"Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders...will inherit the kingdom of God."
1 Corinthians 7:20
"You were bought at a price. Therefore, honor God with your body"
LinkWithin
17 comments:
sorry, but my sister is not wicked.
Jess you know I love you but you're really hurting your friends by posting this stuff.. Leah's sister is gay I'm not sure if you remember that..
I am only quoting the Bible. Tell God that!
Ok--I am going to throw my two cents in--I normally stay silent on stuff like this and just read what others write, but if people are going to talk, I might as well give them something to talk about! The beauty and joy of living in America is that we are allowed to express our beliefs and opinions in an open forum, a right that people in many countries around the world are still oppressed for.
In making his case that all people are in need of salvation, Paul talks about the sinfulness of humankind in Romans 1.18-32. Check it out...I won't type it all here. Although, I would like to focus on verse 26-27. "For this reason, God gave them up to degrading passions. Their women exchanged natural intercourse for unnatural and in the same way also men, giving up natural intercourse with women were consumed with passion for one another."
Some people might interpret this verse to mean that Paul is condemning homosexuality. However--this is a common misinterpretation of Paul's works. Take a look at the context within these verses--Paul lists many types of sinful behaviors in 28-32, of which many humans are guilty of. He is not picking on homosexuals, more importantly, he is showing that all people are guilty of sin!!
One of my favorite parts, Paul never condemns people, he condemns the sinful behavior.
So I suppose in closing...as I examine my conscience, and I have several friends and family members near and very dear to me that are gay--I could say many things...it takes one to know one...to thine own self be true... or what goes around comes around...but at the end of the day...I hope the Lord will knock me off my pedestal when I think I've earned the right to judge others.
Anyways, to harken back to 1 Corinthians 6:9--Paul speaks of helping us understand that God's desire is for us to live well. All good gifts are from God, and are meant to be enjoyed to the fullest. Yes, in Corinthians 6:12-20 Paul affirms that sexual intercourse is meant to bond a man and a women for life. HOWEVER, if you notice it speaks of idolaters, adulterers, male prostitutes, sodomites...what is the common bond between these? Fornication. The sexual intercourse between people who are NOT married--defeats its true purpose. It is fornication that diminishes the full joy and beauty of sexual intimacy as intended by God. God is the one that created our sexuality...and it is part of being human...God wants us not to be hurt by this gift, but instead--experience it in marriage! who are WE to say it is solely limited to a man and a woman?! (I hope my "Bible as Literature class paid off!!)
AMEN!
Ok, 2 things....
First, God does condemn homosexuality. Just read the verses from this post.
Second, I agree with you, Lydia, that God condemns homosexuality just as much as any other sin and that every sin is equal in his eyes.
Romans 3:23 "For all have sinned and fallen short of the Glory of God."
The difference is the desire to repent and change. If we are living a lifestyle that we are not repentant of then God can not forgive it.
Say, for instance, that one struggles with stealing. If they were to steal today and realize that it is wrong; knowingly go to God and ask for forgiveness; truly be sorry and try to change his ways, he will be forgiven. If he, however is not repentant or goes to God and says "I am sorry for stealing, but I know that I am going to do it tomorrow, but you will forgive me anyway" then that is not true repentance. You pray for strength from God to overcome your sin, because that is the only way to defeat any burden.
Again, I do not condemn the sinner, I condemn the sin. Therefore, I can not, as a Christian, believe that homosexual marriage or the lifestyle should be supported in any way.
For all of you reading this you can visit Leah's blog to see what I believe. (I’m the anonymous person). http://anoccasionalhippie.blogspot.com. I'd like Jessica to know that I'm very proud of her! Also, I think it is so ridiculous that this has to get so out of hand. I made comments on Leah's blog that were very calm and rational simply asking her to support her views and have an intelligent debate. However, I was simply ridiculed for my beliefs. I guess that is to be expected if you are a Christian in this world!
Emily,
Thanks for the shout out. I knew it was someone from Jessica's family all along. Although I must say I'm saddened that you had to do Jessica's dirty work for her - the fact that you were the one to break the news to me that Jessica is no longer interested in my friendship, "...but I think its very said (i think you mean sad) if you can't have friends that have different views as you." What a shame that is. This whole blog war BS is over for me. And I guess it is for Jessica too, as I noticed I have been deleted from her blog list. Again, what a shame.
I never ment that about Jessica. My interpretation from your response was that you had no interest in being her friend anymore. Whether or not you two are friend any more is between the two of you.
Also, I would like to say thank to Lydia! Although I don't agree with everything you said I can defintely respect your ability to argue your side.
I would like to make it clear that Emily was not "doing my dirty work"! If that were the case she would be writing my blog.
If you took from the whole thing that I did not want to be friends with people with other points of view, then I am sorry; that never has been and never will be the case.
I am sorry if the Bible is offensive to you.
I NEVER did and NEVER will apologize for my stance and quoting from the Bible. Thanks for your idea of "forgiveness" anyways.
As far as my blog goes, it is a place where I can express my faith, views, ideas, creativity, etc, as is yours. I took Leah off of the links list because if I am going to take a stand against certain issues, it would be hypocritical to support a blog with opposite views.
This is not a personal shot in any way!
I am shaking the dust off of my shoulders from this and I hope that you all will, too. It is obvious where we all stand.
As far as I've seen, Jessica is perfectly happy to have friends whose viewpoints aren't the same as hers. Its her friends that get angry with her for having viewpoints that are different from theirs.
If you don't feel like discussing her viewpoints, then don't comment on what she posts. She will defend her stance because she is not someone who just believes some thing without justification.
What I have seen in the past, are people commenting on what she says, and then getting angry when she defends her beliefs (usually because they don't have a response) and walking away from the argument. Don't start these debates if you can't stick them out. Don't put your comments out there if you don't really want to recieve a response.
I'm not pointing this out to hurt anyone, but before we start pointing the finger at Jessica... remember what they say "Anytime you point the finger at someone else, remember that there are three fingers pointing back at you". She has a right to put on her blog whatever she wants.
I think Jessica and Emily are so wonderful! And Emily's note on her views about homosexuality and the Christian faith is one of the kindest and most well articulated that I have ever read.
It can be hard to reconcile God's way with the worlds way, but don't let that stop any of you from accepting Christ. Work through it with him and his help, and he will help you to understand. Don't let misunderstanding keep you from accepting his gift of LIFE, not just everlasting life, but LIFE right now! Life here on earth being lived as though you were already in heaven. Is there anything more precious than that?
This has all gotten really ridiculous! Apparently no one took into account what I posted yesterday so I'll reiterate it. Leah never said the Bible was offensive. Basically the way everyone is handling this is what is offensive to me. She simply said your words were hurtful..which is what I said as well. Your response about how she should tell God that her sister isn't wicked is hateful. I happen to know her sister has a great relationship with God. I think that this whole thing has been taken way to far, and unfortunately friendships are definitely on the line. It's one thing to express your beliefs and stand up for them, but it's another to knowingly hurt people you say are your friends. You are being very judgemental which is a sin, and you & I both know that all of us have commited plenty of sins since we became friends! This back and forth bs will never end because there isn't one person who is right or wrong, everyone has different beliefs, and this will continue through the end of time. I personally have way more shit going on in my life than to worry about miss america and all of that bullshit, and I believe there are way more things you have opinions and beliefs about than just homosexuality, so why don't we talk about those. Perhaps we could discuss the war and all of the brave men and women who are killed everyday so that you have the freedom to stand up for what you believe in! Or we could discuss the starving, disease ridden children all over the world. I personally find these issues way more heartbreaking than whether or not my gay friends/family members will be accepted by your God (my God is very accepting of everyone). Also, if truly the only reason you deleted leah's blog from your list is bc of what you said, then you should probably delete mine too bc I believe in the same things she believes in. Like I said the other day you know I love you Jess but this has gotten really ridiculous.
This post was entirely from the Bible. None of it was Jessica's words, so how could you be offended if you claim to follow our Lord?
I'm sorry, but I am going to have to assume that you are not a believer. I don't mean this to hurt you, but your arguments have no basis in the God of the Bible.
You would know then if you worshipped the God of the Bible that since you claim to be a believer that we have every right to try to convince you to act in the most righteous manner you can to save you from hurt later on.
That's the whole point of God trying to stop us from sinning! He does it because he loves us, and wants to save us from the consequences of our actions. Its not that we won't make mistakes, but to claim that something is not a sin when it clearly is, is blasphemy. Real love means helping fellow believers through things, so that they don't hurt themselves, even if it makes you unpopular.
As Paul states in Corinthians:
"But now I am writing you that you must not associate with anyone who calls himself a brother (ie another Christian) but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or a slanderer, a drunkard or a swindler. With such a man do not even eat."
And then Paul says, "What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? God will judge those outside."
We do not judge non believers, so therefore I don't judge you or anyone else. But out of love, we will try to help fellow believers that are hurting themselves.
I mean this, God bless you and love you! There is nothing but compassion in my heart for all of you. I know you have suffered the loss of someone you love recently, and I am going to pray for a shower of blessings from heaven for you.
I hope that friendships can be repaired in some way.
PS. I am happy to talk about anything under the sun that you want to talk about, and I'm sure anyone else who follows this blog is too.
HA! This is so entertaining. Isn't it interesting that the liberals have resorted to personal attacks? "Personal attacks are the last resort of an exhausted mind."
Oh boy, here I go. I'm certainly no scholar nor am I very articulate but I'll try to express my opinion about all of this as best I can. There seems to be so much anger directed @ Jess for standing up for her beliefs. I realize that when people are so passionate about their beliefs it can, sometimes, come off as being judgemental and when that happens that open door of comunication is slammed shut! Is it possible that people don't want to hear the truth, which is God's word? Are they angry and defensive because they know on some level that they're going against what the scripture says and they're feeling guilty? I guess since the dawn of time individuals have tried to interpret the scripture to fit their lifestyle rather than living their lives according to scripture. I certainly can't find fault with anyone who defends God's word. Believe me, I'm the last person who'd jump into confrontation but after reading all comments on both blogs I felt the need to jump in because of the angry tone of the comments about Jessica, some even using profanity. I can honestly say, WITHOUT bias, that Jessica, Emily & Stori's comments were not of an angry nature but filled with love & compassion from truly exceptional young women. I find it sad that it was interpreted as some kind of attack. One last thought....God created Man & Woman NOT Man & Man or Woman & Woman so I have to believe the Man/Woman relationship was what HE intended.
There is a simple answer to all the debating/arguing/opinions...etc.
The world is made up of 2 groups of individuals; believers and non-believers. (Matthew 6:24) In other words, those who believe in the redemption of sin by the blood of Jesus, and those who don't. As believers, we embrace the Bible as the divinely inspired Word of God. There is no middle ground...divinely inspired the whole way through! Therefore, if one truly accepts, believes, and confesses his sins, he becomes a new creature in Christ(2 Corinthians 5:17). There is no debating, no riding the fence, no picking and choosing of the Scriptures to accommodate one's opinions or wishful thoughts. As it is written....the Bible is sharper than any two-edged sword. Yes, the truth can be painful, even more so, if one struggles to ignore it and tries to justify their behavior, knowing in doing so, it is an abomination to God. The choice is yours. No one can make it for you, or take it from you!
P.S. Redirect your anger. Jessica didn't write the book, she just quoted the Author!
Post a Comment