First, don’t let the signs above scare you. God doesn’t do a lot of hating in the Bible. In fact, He loves you so much that He came to earth and died for us.
Second, if you have not read the first installation on this topic please do by following THIS LINK. Without first reading the foundation of this discussion the assumptions in this post might seem unsupported.
In this post I want to cover the specific question of whether or not homosexuals are going to hell as the fine loving people at Westboro Baptist Church preach. Before we start though, lets make sure we are talking about the same thing. Their are a lot of different divisions in the word homosexual. Their are those who choose to be part of that life-style, those who are born with homosexual tendencies, and those who become gay from environmental causes, and I am sure others I am not aware of. We will not address (at least not in this post) people who are born with both male and female body parts; also known as a hermaphrodite. That is a whole other conversation.
1. People who choose to be homosexual or participate in homosexual behavior
This is probably the easiest division to address. At this point in time we are assuming that homosexual behavior is a sin. As discussed in the previous blog (link above). Thus, someone who purposely chooses to live in sin, being homosexuality or any other sin, are in great danger. If I choose to steal things rather than buy them I am choosing sin. Any chosen sin is rejection of righteousness.
This is not a point that I am going to belabor, however. This is a not a post about the ramifications of sin in general. A person cannot serve two masters (Luke 16:13). They are either choosing God or choosing something else (I.E. sin). These people as you know are in risk of hell and I say risk because merely being a sinner doesn’t send a person to hell. I should point out that we ALL choose sin over God at various times. It should be noted that God determines who goes to heaven or hell….not us.
Bottom line, if you choose on purpose to be gay and have no plans to repent….you’re asking for trouble.
2. Those who are born with same sex attraction
This point gets more difficult. This is not as black and white as someone choosing sin as a personal life-style.
The person who feels as though they have been attracted to the same sex from birth is going to have a much different view on this issue because they are essentially “trapped” in a situation that is unacceptable to Christians and American society in general. Thus, the question becomes “what do I (or you) do about these feelings and attractions?”
I know more than one person who falls into this category and are sold out for Christ. They have chosen basically to live a celibate life with the option of marrying a woman one day if they do eventually desire to. Let’s get this straight…..this is not a “pray the gay away” approach. They have made the bold decision to reject the homosexual desires in favor of following what scripture has to say. That takes balls!! And obviously a person who does this would by no means have to worry about their salvation. They have accepted the Lord and are walking out their salvation daily.
The other option is try to somehow mesh the homosexual life-style and Christianity. As the preacher in this video demonstrates…..
One of the work-arounds for this issue that people try is bypassing the Bible and claiming that it either isn’t the sole source of Christian theology or trying to make a claim that the Bible doesn’t address same sex relationships. In the case of the later, the Bible most certainly does address homosexuality in the Old and New Testaments. For the first point, if you do not hold the Bible as authoritative in Christian teaching then this blog is useless to you and you should stop reading this now. This post already assumes that the reader agrees that the Bible is the standard for Christian doctrine.
But would this person be disqualified from obtaining salvation? I would have to say that the Bible teaches that people who choose sin, even if they are “saved” are in danger of going to hell.
Matthew 7:21
“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. 22“Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ 23“And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.’
It would be wise to point out that the person that Jesus rejects in this passage is accused of practicing lawlessness, which in the New Testament is basically just rejection of God. We could do a full word study on this one word but it’s not practical and possibly not important for this conversation. The point is, just because a person calls themselves a Christian and acts like one most of the time, that does not mean they are saved.
3. People who become gay from environmental input
At first glance this might be a confusing phrase. What I mean is that some people turn to homosexuality due to abuse, loneliness, or even because it seems like it is the trend. Either way, this person decided to be gay and may not actually have same sex attraction.
This is an interesting situation because many times people grow up in bad situations and they essentially turn gay because of outside forces beyond their control. I know more than a few girls who are gay because of the sexual abuse from men growing up. This is not uncommon. It is sad though.
So, can this person receive salvation? I think in this case (as in others) that the person CAN receive salvation as long as they understand that they need to turn from their sin. It’s not easy to do but that’s the way it is. Theoretically, any of the people discussed in this blog can receive salvation if they get honest and try to turn from sin. The trouble is that people choose to accept sin or choose to believe its not a sin.
Here is the second half of the Sally Jessy Raphael video which pertains to this third point.
This might have been a bit wordy just to say a little bit, so here is the bottom line.
Anyone can be a Christian if they earnestly try to live a life for Christ. I am sure we all have sin in our lives that we will have to be accountable for.
If you have homosexual thoughts or tendencies, that alone is not going to send a person to hell. I have lots of sinful tendencies that I DON’T ACT ON. I can think of a lot of times when I wanted to punch someone square in the face….but I chose not to. But does merely sinning mean a person is bound for hell? I suppose it depends on what we choose to do about that sin. Are we repenting from it or are we embracing it? It would seem that it’s a matter of the heart.
It is normal to struggle with sinful thoughts, though not necessarily always acceptable.
James 1:14-15
but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. 15 Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.
Your input below is welcome! Even if you don’t agree.
How timely/ relevant this issue is. It feels so inspiring to see people stand up for God and stand according to His words. At the end of it all, His Words are the final words
I think that all religions have a PURPOSE … a real purpose, besides lie and steal .. because that´s what they actually do. But, the real porpose it´s to love….. and peopel just do the opposite….divide,curse,judge and do bad things…….and when you actually listen to God???? NEVER….and when you love? NEVER and when you think like a human? i´m not saying they are bad religions….. but the REAL PURPOSE OF ALL OF THEM is to love each other no matter why….. if your gay, lesvian, poor, rich, black wiht…..how are u to judge???
then … I say to all religious people …… are working for that purpose . or just delivering shit all over the world…… seriously get it over!
I appreciate your response. I would agree that love is the supposed to be the core value of Christianity. It might be valid to point out, though, that not all religions promote love and caring for people.
One of the difficult parts of Christianity is that even though it is based on loving God and loving our neighbors, Christianity still has boundary markers. Every society or group has boundary markers. What is acceptable for Africans is not always accepted in America or China. What is acceptable in Hinduism is not always accepted in Christianity or Buddhism. So, at some point we have to understand that Christianity has boundaries that not everyone will agree with.
The other problem is that people don’t know how to disagree or deal with sin in a loving way. Do I think Homosexuality is a sin? All I can tell you is what the Bible says. The Bible says it is. But that doesn’t make them bad people or me a better person. I have my own sins to deal with. We all have sins to deal with. It is a shame that homosexuals have been the whipping boy for the church. It isn’t right.
the Admin is hot as hell!! love ya!!
no gain in gay god wil forgive you just truly repent .
Agreed, God is good and forgives all who seek his face!