Within the last century or so, Christians have been perceived as more and more judgmental. The media shows images of Christians in the United States protesting at funerals and abortion clinics, as well as outside of LGBT events. We are quoted in newspapers and on the internet saying we won't allow homosexuals to lead ministries or even participate in worship, and calling pro-choicers "baby killers." Christians use what many would consider hate speach and justifying it by quoting Scripture. It is no wonder there is a sense that Christians are condemning and hypocritical. But what did Jesus do? What example does Jesus provide us with on how to treat our "enemies?"
First let me clarify that I do not consider the kinds of people described in the above paragraph to be my enemies. Being gay or having had an abortion does nothing to cause that kind of division between me and them. As a matter of fact, I am good friends with people who are gay. I know and love people who have had abortions. I know gays and pro-choicers who have incredibly strong faiths and strong relationships with Jesus. When Jesus tells us to love our enemies, he did not intend for us to have enemies by our choice. It is our choice to make those we consider "sinners" to be our enemies, and Jesus desired us not to choose to make anyone our enemies. Jesus intended that we always consider others to be our friends and to leave it up to them to choose to be our enemies or not. So right away we see that we have things backwards, making these people our enemies by protesting and using hate speech against them. But when Jesus finishes his statement about loving our enemies, he defines who our enemies are: "pray for those who hurt you." Those are our enemies who consider themselves our enemies, who desire to hurt us, not those we consider our enemies, or who are simply sinners. Instead we should always consider others to be our brothers and sisters.
But many Christians do consider gays and pro-choicers to be their enemies. So for those of you who are reading, let me ask, how did Jesus treat his "enemies?" He offered them forgiveness.
As Jesus was being crucified, he did not shout "you sinners, repent now or face eternal judgment." He did not say, "you are not doing the work of Christ," or "you are sinners in need of salvation." He simply forgave them, saying, "forgive them father for they know not what they do." Even when Jesus was being nailed to a cross, he had compassion on those who considered themselves his enemies. And that is the model we should follow when dealing with those we consider our enemies (even though we aren't supposed to consider anyone our enemies).
So when we are faced with those we think are our enemies, when we are dealing with supposed sinners who we think need to repent, it is not our responsibility as Christians to tell them to repent or change. It is not our responsibility to protest them or speak hatefully about them. It is our responsibility to show them compassion and offer them forgiveness. We can withhold the keys to the kingdom of heaven, or we can offer them freely just as Jesus does for us. If you are thinking Jesus could do this because he was God, but we cannot, let me point you to Stephen in Acts 7:60 who, while being stoned to death by his "enemies," found the ability to show them compassion and forgave them. That is what Jesus did.
Blessings,
-Brandon
I'm not sure I quite understand. It seems you are, after all, including gays and pro-choicers as the perceived enemies of some Christians, and you're advising these Christians to forgive the gays and pro-choicers? But if the gays and pro-choicers have not done the Christians any harm, then what do the Christians need to forgive?
ReplyDeleteIt seems to me that the fact of someone being gay or pro-choice is no one's business but their own, so it seems a little odd to ask perfect strangers to "forgive" them for those attributes.
Keith,
ReplyDeleteI agree with you 100% that gays and pro-lifers have not done anything requiring our forgiveness. However, many Christians do consider these groups of people to be their enemies, indicating they feel wronged by them in some way. My point was that when we are confronted with such "enemies," Jesus modeled for us that we need to be forgiving and not judgmental.
Blessings,
-Brandon
Brandon,
ReplyDeleteIf you really love sinners then you cannot say that homosexuality is compatible with christianity. You will not find one scripture than condones same sex practices. We cannot twist scripture just so we will have the aproaval of man. All sin leads to death(Romans 6:23). Why would you want someone that you love to go down that road? If we truly love sinners than we need to show them the truth. They have been decieved by Satan. By sugercoating homosexuality we are just allowing people to feel good about their sin. Should we Judge, no. Should we condemn, no. Should we encouage the gay lifestle? Absolutely Not!
Jesus also knew that death is not something to be afraid of. You talk about death like a coward.
DeleteBeing gay does not literally lead to death. The problem you are having with Brandon is you want him to say that he condones homosexuality. Your job as a human being, Anonymous, is to pay attention and be alive, and it does not involve bashing others and becoming heated over something that does not bother you and does not matter. Homosexuality isn't the problem. Evil, ignorance, and stupidity are, and I think you may be exhibiting a little bit of the latter when you say that bothering somebody about something that doesn't matter is loving them, just like thinking telling a dog no or yelling at a dog is the right thing to do. I'm not comparing gay people to dogs; I am comparing your attitude towards others as such.
DeleteScripture does not condone medication but I doubt you are opposed to going to the hospital for treatment. Just because the bible does not condone something, does not mean it condemns it. Besides, Romans also says "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." One does not need to be without sin to be in Christ Jesus. Therefore, even if homosexuality is a sin (which it is not) does not mean someone needs to shun their homosexuality in order to be in Christ. "All have sinned." I would bet you still have a sin or two in your back pocket.
ReplyDelete"God’s Wrath Against Sinful Humanity
Delete18 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, 19 since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20 For 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 people are without excuse.
21 For 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. 22 Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles.
24 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." Romans 1:18 -32 (NIV)
AMEN!!!
DeleteThere is no such thing as a Gay Christian. Biblically impossible!
ReplyDeleteA person can not serve two masters. A practicing homosexual is serving the creature rather than the creator. You can cough up what ever lame excuses you want, but it doesn't change the truth. There will be NO HOMOSEXUALS allowed into heaven, PERIOD. That's God promise on that.
You can not walk in the flesh and get into Heaven. A practicing sinner is one who walks in the flesh and a homosexual is just that.
ReplyDeleteWow Jeffrey. Good luck.
DeleteJeffrey you're right about practising homosexuals and the same applies to unmarried practising heterosexuals, however it's not the sin that condemns them, but the fact they they are sinners if they are unregenerate, having not repented of their sinfulness and turned to follow Christ. Jesus response was not one of condemnation, but to "go and sin no more" which is true repentance. Aside from the fact that the Bible is clear that Man should not lie with man nor woman with woman nor men nor women to lie with beasts, there are those who have missed what the male/female intimate relationship is all about. The bible tells us(Eph 5) that this mystery of Christ's relationship with His bride, His church, is what the lawful union of one man and one woman represents. You cannot shoehorn that relationship into any other relationship than the married male to his (female)wife.
ReplyDeleteI don't understand why anyone has a problem with what Brandon said.
ReplyDeleteThe last couple of days I've been wanting to know how Jesus loved His enemies and so yesterday I Googled that and see this post. It was the same date, and even the same day of the week, only written 5 years earlier, so I paid attention. I believe God wanted me to see the point you make that we are to have no enemies. That was a perspective changer for me! Thank you
ReplyDelete