Are Gays, their Supporter (including the Church) for or against God?

continued from previous post

                                                   2012 Mr. Gay World Contest

Bailey’s second argument was that the rest of the Old Testament, nowhere suggests that the nature of Sodom’s offense was homosexuality. Instead, Isaiah implies that it was hypocrisy and social injustice; Jeremiah adultery, deceit and general wickedness; Ezekiel arrogance, greed and indifference to the poor (Isaiah 1:10-16, Jeremiah 23:14, Ezekiel 16: 49-50).

Bailey also handled the Gibeah story in (Judges 19: 22-25) the same way. He claimed that the sin of the men of Gibeah was not their proposal of homosexual intercourse but their violation of the law of hospitality adding that the Christian tradition about “sodomy” was derived from the late apocryphal Jewish sources.

But Stott (1999) opposed Bailey’s argument on the following basis:

·         The adjectives “wicked”, “vile” and disgraceful” in Genesis and Judges do not seem appropriate to describe a breach of hospitality.

·         The offer of women instead does look as if there is a sexual connotation to the episode

·         Although the verb “know” is used only ten times of sexual intercourse, Bailey omits to mention that six of these occurrences are in Genesis and one in the Sodom story itself (about Lot’s daughters, who had not “known” a man, v. 19:8)

Another one, a practical case, is that of Ikekhuame Egbele, a 25 year-old male model who tied the nuptial knots with a priest lover in 2010. Tell magazine reported the shocking event (wedding) which was about to take place at St John the Baptist Church in Devizes under the headline “Homosexual Priest Weds Nigerian Male Lover”. The report reads: “Reverend Colin Coward, 65, a homosexual priest at St John the Baptist Church in Devizes, Wiltshire, England, has announced plans to marry his Nigerian male model boyfriend, Ikekhuame Egbele. Coward lives with his gay fiancé in Marston, near Devizes and believes his marriage would set a “visible example” to other homosexuals within the church.

 Rev. Coward speaking on his proposed gay marriage said: “My goal is for everyone within the church to feel comfortable with the situation because at the moment the majority of gay Christians marry secretly. It is a taboo subject but the church is now under huge pressure to change its stance and that pressure will only increase in the future. Though he agreed that many people would view their union as “horror,” Coward however said, “But we are both deeply committed Christians so it would be unthinkable for me not to do it in church and not to do it with the congregation and with all of our friends.”

Rev. Rowland Macaulay, founder of the gay church in Nigeria, House of Rainbow Metropolitan Community Church, once made his contact avaliable on a blog to who ever care to have it. Some other supporters of Macaulay in the blog comment said, “We are not here telling people anything new, we are only telling them who we are and that we are children of God. Rev 7:13-14 says, Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, ‘Who are these, robed in white, and where have they come from?’ I said to him, ‘Sir, you are the one that knows.’ Then he said to me, ‘These are they who have come out of the great ordeal; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.―KJV. Those rejected from the church are now robed in white, they are accepted by God. Romans 9:25-26 "Those who were not my people I will call “my people”, and her who was not beloved I will call “beloved”. And it shall come to pass that in the very place where it was said to them, “You are not my people”, there they shall be called children of the living God.”

Other gays said “I am gay because God want me that way so I intend therefore to affirm and indeed celebrate what I am by creation”.

Another opposing argument goes thus: “Some may even want to argue base on the fact that throughout the ministration of the Lamb (Christ Jesus) on earth, he never spoke about or condemned homosexuality and gay marriage. Yes, I agree with that but I also know that we can’t discern the mind of Christ concerning this issue excerpt as laid down in the bible. Jesus said: “think not that I have come to destroy the law or the prophet: I am not here to destroy but fulfill” Matthew 5:17 KJV. Simply put, Jesus was referring to the Mosaic Law contained in the Old Testament.

Aside churches that conduct gay marriage, there are also the so called “Christian literatures” that encourage this act with biblical backing. One of such literatures is Gay Christian 101: Spiritual Self Defense for Gay Christian by Rick Brentlinger. The author of the book said that they (Gay Christians) are a joyful global fellowship of born again gay and straight Christians on the path of life together. He also added that they are authentic Bible-believers, swimming against the tide of Bible rejecting theological liberalism, upholding the truth of God's inerrant, infallible word.

The Bible talks very directly about homosexuality in sixteen different passages;  ten in the Old Testament  (Genesis 13:13; 18:20-21; 19:1, 4-11, 3, 24, 28; Ezekiel 16:49-50; Leviticus 18:22, 20:13, Deuteronomy 23:17-18; Judges 19:22-24; Hosea 9:9; 1 Kings 14:24; 15:12; 22:46; 2 Kings 23:7), six in the New Testament (Romans 1:21, 24, 26-27; 1 Corinthians 6:9-11; 1 Timothy 1:8-10 2 Peter 2:6; Jude 7; Colossians 3:5-6). Analysing the above passages in the Bible vis-a-vis the arguments of the homosexuals and their sympatisers, I believe that the body of Christ should know the mind of their HEAD concerning this issue and stop twisting the truth. 

Does error become truth by reason of multiplied propagation, or does truth become error because nobody sees it? ―Mahatma Gandhi  If the church could violate her only Constitution (the Bible) and begin to respect the secular Constitution to please the intellectual whims of men, then what message does it the church have for the world?  Or should we say the gays are right? These questions are daring for answers.

Are Gays, their Supporter (including the Church) for or against God?

Are Gays, their Supporter (including the Church) for or against God?

                                               2012 Mr. Gay World Contest

Exactly a month ago, South Africa host Mr. Gay World contest, the first ever on African soil, featuring the first black African contentants with other contestants from different countries around the world. Mr Gay World started in Canada in 2009. This year Andreas Derleth, a 32-year-old German living in New Zealand, took the crown, while South Africa's Lance Weyer became the first runner-up. Other blcak African contestants include Mr Gay Ethiopia, who was disowned by his father, Mr Gay Zimbabwe, who pulled out after his mother was allegedly followed by government agents, Mr Gay Nambia whose father called for the police and sent him to the hospital for psychiatric treatment when he first came out as gay at age 16. Mr Gay Zambia was said to be proud to represent his country.  He was even accompanied by his family members to the airport for a warm send-off when he left for the competition, which culminates for him and 21 other men in the finals at a Johannesburg casino. “Bring the trophy home,” Mr Gay Namibia said his mother told him.―culled from www.gaurdian.co.uk

The above is one of the activities of the end time. Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ in his letter to Timothy described what this present world would look like.

This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy. Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despiser of those that are good― 2Timothy 3: 1-3(KJV). Unnatural affection here means love, attraction, or sexual relationship between same-sex. The manifestation is what we see today.

Homosexuality is not a new phenomenon, it didn’t just start now. But in our contemporary world, homosexuality has assumed a greater dimension. What we now have are higher concepts ―gay marriage, gay world contest etc. In the past, no one would openly admit that he or she is a gay or lesbian both in the church and in circular world because of the stigmatisation that accompany such. But these days, it is quite unfortunate that homosexuality, having existed in the circular world for long, gradually crept into the body of Christ―the church. Since the 1990s, the Anglican Communion had struggled with controversy regarding homosexuality in the church.

The crisis deepened in 2003 when two openly gay men in England and the United States became candidates for bishop. The Episcopal Church of United States of America (ECUSA) appointed Canon Gene Robinson, an avowed gay, bishop of New Hampshire in 2003. He became the first openly homosexual bishop in the history of “Christiandom”.

Even though Homosexuality is now illegal in 37 African countries including Nigeria, I like to highlight some of their (homosexuals) arguments.

Homosexuals and their sympathisers, particularly those in the church have used the Bible as their point of reference in arguing. For instance, homosexuals and their sympathisers in the west claim that the world has gone beyond the age of the Bible as exemplified in Sodom and Gomorrah. One of such sympathisers, Sherwin Bailey challenged the interpretation of Sodom and Gomorrah story on two grounds.

Stott (1999:193) citing Sherwin Bailey said that it is a gratuitous assumption that the demand of the men of Sodom, ‘Bring them out to us, so that we may know them’ does mean so that we may have sex with them. He added that the Hebrew word ‘know’ (yada) occurs 943 times in the Old Testament of which only 10 occurrences refers to physical intercourse, and even then only to heterosexual intercourse. “It would therefore be better to translate the phrase as ‘so that we may get acquainted with them. We can then understand the men’s violence as due to their anger that Lot had exceeded his right as a resident alien, for he had welcomed two strangers into his home whose intention might be hostile and whose credentials―had  not been examined.”  In this case, he said, “the sin of Sodom was invasion of privacy of lot who they belief flout the ancient rules of hospitality.”

To be continued tomorrow…

AT GESTHSAMANE

It is indeed a privilege for us to remember the death of our Lord Jesus on the cross. More than 2000 years ago, He died a shameful death that we all might be saved. Today, those who have accepted the work of the cross into there lives are “living a brand new kind of life that is continually learning more and more of what is right and trying constantly to be more and more like Christ who created this new life within [them] Col 3 v. 10 LTB. In learning and trying constantly to be more like Christ, let us take a look at His activity at the place called Gesthsamane. Matthew 26 v. 36-45, Luke 22 v. 39-45.

Let us assume we all travelled through time to (more than 2000 years ago, when He died on the cross), and agree that two days ago was the exact day of crucifixtion; then, we can also say that the day before, the night he spent before going to the cross was when He went to Gesthsamane to pray. The word Gesthsamane means “crushed olives”. At Gesthsamane, “His soul was overwhelmed to the point of death” Matthew 26 v.38 (NIV). Fears of that day (His arrest) and the worries about the following day (His suffering and crucifixtion) over burden his heart. He felt the weight of God’s will to the extent that “His sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground” Luke 22 v.44 (NIV)

But at that same place, His will was crushed, buried, and lost in God’s will and His heart was prepared for the great task ahead. The work of the cross was completed in His heart at  Gesthsamane. It was there that he proposed in his heart that nothing would stop him from going to the cross for our sake. It was right there that He said to His Father “My heart is ready”. The readiness of His heart made him endure to the end that neither the pain of the scourge nor the nails could make him change His mind.

As we learn to become more like Him, the place called Gethsamane can not be over emphasised on our pligrim journey. Gesthsamane is the place of readiness of heart to do the will of God. It is not when we are faced with the reality of His will that we should begin to make up our minds whether to follow and do as He has instructed us or not. Christ didn’t wait until when He was arrested, tortured and eventually led to the cross before He went to the place of preparation. After the encounter at Gesthsamane, He carried out God’s will joyfully and without complaining even when it meant dying on the cross.

Many men of old did thesame thing. For instance, Daniel proposed in his heart not to defile himself with the king’s meat, [even before he was served] Daniel 1 v. 8. Ditto for us... If Christ went to Gesthsamane, let us also go there so that our heart can receive strenght and be ready for the race ahead of us. Let us keep our eyes on Jesus, our leader and instuctor…a slave is not greater than his master.