Click here for PDF: Can Christians still speak up 05.13.15

Passage: Romans 6

Key Verses: “What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase?  May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it? Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death?” Romans 6:1-3

The article grieved my soul. My 82 year-old pastor Dr. Charles Stanley was once again being attacked because of his convictions. An entire group of Israel supporters spoke up because of Dr. Stanley’s stances concerning homosexuality, threatening to boycott the event where he would be honored for his long support of the state of Israel. The issue? Dr. Stanley’s past statements that homosexuality is a sin.

The article proceeded to explain that the Southern Jewish Resource Network for Gender and Sexual Diversity protested the nomination because Dr. Stanley’s views are “incompatible with Jewish ethics and values”.

Pause. That statement alone is too hard to grasp.

I hate to use my weekly blog time to discuss this issue, but enough is enough. As far as I know, we still live in a country where freedom of speech is supposed to abound – although I dare say that Christians have been increasingly losing that right. Unless pastors, writers and speakers choose to come to the middle in the issue of homosexuality, we are labeled as bigots, intolerant, old-fashioned, self-righteous and plain hateful towards the gay people.

Oh, my goodness, does anyone else feel like screaming? I do, I do!!!

I know some gays. I love them. I have invited them to have dinner at my house before. Like Jesus, I believe we are to share His love for them, yes, yes and yes! I love them as I love the prostitutes, or the people who have had sex before marriage, or the drug users of the world. But, wait a second, when is it that my Bible started saying that I am ALSO to tell them that it’s ok for them to keep on sinning? Where did the Bible say that grace is supposed to be used to go beyond covering our sins to overlooking them? Someone please show me that verse.

When did we tear off Romans 1, Leviticus 18:22, 1 Corinthians 6:9-11, among other passages from the Bible?

I don’t get it, I don’t. From where I stand, everyone else who hates Christians is the bigot here.

I happen to speak as someone who has sat under Dr. Stanley’s teaching for 15 years now. I know what the man believes. I know he is not an opinion-oriented pastor, much less a crowd pleasing one. I love him for that. One of the reasons I believe his teaching is because he backs everything up with Scripture.

I really don’t want to hear what pastors think. I care what my Bible says. And as far as ANY sexual immorality, the Bible is clear from Genesis to Revelation: God is holy and He hates all sins. For some reason, some of us have decided to put homosexuality in this holy bubble within our social and religious circles, and anyone who says that it is wrong is attacked beyond measure.

According to the Bible, sin is sin. Therefore, homosexuality is not greater than any other sexual sin. And yes, I am sure that Jesus walked among and showed the same love for the homosexuals of His day. I have no question that He extended the same loving hands to them as He did to the woman at the well, to the woman of the alabaster box, or to Zacchaeus. We are called to be like Christ and love all people, because we have no right to judge anyone as better than ourselves. We are all the same at the foot of the cross. But I also have no doubt that His message after forgiving each sinner was and is still the same:

“Go and leave your life of sin.” John 8:11 (these are Jesus’ words, by the way).

Or can you find anywhere in Scripture where, after forgiving the adulterous woman, Jesus told her to go ahead and jump in bed with the next man?

I don’t think so.

Do you see it coming?

“Now I urge you, brethren, keep your eye on those who cause dissensions and hindrances contrary to the teaching which you learned, and turn away from them.” Romans 16:17

“For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.” 2 Timothy 4:3-4

I see the day when my blog will be blocked because of what I believe. I see the day when pastors will not be able to speak up God’s Truth from their pulpits. I see the day when churches will not be able to receive their tax-exempt status anymore because they won’t officiate homosexual weddings. Do you see that day coming? You better open your eyes if you don’t. The Bible speaks of that day (1 Peter 1-22), and I see it approaching at lightning speed.

Wake up, Christians. Enough is enough. Either we choose to believe our Bibles in its entirety, or maybe we should just start playing golf on Sundays.

It’s time to stop playing church and BE His church: Loving the sinner. Hating the sin.

It’s time we start telling it like it is, just as all the other religions and social groups do. It is our right until they say it isn’t anymore.

The window is closing and you better hurry up and stand.

** the image on this post was borrowed from christianpost.com