 10:2-9 – “And the Pharisees came to him, and asked him, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife? tempting him. And he answered and said unto them, What did Moses command you? And they said, Moses suffered to write a bill of divorcement, and to put her away. And Jesus answered and said unto them, For the hardness of your heart he wrote you this precept. But from the beginning of the creation God made them male and female. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and cleave to his wife; And they twain shall be one flesh: so then they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.”

(This passage makes the point of God’s intended order for engaging in His gift of sexual activity. It is part of marriage, or in a union of one man and one woman in the bounds of marriage - Mark 10:6-9; Hebrews 13:4).

ROMANS 1:24-28 - “Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonor their own bodies between themselves: Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: 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 recompense of their error which was meet. And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient…”

 (Homosexual activity is outside of God’s intended arrangement for sexuality and a penalty is attached to such behavior. Christians lovingly want their LGBT friends spared the pain of any such penalty. Did Jesus know about homosexuality? Of course, He knew the condemnations of the Old Testament and the terrifying history of Sodom and Gomorrah. If Jesus was approving of gay marriage, this would have been a perfect opportunity to so affirm it.)

LEVITICUS 20:13 – “If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them.”
(We must remember that these laws in ancient Israel often added civil punishment for various offences, because Israel was a nation, a political power, unlike today’s Church. But if the Church cannot enact such penalties, it does not mean the truths and their inherent principles can be summarily set aside. The truth is, as Dan Calabrese so clearly states: “God intends sex to be enjoyed within marriage between a man and a woman who are not closely related to each other (read all of Leviticus 20:10-18), and He is very stern with those who engage in immorality, as defined in great detail in this passage. That’s because God establishes that when you unite with someone physically, you also unite with them spiritually, and He only wants you to unite spiritually with one person, your spouse, of the opposite sex.” Do note that in the New Testament, penalty is attached to homosexuality, namely, “receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due” (Romans 1:27). Sometimes believers who rail against homosexuality are very soft toward other sexual sins, sometimes because they are guilty of engaging in such, and forget that God hates those “other” sins too. Read Ephesians 5:1-7. God’s “wrath” may also be directed toward other sexual perversions.

I TIMOTHY 1:8-11 (NKJV) – “But we know that the law is good if one uses it lawfully, knowing this: that the law is not made for a righteous person, but for the lawless and insubordinate, for the ungodly and for sinners, for the unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, for fornicators, for sodomites (underlining mine), for kidnappers, for liars, for perjurers, and if there is any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine, according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God which was committed to my trust.”

(Homosexuality is part of a very sordid list of sins. But do note that “lying” is on the list too. Just to be clear, “sodomites” are those who engage in sodomy -referenced in other translations as those who practice homosexuality -and “fornicators”, those who engage in an array of sexual sins outside or inside of marriage.)

JAMES 1:14-15 – “But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.”

(Again, Dan Calabrese, drives this important point home: “Every one of us is born into sin. For the homosexual who says, “I was born this way,” I will not argue. We were all born with sinful urges of our flesh.” Some struggle with anger, some with heterosexual lust, with gluttony or addiction to alcohol. Others talk too much. And, some struggle with homosexual urges. These are our weaknesses or depraved desires. They come from the flesh (old sin nature) and they war against the spirit. God’s desire for each person is that they will repent of these desires and surrender to Jesus Christ so that He can deliver them from these urges by His very own power.” Romans 13:14 informs us of that Christ reliance and action to be taken whereby the strength of the Lord gives victory. “But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.” The power of the Lord delivers from any sin, including homosexuality. The victory may not necessarily be a once-for-all cure-all, but as with other sins, the believer may well struggle with certain sins on a daily basis. God allows this process in order to keep us close to Him. The challenge is to abide in the Lord, stay in the Word, confess all known sin, prize the fullness of the Holy Spirit, in order that the life and power of the Lord may flow through us giving us daily victories. Hebrews 12:1-4 challenges us with these words: “Wherefore…let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds. 4 Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin…..”. And this, “Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind: for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin…”


Dick D. Christen (07.29.15)

Here's an excellent piece by Russell Moore

THE CHURCH SHOULD NEITHER CAVE NOR PANIC…     
As I write this, the Supreme Court has handed down what will be the “Roe v. Wade” of marriage, redefining marriage in all 50 states. This is a sober moment, and I am a conscientious dissenter from this ruling. The Court now has disregarded thousands of years of definition of the most foundational unit of society, and the cultural changes here will be broad and deep. So how should the church respond?                                                                                                        First of all, the church should not panic. The Supreme Court can do many things, but the Supreme Court cannot get Jesus back in that tomb. Jesus of Nazareth is still alive. He is still calling the universe toward his kingdom….The church will need in the years ahead to articulate what we believe about marriage; we cannot assume that people agree with us, or even understand us. Let’s not simply talk about marriage in terms of values or culture or human flourishing. Let’s talk about marriage the way Jesus and the apostles taught us to — as bound up with the gospel itself, a picture of the union of Christ and his church (Eph. 5:32). As we do so, we must not just articulate our views of marriage, we must embody a gospel marriage culture. We have done a poor job of that in the past. Too many of our marriages have been ravaged by divorce. Too often we’ve neglected church discipline in the cases of those who have without repentance destroyed their marriages. We must repent of our failings and picture to the world what marriage is meant to be, and keep the light lit to the old paths. This gives the church an opportunity to do what Jesus called us to do with our marriages in the first place: to serve as a light in a dark place. Permanent, stable marriages with families with both a mother and a father may well make us seem freakish in 21st-century culture. We should not fear that. We believe stranger things than that. We believe a previously dead man is alive, and will show up in the Eastern skies on a horse. We believe that the gospel can forgive sinners like us and make us sons and daughters. Let’s embrace the sort of freakishness that saves. Let’s also recognize that if we’re right about marriage, and I believe we are, many people will be disappointed in getting what they want. Many of our neighbors believe that a redefined concept of marriage will simply expand the institution (and, let’s be honest, many will want it to keep on expanding). This will not do so, because sexual complementarity is not ancillary to marriage. The church must prepare for the refugees from the sexual revolution. We must prepare for those, like the sexually wayward Woman at the Well of Samaria, who will be thirsting for water of which they don’t even know. There are two sorts of churches that will not be able to reach the sexual revolution’s refugees. A church that has given up on the truth of the Scriptures, including on marriage and sexuality, and has nothing to say to a fallen world. And a church that screams with outrage at those who disagree will have nothing to say to those who are looking for a new birth. We must stand with conviction and with kindness, with truth and with grace. We must hold to our views and love those who hate us for them. We must not only speak Christian truths; we must speak with a Christian accent. We must say what Jesus has revealed, and we must say those things the way Jesus does — with mercy and with an invitation to new life. Some Christians will be tempted to anger, lashing out at the world around us with a narrative of decline. That temptation is wrong. God decided when we would be born, and when we would be born again. We have the Spirit and the gospel. To think that we deserve to live in different times is to tell God that we deserve a better mission field than the one he has given us. Let’s joyfully march to Zion. The witness to marriage will be, like the pro-life movement, a long-term strategy that is multi-pronged. This is no time for fear or outrage or politicizing. We see that we are strangers and exiles in American culture. We are on the wrong side of history, just like we started. We should have been all along. Let’s seek the kingdom. Let’s stand with the gospel. Let’s fear our God. But let’s not fear our mission field.
-          Russell Moore