Homosexual Christians?

Disclaimer: It isn’t my intention to offend anyone, I essentially adopt the mentality that ALL Christians should adopt a “hate the sin not the sinner mentality”. Although I don’t think ‘hate’ implies condemnation; by hate I think that it simply means disapproval. However, despite having this view, I recognise that there are elements in my life that people may disapprove of and just because I disapprove of one decision you’ve made doesn’t mean I hate you or think you’re created ‘wrong’. In no way does disapproval undermine the love you have for someone. No one is created perfect; therefore we can’t be expected to get everything right all the time. I think just like any decision someone makes you need to ensure LOVE is at the centre of your decision, and to me love isn’t condemnation, so I can’t treat homosexuals as any different to me, as we’re ALL sinners at the end of the day. The only thing I can do is learn to understand why God thinks of homosexuality as a sin.

I’m not insinuating that I have all the answers as the concept of homosexuality is just something that I’ve began to think about recently, so here’s my opinion on it:

In my most recent post, I discussed how Christians essentially have a duty to ensure the church is progressive rather than regressive, but whilst I addressed that I also skimmed through topics which cause controversy within different denominations and within different churches in Christianity. Homosexuality and Christianity appear to be opposites due to media attention, but is homosexuality any more a sin than you lying?

In my opinion, no it isn’t. I think the Bible has a very clear stance on sin in general and any other perception of sin is based either on misinterpretation or ignorance. A Bible verse that’s usually forgotten in reference to homosexuality is 1 Corinthians 6:10. The Good News Bible says “Surely you know that the wicked will not possess God's Kingdom. Do not fool yourselves; people who are immoral or who worship idols or are adulterers or homosexual perverts or who steal or are greedy or are drunkards or who slander others or are thieves — none of these will possess God's Kingdom.”

The main message that resonates through this, is that ALL sinners won’t be able to possess the kingdom of God. I think sometimes people forget that we’re all sinners. The mistake that’s made is that we think our sins carries less weight than another person’s sin. Whereas the Bible genuinely doesn’t distinguish between any sins at all. The Bible doesn’t put sin into a hierarchy, but it simply says that sin is SIN. Churches and individuals always tend to make a distinction between homosexuals and heterosexuals. We don’t need to make distinctions between them, there is no real reason for homosexuals to be classified as an ‘other’. This is what I think is wrong.

This ‘them’ and ‘us’ mentality needs to change. Think about it this way, if we apply this principle to sexuality and classify homosexuals to be the ‘other’ we might as well relate it to those who are greedy or those who have stolen or even those who “slander others”. Sin isn’t necessarily a bad thing, it’s more about what you do with your sin. Should you embrace it? No, the Bible teaches otherwise: repentance is key. Whilst the bible may classify homosexuality to be ‘an abomination’. It doesn’t say that it's more sinful to be a homosexual than it is to be greedy. If we ’re being true to ourselves, we could all admit that we’ve all committed one of these sins- the only difference is there aren’t people constantly telling us that “we’ve made the wrong decision” “God wouldn’t approve of it”. The truth is, God wouldn’t approve of it, but God also wouldn’t approve of some of the lifestyle choices that you and I make. I personally believe that as Christians we should stop being hypocritical and take the practical step of attempting to amend the elements of sin in our lives and whilst we’re doing that, help others as well. Whether that be someone that identifies with LGBTQ, or whether that be a friend who constantly lies. We have a duty to ensure that the principle of love resonates throughout every part of our life. In no way should we be judgmental as we too need to recognise we’re sinners. The sooner we recognise this, the quicker it can be changed. The truth of the matter is, if we don’t do this then there’s no possibility of any of us making heaven!

My point is that, I am a sinner. I am in NO position to judge anyone who is homosexual. I love ‘them’ because they’re human, they haven’t lost any value as a human being. I think people need to be wary when making generalisations of certain groups, in some cases it can even be classified as discrimination. As mentioned in Genesis 1:27, we’re all made in the image of God. Therefore no one is created superior or inferior. God blessed us all equally, and the only thing we can do is promote LOVE. Jesus loved us regardless of our SIN, so who are we to judge others?

Just think about it this way, would love justify some peoples approaches to homosexuality? Obviously not, just as judging other people’s sins isn’t our position, condemning homosexuality is also not in our position. That’s between God and you. The only thing Christians can do is ensure we love everyone and remember that it’s not our place to condemn sinners as humans are fallible- meaning we’re all sinners!

Okay, so you’re probably thinking where do I go from here if I have a homosexual friend? I think that the only thing you can do is LOVE everyone. We can’t continue to live like homosexuality is a disease, we don’t do the same to infidelity so why is it different with homosexuality. As it may be true that God designed marriage between a man and a woman, God also designed marriage between ONE man and ONE woman- meaning infidelity should equally be deemed as wrong. So why isn’t it? I’m only human, so I can’t make absolute objective statements, but I can say that I love my homosexual friends just as they are the same, I don’t think of them as any different to me (because they’re not). Just as I don’t judge my friends that steal, lie, cheat etc. I possibly can’t judge or treat them as a ‘them’. The only thing I can do is love them and pray for my friends. I adopt the mentality that we’re all ‘us’ rather than separating sinners to be ‘them’ and ‘you’.

Just something to think about. Read this article and tell me what you think about this approach to homosexuality?

https://www.itv.com/news/2018-11-12/an-itv-news-undercover-investigation-exposes-the-uk-church-that-claims-you-dont-have-to-be-gay/

As a member of Winners Chapel, I think the church did the right thing by addressing what the person called a ‘problem’. The person came to them in an attempt to repent for their sins. So, in my opinion, the church did nothing wrong, but guide him with the Word of God and provide a way out for what he classified a ‘problem’.

What do you think?