June 22, 2010
Does God judge some unfairly?
In highschool I had a friend who was gay. One day, he told me about it, and I cut off my friendship with him. I don’t think I was offended with him – I just… didn’t know how to deal with it. It raises a lot of questions that as a young boy you just don’t know how to answer.
Like, for instance – Does God judge Gay people? What if, as they claim, they’re born with it?
Can gay people help themselves?
Can God save gay people? Does he do it by stopping them from being Gay? Can they ever be straight? Etc.
As a young boy, I had no real way to tackle these questions, but now that I’m older, I want to. I think its important to be able to look at the past and ask God about it – to let God come in to the past and heal it. I actually still value my friend, and think about him – wonder how he’s doing, etc. But I never actually reconnected… maybe the time isn’t right.
Anyways, here’s some answers to the questions above:
Does God judge Gay people? What if, as they claim, they’re born with it?
We are all born sinners. This is a realization that has hit me really hard – no matter who the person is, they are a sinner. God judges all men because all have sinned. This includes gay people, so yes, God judges Gay people. However, this judgment is not like hypocritical society that condemns gay people for being gay. God condemns gay people for being sinners just like he condemns sinners for being sinners.
Deep inside human beings is the innate desire for sin. Is having feelings that you can’t control toward the same sex “bad”? Well, yes it is. Its also bad to have feelings beyond your control for another person that is not your wife – and that happens a lot too. Its also bad to want so many material things – but that happens all the time. The point is, we all have the desire to do ‘sin’ – we all have feelings to do things that are sinful. None of us are immune to the desires of sin. Even the most respected person has the desire for sin.
Its presumptuous and hypocritical to condemn gay people because you never know when lust will stir in you to cause you to do all manner of things. God condemns gay people as much as he condemns all sinners, including non-gay people.
Can gay people help themselves?
Can gay people stop themselves from being gay? I don’t know. Maybe not. However, can sinners help themselves? The answer to that is a resounding no! Sinners can try to be good but will always be sinners.
What I do know is that God’s way of changing a person is through an intrinsic change of nature. Before, we were all joined to sin – we are all one with sin. Paul calls this state the ‘old man’. However, when we believed in Christ, our old man was crucified on the cross, and the new man was joined to Christ in His resurrection.
God changes people from within, not from without. By God’s life we are able to overcome sin. Without God’s life, no overcoming of sin. So, for gay people, when they enjoy God’s life their old nature is washed away.
Why does God hate the sin of being gay?
God hates this sin because His heart’s desire is to be joined to man in a marriage union. The relationship between husband and wife is compared with the relationship between Christ and the church – this is His heart’s desire. This is why marriage is holy – because it reflect’s God’s heart’s desire. Having an improper union offends God very much – that is why fornication is very disliked by God as well.
What should our speaking be towards gay people?
(What kind of attitude should we have? Should we tell them that God hates the sin of being gay? Can God reach them?)
Well, first, in all matters of judgment, it is of God and not out of us. However, sometimes God wants man to exhort man to repent. This is not in a ‘holier than thou’ way, but rather in a way that would bring them into God’s light and life supply and cause them to turn to God. In ourselves, we have no authority, right, or position to condemn or rebuke others. The word of God is always to enlighten and expose ourselves first. But God may give us a burden to say something – if He does, then it is our responsibility to speak to them something that would convict and rebuke, but also supply and nourish.
For gay people, they are sinners first. Our responsibility with sinners is to tell them about how God’s reaching of man is through love and shepherding, not condemnation and judgment. If they touch God’s love, then they are finished. Sinners who have touched God’s love can no longer go back to whatever has held them before, be it idols, the world, money, fornication, or being attracted to the same sex. Because God is living and God’s love is reaching, Christianity is not a set of teachings on how to do good, but a living under God’s rule and care.
It is by the Lord’s mercy and God’s love that has reached men through Jesus that we are not bound by the chains of the world and its pleasure, but we are freed to love God and to be filled with God for the increase and spread of God’s testimony on the earth, which issues the growth of the Body of Christ, culminating in God’s coming again for His lovely bride.
