There is a price for Gospel honesty. It’s a rather steep one.
Before I go on, I want to define “Gospel honesty.” I’m using the phrase to indicate honesty about one’s sin and the redemption of Christ through His blood on the cross, which takes the reality of God’s grace and amplifies it to the world without shame or reservation since Christ has, indeed, died for me…for all who believe. The Gospel allows me to be honest about what tempts me because my Savior has paid the price for my shame.
Put another way, I should be free to let my light so shine before people that they would see my good works and glorify my Father who is in heaven.
I’m no longer a teacher. Apparently, my sharing God’s grace in my life is the reason.
So as I was saying…the price for Gospel honesty is steep. Plantinga is right. Things aren’t the way they’re supposed to be.
Shunned by some...
Gay and Evangelical 
I don’t know the details of what happened Dave, but I think I can read through the lines. Much of Christianity can be quite un-Christlike. They are more worried about appearances than one of Christ’s greatest commandments: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Much of the hypocrisy of “The Church” has opened my eyes to rank ungodliness of almost all organized religion.
I’m sorry.
Dave,
I’m sorry you had to suffer the loss of your position as teacher due to people rejecting honesty and shunning you in order to please others.
Use this as an opportunity to show all those involved that Jesus Christ means more to you than money or the approval of men. Stand firm in proclaiming the Truth that Jesus died for us redeemed gays, too. Not that we should remain in our sin, but that we should be conformed to His image just like other redeemed sinners.
It hurts to keep fighting this battle, but live for the glory given to God when the battle is won! Jesus Christ is worth all the suffering on the path to glorifying Him!
You are still a teacher. You teach me a lot. Love you bro,
Gerin
“It hurts to keep fighting this battle, but live for the glory given to God when the battle is won! Jesus Christ is worth all the suffering on the path to glorifying Him!”
I have to respond to this. MR…. you don’t understand. This is not a battle worth fighting. It is a battle that can not be won. I hope one day that Dave will fully understand this. We love you Dave…. just as you are. God loves you …. just as you are. You were born gay. This is NOT a test from God. He wants you to be true to yourself. Aren’t you tired of fighting a un-winable battle?
James, I don’t *not* love myself. I don’t think I have to change for God to love me.
Additionally, as a Christian, the message I am given (and that I give to others) is the same one Jesus gave in Luke 24:47…repentance and the forgiveness of sins in Christ. If I say I’m a Christ-follower but don’t show repentance, I make myself out to be a liar.
Scripture clearly calls homosexual behavior and thoughts sin. So if I’m not repenting of those, I’m not a Christian.
Scripture also calls unmarried sexual activity a sin. So if I’m not repenting of that, I’m not a Christian. Or at least, not much of one. That’s not to say I don’t struggle with all of the above…but giving in to hard-wired desires is not the Christian life and never has been.
My obedience and repentance doesn’t cause God to love me any more. My obedience and repentance instead come from the love that God has shown me by Christ dying for my sin.
James,
What I am fighting for, my goal, is not heterosexuality. It is joy in glorifying God. I want to replace sexual sin with the glad worship of God. God Himself is so good, He is worth fighting these conflicting urges for. Because He is there fighting with me to help me, the fight can be won. He is better than all pleasure! I can drop sexual pleasure when I experience something greater…God Himself!
“What I am fighting for, my goal, is not heterosexuality. It is joy in glorifying God. I want to replace sexual sin with the glad worship of God. God Himself is so good, He is worth fighting these conflicting urges for. Because He is there fighting with me to help me, the fight can be won. He is better than all pleasure! I can drop sexual pleasure when I experience something greater…God Himself!”
Christ does not want us to suffer for being different. Just because you are gay does NOT mean that you have to give up falling in love, sharing your life and body with someone special. It is a ridiculous concept to sacrifice your happiness and suffer your whole life because you have bought into the dogma from a bunch of old men and how they chose to interpret the Bible. Use your common sense. Does this sound like something Christ would expect of you? Christ would make your gay, yet refuse you any form of love and partnership? That is a ridiculous concept. Throw off the mantle of a sexual martyr and live the life God chose for you.
Wait a minute. “Christ would make you gay…” It’s true people, in our experience, are born gay. But does that equate to a person being MADE gay? It doesn’t have to if you believe in the long-reaching effects of the rebellion of Adam and Eve. In other words, God made me good…and sin screws everything up, even sin I don’t commit.
So how do you arrive at the statement “Christ would make you gay”?
If you can accept the fact that you were born gay, how could you possible think that your attractions, while natural, could possible be sinful. It just doesn’t make any kind of logical sense. No matter HOW you read the Bible.
That’s where you’re wrong. I believe what Scripture teaches about Adam & Eve’s sin in the garden…namely, that it pollutes everything that is, even my best motives for serving my neighbor. And that’s how it makes sense, and how I read the Bible.
So, if you wouldn’t mind telling me (and if not, no worries), did Adam & Eve’s sin screw anything up for you? Was it a bad example that we tend to follow? Or was something worse going on…stuff that makes Paul write that the entire creation is groaning in frustration up until now?
Dave,
That is such a “victim’s” view of you life. So God wants YOU to sacrifice life, liberty, love all because of what two people did at LEAST 5000 years ago?
What kind of God would expect that of you? That is NOT the God I get from the Bible. Obviously, you can tell that i’m not a “literal” reader of the word of God. I don’t think it’s his book of do and don’ts for us. It is there to tell us a little about God. What it tells me is that God would never allow you to be made gay then expect you to live a life full of suffering, torment and loniliness. That is NOT the God I read from the Bible.
If you would stop reading scripture for a minute and look at how you are trying to paint God to be… he sounds like a miserable SOB. I’m sorry, but I don’t can’t buy into your view of God.