Posted on 01/30/2022 7:34:07 PM PST by DallasBiff
“along with your condemnation of gays as being any more sinful than a straight man who has sex out of wedlock”
You are being dishonest. I’ve never suggested homosexuality is a super-sin. But I notice MOST people still reject adultery as admirable, while we are expected to praise and encourage homosexuality. The church is also under pressure to accept shacking up, but no Christian church can do so.
But “my interpretation” of Christianity may well be the correct one - IF IT IS ALIGNED WITH WHAT JESUS AND THE BIBLE TEACH. Liberal so-called Christians are quick to endorse government action over individual and even quicker to endorse any sexual perversion over the clear teaching of the Bible.
A distinguishing mark of liberal “Christianity” is to focus on SOCIAL sins rather than those we do as individuals, and to want us to “repent” of sins society may do rather than pay attention to the ones we actually are guilty of doing! It is rooted in a rejection of God the Creator and what He has revealed about Himself in the Bible. That is fine IF they would then admit they are not Christians. It is their insistence they can reject the Jesus of the Bible while being “true Christians” that I reject.
That's it.
They don't have to share your views on anything else. And there are millions of liberals out there who are Christian. They may think being gay isn't a choice, they may think abortion should be legal but they would never get one, they may think that government health care would be a good thing... none of that makes them "not Christian."
It doesn't matter what you say about it. It's not your call to make. If you believe in God, you must believe He is the one who decides who is Christian and who is not. He won't be checking with you. So park your ego.
One problem with reaching a peak, is the realization that it’s all downhill from here.
She was beautiful. She was also 30 and apparently without a loved one to hold her. This can be depressing for women.
No matter what YOU say, a Christian whose life goes unchanged has not been born again and is not saved.
“14 What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? 17 So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.
18 But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. 19 You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder! 20 Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless? 21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? 22 You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works; 23 and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”—and he was called a friend of God. 24 You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. 25 And in the same way was not also Rahab the prostitute justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way? 26 For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.” - James 2
This does not mean doing good things saves us, but it means those with a saving belief WILL be changed - over time - because we are “predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.” - Romans 8
So while a liberal who rejects the word of God on matters of sexuality may become a Christian, his rejection of God’s word will give way to the leading of the Holy Spirit. It won’t be done in a day or a decade, but God will NOT leave us unchanged, rejoicing in sin. We cannot continue believing homosexuality is acceptable because God will not let us:
“19 Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, 21 envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. 24 And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.” - Galatians 5
To repeat: “I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.” I’ll take the word of Paul over yours.
Okay, so am I to understand that only American conservatives can be Christians?
“only American conservatives can be Christians?”
You deliberately distort what I’ve written. I’ve said ZERO equating “American” with “Christian”. ZERO!
BUT: Yes, when someone follows Jesus, following Him will change how they view the world and will limit what they will call acceptable behavior. You cannot pretend homosexuality is good, acceptable or even natural while still following Jesus. You cannot pretend shacking up is OK. You cannot pretend that voting to support the poor is the moral equivalent of actually doing so yourself.
Let’s be clear: As one pundit put it decades ago, liberals plan to go before God on Judgement Day and say, “But God, I gave OTHER PEOPLES’ MONEY to the poor!”
You cannot worship Jesus and worship Big Government as well. You cannot grovel before government as the Authority in Life and follow Jesus. “But Peter and John answered them, “You yourselves judge which is right in God’s sight—to obey you or to obey God.” - Acts 4
Liberals worship government. Christians cannot. That includes not worshipping the US government. As CS Lewis put it:
“It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest most uninteresting person you can talk to may one day be a creature which,if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare. All day long we are, in some degree helping each other to one or the other of these destinations. It is in the light of these overwhelming possibilities, it is with the awe and the circumspection proper to them, that we should conduct all of our dealings with one another, all friendships, all loves, all play, all politics. There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations - these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit - immortal horrors or everlasting splendors.”
No liberal would write “Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations - these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat.” Yet that is the unmistakable conclusion of Christianity. Liberals would require every knee to bow before “Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations”. We cannot. And no one led by the Holy Spirit will continue to bow before “Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations” - which makes Christians the ultimate subversives.
Indeed, Jesus was the one who held up the coin and pointed out that it was Caesar's face upon it. "Give unto Caesar what belongs to Caesar." He literally said that your money belongs to the government. Jesus did not have the views you ascribe to him. He did not have modern political views.
And there is nothing to indicate that homosexuality (lust) was any higher on his list of sins than pride, gluttony, or sloth. For all you know, being morbidly obese would offend him more than being gay. You don't know. You just assume.
“He literally said that your money belongs to the government. Jesus did not have the views you ascribe to him.”
No, he didn’t say that. He said to give to God what belongs to God, and to give to Rome what belongs to Rome. You owe worship and allegiance to GOD, and taxes to Rome. Or, as Richard Wurmbrand interpreted it, Jesus was subtly suggesting we give God what HE deserves, and Rome what THEY deserved - as viewed by a first century Jew!
“For all you know, being morbidly obese would offend him more than being gay. You don’t know. You just assume.”
“They say they are wise, but they are fools; 23 instead of worshiping the immortal God, they worship images made to look like mortals or birds or animals or reptiles.
24 And so God has given those people over to do the filthy things their hearts desire, and they do shameful things with each other. 25 They exchange the truth about God for a lie; they worship and serve what God has created instead of the Creator himself, who is to be praised forever! Amen.
26 Because they do this, God has given them over to shameful passions. Even the women pervert the natural use of their sex by unnatural acts. 27 In the same way the men give up natural sexual relations with women and burn with passion for each other. Men do shameful things with each other, and as a result they bring upon themselves the punishment they deserve for their wrongdoing.” - Romans 1
Admittedly, Paul is leading up to saying we are ALL sinners, and I fully believe gluttony - which is different from “morbid obese” - truly IS as good at separating us from God as homosexuality is. But while all sins separate us from God, some sins are more defiant of God than others - and/or more harmful to society! You don’t have to live around many animals to realize taking it up the butt is an unnatural sex act! It is hard to give a bigger Middle Finger Salute to God than that!
But while I agree all sin separates us from God, the liberal “Christians” want me to accept homosexuality while rejecting societal sins. Racism bad - which it is, but it is EASY to “repent” of society’s racism sins while then ignoring our own, favorite PERSONAL sins. Liberals “repent” of the sins of others while refusing to repent of their own!
“You don’t know. You just assume.”
Spoken like someone who rejects scripture as being “God-breathed”, to use the Apostle Paul’s term. Jesus repeatedly quoted scripture: “It is written” while liberal “Christians” ignore it because “the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” - Hebrews 4
We don’t need to “assume” what God accepts or rejects. He has told us in ample detail.
I read something years ago, a very interesting perspective on depression. Depression may be God’s way to make us be quiet and listen, to look inward, pray and use this time to become more spiritual and of course, to seek God and take these times of depression as a gift. If everyone was upbeat, happy, content there would be no need to search for answers. Instead, people are told to seek medical help, which of course, means medication for depression we are then anesthetized into “happiness”.
You don’t know what Liberals want you to accept. There are plenty of Christian liberals who consider homosexuality a sin. Not all liberals have the exact same views. They vary on abortion, they vary on gays, they vary on foreign involvement... what they generally agree on, however, is that they want our taxes to go for social programs for health and education, and there is nothing inherently unChristian about that. Nothing.
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