Similar Posts

4 Comments

  1. Thank you, Emily! I appreciate your words. Somehow along the way our culture has lost the ability to discuss differing thoughts and ideas without demonizing and excluding. May God help us truly understand what ‘speaking the truth in love’ is all about! May we walk alongside each other in joy and sorrow in gracious, considerate ways while at the same time upholding our convictions and beliefs. May we truly be more like Jesus – that wonderful God/Man who understood turbulent times.

    1. So true, Renee! Jesus gave the perfect example when crossing all cultural/social barriers–He spent time with Samaritans, tax collectors, women, even Pharisees and Sadducees with their rhetoric and arguments. His message of love remained steadfast.

  2. I’m going to say something about what you said (but only the text up to the second picture). Because I feel some of what you said is likely to be misinterpreted by one side or the other. I’m giving my opinion, not speaking for you (though I hope that what I actually say you’d agree with, whether you like my wording of it or not. I’m just trying to be clear here that this is MY opinion, not necessarily yours.]

    God says homosexuality is an abomination. Therefore it is. But some people’s biases (or fear of those around them, or their own sinful nature) cause them to say “That’s hate speech.”

    Only to people with hate in their own heart. So if you have hate in your own heart and say it, then it was probably said hatefully. If you have hate in your heart when hearing that statement, then it is heard hatefully.
    [Since God also said that every righteous thing we can do is filthy rags in His sight, and He IS love, we humans all have hate in our heart – probably more than we realize.]

    But ignoring those more technical theological facts, a person can make the above statement about homosexuality neither feeling nor intending any hate. So honestly saying homosexuality is a sin and then helping a gay who is hurting is not hypocrisy in that situation – it is Christian love in both cases (though some surely did so out of guilt, etc).

    A woman at church said to me that if one of my children came out as gay I’d change my mind. Not true! I would love my child as much as ever, but I’m not blind to their faults. So how would this sin be any different?Acknowledging that you or I or my child did something wrong does not change our love. If it appears to, it wasn’t love.

    You said that an LGBTQ [isn’t that usage objectifying people?] would think someone who spoke in disdain [a bias there] about their lifestyle and then helping them was valid cause to question the authenticity.
    A thousand times NO! Saying that theft is a sin SHOULD mean to the Christian a need to pray for that person. People use Matthew 18 as a way to excommunicate. Anybody saying that doesn’t understand what Jesus said. He said if someone in the church sins, speak to them privately. If they don’t repent, speak to them with a couple church elders. If they still don’t repent, bring them before the church. If they still don’t, treat them as an unsaved person. How is the church supposed to treat unsaved people? By trying to help them become saved. Too many Christians view that passage as dis-owning a relative (in Christ), when instead it is realizing that the things of the Holy Spirit can only be understood with His help – so it’s time to evangelize that person. [In practical terms, the best way to do that at that point might be to pray for them and encourage another group to work with the person – maybe that group’s style will work better than your own style. [Denominations are a good thing if you work together, a bad thing if you don’t.]

    So, preaching that theft is wrong is not hate speech. Preaching that adultery is sin is not hate speech. Preaching that homosexual activities is abomination to God (and therefore to us) is not hate speech. Saying any of those things while hating that person — now that is hate speech. Anyone that says otherwise is doing just like Satan in the garden – trying to convince people that God didn’t really mean what he said. Saying something is sin is not hate speech – that’s caring enough about the person that you don’t want them hurt by sin. Now that is true love.

    Jesus (The Word of God) consistently called the Pharisees and Sadducees names, constantly spoke harshly to them, pointing out their sin – because He doesn’t want any to perish – in other words – in love. It’s why all the sermons we see from the Apostles so consistently point out the hearers’ sins – because they want so desperately for them to be saved – and it’s why so many did get saved. [ It’s ironic that seminaries today condemn the style of preaching visible in the NT.]
    Aren’t you thankful that Peter and the other apostles didn’t respond to the pharisees with “You don’t want us to speak about Jesus? Yes, sir, we’ll listen to you rather than God”?

    Thanks for letting me put in my two cents.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *