Gay Christians (or, The Truth About Sin)

Introduction

    Those at Gay Christians Online would like you to believe that it's ok to be a Christian and to be gay. I thought about this long and hard, and decided that there is a very prominent misunderstanding about the nature of sin and its consequences. I write this page not in hatred, but in the respect of God and the remembrance that all men are sinners (including me), not just some.  NEW: please see the disclaimers below.

Background

    This is important to understand. If one does not understand the concept of sin, how can one know what is and is not sin? I'd like to bring this out on this page. As background, all men have a conscience, and know right from wrong. If this were not so, we could try to argue that "we didn't know" when we face God. God is not the kind of God to simply condemn the world without giving everyone a chance and an understanding.
     First, if you have read Genesis 1-3, you'd remember that God created the earth, and the first man (Adam), and put them in a wonderful Garden of Eden. In Genesis 2:9, we see that there was a tree of knowledge of good and evil located in the Garden of Eden. In Genesis 2:16-17 God told Adam that he could eat of any tree in the garden except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Also, Genesis 2:18 and following, God knew it wasn't good for Adam to be alone, so He created Eve from one of his ribs. Of course, Satan eventually showed up to ruin God's perfect garden by tempting Eve. He wanted her to sin, i.e. to disobey God by eating of the tree God told them not to eat from. Of course it worked, unfortunately. Eve sinned, then gave to Adam, who also sinned. Genesis 3:7 says that then their eyes were opened, and they realized they were naked. Of course, God knew: Adam blamed Eve, Eve blamed Satan (the serpent). Because of their sin, God cursed the serpent to crawl on the ground; God cursed Eve by pain and sorrow in childbirth; and cursed the ground (thorns and thistles, etc) because of Adam, and cursed Adam to be the one to have to cultivate it and to work hard all of his life. However, God is not evil: in Genesis 3:21 God made them clothes so they wouldn't have to be naked. Then, reasoning amongst Himself, He drove Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden so that they didn't eat of the Tree of Life and live forever (i.e. live forever in a sinful body).

Who are the sinners?

    Now, fast forward to today. Paul wrote in Romans 1:18-32 that God plainly showed mankind about His eternal power and divine nature, so that we are without excuse. But we don't like to think about God or glorify God for who He is, so God gave us up to do whatever we want. Verse 27 of Romans 1 talks about lesbianism and homosexuality, and interestingly it uses the phrase "and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due", which basically means "due to their sin, they got what they deserved." However, let's not bash gays or lesbians, because versus 29-31 list ALL the sins mankind is filled with, and all of those are equally sin. Sin doesn't come in degrees, it's black and white: either it's sin or not. Jesus died for all our sins, small and great. Also, see Jeremiah 17:9, which I like to quote. This was God talking through the mouth of Jeremiah the prophet. It makes clear that the human heart (or, what what we desire to do) is desperately wicked: it absolutely must do evil. We are the sinners. Every human being on the planet is a sinner. We all need God's forgiveness. Also see Romans 3:10-18 quotes Psalm 14:1-3, Psalm 53:1-3, and Ecclesiastes 7:20. It shows that there is no such thing as a person who is righteous on their own merit.

What happens to sinners?

    Obviously, everyone is a sinner. But what happens to sinners? Romans 6:23 tells us that sin is similar to a job: our wages (salary) is death, but God's gift is eternal life. Clearly (as with other passages), we are all going to die due to our sin, whether directly as a result of it, or indirectly at the end of our lives, for we all will eventually die. That's why no mortal can escape death: it's inevitable.

What must I do?

    Acts 16:25-34 gives a good example: "believe on the Lord Jesus Christ." Who is this Jesus? What's so special about Jesus? John 3:1-21 give us the answer in verse 16 and 18. Ok, so those who believe in Jesus won't be condemned. Were we condemned in the first place? Yes, as verse 19 it says that we don't like Jesus, the light of the world, because our sins are evil. Even a man Jesus healed in John 5:1-15, He told him not to sin any more, or else a worse thing might happen to him. Even to the woman caught in adultery (where was the man?) in John 8:1-12, Jesus told her that He did not condemn her: she was to go and not sin any more. In Luke 5:17-32 Jesus has the power to forgive sins, as He did when He healed the paralyzed man. Jesus spent his life (verse 31-32) seeking the sinners and making all efforts to forgive and heal them spiritually. Therefore, we are to believe that He is the Son of God and that He alone has the power to forgive sins.
    Also, we are to believe that His death on the cross is what paid them. In Hebrews 9:11-15 we learn that Jesus Christ is our High Priest, who paid for our sins using His own blood, once and for all. Not only does He have the power to forgive sins, He has the power to erase those sins. Therefore, Romans 3:21-26 tells us that all have sinned, but that we are justified freely by His grace through the redemption (or, the payment of sins) that is in Christ Jesus. Romans 4:5 plainly says that we are to believe in Him (Jesus) who justifies (forgives; pays the sin debt) the ungodly (sinners). Romans 10:1-13 sums it up very nicely: those who confess the Lord Jesus and believe in their hearts that God has raised Him from the dead will be saved. It is the power of Jesus to forgive sins that saves, but only our faith can allow that to happen. We are not to say that we ourselves are righteous, as verse 3 shows, but believe in God's righteousness. Jesus is the end of (personal) righteousness: we are not righteous, nor can we be, but Jesus is infinitely righteous, and also has unlimited power to forgive sins.

However, some sins carry unique consequences

    It is not logical, however, to say without reserve that someone who is a murder can just ask to be forgiven, and he won't be punished. Forgiveness is one thing, punishment is another. A murder can be forgiven of his sins against God, true, and even go to heaven if he is saved. However, he will still face the penalty for his sins on earth. Therefore, I'd like to list some of the sins which carry unique penalties, but first, some explanation:

About the Old Testament

    The Old Testament was written to Jews, true. However, to merely say that it's outdated or even nullified is untrue. First, because God never changes. Sin is still sin. Malachi 3:6 God plainly says that He does not change. First Samuel 15:29 says that God isn't going to just give up or repent of punishing evil, because He's not a mere man. He is like us in some ways, but greater than us in all ways. This is not to say that at times God will be merciful and not punish us to the full extent of what He promised, for He is a good God. However, His attitude towards sin does not change. Just because God isn't calling fire down from heaven on all sinners doesn't mean that He will not eventually serve justice. His justice tries to wait for man to repent, and may be appeased by repentance. Those who say that the Old Testament should be tossed out of the picture defy the nature of God. Jesus Himself said in Matthew 5:17-20 that He did not come to destroy the Law or the Prophets (the two largest sections of the Old Testament, or their way of saying the Old Testament), but to fulfill them. Romans 8:1-4 plainly teach that we fulfill the righteous requirement of the law through the Spirit. God would never ask us to do something that He also wouldn't give us the power to do.

Sexual sins

    Ok, so God doesn't change and the Old Testament is still valid. Let us now learn what God thinks of sexual sins. Genesis 13:12-13 tell us that Lot went to live near Sodom, but that those people were exceedingly wicked and sinful against God. Then in Genesis 18:16-33 when Abraham learns that God is going to destroy Sodom "because their sin is very grave", Abraham begs God not to destory it if He finds righteous people in it (probably thinking about Lot), and gets down to ten righteous people. Notice here that God was nice and let Abraham persuade Him, and while Abraham was afraid of making God angry, God never got angry with his requests. But God didn't find even ten righteous people in Sodom, so in Genesis 19 God destroys Sodom. If you notice in verses 4 through 11 we see a skirmish with the men of Sodom: they wanted to have sex with the male angels Lot was harboring. They didn't even want his daughters, and told him that they'd deal worse with him than the angels.
    This is important to note: God destroyed it because its sin was despicable. In Leviticus 18, God made clear the punishment for sexual sin. God commands people not to commit adultery with their neighbor's wife in verse 20, then not to lie down with another man as if a woman, and here we see the term "abomination". The same thing goes for sex with animals: "it is perversion." Then in Leviticus 19:17 God says we are not to hate our neighbor (i.e. other human beings). Hating sinners or anyone else is just as much sin as anything else. Then in Leviticus 20 we see some interesting punishments:

    However, we read more wisdom in Proverbs. In Proverbs 3:11-12 we read that God punishes us to help us to learn, like a father punishes his son. However, we find in Proverbs 5 we read on the perils of sexual sin. Verse 22 says something profound, how the wicked person is caught in the web of his own sin. Proverbs 6 goes further: in verse 32 it is said that the one who committs adultery with a woman lacks understanding (i.e. it can be said that they are stupid), and that he destroys his soul. Verse 33 says that his reproach will never be wiped away. His sin will most likely haunt him until his last breath. Such things are mirrored in the New Testament as well. Even without the Old Testament we find many versus that point to sexual sins being severe in punishment. Romans 1:27 plainly tells us that those who were committing homosexuality received the penalty that was due for their sin.  Did God punish homosexuality? Maybe, and that would be congruent with His nature. However, might I add that there are many other diseases we could list as given to punish some sort of evil, and merely because someone has AIDS does not mean that they are being punished, for when we sin we not only affect ourselves, but we affect others.  While I don't lean heavily on AIDS being a punishment to mankind, I would like to point out that 1) God reserves the right to punish us for our sins and 2) it's not like mankind hasn't deserved it, as if we could say we're good.

This comes back to sin

    So let us come back to the point: sin is sin, period. While I did focus on sexual sins this time around, might I add that all men are sinners, so it's not like any one of us can point the finger at the gays or lesbians, because they also are a sinner, just in some other area. Realizing that all men are sinners should lead us to be forgiving of others and to tell them about God's love, not to go bashing them. Murdering someone because they are gay is wrong. Same thing for those who bomb abortion clinics: Jesus said "love your enemies", not "send them a bomb in the mail".  Jesus preached love and repentance. However, the truth is that gay christians are making themselves to be hypocrites, since God plainly said that homosexuality, lesbianism, adultery, and beastiality are all worthy of death.  Not like all sin isn't deserving of death if you read Romans, but the point remains.  Read the beginning of Romans 2: God comes down hard on those who would tell others not to committ a certain sin, yet they themselves are doing the same thing. This is why I'm merely teaching the Bible: I will not condemn the gays or lesbians because I am not perfect. Therefore God condemns all mankind for their sin: the antidote is the blood of Jesus Christ and forgiveness.

Forgiveness for all

Sexual preference has no bearing, however, on forgiveness. Jesus said many times "go, and sin no more". We can be forgiven, but we are also to make a conscious choice not to return to our sins. First John 1 tells us about this.

More good verses in First John 2:

Those who are sinners should read First John, as it has many excellent truths in it. The truth is this: we are all sinners. Denying that fact only proves that we're liars. We can be forgiven if we repent of our sins. However, if someone says that they know Jesus (i.e. are a christian) and yet they live in sin, they are lying to God and to themselves. I offer this page as a warning to christians with sins in their lives: like those who hate other people, those who are adulterers, those who are lusting after women (pornography and lust are just as evil as actually committing adultery, see Matthew 5:27-30), etc. So being a gay christian is equal to saying "I'm a pornographical christian" or "I'm a cheating husband christian" or "I'm a lying christian" or "I hate you and i'm a christian."

Conclusion
  1. God hates sin and will punish it, but God loves us and sent Jesus to pay for our sins.
  2. Homosexuality is just as wrong as any other sin. It carries special consequences, however. But those who would condemn gays often forget about their own sins.
  3. Those who think of themselves as gay christians are lying to themselves. Sin does not mean they're not christians, but it means that their life contradicts their statement.

Credits All quotes and references are New King James Version, copyright Thomas Nelson Publishers.

Disclaimers / Misconceptions


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