LGBT and how it relates to Christians

Recently, I was writing a dear friend of mine on Facebook concerning their sexual orientation and their view of how it relates to the Church.  I have decided to share most of the email with some parts omitted.  These are my views of how the Church should handle the LGBT community and what I believe the Bible says on the topic.  If you are offended, then I'm sorry, but please commit the following points and scriptures to thought.

The hypocrisy of the Church is huge, when it comes to certain issues such as this. There are many interpretations of the Bible out there and people who just follow what the churches or pastors say, are just that. Followers. Sheep. We all are in a way. What the Bible says though, and what we live out are two very separate things though...James 1:22 states, "Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says." I feel like we as the church misses this completely at times. We listen to the sermons or to the Bible or to truth and do the complete opposite, or do a form of it that makes ourselves feel better, when in reality it is still disobedience. I do think also, that we need to base ourselves in the Bible. Not on teachings that others have taught. If it is not in the Bible, then it is not correct. Galatians 1:8, "But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned!"

At the same time, however, we need to realize that not everyone who claims to be Christian, is a Christian. Furthermore, those who claim to be Christian, aren't always transformed in an instant. The Bible talks of how we must, "be holy for I am Holy." (1 Peter 1:16) This is a work in progress...We are being transformed day by day. Romans 12:1-2, "Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. 2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will."

You see becoming a Christian is more than saying a simple prayer, living life as good as possible, then going to heaven. No. It is much more than that. How prideful of us to assume, that we, humans, can accept the King of the universe. Who are we to accept Him? Becoming a Christian is surrendering our life to Him. Everything we are...thoughts, words, actions, deeds. Anything less than complete surrender to who He is just lifting up our pride...which is sin....no matter how "Godly" it may seem. We see Jesus doing this in the Garden right before he was crucified. In less than an hour he submitted himself three different times to God..."Not my will but yours be done." His body wanted something different, however, Jesus became perfect in his submission. He was the ultimate example for us.

Furthermore, we as Christians have it wrong, when we just want to get to heaven. Truth is, we should desire God even if we didn't get anything he promised us...heaven, health, etc etc. He is not a magic genie nor a means to an end. He is the means AND the end. He deserves all our worship, not because of who we are or what we can do for Him, but because of who He is. The Holy Spirit gives us that ability and even desire to love Him.

So what does it mean to love him? 1 Cor. 8:3, "But if anyone loves God, this one is known by Him." In Matthew, when he is judging the world, what does he say? He tells those to depart, "who never knew him." So if we love him, he knows us. How do we love him? John 14:15, "If you love me you will keep my commands." What are His commands? 1 John 3:23, "And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us." So what does love look like? Well of course there is 1 Corinthians 13:4-8. There is also Romans 12:9-21, "9 Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. 10 Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves.11 Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. 12 Be joyful in hope,patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. 13 Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality. 14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. 16 Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited. 17 Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. 18 If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. 19 Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,”says the Lord. 20 On the contrary:
“If your enemy is hungry, feed him;
if he is thirsty, give him something to drink.
In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.”

21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good."

So what does this mean. This means that an infinitely Holy God has provided a way for us to be reconciled to Him. He created all...the world, the universe, and all the laws within. There is an order to it. anything contradictory to that is opposite to God. Enter the sinner. Think about it this way. If I sin against a rock...I'm not very guilty. If I sin against a person...then I can be found guilty. But if I sin against an infinitely Holy, just, loving and perfect God, then I am infinitely guilty and deserve whatever punishment He has in store. What I am trying to do is paint a picture here of how utterly defenseless we are. We are nothing. In Job, Elihu tells Job, that basically if God took His Spirit away we would all die and turn to dust. That is how desperately in need of Him, we really are. So as we come to Him, we can come with nothing. We have to be willing to give up all our ways in change for His. Jesus, when he went to the cross, was not sweating blood because of what some Roman soldiers were about to put him through. Lets think about it, there have been countless martyrs after Him that have gone to their deaths and singing praises to God. In no way did they have more courage than Jesus, their ultimate example. No. Jesus was not scared of what was about to happen through the soldiers. He wanted the "cup," to pass. The cup of God's wrath. If we look back in Isaiah and in the Psalms we can see passages where it talks of the wrath of God being poured out on sinners. Jesus took all of that for you and I.

You may be wondering why I included all these verses and went on that seemingly long rabbit trail. I know you may have heard all of this at some point. The reason is to point out some of the hypocrisy of the church. Moreover, I want you to evaluate where you are coming from. 

First off is scripture. I believe that for anything that gets traced back to theology, it needs to be based on scripture.  Lets remember Jesus came to fulfill the old covenant and through fulfilling it he made a new covenant with man. A covenant in which we were provided a way to come to God. "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." John 14:6. However, there are still certain things that are an abomination to God. I firmly believe that any "loving" relationship outside of heterosexual marriage is disgusting to Him. Lets look at Romans 1:24-32, "Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. 25 They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.

26 Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. 27 In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error.

28 Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done. 29 They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; 31 they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy. 32 Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them."

Here we can clearly see the language the Bible has towards homosexuality, bestiality, trans, Pan, bi. etc. This is where I disagree with the culture in the church. They do look down on those in the LGBT community while heterosexual pre-marital sex is being preformed in the churches and no one says a thing about it. Pre-marital sex (petting, oral sex, whatever) is just as much of a sin as being Gay, lesbian, etc. Why? Just look at the language used here...depraved mind, do what ought not to be done, filled with every kind of wickedness, unnatural relationships, shameful acts. Honestly, based on this text alone, I do not understand how being part of a community that accepts anything else than what was ordained by God in Genesis is acceptable, "For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother, and be joined to his wife..." (Genesis 2:24; Mark10:7; Ephesians 5:31).

Furthermore, it is addressed all throughout the New Testament, how we are to be sexually moral. 1 Corinthians 6:18; 1 Thessalonians 4:3-5; 1 Cor. 10:13; Matt. 5:28, Ephesians 5:5. 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 puts it more bluntly, "Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God."

Now please do not hear what I am not saying. I am not saying that LGBT's are going to hell and that there is no hope for them. Au contrair. There is always hope. Their sin is no more grave than that of a murderer or thief. It is sin though, just as is heterosexual pre-marital sex. All sin is an abomination to God and needs to be cleansed. There should be absolutely no justification for a sinful lifestyle for a Christian (Romans 6 backs me up on this and so does Galatians 2:17-21---17 “But if, in seeking to be justified in Christ, we Jews find ourselves also among the sinners, doesn't that mean that Christ promotes sin? Absolutely not! 18 If I rebuild what I destroyed, then I really would be a lawbreaker.19 “For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God. 20 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. 21 I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law,Christ died for nothing!”). Do not get me wrong, I believe LGBT's need love, however you can love in a way that points them to God instead of a "love" that is deceiving and ultimately puts them in bad standing with God. If we are truly Christian, the Holy Spirit is constantly bringing up sin in our life and giving us the will and desire to change. Phil. 2:12, "For it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose." If the person has truly come to a saving knowledge of Christ and has surrendered his/her life to him, it is no longer their life to live the way they want. Eventually God will demand a change in lifestyle. It is rather misleading for Christians to sit back and try to justify behaviors and lifestyles that are not justifiable. Now as for those who aren't Christian, then it is my job to love them. Remember Paul writes to the Corinthians and tells them this in 1 Cor. 5:12, "What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside?" This is because the people that aren't Christians do not have the Holy Spirit and haven't been made aware they are in sin. It is my job to pray for them and to love on them and show them the love of Christ in hopes that God will begin to show them where they are erring. It is our job though, to look at the actions and thoughts of those who proclaim to be Christians, and help keep them in line. Why? Not to embarrass or judge or condemn, but to help correct behavior that may pit them against God.

Furthermore, a loving relationship, in the context we are thinking of, should reflect Christ and the Church. Christ is the bridegroom and the church is the Bride. He has come to die for us, love us, woo us, serve us, and do what a loving spouse would do. I believe that our relationships need to look like that, so that He is glorified and people will see a difference in our lives and the way that we do things as opposed to the world.

Remember, loving someone does not always mean we have to accept their ways. There is an absolute truth that we need to follow. Many in our generation have given up on that and followed a more relative truth. Think of it this way. You are married and have a little kiddos running around the house. He wants to touch a 200 degree burner. You, knowing what will happen and because you love him, warn him against doing that and tell him the consequences. I know this is a very different example, however it can easily apply to LGBT or any other person that is sinning. You warn them and try to help them understand that what they are doing is wrong. You do so because of your love for them. This is Christian love. Love doesn't always encourage behavior. You wouldn't encourage your kid to put his hand on that burner...why, because you love him. Similarly, loving a murderer does not necessarily mean validating his previous murders and accepting that that is who he is and there is no changing it. Just like any other sinner coming to Christ, we need to take off our "old man" to become more like him. Which means our lifestyle is going to look different to what we used to live in, when we come to Christ.

Timothy Keller puts it this way, "We still have a lot of legalism and moralism in our churches. In reaction to that, many Christians want to talk only about God's love and acceptance. They don't like talking about Jesus' death on the cross to satisfy divine wrath and justice. Some even call it "divine child abuse." Yet if they are not careful, they run the risk of falling into the belief in "cheap grace" a non-costly love from a non-holy God who just loves and accepts us as we are. That will never change anyone's life."

I guess that is my main concern. There are two extremes as far as I am concerned. The church- who alienates them. Then there is the point of view which accepts them for who they are and allows the sin to go on.  Let us find the middle ground and seek to become Christ followers instead of following a belief that tickles everyone's fancies and looks more like the world we live in than the culture that Christ demands of us.