Controversial Conversation - Christianity
The past, one or two years, I have found myself to be in the middle of the whirlpool of the strength of my faith and the relationship I have with God. I am a Christian; I am confidently a Christian and a believer of the Holy Spirit. I will stay with this belief unless it can somehow be shaken. I have been flung into this world of atheism, skepticism, moral and critical thinking and I have been questioning my faith and whatnot. I don't have all the answers but here is my point of view and although it may not be a strong argument but through experience and more time, I'm sure I will be able to build it up like I would with my portfolio or resume in the realm of existence.Churches & Christians in general
I have stopped going to church this year; I've just stopped going suddenly and I like to believe I've found a reason for it. You see, my church has two groups - the English part and the Mandarin part. My mum goes to the Mandarin time; and so that's where I go to 'Sunday school' and the children there are a lot younger than me. The group leaders there have to teach information where it's suitable for the children there as the majority of children there are aged 13 and younger. So my answers such as what does God say about gay/lesbian/Transgenders and like topics such as the big bang theory and evolution and why an all knowing, all omniscient, all benevolent God would allow people to go to hell? My answers obviously weren't going to be answered here. I also couldn't understand mandarin so I couldn't join my mum. I felt like I learned more about God during my philosophy and ethics class than I did when going to church. So that was my reason.
Just then I was wiping my glasses and in my pajamas like I usually would do. I looked at myself in the mirror and thought about the youth group friends would invite me to on Fridays after school. I had been to only been to two youth groups in my entire life. The first one was a friendly, kid-friendly, social youth group which made you feel welcome and 90% fun and games with the 10% Bible study. I liked this youth group but sadly; I outgrew it because I had 'grown up' and it wasn't 'cool' anymore to go. So my friends stopped going there. The second youth group was the opposite - most of the people who went there were teenagers; aged thirteen and up. It was 60% all about God 30% what you look like and how you dress and 5% music and 5% hipster stuff. Now back to the whole pajamas and mirror thing. If I went to the youth group in my pajamas and my hair in a mess and everything - would they still accept me for who I was even if I looked like a freak? I replied no, no they wouldn't. It makes me sad.
Homosexuality and Hell
Is this really what we, as Christians, want to be known for? I'm quite horrified actually. The thing is, a lot of Christians give such a bad name to people who are supposed to follow a loving God who gave his one and only son, that whoever believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. God loves everyone and he finds sin to be all the same. So, I don't see why we should find gays/lesbians who sin, any different from people who murder, commit adultery and lie. God wouldn't want anyone to go to hell - he doesn't punish anyone to go to hell. They punish themselves by 'withdrawing their relationship with God' - it is an eternity without Him.
"My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?"
Jesus, while on the cross, asked that very question. As he took every single one of our sins away; he was basically abandoned and sin keeps us apart from God. Sin has always kept us apart from God.
I am respectfully NOT against homosexuality, I know a lot of Christians will be like 'oh you're going to hell with them!' But the reason why I respect homosexuals although it may be biologically and ethically wrong is that perhaps among the debate; we always forget the number one rule God and Jesus taught; love your neighbours as you love yourself. When I was younger, this would only apply to people who bullied me but now it applies to every single person. Every. Single. Person. Love everyone, we're all created equally from the same creator; from the same God on the same universe. So, although I won't be with the crowd of people who are against gay marriage; I won't be with the people who are for it either. I'm just going to accept their opinions and love everyone equally.
Also, to the atheists - I wish you would stop taking things out of context. You can't use one single verse out of the Bible and use it against us. This also applies to Christians as well who use Leviticus 18:22 which says you should not have sex with the same sex or something. No, you have to look/read at the big picture.
A painting is more then the sum of it's parts. A cow by itself is just A cow. A meadow by itself is just grass, flowers. And the sun picking through the trees, is just a beam of light. But you put them all together and it can be magic. - Flipped
I know that quote is from a completely different thing but I just wanted to put that in there :)
Hi! I just stumbled upon your blog and I reckon it's pretty awesome :) I'm from sydney and i'm in yr 12 this year luls. But I saw your post about a benevolent God allowing people to Hell etc. This miight be a long post, but please bear with me... If you look at Romans 1from v 18 onwards... Paul explains how people have continually turned away from God to follow deceitful sins including sexual ones, and God, having created us to have free will, let us follow our treacherous ways, allowing us to follow our ways.
ReplyDeleteHe came to rescue us from Hell at an unfathomable cost to Him, but still, we continue to reject Him and make ourselves No.1 even though we're meant to be under God. Sin overrules in our lives. We see it in the brokenness of soceity, our relationships and even our friendships. We're broken people. We're broken, sinful people that deserve to go to Hell for what we've committed - rebellion against God.
But now, a lot of skeptics wonder, how is it possible that He's to send us to hell? Consider this analogy: say you have created your own SIMS world or something, where your characters have free will. The twist is, however, the people go against what you want for them (the best for them, a relationship with you etc). You can do one of 3 things.
1. Send them to Hell.
2. Let them through to Heaven.
3. Rescue them.
Option 1: Send them to Hell. This is what they deserve. This is what WE deserve! We've rejected God, knowing what the cost of doing so! Option 2: Let them to Heaven. If you created the world, and really didn't give a care about what was going on in the world... What does that say about you? Doesn't it convey that you don't care about your creation at all? You don't love your creation? That you're tolerant with evil? Won't that contradict with the portrayal of a perfect and a just God? Option 3: There's no short way to put option 3. Except for the gospel. :)
I hope it's clearer somewhat to you, and please feel free to contact me or whatever :) My blog is: philippians420.blogspot.com.au
But yeah, another comment haha, I think as Christians, if we're going to be different, if we're going to be born again, or as Paul puts it in Ephesians and 1 Peter, "aliens of this world", I think there are certain things that we need to keep our hearts and minds fixed on.
ReplyDeleteIn your post above, you mentioned that you aren't against homosexuality in any way. I have to disagree with this, because it's clearly against God's order for creation. In Genesis, it's made clear that God made women for men, not men for man. In Levicticus, the laws explicitly oppose adulterous acts, sexual sins and lusts of the sort. Once again in Romans, Paul points out that humans have turned against God and rebellion is expressed in many ways, where God has given humans 'over to the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another' (1:24). 1 Corinthians has a lot of guidelines for living holy lives and treating our bodies as 'temples' and thus not tarnishing it for what it was made to be for God through sexual sins. In Galations, Paul contrasts sins with the fruit of the Spirit.
There are heaps of references against all sorts of sexual sins, and I've read that you understand that 'All men have fallen short of the glory of God' and 'no one is righteous', but as Christians, we need to make it clear to this world, our friends and enemies, that it's not what God intended us to involve ourselves in.
This doesn't mean that we're to hate our friends who are gay or have lesbanic tendencies. It just means that we're to be conscious and sensitive of it in the way we treat them. For me, I had to stop using the term 'gay' to describe something that was pathetic. Through small things like that, we can show the world that Christians don't love the sins of the world, but we're called to love the SINNERS, the broken people that we once were.
Don't be hesitant to share the gospel with those people that struggle with sexual desires of the sort either, because they're just as broken as we are. We all need the same grace.
I hope that opens up another viewpoint for you. :)
Hello! Thank you so much for your insight on this and I enjoyed reading it!! It's not everyday I get to discuss about religion with someone! I need more of these comments because they're so inspiring so thanks!
ReplyDeleteI haven't had the chance to become friends with a homosexual person as I grew up with a (somewhat) Christian family and was sent to a Christian school so I never had the opportunity to take in different viewpoints on topics regarding homosexuals, pro-life/choice, evolution until I took philosophy and ethics class so I have a narrow view on those sorts of aspects in life. So I'm sorry if what I say sounds rather stupid or offensive.
I understand that loving the same sex is wrong and it wasn't the way God intended us to be; but I just find it so confusing on how we're supposed to act(?) towards. They're still human in the end even though they're committing a sin and I find it horrible that people would treat them differently because of their sexual preference. Issues on same sex couples adopting might be harmful to the development of the child but what about when a woman wants to abort the baby? Would it be better to abort the baby or the chance of the baby surviving but being adopted by a same sex couple? Why is it that a person would choose to become a homosexual and risk being bullied and discriminated against? These are some of the questions I keep wondering about. Your comment did open up another viewpoint for me, thanks!
I love: 'Through small things like that, we can show the world that Christians don't love the sins of the world, but we're called to love the SINNERS, the broken people that we once were.' I was wondering if I could maybe share your comments/viewpoint with my friends?