Can a christian continue in homosexuality?
inquiry
lifestyle
I was at a Q&A session recently..An audience ask how is one classified as a
Christian?A Catholic will claim to be a Christian but a protestant will say that
its not true..But the speaker answered the who so ever believes and have faith
that Jesus Christ came down to save our lives are considered a
Christian.Believing by Faith.
Ok hre's my question.If a gay person believes that but continue the gay
lifestyle.I'd like to know what do you have to say about that?thanx for ur
time...
first response
A personal relationship with Jesus Christ as Lord results in a
changed life-style!
"In anyone is in Christ he is a new creation. Old things have passed
away, behold all things have become new." (2 Cor. 5)
Ephesians 5 speaks to the issues of sexual lifestyle, as does
Galatians 5, Colossians 3 and 1 Corinthians 6. These passages speak
of certain moral absolutes. Central is the teaching that a continued
life-style of sexual misconduct excludes a person from the kingdom of
God.
For a very good sermon on this see "New Morality or Ancient
Foolishness," http://ldolphin.org/newmorals.html
By all means have your friend write me. I have an article "Jesus and
the homosexual" (http://ldolphin.org/Homo.shtml) which may be helpful.
Sincerely, for the Paraclete Forum,
second response
It is important to understand what is meant by "believing" in Jesus. James
describes two types of belief or faith in God. One type is only of the mind
and is a dead faith. James states, "You believe that God is one. You do
well; the demons also believe, and shudder" (James 2:19). He is saying that
it is not enough to just KNOW the truth for he also said, "Therefore, to one
who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, to him it is sin."
(James 4:17). To know the truth and ignore it means that one is not abiding
in Christ and is in sin. James spends quite a bit of his letter on such
things as favoritism, boasting, arrogance, and neglect of the
disenfranchised. James' audience was not bearing the fruit of the Spirit,
or at least not as they were capable of doing. They were professing to abide
in Christ, yet they were not demonstrating the fruit that should naturally
result from that relationship. That is why he asks, "What use is it, my
brethren, if someone says he has faith but he has no works? Can that faith
save him?: (James 2:14). Then in 2:15-16 he refers to those who give only
words and no actions. The kind of faith these people had was a dead faith.
They had deluded themselves into believing that they were abiding in Christ
because they gave intellectual allegiance to Christ. After all, the
commandment is "love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all
your soul, and with all your mind." (Matt 22:37). The kind of faith that
consists of only the mind without the heart and soul is a bogus faith. James
made reference to the most cited prayer in Judaism, known as "the Shema,"
when he said, "you believe that God is one." This comes from Deut 6:4. But
this prayer continues on with the statement that Jesus quoted in Matt 22:37.
Here are the first two lines of the Shema: "Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our
God, the LORD is one! You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart
and with all your soul and with all your might." (Deut 6:4-5).
James' Jewish audience would have been very familiar with the Shema, since
it is cited every day by many Jews and every Sabbath in all synagogues. He
is making a point that they are not hearing the whole of the Shema.
Note that James refers to true faith and its power at several points in his
letter (James 1:3,6; 2:1,5,22; 5:15); he is not contemptuous of true faith
but only of counterfeit faith.
If one truly trusts in Christ they will want to please Him because they have
fallen in love with Him. Certainly the believers fails - sometimes very
miserably, indeed - but still they understand that they have failed and want
to still please God. But one who continues in sin does not demonstrate the
heart of one who has been saved.
Your servant in Christ,
