Proinsias wrote:I suppose it comes down to once you've committed to it then it makes perfect sense. If you start viewing on a level ground with other literature then things are a little more complicated, or rather more vague. I think the issue may be that I have a great deal of respect for many traditions and you have respect for one only, on the other hand I have only a little knowledge of many traditions and you appear to have a wealth of knowledge on one.
^^ INCORRECT. What it really comes down to is the truth and one's position concerning it. Objective truth matters. For example, take two different assertions of fact that are opposed to each other such as 2+2=4 and 2+1=4 within the context of simple arithmetic. What you're saying is that if a culture view 2+1=4 as correct then it is:
even though it is not. This type of reasoning will take you into all kind of error.
You can choose to put on Christ, renew your mind, and learn to walk in the light standing before God at the judgement and counted worthy to enter into eternal life or you can put on homosexuality and a deceived mind and give your flesh over to corruption unto eternal condemnation.
The earliest revelation of what constitutes a holy standard for a sexual relationship was given by God after creating the first woman and is described in Genesis. Yet as Paul observed when studying the Greco-Roman Empire:
"18The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, 19since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.
21For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools 23and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.
24Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. 25They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.
26Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. 27In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion.
28Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done. 29They 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, 30slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; 31they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless. 32Although 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." Romans 1:18-32.
People chose to reject God and engage in all sorts of abominable behavior listening to demons and creating occultic pagan substitutes which they passed on to suceeding generations which we find today reflected in ancient texts like the Rig Veda.
This choice we have to choose what behaviors we engage in results in what we become. We have ex-homosexuals at churches that have been happily married with children for over twenty years. They are not homosexuals anymore despite what the popular literature says about once a homosexual always a homosexual. They put on Christ and over time conquered and then discarded the homosexual desire that once burned hot within them. This is not just a spiritual, emotional, and mental process but also a biological one. For the brain has a measure of plasticity and changes occur based on the behaviors we choose to engage in.
A good example of this is reflected in the life of someone I know we'll call Steve. I first met Steve about a year after starting to follow Christ. He came from one of those blessed God bubble homes we all wish we could come from. You know the kind. Perfect modeling, awesome wealthy parents, great brothers and sisters, excellent extended family. All the love and support and modeling and opportunity anyone could ever ask for. But Steve had an issue. He felt he was different from his brothers in that he had homosexual desires. And he had acted on these desires several times. I did not know this.
As a young Christian fresh out of a very different kind of world than Steve (you could get whacked in the crazy gang related groups I grew up in for being a homosexual) had, I was surprised one night crashing over at his apartment to feel his hand on my leg. I woke up fast and knocked his hand away and woke him up and demanded to know what was going on. Suddenly all the Morrissey cds and that biography of Oscar Wilde he had been reading made sense. He confessed he had these desires.
I was so pissed I went out to the living room where a bunch of band members from a local band had taken over squatting for free in his nice upscale pad and kicked them all out in the middle of the night single handed with much drama (no red and blue lights showed up though), I then crashed on the couch.
Now this young man could have gone either way. He could have put on Christ or put on homosexuality. He chose to put on Christ. Today he's married with children, has a very close relationship with his a beautiful wife, is a very successful businessman, and a position of responsibility in his church. It was a choice that was his alone to make. He chose to put on Christ. No cheating, no drama, no homosexuality, no excuses. And his life reflects that today. I haven't seen him for five years but he had 20 years under his belt and was doing very well.
Now very few get the kind of Christian family that Steve was blessed with but the choice of whether to identify as and practice homosexuality always has been, is and always will be each person's (whether or not they may have a propensity for it).
For those already addicted (and addiction is very powerful as any drug, alcohol, porn, or sex addict will tell you) to homosexual sex sin, a program of recovery may be the only way they will find their way to a new life. Fortunately, there are many today and a good number of ex-homosexuals have passed through them successfully and are waiting for you to mentor you.
). That honor falls to pagans, atheists, and so called religious people from many faiths that were not born again authentic Christians in word and deed taking Christ's life as their example.
