Posted on 09/15/2014 6:32:43 AM PDT by Gamecock
I’m doing some research around the web and came across Rachel Held’s Evans post on God and the Gay Christian. In there she tells us that she has another post that is in the works about why she changed her mind on God and the gay Christian. Gee, can’t wait. Her testimony and preface for this upcoming post is simply that she has struggled over the issue, she has had many sleepless nights.
She has really wrestles with it… therefore, her conclusions must be sound. Here are her words:
"Certainly there are many other Christians struggling to make sense of what Scripture says about gender and sexuality and who long to do the right thing on behalf of the LGBT people in the Church and in the world. Contrary to popular belief, those journeys are rarely easy or straightforward. Like so many other people, I didn’t arrive at my own conclusions easily or carelessly, but only after many sleepless nights, hours of study, and lots and lots of listening. "
The emphasis is hers. She wants us to know that she has really, really given this topic some deep thought, and struggled and, more importantly, listened to others. It wasn’t easy for the conclusion she is about to make. But by golly, since she struggled with the issue, she must be right about her conclusions.
That is how shallow we have become in the church these days. We think if someone really gives something a lot of thought, then it must be correct. It must be right. Especially if the person has contacted others who have the position she is moving toward in order to come to that conclusion. Did she actually speak to anyone who holds to what Scripture says about homosexuality? Probably not. After all, we are led to believe that she already had this position, and now that she is evolving in her thought, she sees it for the archaic narrow belief that the world has proclaimed it to be.
It really doesn’t matter how much she has struggled with the issue of homosexuality. If her conclusion is contrary to the word of God, then it is wrong, and it is a sinful position to espouse. God doesn’t care that we struggle with something before denying His word. He is not interested in our sleepless nights as we contemplate heading off into sin. It doesn’t matter how many people we consulted in our plunge into depravity. If we don’t consult with God, and His word, and accept it for what it says, then we are nothing more than those wicked people Paul describes in Romans 1:18-33, who have the wrath of God being poured out onto them. Remember, if we choose to plunge into sin, God will let us. In the process, we will become more and more sinful because HE gives the sinner, especially those who have the truth but deny it and suppress it, over to more and more sin.
As for the book she is commenting on in the above post, here is Albert Mohler’sresponse to Matthew Vine’s book. Also read Neil’s piece on the Problems With Pro-Gay Theology, in which he points out the following biblical facts concerning homosexuality:
100% of the verses addressing homosexual behavior denounce it as sin in the strongest possible terms.
100% of the verses referencing God’s ideal for marriage involve one man and one woman.
100% of the verses referencing parenting involve moms and dads with unique roles (or at least a set of male and female parents guiding the children).
0% of 31,173 Bible verses refer to homosexual behavior in a positive or even benign way or even hint at the acceptability of homosexual unions.
The author is a teaching elder in the PCA.
I’m sure most teenaged boys have struggled with wanting to have sex with everything that wears a skirt. And I mean REALLY struggled.
Therefore, it’s ok. Time to rutt like wild animals since, after all, you struggled with the issue.
I struggled once with wanting to beat up a manager I once worked for. I resisted, and it was the right thing. An action like that would have put me in jail without a job.
The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?
Reading this makes me wish that someone had thought to record the experiences of Moses and the Prophets, and to write down the things that Jesus said while he was alive.
If only there were some sort of authoritative book that could help people deal with such “struggles”.
That would certainly have helped us figure out right from wrong!
Okay, here it is.
I believe that living a homosexual lifestyle is wrong. I also believe that it is wrong to cheat on your spouse, your taxes or your business partner. I believe that it is wrong to speed or disobey other traffic laws. I believe that it is wrong to hate a person, no matter how dislikeable they happen to be.
With the exception of the first one, I personally struggle with each and every one of the ones listed above to a greater or lesser extent (and a whole bunch of others). Do I give in to them? Some of them, yes - and more often than I like myself for.
What’s the difference between any of the ones I or anyone else struggle with and someone who struggles with the temptation to engage in homosexual relations with another person. None, I say!
It’s not the temptation that makes something sin; it’s the giving oneself over to it. The Bible is pretty clear in stating that we will have troubles, trials and tribulations in this life.
It is up to us, by God’s grace, to resist temptation - flee from it, if necessary. If you’re not willing to walk away from something for the sake of your relationship with God, then whatever that is, IS your god.
and here's the clause that indicates she is so terribly wrong.
Believe me, I know this. I was making light of her absurd decision. The world today has permeated the Church and the Church is losing it’s light. It’s changed dramatically in the last 30 years
Don't I know it. I've had more disappointments in finding a decent church in NE Florida than I care to recall.
1+
Doesn't make it okay and won't make the resulting damage and problems go away, none the less, history is full of examples of people rationalizing and doing even the most heinous behaviors.
There is one being who delights in our "rationality" and uses it to his great advantage and pleasure and our downfall.
Freewill comes with a warning label, but unfortunately it's often read while looking at the "after" picture.
She’s just another apostate false prophetess. Anybody who follows after her are the people described here:
2Ti 4:1 I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom;
2Ti 4:2 Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.
2Ti 4:3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;
2Ti 4:4 And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.
“What’s the difference between any of the ones I or anyone else struggle with and someone who struggles with the temptation to engage in homosexual relations with another person. None, I say!”
I do see a difference between them, at least in our modern society. The adulterers, liars, cheats, etc, are still generally ashamed of their actions to some degree. They usually try to keep their indiscretions private, while the homosexuals have dispensed with shame and flaunt their sins publicly, mocking God and morality.
Good point. The propensity to make a political statement out of one's sin is unparalleled in history (at least to my memory).
We humans aren't a whit better or worse than we were 50,000 years ago. Unfortunately TODAY we get to READ about it and SEE IT on the boobustoobus EVERY waking moment of our lives. Nothing changes: people do what they want and make excuses. They listen to Lucifer.
There are now 7.1 billion souls in the world today (Google) so there are JUST TOO MANY stories to listen to.
THEIR CHOICE. The good Lord will straighten them out sooner or later. Better SOONER than later. Yikes.
Herod marrying his sister-in-law comes to mind. A KING doing it is a MAJOR "political" statement.
Sins don't change. Unfortunately NOW we get to see it 24/7 and it is disguised as "news." Blark.
Sin is sin.
The only struggle in the whole matter should have been picking up the Bible and opening it.
PFL
I have struggled with this issue too. I have read the Greek New Testament (both a Greek Orthodox Bible and my favorite Textus Receptus older manuscript) carefully, word by word and sentence by sentence, where appropriate looking at the cultural context, and similarly for the Hebrew/Aramaic. My conclusion is not a shock to most people. I decided that God knew what He was saying when his followers were inspired to write scripture, and His word means exactly what it clearly says.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.