Hot Potato One: Homosexuality

Today's Daily Encounter

Hot Potato Follow-Up

"Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of
season; correct, rebuke and encourage--with great
patience and careful instruction. For the time will
come when men will not put up with sound doctrine.
Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather
around them a great number of teachers to say what
their itching ears want to hear."1

In response to a recent Daily Encounter on
homosexuality a concerned subscriber asked for any
suggestions that I could offer to help her talk and
witness to a friend of hers who had chosen a lesbian
lifestyle.

I didn't have a clear-cut answer, but here's what I
suggested:

I don't think situations like this ever have a simple,
pat answer. I certainly don't have any such advice. And
while I don't want to sound too simplistic, I think it
is very important that we ask God to help us to be as
Jesus to all questioners and to give us the right word
at the right time.

A girl, whom I will call Mary, attended one of my
weekend seminars on "Loving and Understanding People."
A participant asked about homosexuality and I expressed
what God's Word had to say about it and added that, at
least for some, its roots can go back to childhood
which can cause a woman to unconsciously be searching
for the mother love she never received, and where a
man may still be searching unconsciously for the
father love he never received. Mary was extremely
upset with me. In no uncertain terms--in front of the
entire group--she declared in no uncertain terms that
I was "a pharisaical religious b - - - - - -!"

This was quite a shocker to say the least. I simply
answered, "Sometimes I probably am." It turned out
that Mary was a lesbian.

To my amazement Mary turned up a few weeks later at a
weeklong, live-in workshop we had for those who wanted
to work on unresolved personal issues. There were about
25-30 people in attendance. In this entire week not one
person condemned or judged Mary. Early in the week I
told Mary that while I didn't agree with her
lifestyle, I loved and accepted her for whom she was.
In fact, the entire group loved and accepted her and
by the end of the week she even gave me a very warm
hug and said, "Maybe you are right."

All too often it is a lack of love that drives people
into acts of sin as they search for their unmet love
need in all the wrong ways and places. And only love
will ever bring them out again--that is, God's love
through us. True, we are to hate the things God hates,
but at the same time we are to love the people God
loves. And while God hates sin of all kind, he loves
sinners of every kind. We need to do likewise because
we all qualify as sinners.

Suggested prayer: "Dear God, before I ever point a
finger at anyone else, please confront me with any
unresolved issues and sinful ways in my life. And help
me always to love fellow sinners--and be ‘as Jesus’ to
them--even when I see their sinful and
self-destructive ways. Thank you for hearing and
answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus' name,
amen."

1. 2 Timothy 4:2-3 (NIV).

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Daily Encounter is published at no charge by
ACTS International, a non-profit organization,
and made possible through the donations of
interested friends. Donations can be sent at:
http://www.actscom.com


Copyright (c) 2009 by ACTS International.

When copying or forwarding include the following:
"Daily Encounter by Richard (Dick) Innes (c) 2009
ACTS International.

Today's Daily Encounter

Hot Potato One: Homosexuality

"For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is
eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."1

About two decades ago a teenager asked me the
question: "Do you think homosexuality should be
legalized?"

Regardless of what I thought at the time, much of our
culture has come a long way since then in accepting
homosexuality as "an alternate lifestyle."

True, everybody has a right to decide for themselves
whether or not homosexuality should be legalized or
accepted as an alternate lifestyle. What I did in this
instance was share what I believed God's Word had to
say about the subject. "According to God's Word," I
answered, "homosexuality is an unnatural condition2
It is listed with various other sins which are all
destructive to human personality, and as such are
opposed by God."

The Bible also says that God will forgive all who
confess their sins, but indicates that those who
willfully practice sexual immorality, idolatry,
adultery, male prostitution, homosexuality, stealing,
greed, drunkenness, slandering, and swindling will not
inherit the kingdom of God.3

If God is opposed to these damaging behaviors, can we
justly justify or legalize any one of them? The reason
God is opposed to these actions (and all other sins) is
because they are harmful to those whom he loves--us.
Furthermore, it has never been proven that
homosexuality is in one's genes any more than
pedophilia is. And if they are, perhaps sin, too, is
in our genes because we are born with a sin nature.
But would that justify sinful acts? In fact, there are
usually deep psychological causes behind many of these
external "acts of sin." The causes often have their
roots in the past and need to be confronted if a
person is to find wholeness, healing and
recovery--emotional and spiritual.

If we justify and legalize any act of sin, we harm the
person involved much more than we ever help him. It
gives him/her an excuse not to confront and resolve
his/her problem.

As Christians we are to accept and love the sinner and
not judge or condemn him (because we are all sinners
and are probably all guilty of at least greed, gossip,
or slandering which are listed in God’s Word along with
the sin of homosexuality).This doesn't mean that we
accept, excuse, or approve anyone's sinful behavior
(including our own). Very often it is a failure in
love in early childhood that "drives" people into some
acts of sin. Only love, Christ's unconditional love
through us, will ever draw these people out again.

Suggested prayer: "Dear God, please help me to always
accept what you say and not yield to the pressure of
so-called political correctness. Help me to take the
beam out of my own eye before trying to take the
splinter out of another's eye. And like you, while I
oppose all sin, please help me to love the sinner
unconditionally and thereby help draw him to you for
your healing grace, forgiveness, and victory over his
sinful behavior. Thank you for hearing and answering
my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus' name, amen."

Note: Please read Chuck Colson’s article on
BreakPoint, "When a Dog Says Moo" at:
http://www.breakpoint.org/commentaries/2851-when-a-dog-says-moo

1. Romans 6:23 (NIV).
2. Romans 1:27
3. 1 Corinthians 6:9-11

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* * * * * * *

Daily Encounter is published at no charge by
ACTS International, a non-profit organization,
and made possible through the donations of
interested friends. Donations can be sent at:
http://www.actscom.com

Copyright (c) 2009 by ACTS International.

When copying or forwarding include the following:
"Daily Encounter by Richard (Dick) Innes (c) 2009
ACTS International.