January 06, 2014

Hurtful

I am amazed at the number of gays coming out of the closet and how they are welcomed with open arms, even in the church. One pastor recently lamented that he can see how his past sermons were hurtful to gays. If a believer in the church is a practicing homosexual, Paul says, “But now I am writing you that you must not associate with anyone who calls himself a brother but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or a slanderer, a drunkard or a swindler. With such a man do not even eat. What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? God will judge those outside. “Expel the wicked man from among you.” (1Cor 5:1-13 NIV) We all have sin in our life, but if a person in the church is practicing adultery, practicing greed, practicing homosexuality, etc. we are not to associate with him. The Word of God is not negated because someone may find it hurtful.

1 comment:

Steve Corey said...

Gail;

-----I’m not amazed. I’m just getting past being upset. I am beginning to feel joyful. It isn’t that I’m glad gays are coming out. It isn’t that I’m glad there are lots of gays. Or any at all. It’s that I understand why gays are coming out and why so many others are accepting it, even welcoming and celebrating it. It’s that I’m seeing human nature going to where it always sinks: the Junior High culture populated with grade school maturity.
-----I think we all who are alive now have had the Junior High experience. Just recall all of the hows and whats and whys of a good old sweeping Junior High fad. Gayin’ out makes sense in this light. Once people think something’s popular, they all climb aboard, because, well, fame and fortune is a flickering flame in every heart. It’s why good little girls cross the entertainment stage to become nasty little sluts. They learn that the further they stretch the envelop on stage the more money people will pay to enjoy absurd foolishness. They don’t care that they are behaving foolishly. They care about being well known and filthy rich. And when they are, anybody who likes them becomes cool, because they relate, you know.
-----And it’s the same with gayness. Some people find that being gay on stage gets attention, which gets money. Of course, the attention is the mechanism of the whole thing. And people give attention to them for two reasons: 1) it’s cool to be seen as a part of something cool, and 2) “If ya’ says som’n’ bad ‘bout ‘em, we shoots ya’. If you don’ likes ‘em, we break a knee cap.” You know, most people’s “Yah, that’s right! I’m a coward!” line is not drawn too far from the first push. So, either way, whether on stage or in the crowd, it pays to be gay!
-----Temporarily. This is what makes me joyful. “The coming of the lawless one by the activity of Satan will be with all power…and with all wicked deception for those who are to perish, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved.” (II Thes 2:9a-10) I don’t mean I am joyful anybody is going to perish. That’s an unfortunate consequence of what makes me joyful, which is the truth that the revealing of the lawless one is very shortly before Jesus does the monster-mash in the winepress. That’s the end of it for evil! So, it makes me joyful to see evil stacking up high in this world, since people are falling for every deception imaginable. The reason is because this world has for nearly three centuries been honing human nature’s mere falsehood (Rom 3:4) into a sociological hatred of the truth. We are seeing the process express itself through homosexuality in a very, very advanced state. They are making grapes.
-----I would love to talk with gays. Their part in the winepress is not because they are homosexuals. If it were, you and I would have a definite place in the press, too. It is because they say they are right and God is wrong. There are only two statements which can be made about the truth, the self, and God, either I am right and God is wrong, or I am wrong and God is right. The latter is confession. Through repentance, it leads to life for even the gay person.

Love you all,
Steve Corey