But there is more
Ah...but you say" Yea, but see, Jesus told her '...From now on sin no more' and you GLBTIQ people are still sinning."
Now look at what you just did! The whole idea of "Those who are without sin among you, may cast the first stone" is that Jesus is saying...STOP POINTING THE FINGER AT SOMEONE ELSE! And there you go pointing the finger AGAIN at us...after hearing this story!
"Do not judge lest you be judged. For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you. And why do you look at the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' and behold, the log is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye." - Matthew 7:1-5 And what will happen when you take the log out of your own eye? You will see the humanity of all of us and realise that we are no different than you and that it isn't about trying to take specks out of each other's eyes...but about forgiveness, compassion and love for your brothers and sisters. You see our salvation is between us and God. Not us, God and you.
Consider Jesus' parable of the landowner. Some laborers complained because the landowner treated all the workers equally by paying them all the same wage. (Matthew 20: 1-16). The landowner said to them..."Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with what is my own? Or is your eye envious because I am generous? Thus the last shall be first, and the first last."
And because of the silence of the mainstream church…we have suffered ridicule, condemnation and verbal and physical bashing. There are thousands who have committed suicide because of this message of hate and because of the fear of the church to stand up and say, “No…God hates no one. God loves everyone and the salvation of Jesus is open to all”. (John 3:16) How is it that a Christian could tell someone that God hates them?
We are here to say that Jesus is our King and Lord. Now in the new millennium, I have come to believe that our presence has a purpose in God’s plan. We are the thorn in the church’s side. We are here to teach about Christ’s inclusive love that has no bounds. Christ’s love and compassion is open to all, not just you and your friends.
In the past, the church has used the Bible to justify slaughtering Indians, Black slavery, keeping women from having basic rights, the persecution of the Jews, upholding racial segregation, etc. It wasn’t until a new generation realised that their elders in fact committed sin by their lack of compassion and active persecution of their brothers and sisters in the name of Christ, did things change. No wonder the world is cold to Christianity.
It is Christians who have turned off the world to Christ.
And of course now they are trying to prevent us from having rights to live, love and even to worship the Lord. Basic human rights.
“We love because God first loved us. If anyone says, “I love God,” yet hates their brother or sister, they are liars. For anyone who does not love their brother and sister, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. And God has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love their brothers and sisters.” – 1 John 4:19-21.
So I guess that means you HAVE TO love us just like we HAVE TO love you.
You don’t think we are your brothers and sisters? Oh yes we are! Ahhh, but you think we are not saved because we haven’t “changed our ways”…because we are still gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, intersex, queer and questioning.
OK…then you tell me how people are saved?
By GRACE!
"For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any people should boast."– Ephesians 2: 8,9 By grace through faith in Jesus Christ. Not by works. Do you hear that? Works cannot save us. There is nothing humanly possible that I can do that will save me. Only by the grace of Jesus Christ are any of us saved. So, we are saved whether you like it or not.
But you say…
“Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.”- James 2:17 But our faith is alive. We follow the Lord’s great commandments that Jesus gave us.
“Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. - Matthew 22:36-40 But you still think we are not saved because we are living in sin by still actively being gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, intersex, queer and questioning. We do not consider our orientation a sin. This is who we are. We do consider some things like promiscuity or being lustful a sin. But we are no more guilty of that than Christians who battle those same issues. Everyone lives in sin and you and I are guilty... yet Christ has accepted us and is working with us on each of our issues through His grace and forgiveness...this is the message of the gospel:
"But God commends love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." - Romans 5:8 And we believe that though we are gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, intersex, queer and questioning, we are still called to a moral and ethical life of integrity. A life worthy of the name of Jesus Christ.
But many Christians think we are somehow more sinful than they are. On the "Sin Scale"...homosexuality somehow rates up there in the top ten "unpardonable sins", next to murder. "Therefore I say to you, any sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven: but blasphemy against the Spirit shall not be forgiven."- Matthew 12:31.)
Perhaps your sin is the sin of thinking you are better than us. You better look at the Jesus parable of the Pharisee and the Publican. "Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee, and the other a tax-gatherer. The Pharisee stood and was praying thus to himself, 'God, I thank Thee that I am not like other people: swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax-gatherer. I fast twice a week; I pay tithes of all that I get.' But the tax-gatherer, standing some distance away, was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, but was beating his breast, saying, 'God, be merciful to me, the sinner!" I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself shall be humbled, but he who humbles himself shall be exalted."-Luke 18: 10-14 Yes, Jesus never said anything about homosexuality. But He said much about people judging each other, thinking they are better than others and yes He was angry...but He was angry at the Pharisees, Sadducees and Scribes, who did everything correctly, who lived perfect religious lives...but couldn't have love and compassion in their hearts for anyone but themselves.
"Above all, keep fervent in your love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins." - 1 Peter 4:8
We are Christians who love our Lord Jesus Christ. We are your brothers and sisters.
In the words of Jesus…“for whoever is not against us is for us” - Mark 9:40 We’re all in it together. Our mission is to spread the word of God to all. The message of love, compassion, forgiveness and salvation offered only through Jesus Christ to all people © 2003-2005 The Epistle
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