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The views expressed herein are those of the writer and do not represent the opinions or editorial position of I-Witness News. Opinion pieces can be submitted to [email protected].

The Church (called out body of believers in the Lord Jesus Christ) was dealt a blow by the recent United States Supreme Court ruling on the legality of same-sex unions in the United States. This is of relevance to the St. Vincent, as we all know the saying when America sneezes the Caribbean catches a cold. Many see this as a knockout blow to the Church, but I see it as a necessary hard jab to make us aware that we are in a fight. Mind you, not a fight of personality and people but of the ideology of this world system and God’s standards.

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It is amusing, however, that persons would contend that there is no absolute right or wrong, all is relative so do not tell them to listen to or obey the Bible. Some of those same people are now telling the Church to change her stance because five persons have said that same-sex unions are ok. Either hold to your “no one is right or wrong” or accept that one of us is wrong on this issue. The Church is once again being asked to compromise. There are absolutes. The Bible is absolutely right and man is absolutely bent on disobeying God’s Word. It is high time that the Church gets up and defends her position. Critics portray the Church as being hypocritical in defending marriage as a union between a man and a woman, due to issues of immorality and other sin in the Church. However, may I submit that in each and every instance of these sins, at its root has been a church (local assembly or general organization) or person who deviates from the absolute authority of the Bible.

The issue at hand is not homosexuality versus homophobia, as many would have us believe. That is a Trojan horse. Homosexuality and lesbianism are just outward manifestations of man’s rebellion against God. Polygamy, adultery, fornication, theft, murder, hatred, envy etc. are also just an outward display of man’s sinful heart. Please do not think that I am magnifying one sin above another by writing this piece. I am simply dealing with a current issue. Man does not go to hell because he is a homosexual or a woman because she is a lesbian, they go to hell because they reject God. The means of the rejection is not as critical as the rejection itself. ALL sins are a violation of God’s standards, and He, being a Holy God, punishes sinners. At this point one may argue that “there are no absolutes” but yet we all hold to absolutes. We say there are absolutes in arithmetic, spelling, sentence structure and so on, so why can’t we believe that there are absolutes when it comes to morality? Teachers do not mark something right because the student is certain about their answer, they mark it right or wrong because there is right and wrong.

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Let me look briefly at what the Bible says about homosexuality. This is by no means an exhaustive look but a mere overview.

God’s plan is for one man to be married to one woman. In early human history, as recorded in Genesis, we may not see easily discernible wedding ceremonies, but when it speaks about marriage it is between a man and a woman. Yes, we have examples right in the Bible where man distorted God’s plan, but we also see in the Bible the negative consequences of such choices. Marriage is a commitment between a man and a woman to follow God’s general design for life. There are those who choose for themselves to remain single to serve God in a particular capacity and this is not wrong either. The issue however remains that the Bible, when speaking about marriage, is between a man and a woman.

At creation God made woman, Eve, as a help meet (suitable) for man, Adam. God’s simple design is that woman completes man and man completes woman, she was a fitting and compatible partner for him. He designed them for each other, including for sexual gratification. Even human physiology points to this fact.

In the Law given to the Jews there is mention that “man should not lie (have sexual relations) with man.

  • Leviticus 18:22 – You shall not lie with a male as one lies with a female; it is an abomination.
  • Leviticus 20:13 – If there is a man who lies with a male as those who lie with a woman, both of them have committed a detestable act; they shall surely be put to death. Their bloodguiltiness us upon them.

When Jesus was asked about divorce, He prefaced His answer by defining marriage:

  • Matthew 19:4-6: And He answered and said, “Have you not read the He who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, For this reason shall a man leave his father and his mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh?”

The Apostles, when teaching about marriage, show us it is between a man and a woman:

  • Romans 1:26,27 – For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural, and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error.
  • 1 Corinthians 7:1,2 — Now concerning the things about which you wrote, it is good for a man not to touch a woman. But because of immoralities, each man is to have his own wife, and each woman is to have her own husband.

The Church needs to get back to holding the Bible as its final authority in doctrine and practice. We cannot understand everything about God or even the Bible, and we may not even like some of what we understand, but we must obey God.

God loves all sinners, including homosexuals and lesbians, and the way of salvation is the same for all. Trust in Jesus Christ’s finished work on Calvary and he will give you the victory over your sin as you follow His leading.

May God help those of us who are Christians to follow His word, and the unsaved that they will stop their futile disobedience to Almighty God.

Faithfully,

John 3:16

The opinions presented in this content belong to the author and may not necessarily reflect the perspectives or editorial stance of iWitness News. Opinion pieces can be submitted to [email protected].

7 replies on “The Church must NOT admit defeat and adapt”

  1. John 3:16
    in addition to you, there are lots of other “SAVED” people; including George w Bush, Jim Jones, Jimmy Swaggart, Jim Baker, Creflo Dollar, Kirk Franklyn, David Koresh to name a few. Among the ranks of the unsaved we have myself, Barak Obama, Nelson Mandela, Mother Theresa, all jews, most Chinese and Indians; for that matter 98% of the world population.
    You are in good company

  2. C. ben-David says:

    Don’t you believe in love?

    There is no such thing as “the Church” as you claim using absolutist terms. There are many, many Christian denomination composed of God-fearing and God-loving people who support the instrinic right of gays, lesbians, transgendered, multi-gendered, etc. people to express their God-given feelings for each other. God is the master of everything, don’t you believe?

    The Bible was written by man, not God, (unless you have scientific proof to the contrary) who is above and beyond such earthly endeavours.

    Who knows God’s will? Certainly not intolerant people like you.

    Don’t get me wrong: from a biological and reproductive perspective, same-sex unions are neither normal, natural, nor healthy which is why most cultures, Christian and otherwise, have prohibited or marginalized them.

    But not all people have the same urges or needs. Heterosexuality is the norm from a statistical point of view (90-98 percent of people are “straight,” depending on what studies you look at) but this doesn’t mean there are not outliers: people who have no desire for members of their own gender and can only achieve sexual release, satisfaction, and fulfillment with their own gender.

    Why do you want such people to live a life of misery and grief by denying what they are? How could a true Christian want people to suffer in this way? Where is your compassion for people who are different from you through no fault of their own? Don’t you know that Black people are still discriminated against for their colour, and nothing else? Why should gays, lesbians, and others be discriminated against for nothing else than their love of each other?

    Again, don’t you believe in love?

  3. Real compassion is pointing out what is wrong. No proper parent would see their child doing something detrimental and just sit back and say let me allow them because they enjoy it. Real love is looking out for what is in the best long term interest of someone.
    Is it possible that God is real?
    Is it possible that God chose to revel himself to man?
    Is it possible that this revelation is found in the Bible?
    Is it possible that God would then hold us all accountable to His Word?

    1. C. ben-David says:

      Maybe to all these questions is the only logical, empirical, and moral answer.

      Faith is nice but it is certainly not the same as Truth.

  4. You have faith that the Bible is not true and I have faith that it is. The Bible is truth.
    Is it that people have no choice to be the way that they are? You pick whatever sin or moral deviation, that’s a very slippery slope.
    That can even include lack of political leadership in a country. No one is really responsible for what they do, so you should stop condemning them as well.
    I do not care about politics, just drawing a reference to some other posts I have seen over time on this site.

    1. C. ben-David says:

      You mean that you “believe the bible is truth,” which is far different than being able to prove the bible is true the same way that it is true (based on scientific proof) that the earth revolves around the sun, something people certainly did not “believe” for thousands of years which in no way affected the fact that it was and is true.

      I guess you don’t believe that people can have any moral compass or any belief in right or wrong or any way to judge good behaviour without waving a Christian bible, one of thousands of different religious texts or belief systems in the world. By the way christianity is only 2,000 years old; there are many religions that are much older and just as believable.

      I never said that people have no choice over what they do or what they believe or how they feel. There is such a thing as “free will” which, after all, is the cornerstone of christianity.

      I don’t accept same-sex marriage, but not on christian grounds, but because it is just another assault on the precious and unique bond of marriage, an institution which strengthens bonds between men and women and parents and children.

      What I do accept is the right of adults to do what they want in private as long as it is based on consent and doesn’t have lasting determinental effects on themselves or those around them. Neither you and I, the state, nor the church has any business in the bedrooms of the nation.

  5. Man has free will, but God still will judge man.
    I do not judge people, I just point out to people what God will judge man for.
    God created man, sustains man and has the right to judge EVERY aspect of man’s life.

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