Posted on 05/10/2018 9:43:28 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
It's the question I'm asked over and over again. It's the question that's dividing churches and separating family members. It's the question that must be answered: Can you be gay and Christian?
Well, if you claim to be a Christian, that means that Jesus is your Lord and the Bible is your authority, so the real question is: What does Jesus have to say about this? And what does the Bible – God's Word – have to say? That's what we need to find out.
Of course, we understand that every Christian struggles in some area, whether it be pride or anger or lust or jealousy or greed. But we also recognize that these desires and attitudes are sinful, and so we say No to them and Yes to the Lord.
In the same way, some Christians struggle with same-sex attractions, saying No to those attractions and Yes to the Lord. That's their area of temptation and battle.
But what about those who say, "God made me gay, and if I'm in a committed relationship, the Lord is pleased. After all God is love, and love wins. What the Bible opposes is abusive relationships, like homosexual pederasty and prostitution and promiscuity. That's what the Scriptures condemn. But the Lord blesses committed same-sex relationships."
Is this true?
There's only one way to answer this question. With humility, we must come to God and His Word and say, "Father, whatever You say, we will obey. We only want Your will."
So, what does God's Word have to say? Can you practice homosexuality and follow Jesus at the same time? And does God's Word
We've put together a 6-minute video that answers this head on, clarifying misunderstandings, dispelling myths, and offering hope.
Can you gay and Christian? You'll find your answers here (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5l_GY6mXgQg) .
The grace comes through faith, and it has to be a living faith (with good works, i.e. renunciation of evil works and faith that God will grant the gift of grace as promised) versus a dead faith (no works or evil works; see James 2:19 again). The grace cannot be earned by either the faith or the works or both together, as noted before, but it won’t be granted without them either.
The English word “penance” comes from the Latin word for repentance.
>>There is no such thing as penance taught in Scripture.<<
The first 20 of 61 Bible quotes referencing “penance”.
1
100%
“I say to you, that even so there shall be joy in heaven upon one sinner that doth penance, more than upon ninety-nine just who need not penance.”
[Luke 15:7]
2
100%
“But to them first that are at Damascus, and at Jerusalem, and unto all the country of Judea, and to the Gentiles did I preach, that they should do penance, and turn to God, doing works worthy of penance.”
[Acts Of Apostles 26:20]
3
100%
“Be mindful therefore from whence thou art fallen: and do penance, and do the first works. Or else I come to thee, and will move thy candlestick out of its place, except thou do penance.”
[Apocalypse (Revelation) 2:5]
4
50%
“Let him do penance for his sin,”
[Leviticus 5:5]
5
50%
“If thy people Israel shall fly before their enemies, (because they will sin against thee,) and doing penance, and confessing to thy name, shall come, and pray, and make supplications to thee in this house:”
[3 Kings (1 Kings) 8:33]
6
50%
“If heaven shall be shut up, and there shall be no rain, because of their sins, and they praying in this place, shall do penance to thy name, and shall be converted from their sins, by occasion of their afflictions:”
[3 Kings (1 Kings) 8:35]
7
50%
“Then if they do penance in their heart in the place of captivity, and being converted make supplication to thee in their captivity, saying: We have sinned, we have done unjustly, we have committed wickedness:”
[3 Kings (1 Kings) 8:47]
8
50%
“If thy people Israel be overcome by their enemies, (for they will sin against thee,) and being converted shall do penance, and call upon thy name, and pray to thee in this place,”
[2 Paralipomenon (2 Chronicles) 6:24]
9
50%
“And if they be converted in their heart in the land to which they were led captive, and do penance, and pray to thee in the land of their captivity, saying: We have sinned, we have done wickedly, we have dealt unjustly:”
[2 Paralipomenon (2 Chronicles) 6:37]
10
50%
“And my people, upon whom my name is called, being converted, shall make supplication to me, and seek out my face, and do penance for their most wicked ways: then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sins and will heal their land.”
[2 Paralipomenon (2 Chronicles) 7:14]
11
50%
“And after that he was in distress he prayed to the Lord his God: and did penance exceedingly before the God of his fathers.”
[2 Paralipomenon (2 Chronicles) 33:12]
12
50%
“His prayer also, and his being heard, and all his sins, and contempt, and places wherein he built high places, and set up groves, and statues before he did penance, are written in the words of Hozai.”
[2 Paralipomenon (2 Chronicles) 33:19]
13
50%
“Hear, I beseech you, my words, and do penance.”
[Job 21:2]
14
50%
“God hath given him place for penance, and he abuseth it unto pride: but his eyes are upon his ways.”
[Job 24:23]
15
50%
“Therefore I reprehend myself, and do penance in dust and ashes.”
[Job 42:6]
16
50%
“The Lord also was turned at the penance of Job, when he prayed for his friends. And the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before.”
[Job 42:10]
17
50%
“Saying: If we do not penance, we shall fall into the hands of the Lord, and not into the hands of men.”
[Ecclesiasticus 2:22]
18
50%
“Who anointedst kings to penance, and madest prophets successors after thee.”
[Ecclesiasticus 48:8]
19
50%
“I attended, and hearkened; no man speaketh what is good, there is none that doth penance for his sin, saying: What have I done? They are all turned to their own course, as a horse rushing to the battle.”
[Jeremias (Jeremiah) 8:6]
20
50%
“For after thou didst convert me, I did penance: and after thou didst shew unto me, I struck my thigh: I am confounded and ashamed, because I have borne the reproach of my youth.”
[Jeremias (Jeremiah) 31:19]
http://www.drbo.org/cgi-bin/s?q=penance&b=drb
Yes it does. Reconciliation is the act of confessing your sins and and receiving absolution, as Jesus instructed.
Yes it does. Reconciliation is the act of confessing your sins and and receiving absolution, as Jesus instructed.
***
I wouldn’t necessarily call it a sacrament, though, since there’s no physical element.
Having said that, yes, the Lord calls upon us to proclaim the forgiveness of sins, and even the great responsibility to forgive repentant sinners, and to withhold forgiveness from the unrepentant. Usually congregations tend to delegate that power to their overseers.
So when a minister tells you that your sins are forgiven, it is as if the words come from Jesus himself.
How annoying; the html went and mashed my paragraphs together, and I can’t correct it.
The English word “penance” comes from the Latin word for repentance.
***
Maybe so, but there’s still a problem with the Latin.
In the Greek and Hebrew, the concept of repentance is an internal change, or a turning back, or sorrow for sin. Usually all of the above.
But when translated into Latin, it somehow turned from an internal change to having to do external works, which is not what the original languages say.
I’m thinking here of the parable of the prodigal son.
When he returned to his father’s house after having wasted 1/3 of his father’s wealth, his father didn’t say, ‘Say you’re sorry one hundred times’ or ‘beg for forgiveness’ or ‘work for me for X years and THEN you can be my son again.’
Instead it’s a celebration because he was dead and now he’s alive again; he was lost and now he’s found.
Demanding penance for the forgiveness of sins turns the Lord from a loving and good father into an accountant or worse. And if we have to account for our sins, we will never be able to count up enough.
So what?
They are not the same thing nor does Catholicism teach that they are.
No, because Jesus never taught us to go to a priest to receive forgiveness from them.
That’s a fabrication by Catholicism.
The word in the Greek is *repentance* which means this.....
http://biblehub.com/greek/3340.htm
Strong's Concordance
repent
metanoeó: to change one's mind or purpose
Original Word: μετανοέω
Part of Speech: Verb
Transliteration: metanoeó
Phonetic Spelling: (met-an-o-eh'-o)
Short Definition: I repent, change my mind
Definition: I repent, change my mind, change the inner man (particularly with reference to acceptance of the will of God), repent.
HELPS Word-studies
3340 metanoéō (from 3326 /metá, "changed after being with" and 3539 /noiéō, "think") – properly, "think differently after," "after a change of mind"; to repent (literally, "think differently afterwards").
Catholicism's misuse and mistranslation of the word *penance* where ever Scripture says *repent* is diabolical.
It will lead people astray into damnation thinking they need to *do penance* to obtain forgiveness of sins.
There is no grace in that but rather it's wages due for for deeds performed.
Penance is assigned at the end of confession in order for your forgiveness to be gotten.
It’s usually Hail Mary’s and Our Father’s and if you were really bad, a couple trips around the rosary.
If you didn’t do your penance, you were not forgiven and could not take communion.
Can you be fat and and be a Christian?
Well, if they use the same term, if they are not the same thing then there has to be a little more explanation than proof by assertion.
Certainly the Catholics are interpreting John 20:22-23 as having the power to forgive sin by the Holy Spirit.
I don’t think the Latin points that out specifically. The root of “pænitentia” certainly indicates one who is sorrowful, thus pointing to an internal change.
Remember also that John the Baptist warned the Jewish priesthood to “bring forth fruits worthy for repentance” (Matthew 3:8, Luke 3:8). This is a different word from the Greek word translated “works” in James 2 (which is “erga”; also used in Revelation 2), but certainly one must work to produce such fruit.
sorry- i misunderstood-
Here’s the definitive answer: You can be both gay and a Christian, BUT you cannot be BOTH a repentant AND an unrepentant Christian simultaneously, and which you are depends on whether you are or are not actively engaged in gay sexual activity.
[[ It will lead people astray into damnation thinking they need to *do penance* to obtain forgiveness of sins.
There is no grace in that but rather it’s wages due for for deeds performed.]]
Exactly- Lordship Salvation is just as terrible- convincing many that they need to ‘turn from sin’ BEFORE they can be acceptable to Christ for Salvation-
Christ came to save sinners- NOT saints who are capable of saving themselves by renouncing all sin by themselves BEFORE Christ will accept them. The truth of the matter is that a sinner can not ever renounce their sins because their hearts are sinful- full of sin- their is no heavenly redemption in their hearts before they get saved- They aren’t even capable of penance because their hearts are still desperately wicked- There are none good (aside from Christ/God/Holy spirit)- no not one- and NOONE can make themselves good enough for salvation- that is why we need the One who Was completely good to give us the gift of salvation- a free gift- no strings attached other than we change our mind about who Christ is and Why He died (ie accept His Salvation instead of trying to save ourselves by ‘being good enough that God will finally someday accept us when we reach a certain % of ‘goodness’)
And again- it must be pointed out that Paul called the carnal
Christians at a couple of churches brothers and sisters in Christ- These were people who got saved, then later fell back into sinful lifestyles- worshiping other gods, sexual immorality, greed, lasciviousness- etc- Paul did not call them ‘formerly saved people’- He called them brothers in Christ- Brothers who had fallen into sinful lifestyles- He warned them about losing rewards, about being unproductive Christians, even losing their lives- but never about losing salvation. You would think that if it were possible for a Christian to lose their salvation- A very serious thing indeed- that he would have been very clear about it- ie by saying ‘Brothers, you are in danger of losing your salvation in Christ if you continue in sin’ But he never does say these things. These folks didn’t have to go and do penance in order to ‘gain back their salvation’- They were STILL called brothers and sisters in Christ
I would say Matthew 5:28 also applies to same-sex attraction even not acted upon. What’s in one’s heart does count. Not to mention, 1 Corinthians 6:11 puts a “gay” status in the past after repentance.
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