What on earth is Happening - LGBT
Words are amazing; they teach and empower. Sometimes they gleam, fascinate and dance on the page. Alliteration and anagrams fasten thoughts to our memory. Poems and quotes distil the truth and become Proverbs for living. Words can deceive or destroy, they can help or hurt and true words can even set people free. The King and Queen that must preside over the kingdom of words are truth and love, as these common quotes explain:
Truth without love is brutality - Love without truth is hypocrisy. (W. Weisbie)
When you love someone, they deserve to know the truth. (l. Seilstad)
It can’t be true love without the truth. (A. Kontis)
Don’t lie to protect my feelings, I’d rather you speak the truth with love and respect. I’ll be fine. (I. Odiase)
But in the new world of political correctness, these proverbs that are self-evident to most, are apparently not true for some people. Indeed, some would say that telling the truth is not loving or accepting. In the world of fantasy, you can have love without truth and in the world of science we can have truth without love but in the world of humanity, in homes, hospital wards and therapy rooms, people need truth and love.
In the sixties and seventies, as family broke down through relaxed divorce laws and relaxed commitment to character and morality, the numbers of children with broken hearts multiplied. Whether it is the ache in their hearts through some deficit in a parental relationship or an occasion of abuse, something leads to a rare number of children finding affection in a person of the same sex. On the other hand, I know some people that had a “normal” upbringing in a great family and yet profess homosexuality so it would seem that a person’s upbringing and background, as well as their own choices, can have an impact on that person's sexuality.
In Jesus' day, the Pharisees held to the moral law absolutely, while the Sadducees struggled to believe at all. The religious conservatives and liberals disagreed on the cause of man’s condition. But Jesus was not so concerned why a person had a condition, He only thought that God should be glorified by a miraculous change. Today Church liberals have adopted a "theology of inclusion” to embrace LGBTs but fudge the faithful representation of the Word of God. Conservatives make a stand on the high ground of morality but are not sure quite how to love their neighbours. Both sides divorce the King and Queen of love and truth.
Jesus was the embodiment of Truth and Love and transformation happened in the lives of all those He spoke to. An encounter with Love and Truth remains the answer for us all.
First, we all need love and acceptance. Sometimes the Church has allowed a loud minority to become the face of the Church as they picket gay marches and take their protests to parliament. But people cannot be hassled or coerced and feel loved at the same time. And now we wonder why no one listens?
Jesus had scandalous people following Him and today gay people need to find amongst His disciples those who have wrestled with God on these issues and found freedom. They may have had years of rejection because of their sexuality, but unconditional love can heal their hurts and open their hearts to following Jesus in spirit and in truth. The gay community tells them "We accept you" and the Church should do no less. Homosexuals need love without blame, and without reservation. As we all do.
Secondly, everyone needs Truth: It may shock us to see a golf club used as a tomato stake, but someone who doesn’t know the designer or the purpose for the club may not think it a strange use at all. As people lose contact with the Designer or ignore His instruction manual, they can become increasingly confused as to the purpose for His design. The world of nature declares homosexuality abnormal as it takes both male and female to procreate. If rational thinking does not convince us, Gods word tells us that all people live in ways that we were never designed for and that all people can be restored.
Israel Falau’s error was not saying that 'homosexuals need to repent and be saved', but that he did not say that ALL people, whether they be doctors, straights, homosexuals, lawyers, paedophiles, rugby bosses or preachers, they all need to repent and believe in Christ in order to forgiven and cleansed.
George Carneal, who was a homosexual prostitute for decades, shares his testimony in his book 'From Queer to Christ'. He asks Christians to be accepting but never to compromise the truth that all people need to repent and receive Christ into their lives. He said that so many homosexuals eventually “want out” and they are not helped if Christians placate them in their sin. He said they all need to know there is forgiveness and hope of change.
When love and truth do reach their hearts and they chose to believe and follow Christ, we must remember that salvation is a process; some change is instant and some takes a lifetime. We cannot ask them to change completely before they receive Christ. For which of us could change without Christ in our life? All they need is faith in the One who can make them a new creation, and a desire for Him to be their Lord.
Once they are saved, they may still struggle with desires. We do not tell straight men that, once they become a Christian, all lust will be eradicated from their heart. We do not make such promises, and the Bible does not either. That logic denies the brokenness in our hearts and sets a dangerous foundation for condemnation and despair. Some people are instantly changed by an encounter with Jesus, but others are progressively restored. And He is not put off by our failures and weakness.
In John 8 the Pharisees caught a woman in the act of adultery, and they brought her to Jesus for judgment. Instead, he said to the men, “Cast the first stone, if you have no sin” After they all walked away, convicted by their own conscience, He said to her “I don’t condemn you either, go and sin no more”. The Pharisees brought her to the right person but for the wrong reason. They came to get a judgement for her sin, not help for her sin. The best thing that happened to the woman was that she was caught and brought to Jesus. So often, we want the right thing to be done, but the Father wants the right Person to be met. Her encounter with the embodiment of Truth and Love brought transformation to her life.
Like everybody else, members of the LGBT community come in with baggage, and their transformation may or may not be instantaneous. But the gospel is the same for everyone. Sin is wrong and worthy of stones, but no one is worthy to throw them. The only One who is worthy enough to throw stones laid down his life to save us, and now offers us acceptance through His love and freedom through His Truth. Let God Bless Them!
Georges testimony
https://www1.cbn.com/…/former-gay-reveals-truth-of-lgbtq-ag…