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Originally Posted by bchris02
Growing up I was taught that homosexuality was the ultimate sin against God and He would completely and totally destroy America if this country were to ever legalize it. The rational part of me says thats hogwash and the liberal Christian part of me says God is love and we are under the age of Grace and not the age of wrath. However, there is a part of me that, having heard the message of fire and brimstone every Sunday for 22 years, is a bit fearful of it happening. I look at things like the collapsing economy and skyrocketing oil prices and wonder if that may be punishment from God (Things spiraled out of control after California legalized gay marriage in Summer of 2008 but became relatively placid after Prop 8 passed until now when things are collapsing once again). I wonder if $100 oil and the crashing stock market has anything to do with Obama's DOMA policy? Does God still punish nations as in the Old Testament or does he deal more on an individual level in this age?
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I've heard that too, but it typically comes from those who misunderstand their Bible.
It's based upon what happened to Sodom and Gomorrah and people usually think God destroyed those cities because of homosexuality. However, that's not so. He destroyed them because they refused to repent and because they were wealthy but failed to take care of their poor. Homosexuality was just a symptom of the larger disease of unbelief and, if fact, gives evidence of God having turned them over to a reprobate heart because of it. (see thr thread on that subject).
In any case, homosexuality is still a sin. I believe the Bible says that quite clearly. However, (and this is where I differ with a lot of my fellow believers), it's no different from any other sin. Yes, it's one of the few sins called an "abomination," but sin is still sin in God's eyes. It makes no difference if that sin is telling a little lie or lying with a person of the same sex. The penalty is the same if not repented of: eternal separation from God.
I also believe that we are who we are because God made us that way. Beginning with our genetics eon's ago, and building upon the life situation He directed us to be born into, He crafts us all, individually to be the person He wants us to be (however, I'm not convinced He's all that involved in the lives of those He knows will never trust in Christ, but that's another subject). Consequently, we all are tempted to sin, but we're not all tempted to commit the SAME sins. Some are tempted to same sex relationships, while others are tempted to adultery or theft or whatever. While we all share the common propensity to sin, we each have our own, specific, individual weaknesses.
So, in that sense, yes they're made that way, just as the rest of us are made susceptible to some other temptation. However, that does not give them the right to succumb to that temptation any more than the rest of us have the right to succumb to ours. In the end, it's still a choice to sin. For instance, I may be tempted to rob banks, but I'm not a bank robber until I act upon that temptation. It's the same thing with homosexuals, though most of them will vehemently deny it.
That does not mean, though, that they can't find forgiveness for their failures just as much as everyone else can find it for our failures. The blood of Christ covers all repented sins, including homosexuality. A homosexual can turn to Christ for his salvation just as surely and as easily as can the habitual thief, serial adulterer or common drunk. All it takes is to admit he's a sinner, believe in his heart that Jesus died on the cross in payment for his sins and was resurrected on the third day and confess that to another person. The road to salvation is open to all sinners, which means all of us.
Unfortunately, too many of our fellow believers are not willing to accept that homosexual's can be saved. They find that particular sin so personally revolting that it clouds their understanding and they want to hold homosexuals to a higher standard of salvation than the rest of us enjoy. They want them to STOP practicing homosexuality before being saved and before being welcomed into the body of the local church. That's clearly not Biblical. If that was Christ's standard, none of us would be saved and none of us could walk through the door of the church on Sunday morning because we ALL still sin.
So, on the question of whether or not God will destroy America because of homosexuality, or the acceptance of it, I think the answer is clearly no. However, He certainly can, and very well may, destroy us as a nation because of our unbelief and unrepentant hearts, just as He did Sodom and Gomorrah.
Moreover, the unrepentant hearts He finds most offensive are the ones found inside His Church. Note that the passage most often quoted as the solution to what ails us, II Chronicles 7:14, BEGINS with the words, "If MY PEOPLE WHO ARE CALLED BY MY NAME..." And, who are the people called by His name? In the Old Testament, it was the Jews. In the New Testament, it's US, the Christian church!
If God destroys this country, it won't be because of homosexuality. It will because His Church is so hard-hearted, so hypocritical (especially in regards to homosexuals) so unrepentant that He'll spew us out of His mouth.
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