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I am a Christian who is pro-gay. But, in defense of the OP statement, semantically speaking, I think what they mean is they are trying to live their lives believing it's sinful, but society is "in their face" saying that it's quite normal and not sinful at all and should be accepted. Did I get that right?
I'm sure Christian slave owners who used the Bible to justify slavery felt the same way.
The problem with many Christians is that they fail to understand the difference between the secular world and The Kingdom of God. I'm a committed Christian and in my opinion any and all attempts to conform secular society to Christian ideals is completely wrong. It's very misguided and in effect is exactly the opposite from the work we as Christians are called to perform in this world. This is especially noticeable among the so called, "Christian right" in the USA. Their attempts are nothing more than secularism in the extreme and a desire to lord it over others.
We are to take our example from the life of Christ and try as much as possible to pattern ourselves after him. The society Jesus lived in was exceedingly wicked and perverse and yet I can not find a single example of Jesus speaking out against the government, laws or culture of the day. He reserved his condemnation for the religious leaders of the day that lead the people away from God by means of their rules, regulations, traditions and prejudices. For Christians to tell the non Christians how to live and how to behave is worse than useless. Our call is only to preach the gospel to the unsaved and make ourselves models of how Christians live.
If we convince a this not to steal or a liar not to lie it means nothing in terms of eternity. We should never ever be focused on the sins of the unsaved. God and the church deal with those things after conversion.
759 avrsenokoi,thj
avrsenokoi,thj, avrsenokoitou, o` (a;rshn a male; koi,th a bed), one who lies with a male as with a female, a sodomite: 1 Cor. 6:9; 1 Tim. 1:10. (Anthol. 9, 686, 5; ecclesiastical writings.)*
Liddel and Scott Greek lexicon: 6008 avrsenokoi,thj
avrseno&koi,thj, (koi,th) lying with men, N.T.
Friberg Biblical Greek Lexicon: 3665 avrsenokoi,thj, ou, o` an adult male who practices sexual intercourse with another adult male or a boy homosexual, sodomite, pederast
It is clear and the words that make up a word do not always control the meaning of the combined word.Try:
"Make" to create
"Up" a direction and
"Makeup".
Now it is true many misuse words as you pointed out, but the basic meaning is a reference to homosexual sexual activity.
That article I linked to was far more in depth than simply looking up a biblical lexicon.
So how can the word "arsenokoiten" only mean "homosexual sexual activity' when it was also used like this:
"Never accept in your hand a gift which derives from unjust deeds. Do not steal seeds. Whoever takes for himself is accursed (to generations of generations, to the scattering of life. Do not arsenokoitein, do not betray information, do not murder. Give one who has labored his wage. Do not oppress a poor man. Take heed of your speech. Keep a secret matter in your heart"
Or when used to refer to something a married heterosexual couple does?
How can the word "malakos" only mean "homosexual sexual activity" when it was used to refer to clothing or food?
The problem with many Christians is that they fail to understand the difference between the secular world and The Kingdom of God. I'm a committed Christian and in my opinion any and all attempts to conform secular society to Christian ideals is completely wrong. It's very misguided and in effect is exactly the opposite from the work we as Christians are called to perform in this world. This is especially noticeable among the so called, "Christian right" in the USA. Their attempts are nothing more than secularism in the extreme and a desire to lord it over others.
We are to take our example from the life of Christ and try as much as possible to pattern ourselves after him. The society Jesus lived in was exceedingly wicked and perverse and yet I can not find a single example of Jesus speaking out against the government, laws or culture of the day. He reserved his condemnation for the religious leaders of the day that lead the people away from God by means of their rules, regulations, traditions and prejudices. For Christians to tell the non Christians how to live and how to behave is worse than useless. Our call is only to preach the gospel to the unsaved and make ourselves models of how Christians live.
If we convince a this not to steal or a liar not to lie it means nothing in terms of eternity. We should never ever be focused on the sins of the unsaved. God and the church deal with those things after conversion.
Great post. You are spoken like a true Christian.
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