It seems that being a Christian is one of the last demographics that society as a whole allows to be ridiculed and mocked. Just look at any TV show or movie when they portray a believer and you will see a bumbling buffoon or a hate filled bigot. The fact that our faith aims to make us live in a way that places others first is counter the “me, me, me” culture that we find ourselves in and is wholly unacceptable to a vast majority of our country. It seems that they are demanding that we place our faith in a box and only take it out when it is in private. As if we can compartmentalize something as amazing as God’s love for us. They are also incapable neither of understanding that our faith demands that we don’t do things that are expressly forbidden nor can we accept that which is unacceptable. For the believer right is right and wrong is wrong. Unfortunately, the world we live in loves what is wrong and has nothing but disdain for that which God as expressly told us through the Bible is right. Even more confusing is this concept of sexual orientation and sex in general as being part of our identity rather than an act. This is what I’ll be talking about today.
Every man and woman is born with a propensity for a certain type of sin. I’ll say it again. We all have our battles to wage in regards to living with sin. Whether it is dealing with an addiction to porn, infidelity or same sex attraction, we all have our crosses to bear. Our faith is sharpened when we are able to resist that which compels us to separate ourselves from God. I know that many of you will disagree with me on this, but I truly believe that those who are homosexuals are born that way but in the same way that a sex addict is born that way. Being able to resist our sinful nature is what separates us from the rest of the world. A world that is so obsessed with sex that they believe that it is a natural right and depending on who a person is attracted to should grant protected status. That being said, to demand a non-believer to live to this standard is asking more of them than they are able to handle. Only through Christ can a person resist these urges.
There will be some that will say that it is cruel to force someone to live a life of celibacy when they were made with a desire to be with someone of their same gender, but I believe that this idea is biblical.
Now for the matters you wrote about: “It is good for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman.” But since sexual immorality is occurring, each man should have sexual relations with his own wife, and each woman with her own husband. – 1 Corinthians 7:1-2
An unmarried man is concerned about the Lord’s affairs—how he can please the Lord. – 1 Corinthians 7:32
Rather than seeing same sex attraction as something that someone MUST succumb to, they can focus their efforts to loving and pleasing the Lord. I am not saying that this would be easy, but for someone who has accepted Christ as their Savior, this might provide the purpose to their suffering that they have been seeking. I am also not saying that they won’t be plagued by impure thoughts and desires, but what person doesn’t? That is the benefit of salvation in Christ. Come to God with repentant faith when you sin and you are forgiven.
I think that the Christian community must learn to accept that the world is different from us and that we must focus on ourselves rather than trying to hold non-believers to our standards. There is a desire to make the non-believing world look like ours when they can’t accept nor understand what that means. This means that we need to hold on to our convictions and fight injustice, but holding to the idea that we are going to be able to make a fallen culture live in a way that reflects our own is not fair to them. A non-believer will never be able to be convicted of their sins because they are incapable of understanding that they are doing something wrong. A secular world only views what is right and wrong by how their actions and the actions of others affect people who are not involved in their actions. If it doesn’t hurt another human being the atheist believes that it is fair game. They don’t seem to care about the damage it does to them. This all stems from the fact that they don’t have the benefit of the Spirit in their lives. This isn’t saying that a person is incapable of being “good” to their neighbors, just that without a God centered life, succumbing to their baser instincts becomes all but unavoidable. If we are being honest with ourselves, even believers have a problem with resisting this.
On matters of sin we need to focus more on ourselves and reflecting a Christ first life to the world. This is how we are going to make a dent in a culture that is outright hostile to Christians. This means that we must reach out to the world with the Gospel of Christ, showing them that we are in fact different from them and that it is a wonderful thing. Only when those around us start seeing us as a people who love everyone instead of judging them, we will start being able to win those people to Christ and make them new creations. Then they will be able to see right and wrong through the lens of the Holy Spirit.
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! – 2 Corinthians 5:17
