I Am A Sinophobe

So I went and ate a chicken sandwich yesterday at Chick-fil-a and found out today that I am a homophobe and a hater. It is becoming more difficult to stand for Biblical truth in these United States. Jesus would have a tough time here and now, just like he did then and there. But as a believer, I am called to accept the teaching of the Bible, all of it and to tell others. That is what a Christian is to do! (Matthew 28:18-20) Along the way, we will be called all kinds of things. (John 15:20)


I understand that the Old Testament was a covenant established between the Jews and God, so I don't keep the old law. Many of them were designed to help  them understand principles that God was trying to teach them, so in our circumstances today, many of those laws don't make sense to us. I listened to a lady speak on television last night and she brought out many old testament laws that seem ridiculous to us today as a demonstration that we should not accept any of the Bible. She demonstrated a complete lack of understanding of God's word, but to the novice her argument probably made a lot of sense.


To that point, as a nation we are very Bible illiterate. While sitting with many folks and discussing God's word, I have found that few know where to find a particular book or why the Bible is divided into two "testaments". Our lack of knowledge causes us great difficulty. In Hosea 4:6. God tells us that "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge." When we don't study and learn God's world view, we will accept another world view that is in conflict with our Creator. As a Christian, I have no choice on this matter. I have made Jesus lord of my life and I am His disciple, so what He teaches on a subject is what I will believe about that subject. Period, end of story!


I think it is important to understand that Jesus confronted sin whenever He encountered it and called for people to change their lives. He would tell them to "go and sin no more". He didn't leave them where they were, He called them to leave their sin behind and change. He would be called a hater today. He called on the woman caught in adultery to quit committing adultery... hater! He confronted the "woman at the well" about her cohabitation with a man that was not her husband... hater! To the man he healed by the pool of Bethesda... sin no more... hater! The main point of the Bible is to reveal God's will to us and to enable us to change our behaviors and be restore to Him... if we choose to.


The Bible is clear when it comes to homosexuality. The New Testament is clear that homosexuality is sinful...

Matthew 19:1-8 — Did Jesus say anything about homosexuality? Of course, when asked about marriage, Jesus issued a sweeping condemnation of all sexual relationships outside of the male/female model established in Gen 1:27, which he specifically cited.

Romans 1:18-32 — Though most of the passages deal with the male perspective, for the first time there is a specific mention of female homosexuality. And as the verdict comes in, we discover it too is a depraved condition brought on by a sinful nature.

1Cor 6:9-11—The only passage of scripture that clearly acknowledges former (ex) homosexuals in the church. They are listed along with other ex-sinners who have been changed by the power of Christ. It is certain that Paul knew there were former homosexuals in his local church and he celebrated their freedom in Christ Jesus. With a completely different tone in comparison to the volume of harsh, negative reaction to the unrepentant homosexuality, scripture here ends with the tremendous hope and goodness of God.

Galatians 5:19 — Many areas that the apostle traveled to take the gospel indeed were very accepting of homosexual practices, yet he did not back away from communicating the sinfulness of such practice. Corinth, Ephesus and Rome as well as other major cities of the ancient world, were all too often cesspools of all forms of sexual immorality. Undeterred, Paul drew from sources familiar to him and forged them with New Testament teachings of God’s grace to forgive and cleanse. In the letter to the Galatians, he teaches that the “works [not plurality] of the flesh are manifest. The flesh or sinful human nature is always considered and enemy to God.

Ephesians 5:3-7— Paul repeats his warnings against “uncleaness” to the church at Ephesus.

Colossians 3:5-7 — Paul issues his third warning against “uncleaness” to the church at Colosse. This time he adds instructions on overcoming/controlling the sin. Believers are to mortify or deaden themselves and exercise self-control (a fruit of the Spirit) over such actions. Homosexuals claim that denying the free expression of homosexuality is "suppressing one's true self", but scripture clearly instructs that we are hold our bodies in check and refuse it participation in sexual immorality. This passage further emphasizes that no one should expect to escape the “wrath of God” except they repent.

1 Tim 1:10 — the law was not made for the righteous, but for the “lawless and disobedient.” The law (of Moses) encompassed the ceremonial, judicial and moral components of human interaction. Christ neutralized the ceremonial aspects but upheld the judicial and moral aspects, tendered with grace and mercy. Hence, homosexuality remains a sin "worthy of death" but yet qualified for forgiveness through repentance. The phrase Paul uses “defiling themselves with mankind” is another link of homosexual behavior to disobedience and incompatible to sound or acceptable Christian doctrine.

Titus 1:16 — This is an aggressive attack and exposure of the psychosis of those who are “defiled” and commit “abominations". Again, let us identify the source of the Apostle Paul’s strong condemnation. When one accepts what God has pronounced abominable (by God’s own definition) and rejects the created model which God has pronounced good, a process of hardening and mental perversion begins to take root in the mind. Such is the danger of justifying sin. Sin corrupts the mind and conscience (the seat of individual integrity and morality) rendering it incapable of making spiritually sound decisions.

Jude 1:4,7,19 — Jude reveals that like the Sodomites, certain men in the church had gone after “strange flesh.” I believed Jude was describing contemporary "gay Christians". His choice of phraseology is a combination of two words: heteros and sarx meaning “another flesh with the same quality.” His inclusion of the word flesh pointed to the homosexuality (not the inhospitality) of the Sodomites. Similar to the Apostle Paul, Jude selected strong language to convey the serious of the charge facing the church. Allowing unrepentant homosexuals into Christian fellowship without applying the same standards of admission applied to other sinners would be a spiritual death nail for the church. Repentance is one of the major actions a sinner must take to be accepted into the family of God.

Rev 21:27—The final book of the Bible, denouncements all forms of homosexual conduct. From Genesis to Revelation, the Word of God firmly establishes the sinfulness of homosexuality, but it also provides a wide opportunity for repentance and redemption through Jesus Christ. Homosexuality, as seen through the eyes of scripture is a spiritual aberration and a disease of the soul. It produces nothing life giving, in essence it is the opposite of the nature of God who is life.

As a Christian, my beliefs about all sin is dictated by the teaching of the Bible. I am a sinophobe! I believe that all sin is bad (mine included) and that God calls us from our sinful choices to right choices. If I believe that the Bible is true and that sin separates people from God, the greatest act of love I can show a fellow human is to tell them that and to call them out of sin and into a relationship with God. On the other hand, it would seem that leaving someone in their sin, without knowledge of God's will is better labeled hate.

So call me a hater if you must, but Jesus was a bigger hater than me... if you believe that confronting sin and calling for change is hateful. 1 John 3:16 tells us that  By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. Jesus laid down His life to pay for our sins and we ought to be in the business of laying down our lives to bring others to Him. Jesus tells us that the second greatest command is "love your neighbor as yourself". If you care enough about yourself that you confront sin in your life and make the changes that He calls you to, then loving others means that you want them out of their sins also.

The world is upside down... the lovers of others are called haters and those that care nothing about your eternal soul are call lovers. Do I care enough to tell the person in adultery... go and sin no more? Do I care enough to tell the couple living together outside of marriage... go and sin no more? Do I care enough to tell the liar, the thief, the alcoholic, the prostitute... go and sin no more? Do I love the person trapped in the sin of homosexuality enough to tell them... go and sin no more? Jesus would do it. He would love them deeply; He would love them too much not to call them out of their sinful life choice. In our world today, He would be a hater. May you and I be like Him.