How Christians Are Led Into Accepting Homosexuality!
Nowadays, "Christians" everywhere are falling away from sound doctrine, choosing instead to compromise Scripture to please society and gain popularity points. And nowhere is this more apparent than in the homosexuality debate. (It's also very much in the "do all roads lead to heaven" debate and the abortion debate.)
This is a link to an article which takes a good look at how Christians are led astray and how they lead others astray. (Gospel Coalition is Calvinist, though, and I don't support Calvinism.) It looks specifically at Jen Hatmaker's fall from biblically-sound Christianity to embracing culturally-pleasing views on homosexuality. (The comments are especially interesting to read. It's interesting to see the amazingly different views held by those who call themselves Christians. How eager people are to embrace homosexuality and to deny the authority of Scripture. Amazing and tragic!)
There are a couple things I would add to this article, though. As I have read of "Christians" who have gone the way of Jen Hatmaker, who have traded in God's Word for society-pleasing, ear-tickling lies, I have noticed these common threads:
1. Many of these people began their fall into embracing homosexuality because of their friendship with a homosexual (or began their fall into embracing abortion because they knew someone who struggled with an unwanted pregnancy). These homosexuals (or pregnant women) would talk about how hard it is to deal with their situation and how much shame they feel and how much it hurts that the Bible calls it a sin. And this would make the Christian think, "How would I feel if it was me?"
And so, out of compassion or fondness for these new friends, these Christians begin to look for ways to soften what the Bible says. They begin to look at Scripture through a different lens - through one that lets them excuse the lifestyle of their new homosexual friends (or to excuse abortion).
Basically, they let their feelings for their friends alter their view of Scripture!
They choose to believe what they want to believe, what makes them feel better, instead of believing God's Word as He wrote it!
(And since this brings them major praise from society, they enjoy the slide into falsehood and grow more emboldened and more proud of it.)
2. They use a lot of words and a lot of fancy-sounding reasoning to explain their views, oftentimes bringing up historical things, cultural things, and the Greek or Hebrew meanings of Scriptural words, telling us how it's misunderstood or misapplied when it comes to homosexuality (or abortion).
They try to sound scholarly and well-educated - trying to prove how intelligent their reasoning is, how well-rounded and critical their arguments are, and how unclear God's Word is.
But in presenting a large, confusing mess of data, they are ignoring the plain meaning of Scripture. They can't see the forest for the many trees.
But it's not Scripture that's unclear and confusing. It's not Scripture that's changed.
It's the views and arguments of these so-called "Christians" that are unclear and confusing and that have changed to suit the times.
They bring in lots of various details and "facts" and arguments to confuse people and to obscure the very plain, obvious teachings of Scripture.
But when Scripture is clear, consistent, and makes sense, there is no reason for or excuse for trying to make it say something else!
Personally, I think that they are using so many words and crazy arguments not to convince other people that homosexuality (or abortion) is okay, but to convince themselves that it's okay. Because they know deep down that it's wrong. The more words they use in their bunny-trail reasoning, the more they are trying to deny the truth.
(One red flag for Christians - one good indication that we are drifting off-track - is that if the world loves what we are saying too much, we should really be questioning if we are compromising God's Truth. God's Truth won't be popular with the world. It will challenge and convict and expose sin. One thing I like to say about being a Christian: "If everyone loves everything you say and believe, you're probably doing it wrong!")
3. They use Jesus' love as an excuse for embracing homosexuality.
"Jesus never said anything bad to anyone. Jesus would never hurt anyone's feelings. Jesus loves everyone just as they are. The first and greatest commandment is 'Love others.'"
And they use this to convince us how unloving - and therefore un-Christ-like - it is to call anything sin or to make anyone feel bad about how they live or to warn anyone of hell.
But they have a very twisted view of Jesus' love.
It's a very wicked, deceptive thing to use Jesus' love to condone sin. Sin that He calls us to repent of. Sin that He came to die for.
In His incredible love, Jesus died for our sins ... not so that we could freely embrace our sin but so that we could be freed from its hold over us and saved from the consequences of it.
Yes, Jesus loves people and has compassion on them - like the adulterous woman in John 8. But He never excused her sin or allowed her to think that she could continue living however she wanted. He very clearly said, "Go now and leave your life of sin."
And I don't think she would have been excused if she had said, "But I can't help who I love. Besides, we're all consenting adults here. Why should it matter to You anyway who I love? Isn't the most important thing just loving someone and being loved by someone? And aren't You all about the love anyway!?! You know, it's not very loving to pass judgment on my life or to tell me that I can't love who I want to love!"
Many Christians (and "Christians") have fallen for this "Jesus is all about the love and He would never pass judgment on anyone" lie. They ignore the truth that God is also a God of justice and that He has laid out very specific parameters for how He wants us to live. And being Christian means that we live as He calls us to, not just how we want to based on our feelings.
And they clearly ignore the truth that "Love others" is not the first and greatest command.
It's "Love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength."
And then it's "love others."
(And according to Scripture, to love God is to obey God. Softening or changing Scripture so that you don't offend others is not loving God. Claiming that "love others" is the greatest command is not loving God. Putting people over God is not loving God. Encouraging people to live in sin is not loving God.)
I think many people are falling for these lies not because they don't know Scripture, but because they want to fall for it!
But the choice to deny Scripture in order to embrace lies comes with a heavy, eternal price-tag! Not only for themselves but for those they lead astray!
[For more on this, check out these posts: "Why Are Christians Apologizing For The Truth" and "Jesus Wasn't Always 'Nice'" and "God is love, but love is not a god" and "How Should Christians Respond To Gay Marriage" and this biblically-sound commentary that I found online (which I also look at in the next post). This link is to part 1 of 4, so you'll have to keep a watch for the other 3 when he publishes them.]
This is a link to an article which takes a good look at how Christians are led astray and how they lead others astray. (Gospel Coalition is Calvinist, though, and I don't support Calvinism.) It looks specifically at Jen Hatmaker's fall from biblically-sound Christianity to embracing culturally-pleasing views on homosexuality. (The comments are especially interesting to read. It's interesting to see the amazingly different views held by those who call themselves Christians. How eager people are to embrace homosexuality and to deny the authority of Scripture. Amazing and tragic!)
There are a couple things I would add to this article, though. As I have read of "Christians" who have gone the way of Jen Hatmaker, who have traded in God's Word for society-pleasing, ear-tickling lies, I have noticed these common threads:
1. Many of these people began their fall into embracing homosexuality because of their friendship with a homosexual (or began their fall into embracing abortion because they knew someone who struggled with an unwanted pregnancy). These homosexuals (or pregnant women) would talk about how hard it is to deal with their situation and how much shame they feel and how much it hurts that the Bible calls it a sin. And this would make the Christian think, "How would I feel if it was me?"
And so, out of compassion or fondness for these new friends, these Christians begin to look for ways to soften what the Bible says. They begin to look at Scripture through a different lens - through one that lets them excuse the lifestyle of their new homosexual friends (or to excuse abortion).
Basically, they let their feelings for their friends alter their view of Scripture!
They choose to believe what they want to believe, what makes them feel better, instead of believing God's Word as He wrote it!
(And since this brings them major praise from society, they enjoy the slide into falsehood and grow more emboldened and more proud of it.)
2. They use a lot of words and a lot of fancy-sounding reasoning to explain their views, oftentimes bringing up historical things, cultural things, and the Greek or Hebrew meanings of Scriptural words, telling us how it's misunderstood or misapplied when it comes to homosexuality (or abortion).
They try to sound scholarly and well-educated - trying to prove how intelligent their reasoning is, how well-rounded and critical their arguments are, and how unclear God's Word is.
But in presenting a large, confusing mess of data, they are ignoring the plain meaning of Scripture. They can't see the forest for the many trees.
But it's not Scripture that's unclear and confusing. It's not Scripture that's changed.
It's the views and arguments of these so-called "Christians" that are unclear and confusing and that have changed to suit the times.
They bring in lots of various details and "facts" and arguments to confuse people and to obscure the very plain, obvious teachings of Scripture.
But when Scripture is clear, consistent, and makes sense, there is no reason for or excuse for trying to make it say something else!
Personally, I think that they are using so many words and crazy arguments not to convince other people that homosexuality (or abortion) is okay, but to convince themselves that it's okay. Because they know deep down that it's wrong. The more words they use in their bunny-trail reasoning, the more they are trying to deny the truth.
(One red flag for Christians - one good indication that we are drifting off-track - is that if the world loves what we are saying too much, we should really be questioning if we are compromising God's Truth. God's Truth won't be popular with the world. It will challenge and convict and expose sin. One thing I like to say about being a Christian: "If everyone loves everything you say and believe, you're probably doing it wrong!")
3. They use Jesus' love as an excuse for embracing homosexuality.
"Jesus never said anything bad to anyone. Jesus would never hurt anyone's feelings. Jesus loves everyone just as they are. The first and greatest commandment is 'Love others.'"
And they use this to convince us how unloving - and therefore un-Christ-like - it is to call anything sin or to make anyone feel bad about how they live or to warn anyone of hell.
But they have a very twisted view of Jesus' love.
It's a very wicked, deceptive thing to use Jesus' love to condone sin. Sin that He calls us to repent of. Sin that He came to die for.
In His incredible love, Jesus died for our sins ... not so that we could freely embrace our sin but so that we could be freed from its hold over us and saved from the consequences of it.
Yes, Jesus loves people and has compassion on them - like the adulterous woman in John 8. But He never excused her sin or allowed her to think that she could continue living however she wanted. He very clearly said, "Go now and leave your life of sin."
And I don't think she would have been excused if she had said, "But I can't help who I love. Besides, we're all consenting adults here. Why should it matter to You anyway who I love? Isn't the most important thing just loving someone and being loved by someone? And aren't You all about the love anyway!?! You know, it's not very loving to pass judgment on my life or to tell me that I can't love who I want to love!"
Many Christians (and "Christians") have fallen for this "Jesus is all about the love and He would never pass judgment on anyone" lie. They ignore the truth that God is also a God of justice and that He has laid out very specific parameters for how He wants us to live. And being Christian means that we live as He calls us to, not just how we want to based on our feelings.
And they clearly ignore the truth that "Love others" is not the first and greatest command.
It's "Love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength."
And then it's "love others."
(And according to Scripture, to love God is to obey God. Softening or changing Scripture so that you don't offend others is not loving God. Claiming that "love others" is the greatest command is not loving God. Putting people over God is not loving God. Encouraging people to live in sin is not loving God.)
I think many people are falling for these lies not because they don't know Scripture, but because they want to fall for it!
But the choice to deny Scripture in order to embrace lies comes with a heavy, eternal price-tag! Not only for themselves but for those they lead astray!
[For more on this, check out these posts: "Why Are Christians Apologizing For The Truth" and "Jesus Wasn't Always 'Nice'" and "God is love, but love is not a god" and "How Should Christians Respond To Gay Marriage" and this biblically-sound commentary that I found online (which I also look at in the next post). This link is to part 1 of 4, so you'll have to keep a watch for the other 3 when he publishes them.]
