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To: HarleyD
I couldn't disagree more with this article. While homosexuality is a sin, there is no reference in scripture that homophobia is a sin.

I'll bite.

The dictionary describes homophobia as the:

intense hatred or fear of homosexuals or homosexuality
Now I'm not sure if any Christian has an "intense hatred or fear" of homosexuals. Homosexuality is sin and is condemned in scripture. This isn't intense hatred or fear; it is merely fact. And if you were a Christian coming out of homosexuality, then you would hate that very sin.
[…]
What comes across in this piece is the "we should love the sinner and hate the sin" attitude. However noble this gesture may be, it is not biblical.

Here we go; the in Mat 18:18-20:

And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
Now, John has this to say about love 1 John 4:7-12:
Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love. God’s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. Beloved, since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us.
Which is important because Jesus says this, in Mat 5:43-48, as a command:
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
And so it is revealed that a Christian refusing to love these sinners [who, as you say, want nothing more than to attack the church] is itself sin on your part. Indeed, even in James 4:17 we are told Anyone, then, who knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, commits sin. as well as:
James 2:10-13
For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it. For the one who said, “You shall not commit adultery,” also said, “You shall not murder.” Now if you do not commit adultery but if you murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. So speak and so act as those who are to be judged by the law of liberty. For judgment will be without mercy to anyone who has shown no mercy; mercy triumphs over judgment.
Thus we see that the sin of refusing to love your enemies, those who desire you harm, is the same as the sin of homosexuality. That is, sin is sin; there are no degrees or relativistic moralities here. Paul confirms this in Romans 3:23-26:
since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God; they are now justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a sacrifice of atonement by his blood, effective through faith. He did this to show his righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over the sins previously committed; it was to prove at the present time that he himself is righteous and that he justifies the one who has faith in Jesus.
and again in Eph 4:2-9:
But God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ —by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God— not the result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life.
And what are these good works? They are the same works as Jesus did! (1 Pet 2:20-23)
If you endure when you are beaten for doing wrong, what credit is that? But if you endure when you do right and suffer for it, you have God’s approval. For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you should follow in his steps.
“He committed no sin,
 and no deceit was found in his mouth.”
When he was abused, he did not return abuse; when he suffered, he did not threaten; but he entrusted himself to the one who judges justly.
So then, your job, as a Christian, is to love the sinner, because Jesus loved the sinner.


[/sermon]

20 posted on 08/05/2013 7:49:02 PM PDT by OneWingedShark (Q: Why am I here? A: To do Justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with my God.)
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To: OneWingedShark
And so it is revealed that a Christian refusing to love these sinners [who, as you say, “want nothing more than to attack the church”] is itself sin on your part.

I noticed that you left out Romans 1:

Now does that sound very "loving" of Paul. How about the time Paul stated this:

Do you think Paul sound loving? How about this:

Do you think this is loving of God?

These people are in darkness so of course you have sympathies for them. But it does no good to criticize Christians as homophobic for saying homosexuality is wrong. That is not a sin by my bible.

We only have two commandments; 1) love God with all our hearts, mind and strength, and 2) love our neighbor as ourselves. It's a lot easier to love our neighbor than it is to love God with all our hearts. Sometimes you have to speak up for what is right and choose what is the most loving act. But commandment 2 should never supersede commandment 1.

21 posted on 08/06/2013 4:50:38 PM PDT by HarleyD
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