I found the last two articles on this topic very thought provoking. I appreciated reading the comments and hearing different perspectives even though I didn’t agree with all. As I mentioned in the introduction, while I do believe that God intended for sexual fulfilment to be within the context of relationship between a husband and wife, I also can empathize with the struggle people have when they feel attracted to the same sex. I realize that some people are offended by my opinion that homosexual acts are sin, but my heart is truly not an attack towards gay people or the gay community. I feel compassion for those who, like the woman I interviewed last week, are living their lives with SSA a constant, forefront issue. I can see God’s redemption in it, but to fight with all you have for years so you can get to a place of healing and wholeness must be difficult. Many do not even try.
The challenge to the Church is to find the balance that Cori and I spoke of in the previous articles in this series. How do we get to the place where a person within our church body expresses a temptation in this area and they feel supported in their fight against it rather than feel like they need to leave the congregation? I think often times the Church has shown a resistance to allowing things to make it look tarnished. We want to be a spotless Bride for the Lord, but that doesn’t happen by pretending that sin does not touch us. It happens through an act of God as He sanctifies us. We must see our sin in order for the process of sanctification to be effective.
Perhaps we are so used to instant gratification that we feel intimidated by walking with someone through something that could potentially take years in order for them to find healing, but I am encouraged. I have seen a shift, at least in the region where I live, that the church is showing a willingness to walk with people through messy stuff. Pornography. Sexual abuse. Addiction. Big stuff that the church used to despise people for, I see the Church in my city rising up and joining hands with other congregations to offer hope to people who are in brokenness. We are seeing sin and we are pointing people to Jesus, but the moment we give way to thoughts that sin is not sin, we no longer have a sure place to stand.
This is why I believe it is important that we continue to work out our faith on this issue. If the world has been watching us and their impression is that we hate and fear homosexuals, somehow we haven’t done a good job of reflecting the power of the gospel on this issue. Jesus empowered sinners who came to Him to change their ways and walk in righteousness. Will some still be offended that we voice a morality on sexual conduct? Yes, of course! But for those who are looking for hope and healing, they will find it within the Church.
I can not outline how healing should look for everyone. I am far from qualified and too far removed from loved ones who are dealing with this to dictate what it would look like. In my interview last week with Cori, I found some of the ways the Lord has lead them very different from my own experience with Him (and some things very similar, too) so I really can’t say how the process should look and it would be foolish to think that any of us can.
I am just glad that we have this platform to discuss it. As always, feel free to offer your insights. I could say more and maybe I will below, but I’d like to here from you on this aspect of the Church rising up and handling this issue with more grace than we perhaps have in the past. If your comment is more geared towards defending homosexuality, please read the introductory article and all the comments there first. Then, if your comment is a new idea that hasn’t already been shared feel free to post it on that article.
So to be clear, since some comments are being deleted which do not fit with the intent of this article, this article is for those of us who believe that homosexual acts are sin to discuss how we can do a better job of loving gay people. If your comment is a blast towards gay people or a defence of homosexuality, it will be deleted.
Christian Nymphos 