Given the current political climate, there is once again an uptick in moral finger pointing. I’ll be blunt on this one — its one side of the aisle doing all the pointing and its extremely hypocritical.
A friend of mine, who happens to be one of the kindest, most intelligent people I know, recounted an experience he recently had with a very rightwing relative. My friend, who is gay, was simply enjoying a weekly dinner with his family, when this conservative relative decided to lay into him about being a sinner. His relative decided that there was no time like the present to ruin a happy time and right across the dinner table, said to my friend “you know that you’re an abomination and going to h*ll, right?” Everyone stopped talking, eating and having a good time and one of his siblings was about to put this obnoxious relative in his place, when my friend took matters into his own hands.
What this relative must have forgotten, is that this friend of mine is an ordained Minister who knows a lot more about the Bible than his relative (who as a point of interest, only quotes the Old Testament.). So my friend told me that he calmly asked his relative to list off the 7 things which God declared to be an abomination…his reply, “well homosexuality is one of them.” “Okay replied my friend, but God decreed 7 Abominations that He won’t tolerate, can you tell me what those are?” His relative could in fact, not. So my friend proceeded to share them and they are:
Haughty eyes
A lying tongue
Hands that shed innocent blood
A heart that devises wicked schemers
Feet that are swift in running to mischief
A false witness who utters lies
One who spreads strife among brothers
His relative continued to wag his finger (figuratively) and preach, so my friend asked him if some sins are worse to God than others…he of course, replied that being gay was one that was worse to God. So my friend asked him if this was one of the Ten Commandments, to which his relative said “yes.” My friend pointed out that no, it is not one of the Ten Commandments, but that a couple of the Commandments he knew that his relative had broken, were that he has coveted things his whole life, he had an affair while married, he does not honor the sabbath and he most certainly bears false witness — at this point, his relative tried to back-track, but no one at the table was having any of that.
As my friend told it, he asked this relative if breaking a Commandment was a sin…“yes.” “So you are a sinner” my friend asked his relative. “Yeah, of course, we are all sinners.” Finally! My friend saw his opportunity to call upon his skills as an ordained Minister and imparted some knowledge. My friend explained to this relative that God is Holy and as such, no sinner can enter Heaven. That in reality, all sin is an abomination and that sin is in essence, disobeying God. So knowing that every single one of us is a sinner, why would he believe that being gay is so bad? After all, wouldn’t breaking an actual Commandment be a far greater sin? No response from they hypocritical relative. He continued, asking this relative if following all of the Abrahamic laws set forth in the Bible would absolve a man of his sin and thus, get him into Heaven. As he thought would be the case, his relative said that “yes,” if one follows those laws, he is assured a place in Heaven.
Of course, his relative is wrong. No one can get to Heaven by following the laws only — only through Jesus can one enter Heaven, because Jesus took all of our sins upon Himself and we are thus, freed from the Abrahamic laws. It is through the forgiveness of Christ that every single person who believes and has faith, can get to Heaven.
At this point in the dinner conversation, my friend said that he actually felt bad for his relative, because he has been so clearly brainwashed. He actually believed that he was better than my friend, simply because he was heterosexual and that God would favor him for that. It is unfathomable to me that any Christian would be so misguided. Well, my friend wanted to show his relative how terrible it was to judge and condemn others, so he asked him “did you have sexual relations before your marriage?” “Yes” replied his relative “of course, who doesn’t?” My friend then said “and since your divorce, have you had sexual relations?” “Yes, I’m single now.” So my friend shared this Biblical fact with him:
“Then you are a fornicator and as is states in 1 Corinthians 6 that among others, fornicators, thieves, the greedy, drunkards, slanderers and swindlers will not inherit the kingdom of God as they are an abomination. So if you’ve had pre-marital sex or sexual relations after divorce, which is not allowed, you are in fact, not going to enter the Kingdom, except through the Divine Grace of Jesus.”
His relative did seem to be coming around and everyone at the dinner gently reminded him that the Bible cautions us not to judge our brother for the speck in his eye, when we have a log in our own. They wanted their relative to realize that every single one of us sins and that God isn’t going to favor him simply because he has been brainwashed into believing the sins of others are worse than his own — all sin is sin and thus, an abomination.
I believe we are seeing a great falling away in the Christian faith and that is being caused by people who try to disguise their own personal views and politics as being ones of “faith.” They are lying. To do this — to cause Christians to become so disheartened that they fall away from the faith, is in no uncertain terms, a grievous sin. Lets set the record straight: we are all sinners. Every single one of us. It is not a case of your neighbors sin being a bit worse, so you can judge him — it is a case of it is none of your concern, since you have a log in your eye. God will sort it all out, so stop offending Him by twisting His words and acting so pious.
