When a Christian says, "The Bible says that homosexual behavior is a sin," it's hate, they tell us. They counter with something like, "Why is love wrong?" And we have this odd dichotomy where it appears that we are saying that the Bible is says love is a sin. So, where did we go wrong?
Let me start by answering the second question. "What's wrong with a man loving a man?" My answer? Nothing; nothing at all. Men should love men. I can't even fathom why someone would think it's wrong or someone would think that someone would think it's wrong. As a Christian, we are commanded to love the brethren, and while that's actually including the "sistren" (Is there no term for a group of sisters?), clearly Christian men are called by God to love men.
I would hope, by that answer, that you might already have a glimmer of an idea about the problem, then. You see, what we have here is a failure to communicate. Because just as I do not oppose men loving men or women loving women and, in fact, I'm strongly in favor of that, I do not hate those who commit sins. How could I? I'm one of them. And, yet, if I call out a sin, it's hate? Not rational.
When the anti-biblical view asks, "What's wrong with a man loving a man?", they're not asking about love. They're asking about sex. And when they say that it's hate to call it sin, they're not talking about hate. They're talking about a failure to embrace their desires ... for sex as they want it. The problem for them, of course, is that they aren't consistent in this position where calling something bad is hate because they call the biblical view bad and it's not hate, right?
Look, I'm not going to change their minds here. They've opted for their redefinition of both love and hate and their rejection of God, His values, and His views. It's not like it's hard to see. I'm not even sure they'd deny it. I'm talking to you who are faced with this strange dichotomy of being against sin and being called a hater when you're just standing with God. Think clearly. Love is not sex. Hate is not a refusal to embrace the sin of others. Scripture calls us to love and not to hate. But when God's Word says that bad things will result for those who don't repent of their sin, it is hate to ignore that and it is love to care enough to point out the error and offer them the solution of God's Son. Don't let them confuse you with the misuse of your own terms.
4 comments:
I truly do not believe there is any confusion in anyone's mind about the distinction being made here. I also do not think there is much Scriptural support for one to believe that carnal desire is something that is included with teachings about love. There are a variety of sexual behaviors, most of which are not homosexual, that are prohibited in Scripture. And it is those behaviors alone that are discussed (though later, Jesus suggests how one thinks of them as being equally of concern).
The truth is that those who desire to engage in prohibited behaviors will also seek to rationalize doing so...to set their situation apart as uniquely exceptional and thus not to be considered as anything but worthy of enabling and accepting. They do this with absolutely no Scriptural basis.
I agree that their arguments fall flat and can't be supported by Scripture. I agree they're rationalizing their position to stay in it. But I do think that a large number of people these days automatically equate "love" with sex and "hate" is defined as "Not embracing what I like."
I would suggest that if one looks at the Corinthians version of love and the current definition that they’re virtually opposite.
Exactly, Craig.
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