March 31, 2006

Sexual Immorality

Commenting to the Christian Ear, David from Canada brought up the issue of churches accepting homosexual ministers. Although my flash response is ‘Scripture speaks clearly on homosexually’, I’ve since given the issue more thought. The Bible says the sexually immoral (practicing homosexuals, adulterers ...) will not enter the kingdom of heaven. How then, can a sexually immoral minister guide us toward salvation and heaven when he himself cannot enter the kingdom of heaven? The Biblical requirements for church elders, teachers, preachers and leaders cannot be overlooked. Trying to be politically correct, a church’s decision to bend Scripture does not release us from individual responsibility to be obedient to the Word of God. I wouldn’t knowingly sit under the tutor of a practicing homosexual for spiritual training any more that I’d take spiritual instruction from a murder or a thief. I'll post again on Monday, have a good weekend. Gail

2 comments:

David Wilson said...

I spent most of last year in Houston. I have a rule-of-thumb when I look for a church to attend - being the closest one since I like to walk to church of a Sunday, so I wound up at an Episcopalian church with quite a record of good works in the area, they have a program called LOTS (Lord of the Streets) and they make breakfast for Houston's homeless early on Sunday morning. I thought maybe I could get involved flipping eggs or something. behind the altar in the chapel is a large portrait of Christ on the cross and it made me a little uneasy because it was somehow too sexy but I said to myself, don't be critical of strangers when you are an outsider

somehow I could not connect with the breakfast program although I spoke of my interest to a few of the members about it including the guy who organized it, then the Katrina refugees showed up in town and I offered assistance and again was gently rebuffed,

oh well, so I went along to a mass rally asking for volunteers at one of the Baptist churches a little farther away, had to take a cab to get there, 12,000 people, eventually wound up at one of the big shelters, George Brown Conference Center, washing dishes at 4AM, and that was ok until I noticed that the latino ladies who normally ran the dishwashing machine didn't really like having these gringos taking their jobs, that left them just standing around, so I left, the ladies moved back to their places and no one noticed as I slipped away

so what's the point? I hope this is not too subtle, the proscriptions in Deuteronomy notwithstanding I don't think Christ cares very much what people do in their beds, He said love the Lord and love your neighbour - pretty simple really, nothing to do with 'life style' or 'orientation' or any of that rot, I think the very fact that these issues have come front & centre are a straight reflection of Christian failure, nothing but a smokescreen to hide the fact that we are not doing our job, when there are hundreds of thousands of people on the earth suffering and dying in the vilest of circumstances, and how else did they get here if not through God's love? and meanwhile we quibble over relatively unimportant nonsense

that's it, sorry it's not very well explained though I went on longer than I planned

be well

Christian Ear said...

It’s great you put yourself out there as a volunteer even though the experience didn’t seen well received at the time.

I agree we Christians are failing to do our jobs in many areas.

Since I’m really into New Testament, my observation is the Lord does care about lifestyle and orientation. Loving your neighbor as yourself (the 2nd greatest commandment according to the Lord) doesn’t negate other Scripture that directs us on how to live a life that is right before God.

Quibbling over ‘relatively unimportant nonsense’ is not my cup of tea, but I’m always up for honest, lively debate!