* I am not judgeing here, please don't get offended by what I have written, look past my intial words and see that I don't love less because of personal differences... God Bless x
My favourite book of the bible is Romans. On the subject of homosexual acts Romans tells us:
Rom. 1:26-28, "For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural, 27and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error. 28And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper."
To me this is straight away a hard truth to face. I believe that the Bible is the word of God and so I must obey what is written in it. But it goes against my nature to say directly that one thing is 'wrong.' However I take hope from what follows in Romans Chapter 2...
Rom. 2:1-3 "1 You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge another, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things. 2 Now we know that God’s judgment against those who do such things is based on truth. 3 So when you, a mere human being, pass judgment on them and yet do the same things, do you think you will escape God’s judgment?"
And so through this verse while I still struggle with the fact of homosexuality being wrong by my Lord I can rest assured that He would never want me to judge or condenm people who practice what he finds wrong. Judgement is brought by the Lord not by men. It is my place to love my neighbour and love them for who they are not what they do. I put my trust in God judgeing the world by the state of our hearts and honestly whatever is in someone elses heart is none of my bussiness....that's between them and God.
So while I can disagree with Homosexuality I can also disagree with Homophobia. Hate the Sin not the Sinner.
If there was a religion that said it was wrong of me to find women attractive, I would never follow that religion. It isn't a choice that I find women attractive, not men, & for the vast majority of homosexuals it is biological.
ReplyDeleteI think God is appalled that Christians views on homosexuality are keeping them from entering into a Jesus shaped lifestyle (which is the important thing for me).
The Bible is a complex bunch of books, written by a bunch of complex people. It sure seems like there are bits that say homosexuality is not great, but it's not crystal clear to me.
Plus, there are bits of the Bible that I don't think are for Australia in the 21st century. Rarely can the Bible be read as a law book or a history book. Here are a couple of "decrees" the LORD spoke in Leviticus 19.
“Do not plant your field with two kinds of seed.
Do not wear clothing woven of two kinds of material." (v19)
"Do not eat any meat with the blood still in it." (v26)
"Do not cut the hair at the sides of your head or clip off the edges of your beard." (v27)
"Do not cut your bodies for the dead or put tattoo marks on yourselves. I am the LORD." (v28)
There's heaps of weird stuff in the Bible, & it does no one any good to pretend it is perfect.
God hasn't made any part of being a Christian straight forward, & that includes the Bible. We have to keep our brain & heart switched on as we read & work out what we believe. Jesus is who I follow, not Paul, or whoever wrote Leviticus.
For me, most verses I've seen in the Bible that seem to paint homosexuality as a sin are vague & talking about a specific situation, not to be taken for all people throughout history.
Romans 1:26-28 isn't very specific in what was actually done, just general terms like "indecent acts", which could mean just about anything.
Biblical scholars could shed some light on the original text, as every English Bible has been translated into English words chosen by humans. Not God.
Much like life, it's complicated.
I enjoyed this blog greatly!
haha thanks Nick.
ReplyDeleteYeah I think i am with you...as I said I'm not totally decided on this issue but again I don't think that it matters particularly what I think. I too would like to live my life by Jesus and I know that he loved everyone and showed love to everyone. But if I did have a view I think that after alot of thought I am with you on this particular issue! :)
Thanks for continuing to read my blog and provide such thought provoking comments x
Thanks for writing them!
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