What Advice Do You Have Or Same-Sex Couples

[LindaR]

What I they are living together and are not "practicing unnatural sexually relationships?"  My best friend from high school identifies as a gay Christian and is in this very situation.  He and his partner are celibate, but continue to live together and raise an adopted daughter together

 

A "gay Christian" is an oxymoron....there is no such thing as a "gay" Christian.  Gay Christians don't exist. Gay is simply a euphemism (a "kinder" word) for the biblical word sodomite.

 

According to Scripture, sodomites will not inherit the kingdom of God:

1 Corinthians 6:9 Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind,
1 Corinthians 6:10 Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.
1 Corinthians 6:11 And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.

 

IOW, there will be no sodomites in heaven!

 

Those who are saved and call themselves Christians are new creatures in Christ Jesus:

2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

[Donillo]

*sigh* IFB churches must take a biblical stand on this issue and count the cost. This is a matter that has caused a dramatic decrease in membership rolls in IFB churches over the past decade or so. Standing for Truth and holiness is not popular in the era of itching ears. People go to church these days to be entertained, promised health and wealth, listen to a rock and roll show featuring songs with a "Jesus is my boyfriend" message, and have a "preacher" stand up there wearing board shorts, a Hawaiian print button down, and a puka shell necklace and talk about "meeting people where they're at" and how God is love and all of the warm fuzzies. Chances are, if a Bible is even cracked open, it will either be the NIV, the Message, or some sort of other paraphrasing [per]version of our precious Scriptures. People won't bring their Bible to church. Why would they need to? Slap a background of a babbling brook or the tide rolling in on the projector screen and paste those verses up there for everyone to see. Chances are, if they look like they're reading the Bible on their iPhone, they're really just playing Flappy Bird trying to kill time before they can all cut out and meet up at Red LOBster afterward and talk about what so-and-so wore to church. Hey, they showed up and warmed a chair and can live in the world all week with a clean conscience......"

Well believe it or not helpmeet, I agree with most of what you wrote. It was funny but true. I never heard of flappy bird lol. But my point is gays believe certain Christians hate them ala Falwell. Love can win them over, not condemnation. Allow the holy spirit to minister to them. In this culture they are casualties and are sick.

[Standing Firm In Christ]

Prophet.
 
That makes sense, and I understand why your church did so.  But being a lawyer, I have to ask, what does the term "homosexual" mean?  Is a person who is attracted to a person of the same gender a homosexual?  Just those who engage in homosexual sex?  What about those who identify as gay but have chosen to remain celibate (I have talked to a few people in this category, they have same-sex attraction, and therefore identify as gay, but as they believe homosexual sex is wrong, chosen to remain celibate).  Do you exclude a person like that?  What if that person has a friend/companion but they have taken vows of celibacy and live as roommates? 
 
It seems, in my reading of the Bible, homosexuality is defined by the sexual act.  So I do not think it necessarily covers same sex attraction where that person is celibate.  But those people today identify as gay.  But if you define as merely a sexual act, then what do you do with a  same-sex couple who are honestly celibate?  Are they homosexuals, or merely friends who have decided to walk through life together?  What if they do not live together, but do everything else together....eat meals, go everywhere, and share life? 
 
I am not trying to be OBnoxious or make excuses for sin. I'm asking legitimate questions.

what did Jesus say about one lusting after a woman in one's heart? Guilty of adultery.

Same standard... One does not have to act physically to be guilty of being a sodomite. There must be a turning from sin and a turning toward God. Turning from does not mean keeping it at your door.

[prophet1]

Prophet1.

That does not answer my question. I agree with what you posted.
But what about the same-sex couple who is celibate? What do you do with them? How do you counsel them? Are they homosexual, since they are celibate? Do you take their word for it? Do you tell them they must not live together? Some would say two men living together and doing everything together as a couple, even if there is no physical relationship, is the appearance of sin. It might be. This is what I am getting at. What of the gay couple who comes to know Christ. Other then telling them to stop having sex, what else must they do about their lives. Or the lives of their children they have committed to raise together. Or division of their assets. Or should they just live together as roommates with no sexual contact?

What I they are living together and are not "practicing unnatural sexually relationships?" My best friend from high school identifies as a gay Christian and is in this very situation. He and his partner are celibate, but continue to live together and raise an adopted daughter together.

"The appearance of sin" isn't a Scriptural taboo.
"The appearance of evil", is.
For the sake of legal purposes, we do not acknowledge that people who have been given up by God, can be helped by man.
Personally, if they don't remove themself from the situation, with all due diligence, I doubt their sincerity.


Consider this:

There is a very real danger, when you have someone who was recruited into an aberrant lifestyle around, that they will in turn molest/recruit other children, even without purposefully attempting to.


Anishinaabe

[Gorship]

I feel like this question has been answered to death... So im just here to poke the horse..

*poke poke*

[Donillo]

I feel like this question has been answered to death... So im just here to poke the horse..
*poke poke*

I'm on another Christian forum and a similar discussion has logged over 400 posts and still going. So the horse is still kickin.

[OLD fashioned preacher]

Only 1/2 of the issue was answered to death.

 

Side two ----- same aforementioned pair of women refuse to repent, don't come to the church but send the children.  Is the response of the parents in the church concerning their children and these going to be the same as with other lost people's children in the church? What if one or all of these kids get saved, does that change the parameters of fellowship with your children?

 

I'm not talking unfettered, "close friendship", I'm talking attitude and interaction.

 

FWIW -- KOB has a way of bringing out the worst side of me (most lawyers do, and I wavered about 3 months over whether we were dealing with a case worker or lawyer but had that sorted out a couple of years ago), but the question is legitimate and was actually presented with only about a 10% personal rub in its manner.

[ASongOfDegrees]

Very real scenario:

 

Two women have lived together for 12 years in a same-sex relationship.  They have gone to another state to get legally married and now reside in your state.  Through in vitro fertilization and an anonymous sperm donor through a sperm bank, they have conceived and are raising three children, ages 6, 4 and 6 months.  They come to your church and would like to join.

 

 

If they come to your church and would like to join then your pastor isn't doing something right. 

[Steve Schwenke]

I have not read all of the conversation here.  This response is to the OP.

 

This may seem to be shocking to some here, but I know this from experience.  The scenario described here is nothing more than sodomites attempting to live outside of the boundaries of Scripture.  These types of people who have hardened their hearts against God already (see Romans 1:18-32) need to repent of their sin, which includes "breaking up" with their sodomite "partner."  God calls that sin an abomination. 

Are they welcome to attend our church?  Sure.  But I can tell you that they will not stick around a real Bible-Believing, Bible Preaching church very long if they are set on continuing in their vile "relationship." 

They can be told by someone in love and charity that they are sinning against God in their relationship, and they need to make things right.  They are doing more harm to those children by carrying on in their current "relationship" than they would if they "split up."  Boys need to have a REAL MAN around to teach them how to be a man.  Girls need to know the love and care of a FATHER.  When the Biblical family unit is not established, nothing good comes from it, and the children are left without a rudder. 

 

The prOBlem I see with Americans now, and it is creeping into our churches, is that because we know people who are sodomites, we allow our emotions to take over our thought process, instead of going to the Bible to see what God thinks.  It is no secret what God thinks about sodomy and sodomites.  Sure, we should preach the gospel to them, but if they are not willing to repent of their sin of sodomy, I don't see much hope of them being truly born again in the first place.   Maybe there are exceptions, but that's how I see it.  If the person witnessing to them does not confront that sin directly (in a loving, compassionate, concerned manner!), then they are not really doing their jOB anyway.  Sin is an offence to God, and this particular sin is especially outrageous in light of Romans 1:18-32. 

 

In Christ,

[JimsHelpmeet]

There is so much apostasy today. In order to be politically correct, churches have begun to compromise by either refusing to touch the issue, or outright embracing homosexuality as acceptable, normal even. I live in Georgia. In 2004, the voters overwhelmingly voted into law an amendment to our state constitution defining marriage as being between one man and one woman. This is now being targeted by a handful of sodomite activists. The local news ran the story and the comments were disheartening, to say the least. I was shocked by how many people were on there saying things like, "I'm a Christian, and I think this is great! It's about time we got on the right side of history! My cousin is gay and married, and he plays piano in his church, and they adopted children that would have never been in a loving home if it weren't for them. I mean, it's their business and Jesus says do not judge". I was fully expecting most comments to be from liberal non-christians saying things like, "separation of church and state!" Instead, it was a bunch of people professing to be Christians talking about how they hoped the law was overturned, and how those of us who rebuke this sin are "going to hell for judging".

 

I was reminded of Isaiah 5:20

[John81]

Watered down and secular Christians are among the worst enemies of Christianity in America. It's common for these sorts to take to the news programs and talk about "God is love" and "judge not" out of context. While voicing "Christian" support for certain sins, they denounce biblical Christians as bigoted, mean-spirited, wrong thinking, and worse.

 

Watered down and secular Christianity is being held up as being true Christians while actual biblical Christians are being labeled as homophOBes, racists, bigots, radical fundamentalists, haters and unchristian.

[Donillo]

Watered down and secular Christians are among the worst enemies of Christianity in America. It's common for these sorts to take to the news programs and talk about "God is love" and "judge not" out of context. While voicing "Christian" support for certain sins, they denounce biblical Christians as bigoted, mean-spirited, wrong thinking, and worse.

Watered down and secular Christianity is being held up as being true Christians while actual biblical Christians are being labeled as homophOBes, racists, bigots, radical fundamentalists, haters and unchristian.

God didn't intend for the bible to be worshipped. "bible believing", " biblical Christians", etc, these words point to a book but not the Author.

[Arbo]

     I am hereby withdrawing from Online Baptist. I will not participate on a forum that allows members (such as kindofblue1977) to promote ungodly and wicked lifestyles. Yes, that is exactly what this member is doing. In the name of tolerance and love, he or she (I am not sure if this member is a man or woman) is promoting homosexualty and lesbianism. I have asked the moderator to delete this thread and have also asked him/her to ban kindofblue1977. Neither one has happened, so (with a heavy heart) I am hereby withdrawing my membership from this board.

 

Sincerely,

Bro Steve Smith

brosmith@pioneerbaptist.org

 

Personally, I saw no promotion of sin.  If a question is prohibited, how is one supposed to gain the benefit of others' wisdom?

[John81]

If one is truly following the Bible, they are following the Author and thus are a biblical Christian. If one is "Bible believing" then they believe what the Bible says about the Author, salvation, Christian living and what it means to follow Christ.

[282Mikado]

God didn't intend for the bible to be worshipped. "bible believing", " biblical Christians", etc, these words point to a book but not the Author.

 

John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

 

These words point to God as being the Word. That Word directly inspired the Bible we have in our hands. It is everything God wants us to know about Him and with regard to how we are to conduct our lives. Bible believing, biblical Christians believe this. The word points to God and God points to the word.

 

Check out these verses:

 

Philippians 2:8-9 And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became OBedient unto death, even the death of the cross. 9 Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name:

 

Psalms 138:1-2 I will praise thee with my whole heart: before the gods will I sing praise unto thee. 2 I will worship toward thy holy temple, and praise thy name for thy lovingkindness and for thy truth: for thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name.

 

The name of Jesus is above all names...AMEN! Yet His word has been magnified even above His name.

 

John 12:48-50 He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day. 49 For I have not spoken of myself; but the Father which sent me, he gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak. 50 And I know that his commandment is life everlasting: whatsoever I speak therefore, even as the Father said unto me, so I speak.

 

It is by this word that we will judged.

 

Therefore, I am PROUD to be a "Bible believing", "Biblical Christian"