V Conclusion: Loving In Truthmy Background
The Bible is realistic about human nature. It tells us that we all fall short of Gods standard of righteousness, and thus none are righteous before Him . All other religions of the world somehow offer the hope that by self-effort heaven may be achieved. The Bible does not do that. Instead the Bible gives us Gods humanly-impossible-to-attain standard.
But then God intervened. While it was impossible for me to overcome, it was not impossible for God. He used a combination of His Word that I was reading, and of messages that I heard on the radio to open my eyes to the rest of the truth.
My journal at this time goes from records of my continual failures each day, of my heart being so hard against God, of my struggling anguish, of the realities of my sinfulness, of knowing that I needed to repent yet could not in my cold-heartedness to all of a sudden ecstatically thanking God for His amazing love.
What happened? Over time I had realized my sinfulness in its awful self-destroying reality. I realized fully my incapability. I could not fix my life on my own. I could not earn Gods love, approval, or forgiveness. In my pride and self-sufficiency I needed to see the realities of my situation before I would or could humble myself enough to throw myself entirely on Gods grace. But as I did see those realities and surrendered myself to Him, He opened my eyes to also truly realize His love and grace.
Dr Tim And Mrs Noreen Muehlhoff
Dr. Tim Muehlhoff is a professor of communication at Biola University in La Mirada, California where he teaches classes in family communication, interpersonal communication, apologetics, gender, and conflict resolution. Tim and his wife, Noreen, are both on staff with Biolas Center for Marriage and Relationships where he is a co-host of The Art of Relationship podcast.
Q2 How Does One Determine If The Practice Of Homosexuality Is Right Or Wrong
To determine if anything is right or wrong one must have a standard by which the questionable action may be measured. The only one with the full authority to set such a standard is the creator and sovereign of all things. Since God has given humankind His Word in the Bible that is the source of determining if anything, including homosexuality, is morally right or wrong. Cultural and personal preferences vary, however the standard of the creator who made all things does not.
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Lusts And Sexual Immorality
Our sex drive is not a sin. But sexual desires outside marriage between a man and a woman are what the Bible calls lusts, and giving in to them is sin. This includes premarital sex, extramarital sex, giving in to impure sexual thoughts, and practicing homosexuality. This is described in both the Old and the New Covenants. Some of these verses are listed at the end of this article.
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Q3 What Explicitly Does The Bible Teach About Homosexuality
The Bible explicitly teaches that homosexuality is a sin in both the Old and New Testaments. It also explicitly teaches that God offers His grace to redeem and reconcile every kind of sinner to Himself at His own expense through the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The conclusion of the New Testament section succinctly states it this way: The Biblical and Christian view of homosexuality is that it is wrong, but Gods grace, just like it did for us, offers freedom from sin to all people.
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Q10 Are There Contributing Factors To Homosexuality For Which A Homosexual Might Not Be Responsible
We all have contributing factors towards different activity that we engage in. These definitely make it easier to see how one would be more likely to conduct oneself in a particular way. However we retain responsibility for our actions. We may not be responsible for those things which are done to us, but we are responsible for our choices.
We all have our own propensities or orientation towards specific sins. The question for all of us is: what will we do with them? 24 For way too long I held onto mine. To be quite honest I am tempted every day to go back to them. Sometimes new ones crop up. This is and will be a lifelong process of learning my identity in Christ, of growing in resisting temptations and walking in truth. I cannot overcome my sin. Faith in Jesus is the victory that overcomes sin and the world . With these kinds of intense struggles there is no room to underestimate the struggles of each other. With the commonality of sin there is no room to look down upon one another.
There is a sense of needing to just get over it in that we need to recognize sins as sins, and we need to decide to begin doing what is right by Gods grace and provision. That, however, is just the beginning. The daily walking with and helping one another to apply our identity in Christ is one that must be sustained. It is then a get on with it in grace issue. So lets get over it by Gods grace and then get on with it in His grace! Without His grace neither will happen.
Two Steps Forward One Step Back
Our research found that biblical faith can also lead to broad civic acceptance.
Lerone Martin
Since taking office, President Joe Biden has reversed bans on transgender peoples participation in the military and has reaffirmed protection for LGBTQ federal employees. He also made historic appointments, including Pete Buttigieg as the first openly gay secretary in the presidential Cabinet and Rachel Levine, the first openly transgender federal official. In Delaware, Sarah McBride also made history as the first openly transgender state senator in U.S. history.
Applauded by LGBTQ people and advocates, these momentous changes have sparked outrage by opponents. They argue that the growing acceptance of LGBTQ individuals impedes the ability of Christians to practice their faith as if gains for one group necessarily involved losses for the other. For example, then-Sen. Jeff Sessions described the 2015 U.S. Supreme Court ruling as an effort to secularize the country by force and intimidation.
That outrage has political implications. While the number of white evangelical Christians has decreased significantly in recent years from 23% in 2006 to 14% in 2020, according to a Public Religion Research Institute survey their political influence continues to grow.
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Insights From Other Bible Scholars
“The homosexuality the New Testament opposes is the pederasty of the Greco-Roman culture the attitudes toward pederasty and, in part, the language used to oppose it are informed by the Jewish background.”Robin Scroggs, Professor of Biblical Theology,Union Theological Seminary, New York City .
“One cannot be absolutely certain that the two key words in I Corinthians 6:9 are meant as references to male homosexual behavior.”Victor Paul Furnish, Professor of New Testament, Perkins Dallas .
“The strongest New Testament argument against homosexual activity is intrinsically immoral has been derived traditionally from Romans 1:26 , where this activity is indicated as para physin. The normal English translation for this has been against nature. Two interpretations can be justified concerning what Paul meant by the phrase. It could refer to the individual pagan, who goes beyond his own sexual appetites in order to indulge in new sexual pleasure. The second possibility is that physis refers to the nature of the chosen people who were forbidden by Levitical law to have homosexual relations.”John J. McNeill, Adjunct Professor of Psychology,Union Theological Seminary, New York City .
Jesus’s Discussion Of Marriage
In Matthew 19 and parallel in Mark 10, Jesus is asked if a man can divorce his wife. In that context, Jesus replies:
He answered, “Have you not read that the one who made them at 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. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.”
âMatthew 19:4â6
Theologian Robert A. J. Gagnon argues that Jesus’s back-to-back references to Genesis 1 and Genesis 2 show that he “presupposed a two-sex requirement for marriage”. On the other hand, Bart Ehrman, Professor of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina, states of Jesus’s references to Genesis 1 and 2, ” not actually defining marriage. He’s answering a specific question.” Ehrman notes further “And here the conversation is quite easy. In our surviving records Jesus says nothing about same-sex acts or sexual orientation. Nothing. Nada.”
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Ii Homosexuality In The Old Testament
In the Old Testament homosexuality is most explicitly discussed in four passages. Two are prohibitions in the law against homosexual activity. The other two are historical events: Sodom/Gomorrah and Gibeah. We will not attempt to answer every issue that could be raised about each text. This has already been done in a number of resources that will be referenced. However time will be taken to clearly establish the Bibles viewpoint, and therefore the perspective that the Christian should hold. In our discussion we will begin by looking at the treatment of homosexuality in the Law. Then we will look at the two narrative accounts.
How To Please God Despite Having Same
The Bible says: Dont be controlled by your body. Kill every desire for the wrong kind of sex. To kill wrong desires, which lead to wrong actions, you need to control your thinking. If you regularly fill your mind with wholesome thoughts, you can more readily dismiss wrong desires. While you may struggle greatly at first, it can become easier. God promises to help you to be made new in the force actuating your mind.Ephesians 4:22-24.
The same struggle is faced by millions with heterosexual desires who wish to conform to the Bibles standards. For example, those who are single with little prospect of marriage or who are married to a partner who is unable to function sexually choose to control their sexual urges despite any temptations they might face. They are able to live happily, and those with same-sex urges can do so as well if they truly want to please God.Deuteronomy 30:19.
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Friends Partners And Lovers: What It Takes To Make Your Marriage Work
Most marriages survive by gritting teeth and holding on. But marriages can and will not only survive but thrive when husbands and wives learn to cherish one another. Those are the powerful words of bestselling author Gary Thomas in his newest bookCherish. And in a world desperate for marriage redemption, it is needed now more than ever. Thomas shows that although there are a countless number of marriages consisting of two people just going through the motions, there are real ways this pattern can be reversed: when husbands and wives learn to cherish one another in proven, loving, and everyday actions and words.
Newest Release Episode 2: Heroes Providing Hope
Discover the amazing work our PRCs Directors, Nurses, and Volunteers are making in their communities! Youll see firsthand testimonies of a PRC in action, and that there are other options outside of abortions! Youll also discover how your family can support your local PRC!
Yes, I Promise to Pray for the Pre-born and Their Moms!
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Yes, I Promise to Pray for the Pre-born and Their Moms!
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Yes, I Promise to Pray for the Pre-born and Their Moms!
The Gay Lifestyle Is Against The Will Of God
The tenth and most important reason we must oppose the homosexual agenda is that it is opposed to the will of God. The Metropolitan Community Church the Unitarian Universalists, and many other ultra-liberal churches claim that homosexuality is compatible with a good spiritual Christian or Jewish life. However, both the Bible and the Talmud explicitly condemn homosexual acts.
The Bible clearly condemns homosexuality as a hateful thing, and uses Sodom and the sodomites as a standard of evil against which all sinful activities are compared.
Anyone who says that Jesus and the Bible did not condemn homosexual activity is ignorant, selfdeceivingor just plain lying.
Although liberal Christians and Jews have warped their original faith teachings beyond recognition to suit their own purposes, those who faithfully adhere to the correct and original teachings will recognize that homosexual activity is one of the greatest evils in existence and must be fought.
The homosexual rights movement categorically rejects any and all limitations on its behavior and social entitlement. It is virulently antiChristian and rejects selfdiscipline, love of others, and even love of God.
It is not an exaggeration to say that authentic Christianity and the special rights agenda simply cannot coexist.
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The Bible And Homosexuality
There are a number of passages in the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament that have been interpreted as involving same-sex sexual acts, desires, and relationships. The passages about homosexual individuals and sexual relations in the Hebrew Bible are found primarily in the Torah . Some texts included in the New Testament also reference homosexual individuals and sexual relations, such as the Gospel of Matthew, the Gospel of Luke, and various lettersattributed to the Apostle Paul originally directed to the early Christian churches in Asia Minor. Both references in the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament have been interpreted as referring primarily to male homosexual individuals and sexual practices.
What About The Separation Of Church And State
Another book we will be covering is the controversial book, Correct, Not Politically Correct, by Dr. Frank Turek.
When confronted with the conundrum of calling something right or wrong, Turek notes that churches and the Bible ALSO teach that murder, rape, and child abuse are wrong, but one does NOT say that laws prohibiting such acts are a violation of the separation of church and state.
If the government could not pass laws consistent with church or biblical teachings, then all criminal laws would have to be overturned because they are ALL in some way consistent with at least one of the Ten Commandments.
Furthermore, as Turek notes, some churches actually support same-sex marriage, so if there is a strict separation of church and state, then I suppose we also must remove any pro-same-sex laws as well, according to this rationale.
Here is Frank Turek’s HIGHLY ACTIVE page, where he goes to colleges and universities, and is challenged with some of the most difficult apologetics questions college students face today:
There is no scholar who can, in good conscience, tell us that the Bible is silent on its position on homosexuality, or worse, that it actually encourages such behavior.
Some people do NOT want Christians legislating morality, but ALL laws legislate morality.
THINK ABOUT IT – do not ALL laws legislate some type of morality?
The question is not whether or not we can legislate morality but, Whose morality should we legislate?
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The Queen James Bible
After hearing such self-justifications, many pro-family Christians wonder what bible the homophiles are getting their information from.
Believe it or not, there is an actual Gay Bible. The Queen James Version alters the eight verses in the 1769 King James Version that deal with homosexuality in a way that makes homophobic interpretations impossible.2
A person may disagree with the Bible on what it says about homosexuality, but it is just flat dishonest to produce a new version and then pretend that it is genuine. Perhaps this is why the editors of the Queen James Bible have wisely chosen to remain anonymous.
In reality, few sins are condemned by the Bible as explicitly as sodomy. Both the Old and New Testaments contain passages stating quite plainly that people who engage in homosexual activity will not inherit the Kingdom of Heaven.
Bible Verses That Have Been Used To Condemn Lgbtq People
When seeking to understand any Bible verse, it is important to know the context of the verse, as well as how the verse has been translated from the original language. The following are points to consider when thinking about the verses that have been used to justify prohibitions on same-sex marriage and full participation in church community for LGBTQ people. Nowhere in the Bible, taken in its original language and context, is there a prohibition against loving, consensual same-sex relationships, nor against people living as their authentic genders.
Genesis 19:1-13 The Sodom & Gomorrah story is preceded by examples of Abraham and Lot being very welcoming to strangers. The lack of hospitality and the desire to do violence to the visitors were considered grave transgressions, regardless of the gender of the visitors. The reference in Jude 1:7 to strange flesh likely refers to the fact that the angels they wanted to assault were not human. Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned they did not help the poor and needy.
Romans 1:26-27 Here, Paul is condemning the sinful and harmful acts he perceives in Roman culture at the time. Since same-gender and non-heterosexual attractions are natural, this condemnation is not directed at LGBTQ people.
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