At my friend's funeral, the gospel was preached by two separate pastors, one of which was my friend's uncle. And by preaching the gospel, I mean preaching the good news of how having Christ in one's life can completely change them and about how people are lost without Christ, not just saying a few good words about my friend and offering up some sentimental platitudes about angels welcoming John into heaven. No one there got the impression that homosexuality was an acceptable lifestyle.
And you know something? No one stormed out. I was sitting in the front pew with the family and we had dozens of teary-eyed people -- mostly gay or gay-sympathetic -- tell us that this was the most beautiful and moving funeral that they had ever attended.
These people heard the gospel because the church opened its doors to sinners. Where else are they going to hear the gospel if no one teaches them? As I mentioned in an earlier post, my experience is that probably 98% of homosexuals are very unhappy people and they were brought into that lifestyle by child molestors or because they never recieived love -- or never percieved having had love -- from their fathers. They're desperate to hear the gospel because they're seeking love in the wrong places and finding out that their lifestyle really does not offer them love. And they're not going to hear it if Christians don't get over their hang-ups and share the gospel with them.
As I mentioned to one of the posters earlier, take a couple of people from your church -- or go by yourself -- to an AIDs hospice and go room to room, asking each person if they would like you to pray with them. If you do that, you're going to be shocked at how many will accept your offer. Take them basic toiletries like toothpaste, hair brushes, toothbrushes, deodorant, and soap because most AIDs hospices have a shortage of these.
I'm not accusing you of this (though I have the feeling that some in this thread have done such things), of going to Mardi Gras, yelling at people and holding signs that say "God hates fags!" All that will do is turn them even further away from God. Jesus never treated people that way. You have to meet them individually and show through your actions and words that you love them and God loves them. When the Holy Spirit leads you, share the Gospel with them. Again, you'll be surprised how often you get positive responses.
Well, I can’t disagree with much of what you say. But I do understand that churches need to reach out to sinners without allowing those sinners to feel ratified in their behavior. It requires hard choices sometimes. There’s a growing demand in our society for churches to approve of homosexual conduct for no other reason than that such behavior is fashionable and PC protected.
Praise God for folks who don’t try to squeeze God into their tiny tidy little narrow, rigid boxes.
Sometimes I think organized religion—even the Christian variety—has done almost as much to hinder folks forming a RELATIONSHIP WITH CHIRST as they have to foster one. Sometimes, I’m certain that’s true.