A Real Conversation (Albeit One Way) About Homosexuality and Salvation.

 By design, blogs are a one-way method of communicating. I mean, I suppose there could be an interactive type of blog platform, but I don't have one. I have this one. It's a one-way conversation. Basically, it just talking, and if you're reading, then you're the target audience.  Simple. I like that.  This conversation, this topic, is by no means a simple one. No, it's perhaps right up there with anything else that the world sees as being controversial.  We talked about lies the other day, at least I did. You know my stand on that. I hate lies! I can't say that I've never lied; that would be another lie if I said that. I am just as anyone else is, a normal human, and I have lied. It's just that I try really super hard never to do it. It's something that really gets under my skin. You can't defend a lie, and when you try to cover it up, the tale gets so much more complicated.  This topic, the topic of homosexuality, is just like that. If you try to cover it up or make excuses for it, it gets really messy.

    Before we get started, let me again remind you that the topic is not merely that of homosexuality, but the truth behind whether or not a gay person can also be a saved person; or a person who will be taken to Heaven at the point of his or her death, or if they survive the big, bad, and ugly world until the rapture. Simple answer? (and this is not me saying this, this is actually Biblical) yes. Gay people can go to Heaven, just as easily as a straight person can go to Hell.  It's not one's sexuality that sends them to eternal damnation, but their unrepented sin.  Oh, but yes, don't get me wrong, homosexuality is a sin.  Some say it's a HUGE sin, but the fact is, no, it's just another sin.  Didn't God say it was an abomination? Yes. He did, and it is.  However, there is only one, just one, sin that can send you to Hell and that sin is NOT accepting Christ as your personal Savior.  

    For those who are currently struggling with the answers surrounding sexuality, morality, sex in general, intimacy, and even personal pleasure, the only answer is always the same answer as it is or would be with any sin; find Christ. Find a reason to want to be better. Jesus is the Healer. He's the Center. He's the Corner Stone. I think I could sit here for about another hour or so and just come up with names to associate and affix to Christ. He is God! He made you. No, He didn't make you gay. I wish people would at least acknowledge those truths. No baby is born gay!  The struggle is real, I will grant you that. There are some really attractive people out there who are both genuinely sweet, kind, caring, giving, fantastic to talk to, and they listen! There are those out there who you would swear was the perfect match for you, but if they are the same sex as you, then no, according to the Bible, they are not the one you're supposed to be with intimately. I won't say "Sorry" because I'm not sorry. I think men and women fit together, and though I agree that LOVE is great, there are boundaries.

    Salvation through Christ is a lifelong thing, indeed, it is an eternal thing. When we accept Jesus we are gifted (given for free) the Sealer, the Holy Spirit, who lives inside of us, and seals us, attaches us, to the Heavenly Host Himself. We are HIS and no one, not even ourselves or the future sins can pluck us from His hands. There are so many verses I could quote to you, but for time's sake, just know that God does not lie. God cannot lie. If God said He'll seal you, save you, and keep you, then you are sealed, saved, and eternally kept. EVEN if you are willing to disobey Him. EVEN if you are unwilling to do what His Word commands. That is another ball of wax, as they say. That decision or choice you make could and will affect your blessings. You won't be fully blessed, and you could LOSE blessings because you choose to be stubbornly dissatisfied with God's promise of peace which is not quite fitting into your plans. 

    In my own family, I have at least two people who I know are living a homosexual lifestyle, and I also know, deep down in my soul, that both of these two people are born again. Neither has had the courage to say they are gay; which in my opinion speaks volumes. They know it's wrong. It's not just that they don't want to put up with parents, grandparents, cousins, friends, and siblings saying this or that. They truly haven't been involved in the family any more than I have been in the past ten to fifteen years. They don't want to "rock the boat", and they don't want to "stir things up", but if they, if you, truly are who you think you are, and you're proud of that, why not demonstrate that by openly being the person you feel you are supposed to be? It won't affect your salvation, but it will affect your witness; won't it? People who believed you were one way and trusted you, may not have the umpf to continue. I won't ask you if it's worth it? I have stopped being that person. 

    Yes, you heard me, or rather, you read me. I was THAT guy (well, gal) who was both judgmental and uncaring. I thought since there were 67 verses in the Bible against it, anyone who professed to be gay simply couldn't be saved. I convinced myself that anyone who was intimate with a person of the same sex was incapable of trusting or loving Jesus. I was wrong. I think I realized this only about 10 years ago if I'm truly honest with myself. I've never had a single inkling of a feeling toward another woman or girl, but that's just me. When I had a good friend and colleague ask me on a personal and intimate date, not only was I upset about it, I was grieved to anger! Well, it was my turn for the Sealer, the Holy Spirit, the One living inside me, to remind me that He was there for EVERYONE and not just those of us who thought we knew more than most. I had some learning to do.

    About a year ago, I did it again. I upset someone with my mouth, my keyboard, and my texting. I was abrupt, I was forward, I was abrasive and I was flat rude. I should have been more tenderhearted, but instead, I was waving my banner a bit too abruptly for the witness and the way of God to even be seen or heard. I was smothering the message with my own message of warning -- I really wish I had been a bit more like my good friend who believed she had seen something genuinely kind in me; enough to ask me on a date even.  It's taken a minute, but we're friends again, and she understands my stand, and I understand hers as well.  The good news is that both of us are saved, born again, and when we do get to Heaven NOT ONE BIT OF THIS NONSENSE will matter. NOTHING about it will be remembered or discussed. There is no sexuality in Heaven. None. Nada. Zippo! Thank God!

    If being homosexual is a sin, and it is, why would God be so merciful and allow a gay person or a bi person to be saved?  Simple answer? He's God.  Let me quote my friend John the Lessor, his gospel message of John 3:16 states (and it's a promise, by the way) "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him shall be saved."  There's not a caveat that reads "unless you're gay" or "Not applicable to homosexuals".  If you believe in the person of Jesus the Christ, and you truly are repenting of your sin, you will be saved.  Does that mean you have to stop being a sinner? We can't be. He knows that. He said in Romans 5:8 (Not John this time, but Paul) "Jesus demonstrated His love for us, in that while we were yet sinners, He died for us." It would be literally IMPOSSIBLE for us to give up our sinful nature. We have to surrender it to Him, but we are humans and we're gonna be humans until we're not humans anymore, and that will be HIS doing, not ours.

    What then? Do we continue to sin because we can? Paul answered that one too; simple answer? God forbid. No, we're not to continue to sin just because we know He'll still take us to Heaven. That is where the Healer comes in, but the good news is that the Healer and the human, collide!  Mercy Me has a great song about it, only their lyrics say "when the Healer and the hurt" collide....I think. It could be the other way around. It's a good song. They're a great band. You should really go check them out if you haven't. 

    OK, well, that's off my chest. I would hope that everyone knows I am not a mean, nasty, evil, Hell-and-Damnation type.  I am so much more of a "Come sit here and drink coffee with me" type.  If coffee had a beard and wore a kilt I'd marry it. (does that make me weird?) 

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