opinion.myjoyonline.com
A tidal wave of legitimizing homosexuality has inundated us as a nation and as a Christian I wish to state my view and to help set the records straight.This sexual immorality has invaded the church itself, and the church has done little or nothing to deal with the cancer within. Sexual immorality in all of its forms can be found in the church, ranging from divorce, people sleeping together, and even homosexuality.
It must be made clear that the product of homosexuality in the public is cancer that threatens the moral basis of this country. This behaviour has brought a tidal wave of immorality which is hitting us as a culturally disciplined people.
I must say the western acceptance of homosexuality as a normal and natural lifestyle is one result of this sexual revolution. Consider the US President Barack Obama recent ending months of equivocation on the issue of gay marriage by saying he thinks same-sex couples should be able to wed. He said “It is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think same-sex couples should be able to get married." He does has become the first US president to back gay marriage.
Consider also what former Vice-President Al Gore had to say about homosexuality: “I think gay men and women ought to have the same rights as heterosexual men and women — to make contracts, to have hospital visiting rights, to join together in marriage.…I don’t understand why it is considered by some people to be a threat to heterosexual marriage”
On the local scene people like Professor F. T. Sai thinks homosexuals have the right to practice their sexual preference so far as they do not infringe on the rights of others or break any laws. Which Laws are there to be broken accept the law of sin against God. This was the former Chairman of the Ghana Aids Commission.
There is no question that the church faces a major issue on how to respond to homosexuality in our society and in the church. The church must rise to the challenges before it is rendered powerless by its apathy or before it is persecuted to inactivity for its lack of seriousness in stalking this wave of moral corruption.
The Bible says for this you know with certainty, that no immoral or impure person or covetous man, who is an idolater, has an inheritance in the kingdom of God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Therefore do not be partakers with them…. Do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness,but instead even expose them; for it is disgraceful even to speak of the things which are done by them in secret. But all things become visible when they are exposed by the light, for everything that becomes visible is light. (Eph 5:5-13).
1 Corinthian 6:9-11 also says do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God. Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.
The context today is much like it was in the Corinthian church the response, so the response must be the same to homosexuality. Just as the Corinthian church needed to respond to the moral corruption of its day so does the church need to do today!
But before we consider the responses, we must also identify the attitudes which paralyzed the Corinthian church in its need to respond properly to the immorality it was facing. They were ignorant, deceived, arrogant, and apathetic to the moral corruption within the church. The church today has the same problem.
I. THE CHURCH MUST EXPOSE HOMOSEXUALITY AS A SIN AGAINST GOD
Homosexuality is more than a mere sexual preference, a social choice, a genetic predisposition as some say; it is a sin against the Almighty God. It is a willful assault on the person and work of God. Homosexuality is against God in these four ways. First, homosexuality is a sin against God’s creative order. God’s Word is very clear about man’s sexuality, about its purposes and its nature.
God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth” (Gen 1:27-28).
The Lord God fashioned into a woman the rib which He had taken from the man, and brought her to the man. The man said, “This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. For this cause a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh” (Gen 2:22-24).
And He answered and said, “Have you not read that He who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? So they are no longer two, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together let no man
Separate” (Matt 19:4-6).
From above, the Scriptures affirm categorically that homosexuality is not only sin like fornication, stealing murder etc, but a perversion of the creative order:
(Rom 1:24-27) says ‘Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them.…For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions; for their woman exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural, and 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.
A second way that homosexuality is against God is that homosexuality is a sin against God’s law (1 Tim 1:8-11). The Scriptures clearly identify homosexuality as a sin which violates the express law of God. In Paul’s discussion of God’s law, he states, realizing the fact that law is not made for a righteous person, but for those who are lawless and rebellious, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who kill their fathers and mothers, for murderers and immoral men and homosexuals and
Kidnappers and liars and perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound teaching, according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, with which I have been entrusted (1
Tim 1:9-11).
The apostle clearly makes homosexuality a sin which cannot be reconciled with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Scripturally, one cannot be a Christian and a homosexual.
II. THE CHURCH MUST EXTEND THE GRACE OF GOD TO HOMOSEXUALS
Indeed, homosexuality is a sin against God, but it is also one of many sins against God, for which Jesus Christ died for. This is a truth which the church must never forget. Believers are called upon by Christ to extend the grace of the cross to homosexuals, to assure them that God’s forgiveness, peace, and the hope of eternal life is still available to them as well.
If church is to be involved in bringing homosexuals into the fold of Christ it must be prepared to do the following. The church must first learn to show compassion to the homosexual.
The church can be guilty of the attitude of the Pharisees towards the sinners of their day. The Pharisees displayed an absolute lack of concern and compassion for those who were lost; Christ taught compassion for the lost, and this includes the homosexual:
Homosexuals are waiting to see if the Christian church has anything more to say after we declare that homosexuality is a sin. Homosexuals are hurting people and need more than condemnation; they also need care from us who call ourselves believers.
Secondly, the church must be willing to associate with homosexuals. Here is where the church displays its lack of knowledge and its egotism when it comes to reaching out to homosexuals. The church can misunderstand what it means to be in the world but not of it. We may think that it means for Christians to have absolutely nothing to do with homosexuals. The Bible speaks of the opposite. It shows that it is unavoidable and in many ways necessary to associate with homosexuals if we are to present the gospel to them.
Clearly we must dispel the label of being “homophobic” by not refusing to befriend and associate with homosexuals. We have nothing to fear and everything to gain for the gospel’s sake.
Thirdly, the church must have the conviction of the power of the gospel to convert the homosexual. That homosexuals are such by nature and therefore cannot change nor should society try to change them into heterosexuals has been exposed as utterly false.
The power of the gospel has been rendered ineffective by the deception placed upon the church that homosexuals cannot be changed.
III. THE CHURCH MUST EXPEL PRACTICING HOMOSEXUALS FROM THE FELLOWSHIP
The church today is faced with the problem of moral compromise. The church in Corinth was tolerating a man living in an incestuous relationship with his father’s wife. Instead of mourning over this sinful situation, the apostle accused them of arrogance (1 Cor 5:2). The solution the apostle proposed was that the church exercise church discipline and remove the wicked man from their midst (5:13).
The church today is in a sad state of affairs. The debate today in some denominations is not the removal of the wicked from their midst, but as to whether or not they should appoint a homosexual to be a priest, pastor, or bishop.
IV. THE CHURCH MUST RESIST THE ASSAULT OF THE HOMOSEXUAL COMMUNITY UPON SOCIETY
The apostle Paul does not address a danger that exists today in our democratic society. The apostle could only tell the Corinthians that they had a responsibility to judge those within the church; those outside the church, God would judge (1 Cor 5:12-13). The
Christians in Corinth had little if any influence in the civil affairs of the city. Today, Christians in a democratic society have a major role in determining the morality of their communities.
What Christians in the world over need to know is that the homosexual community has an organized agenda to change the moral fabric of the world.
The church has no other option but to attempt to stem the slide of the world to Sodom. Homosexuality threatens the sanctity of marriage and even marriage as an institution for society. Homosexuality even threatens the safety and security of children. Homosexuals account for almost half of all child abuse cases. Indeed, where will the homosexual recruit new partners for their sexual encounters? Not my home in Jesus name.
It must be made clear that the product of homosexuality in the public is cancer that threatens the moral basis of this country. This behaviour has brought a tidal wave of immorality which is hitting us as a culturally disciplined people.
I must say the western acceptance of homosexuality as a normal and natural lifestyle is one result of this sexual revolution. Consider the US President Barack Obama recent ending months of equivocation on the issue of gay marriage by saying he thinks same-sex couples should be able to wed. He said “It is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think same-sex couples should be able to get married." He does has become the first US president to back gay marriage.
Consider also what former Vice-President Al Gore had to say about homosexuality: “I think gay men and women ought to have the same rights as heterosexual men and women — to make contracts, to have hospital visiting rights, to join together in marriage.…I don’t understand why it is considered by some people to be a threat to heterosexual marriage”
On the local scene people like Professor F. T. Sai thinks homosexuals have the right to practice their sexual preference so far as they do not infringe on the rights of others or break any laws. Which Laws are there to be broken accept the law of sin against God. This was the former Chairman of the Ghana Aids Commission.
There is no question that the church faces a major issue on how to respond to homosexuality in our society and in the church. The church must rise to the challenges before it is rendered powerless by its apathy or before it is persecuted to inactivity for its lack of seriousness in stalking this wave of moral corruption.
The Bible says for this you know with certainty, that no immoral or impure person or covetous man, who is an idolater, has an inheritance in the kingdom of God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Therefore do not be partakers with them…. Do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness,but instead even expose them; for it is disgraceful even to speak of the things which are done by them in secret. But all things become visible when they are exposed by the light, for everything that becomes visible is light. (Eph 5:5-13).
1 Corinthian 6:9-11 also says do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God. Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.
The context today is much like it was in the Corinthian church the response, so the response must be the same to homosexuality. Just as the Corinthian church needed to respond to the moral corruption of its day so does the church need to do today!
But before we consider the responses, we must also identify the attitudes which paralyzed the Corinthian church in its need to respond properly to the immorality it was facing. They were ignorant, deceived, arrogant, and apathetic to the moral corruption within the church. The church today has the same problem.
I. THE CHURCH MUST EXPOSE HOMOSEXUALITY AS A SIN AGAINST GOD
Homosexuality is more than a mere sexual preference, a social choice, a genetic predisposition as some say; it is a sin against the Almighty God. It is a willful assault on the person and work of God. Homosexuality is against God in these four ways. First, homosexuality is a sin against God’s creative order. God’s Word is very clear about man’s sexuality, about its purposes and its nature.
God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth” (Gen 1:27-28).
The Lord God fashioned into a woman the rib which He had taken from the man, and brought her to the man. The man said, “This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. For this cause a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh” (Gen 2:22-24).
And He answered and said, “Have you not read that He who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? So they are no longer two, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together let no man
Separate” (Matt 19:4-6).
From above, the Scriptures affirm categorically that homosexuality is not only sin like fornication, stealing murder etc, but a perversion of the creative order:
(Rom 1:24-27) says ‘Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them.…For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions; for their woman exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural, and 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.
A second way that homosexuality is against God is that homosexuality is a sin against God’s law (1 Tim 1:8-11). The Scriptures clearly identify homosexuality as a sin which violates the express law of God. In Paul’s discussion of God’s law, he states, realizing the fact that law is not made for a righteous person, but for those who are lawless and rebellious, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who kill their fathers and mothers, for murderers and immoral men and homosexuals and
Kidnappers and liars and perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound teaching, according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, with which I have been entrusted (1
Tim 1:9-11).
The apostle clearly makes homosexuality a sin which cannot be reconciled with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Scripturally, one cannot be a Christian and a homosexual.
II. THE CHURCH MUST EXTEND THE GRACE OF GOD TO HOMOSEXUALS
Indeed, homosexuality is a sin against God, but it is also one of many sins against God, for which Jesus Christ died for. This is a truth which the church must never forget. Believers are called upon by Christ to extend the grace of the cross to homosexuals, to assure them that God’s forgiveness, peace, and the hope of eternal life is still available to them as well.
If church is to be involved in bringing homosexuals into the fold of Christ it must be prepared to do the following. The church must first learn to show compassion to the homosexual.
The church can be guilty of the attitude of the Pharisees towards the sinners of their day. The Pharisees displayed an absolute lack of concern and compassion for those who were lost; Christ taught compassion for the lost, and this includes the homosexual:
Homosexuals are waiting to see if the Christian church has anything more to say after we declare that homosexuality is a sin. Homosexuals are hurting people and need more than condemnation; they also need care from us who call ourselves believers.
Secondly, the church must be willing to associate with homosexuals. Here is where the church displays its lack of knowledge and its egotism when it comes to reaching out to homosexuals. The church can misunderstand what it means to be in the world but not of it. We may think that it means for Christians to have absolutely nothing to do with homosexuals. The Bible speaks of the opposite. It shows that it is unavoidable and in many ways necessary to associate with homosexuals if we are to present the gospel to them.
Clearly we must dispel the label of being “homophobic” by not refusing to befriend and associate with homosexuals. We have nothing to fear and everything to gain for the gospel’s sake.
Thirdly, the church must have the conviction of the power of the gospel to convert the homosexual. That homosexuals are such by nature and therefore cannot change nor should society try to change them into heterosexuals has been exposed as utterly false.
The power of the gospel has been rendered ineffective by the deception placed upon the church that homosexuals cannot be changed.
III. THE CHURCH MUST EXPEL PRACTICING HOMOSEXUALS FROM THE FELLOWSHIP
The church today is faced with the problem of moral compromise. The church in Corinth was tolerating a man living in an incestuous relationship with his father’s wife. Instead of mourning over this sinful situation, the apostle accused them of arrogance (1 Cor 5:2). The solution the apostle proposed was that the church exercise church discipline and remove the wicked man from their midst (5:13).
The church today is in a sad state of affairs. The debate today in some denominations is not the removal of the wicked from their midst, but as to whether or not they should appoint a homosexual to be a priest, pastor, or bishop.
IV. THE CHURCH MUST RESIST THE ASSAULT OF THE HOMOSEXUAL COMMUNITY UPON SOCIETY
The apostle Paul does not address a danger that exists today in our democratic society. The apostle could only tell the Corinthians that they had a responsibility to judge those within the church; those outside the church, God would judge (1 Cor 5:12-13). The
Christians in Corinth had little if any influence in the civil affairs of the city. Today, Christians in a democratic society have a major role in determining the morality of their communities.
What Christians in the world over need to know is that the homosexual community has an organized agenda to change the moral fabric of the world.
The church has no other option but to attempt to stem the slide of the world to Sodom. Homosexuality threatens the sanctity of marriage and even marriage as an institution for society. Homosexuality even threatens the safety and security of children. Homosexuals account for almost half of all child abuse cases. Indeed, where will the homosexual recruit new partners for their sexual encounters? Not my home in Jesus name.
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