recently i recieved a letter from a member of my nephew's church. he is a pentecostal minister and is always hopeful of saving my soul. in the letter he quoted much scripture advising me of my sure trip to hell should i not change my ways. i answered him thus:
dear elisha,
i wish you wouldn't justify your own perjudices by scripture, it's an exercise in futility. there are as many heartfelt and sincere interpretations of scripture as there are people who read it seriously. when you judge others, as you do, you are acting both according to, and against scripture at the same time. admonistions against judging others is so pervasive in scripture that i can't possibly list them all. judgment of us and our sins is the pervue of Jesus Christ and no one else, according to scripture.
the Word tells us that any and all who call on the Lord will not be disappointed. how one calls on the Lord is between themselves and God Himself, no other mortal has any place in that covenant. one cannot insert their own prejudices within that divine covenant promised to each of us by God Himself. when one says they know better then another of what might be acceptable to God they are in fact placing themselves in a place above God. they are making God's judgments for Him. i believe this to be idolatry in it's purest form.
when you quote from the old testament laws against or for this or that you are practicing the same legalism that Jesus Christ lived and died to fulfill. by His own Word, the 613 mosiac laws are not applicable to those who follow Him. He has given us a more perfect and personal guide, the Holy Spirit. His resurrection is proof of that and by Him we are free of all of that. as christians we do not have commandments, we have promises. Jesus promised us that by submitting our will to that of the Holy Spirit we will in fact act in a manner pleasing to God regardless of what other mortals might think.
we must come to understand that God's creativity is not limited by our own mortal imagination. as scripture says, God is big enough to accept all who call on Him. we cannot ourselves limit what He may or may not do, nor can we judge Him. no one can know the mind of God and no one can give Him advice. Jesus taught us that we, like Himself, are not justified by scripture but we are justifiers of scripture. i'm not big on quoting chapter and verse in these discussions, it' far too often taken out of context and misused to isolate out of the Body those who are different and yet made in the same image of God. so, like Jesus always did, i will just say...it is written: "but now you must get rid of these things: anger, passion and hateful feelings. no insults or obscene talk must come from your lips. do not lie to one another, for you have put off the old self with it's habits and have put on the new self. this is the new being which God, it's Creator, is CONSTANTLY RENEWING IN HIS OWN IMAGE in order to bring you to a full knowledge of Himself. as a result there is no longer any distinction between gentiles and jews, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarians, savages, slaves and free, but Christ is in all, Christ is all."
choosing homosexuality as a representative sin to judge is a human endeavor, not divine. God judges ALL sin and we are ALL sinners. the good news is, as i quoted paul earlier, we are constantly being renewed, revamped, upgraded and updated to bring us to a closer understanding of Him, our Creator. none of us can know what the final image of God we present will look like, only He knows that. we must all admit that we are sinners and we cannot judge our sin or the sins of others: that will be done by Jesus Christ Himself. the overriding message of scripture and of christianity itself is love...tolerance and acceptance. we cannot love our neighbors as ourselves as long as we sit in judgment of them. as scripture says, we cannot serve two masters.
so, i'll leave you with just one question. please consider this, "how wide do the chruch doors need to be open for Jesus to walk in?" may God bless you with much love and hope, pj
