Grace to be Homosexual and Christian

I believe that we are saved by grace through faith (Eph. 2:8). So the only “condition” on my salvation is that I put my faith in God's ability to save me rather than in my works or in my theology or even in my faith (i.e. I don't have to have “enough faith” or “more faith” because Jesus actually has “more than enough” so I'm just putting my flimsy-human-faith in His grace and faith to save me.)

It is important to note that even my faith is not a work, as indicated by Eph. 2:9 and that what faith boils down to is that Jesus saves me. Nothing more than Jesus. Nothing less than Jesus. Jesus only. By grace not works. Nothing I do or don't do can change this (Westerners call it “right standing” I prefer the Easterner's view of –) “right relationship” with God.

When I was a child I was led to believe I had confess my sins, try to be more sorry, try be obedient, read the Bible every day, pray more, go to church regularly, be baptised, get my theology right especially things like: God is triune, Jesus is both God and man; then later it was: speak in tongues, give money and serve God. I was burnt out before I reached adulthood. Now I understand that not a single one of these things has any bearing on my salvation.

The criminal on the cross was saved by recognising Jesus’ ability to save him without doing any good works or debating theology. The prodigal son was welcomed home before and without saying sorry, let alone actually being sorry or doing any kind of penance.

A lot of Christians will argue that you cannot possibly be a Christian and not change your sinful behaviour. They quote James 2:26 – Faith without deeds is dead! However this is not a warning about how to lose salvation, it is simply a fact that our deeds flow from what we believe. Jesus is the vine; we are the branches (John 15). The fruit of the spirit (Galatians 6) naturally sprouts from the vine. The branches don’t muster all their will-power to grow fruit; they simply produce fruit naturally because they are plugged into the source: the vine.

For some reason Western-Christians will argue that all sexual sins are very strong evidence that a person is or is not producing good fruit. I don’t know why we are obsessed about sex, but think about the truth of what I’ve just said:

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Pastors caught in adultery are dismissed and shamed

Women who get pregnant out of wedlock are shunned by the people they thought were their best friends

Homosexuals are told they have to change or else they aren’t Christians

Pornography is burned at teen rallies

Divorcees are criticised as failures for their divorce and told, not only that it’s a sin to divorce, but that it’s a sin to re-marry even though, logically, it would be better for them to remarry, than to “burn with passion” (and most likely fail) to stay celibate for the rest of their lives

 

I don’t know when the Western preoccupation with “sexual sin” began but I don’t believe that being homosexual or an adulterer or addicted to pornography is any worse or better than telling lies, pretending to be happy, serving the church with a resentful heart, giving with a bitter attitude, or trying to gain approval by saying all the right Christianese phrases around Christianese friends (all of which Christians deliberately do in church all the time). We Christians are all bearing both good and bad fruit because we are still living in a fallen world and our salvation has not come to its completion in the earthly realm even though it has in the spiritual realm.

Once again, none of these “deeds” – the ones hidden in people’s hearts and the physical acts people try to hide – can change the fact that God has made us righteous, holy and blameless in his sight (2 Cor. 5:21, Eph. 1:4, Col. 1:22) including being homosexual.

If you focus your attention on Jesus, you will naturally produce more good fruit. If you focus on sin and guilt and confession and repentance, you will produce more of the same: more sin and more guilt! However, ultimately, Jesus righteousness is attributed to those who put their faith in his grace. God does not see your earthly “bad fruits” because he sees Jesus’ righteousness and the more you see yourself as the righteousness of God, the more your will naturally produce “good fruit” anyway!

The key, according to John 15, is to remain in Jesus i.e. to fix your eyes on his grace not your works or even your fruit. Your bad fruit has been and is being cut away, and your good branches are being pruned. You are safe and saved by putting faith in his grace.

Is the Grass Greener on the Other Side?

I sat on the back veranda, watching the cloud formations pass me by; listening to the birdcalls; taking in the aroma of 5 roses I had just cut from the front garden: 2 mauve, 1 pink and 2 yellowy-orange ones; eating the most perfect avocado on toast and 2 fried eggs for brunch after swimming 1 kilometre. I couldn’t help thinking that I felt the most happy and content I have felt for about the last 15 months.

I started to think about the expression: “The grass is greener on the other side.” I’ve heard equally as many times, that the grass is not greener on the other side. Sometimes we have unrealistic expectations of the things we want: of how happy those things or circumstances will make us. Sometimes we are jealous of other people’s grass and think it is greener than ours, but they are often just as jealous of our grass, for different reasons.

On the movie “Cool Runnings” the coach says to one of the team mates: “If you’re not enough without it, you’ll never be enough with it.” I guess in this regard it is good to learn how to love and accept yourself without needing to achieve or attain something that you ‘think’ is going to make you happy or better able to love yourself.

Having said that, I still want to acknowledge that sometimes the grass is greener on the other side, and that both of these expressions have validity. For me, the grass is greener now than it was a year ago because I have been able to work through my grief over the death of my mother and move on from a place of feeling very lost and empty without her in my life.

I also feel that the grass is greener in my life being self-employed rather than working for a boss. But that was not true at first – not while I spent two years struggling immense financial stress while I trying to grow my business. I could have given up and it’s only because I believed I was ‘getting to the other side’ so-to-speak, that I did not give up and now reap the benefits.

So at times the grass is greener, and sometimes the grass is more about the journey than arriving somewhere, and sometimes the grass only looks greener to your eyes but in reality, it may not be. And sometimes … the grass is what you make of it. If you call it green and rich and healthy for long enough, you’ll start to believe it. If you express gratitude for what it does represent, rather than focusing on what it lacks, you may be able to choose happiness there. If it is truly the worst grass you ever saw, then have hope that things can and will get better because life moves in seasons and cycles. The darkness of depression or grief, does not have to last forever, if you continue to head in the direction of the beautiful field you want to arrive at.

God Bless.

The woman caught having sex outside marriage

There is a story in the Bible referred to as: “The woman caught in adultery.” I would like the rename it: “The woman caught having sex outside marriage.” We don’t know what kind of “adultery” it was. This could simply have been a case of sex before marriage. She could have been a married woman with a man who is not her husband. She could have been divorced. She could have been a widow. She could have been a prostitute. It is even possible she was a victim of rape. All we can really gather is that she was somehow got caught having sex with a man she was not married to.

This woman is dragged before Jesus and the witnesses say: “In the law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?”

The New-NIV records Jesus answer as: “Let any of you who is without sin, be the first to throw a stone at her.” In other words: “If you’re so perfect, you should be the one to kill her!”

One by one, every single person leaves. Why? Because they all know, they are just as bad as she is.

The law said she had to be killed. It didn’t say this was optional. Jesus is perfect. He has every right to kill this woman for her “sin.” Instead, he looks into her eyes and he says: “Neither do I condemn you.”  In other words: “I won’t hold you to the law. Instead, let me fulfil the law and the consequences for you. I love you too much to let you die – watch me go and die for you!”

Next Jesus says: “Go and sin no more,” or “Go and leave your life of sin.” Too many Christians think this is the point of the entire story. The point of the story is: “Neither do I condemn you.”

Nonetheless, let’s take a look at this verse about not continuing in sin. Jesus said this after he had already forgiven her, without her ever saying that she was sorry. Jesus is not looking for repentance, he forgives unconditionally. And when we understand that we are forgiven and we are free of the law and that Jesus 100% does not condemn us, then he, in effect, says: you don’t belong to sin and sin doesn’t belong to you.

He is saying: “You belong to me now. I have made you new. I have forgiven you. You do not have to live in sin and you are no longer a slave to sin, so go and your sins will be no more. You’ll stop wanting to do them. You’ll stop living like that because forgiveness has freed you."

He is not saying: “Stop sinning or else.” He is saying: “I know you’ll stop sinning.” It’s not him putting pressure on this woman by saying: “I know you’ll stop sinning because you owe me.” It’s more like this: “After the cross I can no longer see your sin because I made you a new creation. You will be free and rid of sin because I WILL MAKE YOU FREE!”

Jesus is showing this woman that sin is forgiven and she no longer has to die or feel guilty or even change. He forgave without her having to change. In fact he changed her. This whole event would have changed her life in a positive way.

The fact that this woman’s sin was sex, only makes the story more riveting because the Western world condemns sexual sin more than any other kind of sin (in my experience and opinion) even though all people commit sexual sin. Jesus proved that all people commit sexual sin when he said: “Anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” Unless a person died before puberty, I doubt there is a soul on earth that hasn’t commit adultery! Why the Western church chooses to labour against this “sin” so passionately but does not take the plank out of its own eye, is beyond me!

Jesus said: “Neither do I condemn you. Go and be free from sin!”