An Ongoing Debate!

Hello Guys and Gals!

I'm going to post some things I have commented on in the past couple weeks that has been an ongoing debate covering the issues of being gay, judging, what the word of God truly is and how much of it we follow and other things.

First of all, if you're going to quote the verses of the bible, you have to take into the context of the quote the following: Who was the author? Who was his audience? What was happening at that time to prompt the message? and lastly, What is the whole point of the message?

You cannot take just one verse here or there and apply your own interpretation to it. If you do such a thing, then you are not using a logical argument and therefore your whole argument is illogical and false!

I believe that we can talk about tough subjects such as this without resorting to hateful behavior such as 'removing' people from friend lists just because they do not believe as you do. Anyone who does remove others from friend lists for a differing belief is simply showing to the world what a small minded person they are for not being able to accept the fact that theirs is not the only opinion or belief on any given subject.

I believe that if we talk about these hard topics more often that they will become less difficult to talk about and that the truth about all aspects of these hard subjects will become known and people will be able to converse about them without resorting to anger, violence and belittling behavior. Be open minded, not saying you have to accept the other's beliefs, but more that you should listen to them just as they also listen to yours.

How can we know what He views sin to be? By the Word of God! 2 Timothy 3:16-17 states, 'All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.' He has already given to us the definition of what sin is in Leviticus. The original poster does not want to discuss Leviticus because she believes it does not apply today. But the purpose of the Law was to convict the sinner of sin by giving them the knowledge of what sin is. It gives us the knowledge that we have sinned against God and through the Law we know that we need someone to save us from the wrath of God. Galatians 3:22-24 reads, 'But the Scripture has shut up everyone under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. But before faith came, we were kept in custody under the law, being shut up to the faith which was later to be revealed. Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith.' So the purpose of Leviticus is to give us knowledge that we have sinned and to lead us to Christ!

Many people say that we are not to even speak to her about Leviticus or Deuteronomy or any of the texts in the Old Testament which speak about the homosexual lifestyle. But they still do apply whether she wants to believe it or not. She also commented that she did not fully trust the Apostle Paul's letters to be the Word of God! Let me ask you this, if God is almighty, which He is, do you think that He would have let Paul's letters be a part of His Word for so long if they were not inspired by God? The actual translation from the Greek in 2 Timothy 3:16 is more to the effect of 'God breathed'! That means that Scripture, all of it, every last word of it, is breathed directly from the mouth of God the Father, Himself! These people are therefore discounting the very Word of God in her statement. As for their translational efforts of the Greek language in respect to homosexual behavior in the New Testament, it is very clear that they have never studied Greek in any of the ancient dialects and that their understanding of Greek comes from a person who does not have a clear understanding of how the Greek language is to be read or even translated.

What about judging people? I do agree we are not to judge. But we are to discern. There is a difference. Please remember that the 'judging' that the bible refers to as being a sin is one in which a person 'judges' another as being sinful and goes about trying to separate themselves from that sinful person! These are the types of 'judging' that the bibles says for us not to do for that is the sin.

But we ARE supposed to discern! We are to use our judgement to discern the truth which the bible has already defined to see whether another person is sinful or not sinful. So what if we DO discern that they are sinful? Then we go and HELP them free themselves from that sin in love!

Too many people who ARE living in sin use the 'don't judge me' statement as a weapon to try and defend themselves in their own attempt to justify their sin, and yes it is sin, to themselves and the rest of the world.

If a person is truly happy being 'gay', what difference does it make if someone else says their behavior is sin or not sin? The difference is that they KNOW it is a sin and are seeking to justify their living in that sin to themselves and the rest of the world.

But make no mistake, we ARE called to the truth! The truth is that homosexual behavior, meaning the physical act of men lying with men or women lying with women, is a sin! Just like sex outside of marriage, defined as one man and one woman joined in a union under God, is also a sin! Sin is sin and truth is truth! We are to discern the difference and stand up in love against those who would try and subvert the truth from being told. Jesus said, 'I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.' John 14:6! If Jesus is the truth, not a truth, but the truth, then those things that are not the truth are not of Jesus and those things that are the truth are of Jesus! So stand up for Jesus! Stand up for truth! And do not let those who would subvert the truth sway your thinking into thinking that a sin is something acceptable in God's eyes!

But what about what we are called to do as Christians? As for what we are called to be as Christians, we are called to stand for the truth! Jesus said, 'I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.' John 14:6. Therefore with this statement, we know that Jesus is 'the truth', not 'a truth' among many truths, but 'the truth'! Satan is know as the Father of Lies. Therefore we are called to stand for the truth, in love, and help those whom we have discerned to be in sin, out of their sin by showing them the way to Jesus Christ. But this does not mean that we cannot discern the truth! So stand up for Jesus. Stand up for truth. Stand up for the fact that practicing homosexuals are living in sin, the same as those who are having sex outside of marriage, or those who are doing drugs! Yes, drugs is spoken about as sin in the bible, only the translations translate it to the word Sorcery. I was living in sin for the longest time in my own life because I had sex outside of marriage and I did drugs and I told lies and spoke not the truth! That time is over for me and I speak the truth that is the Word of God, Jesus Christ! Matthew 5:17-19 states, 'Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill. For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Whoever then annuls (or changes) one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever keeps and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.' Jesus Himself spoke about how we are not to attempt to change or teach a changed scripture. I certainly do not want to have to face Him and try to justify why I changed His Word to justify my lifestyle. Do you?

Please do not look at this post as a statement against any of you who might still have sin in your life. We all still have sin in our lives! This is why we need Jesus, who has called us all to His righteousness.

Let me be very clear, I will stand with anyone against any bullying of anyone. But standing against bullying just because it is the GLBT crowd, I will not do! If the GLBT crowd is a part of the victim crowd of bullying I will stand, but not if they're wanting me to stand with them to somehow give them justification that the life they are living is right or honorable in God's eyes!

May God bless you all this day!