Can we really justify sin without repentance, or are we merely gathering teachers to suit our own desires? Join me as I tackle this misconception and its connection to the sensitive topic of homosexuality within the Christian faith. Discover how our intentions, driven by love and a desire for inclusion, could potentially lead us astray from the truth and into the realm of myths.
Sexual sin is considered one of the worst kinds in Scripture, with many passages detailing its abomination. I delve into the Old and New Testaments, sharing insights from the word as we explore the concept of unnatural relations and the consequences that follow. Journey with me as we navigate this polarizing issue, seeking guidance from the Word and allowing the Holy Spirit to lead us toward truth through love and conviction.
Can we really justify sin without repentance, or are we merely gathering teachers to suit our own desires? Join me as I tackle this misconception and its connection to the sensitive topic of homosexuality within the Christian faith. Discover how our intentions, driven by love and a desire for inclusion, could potentially lead us astray from the truth and into the realm of myths.
Sexual sin is considered one of the worst kinds in Scripture, with many passages detailing its abomination. I delve into the Old and New Testaments, sharing insights from the word as we explore the concept of unnatural relations and the consequences that follow. Journey with me as we navigate this polarizing issue, seeking guidance from the Word and allowing the Holy Spirit to lead us toward truth through love and conviction.
Welcome to the podcast. I'm Isaac Carroll, and this is What Do I Know. First, let me start out by saying that if you don't know Jesus as your ordinary Savior, this probably isn't the podcast you start off with. If you're looking to know Jesus, then I would implore you Seek out someone you know of the faith, someone you can tell him as a Christian, and ask them to explain the salvation that we hope for in Jesus Christ. This particular podcast is for people who know Christ. They want to know what the Word says about a very sensitive and highly polarized topic in today's churches.
Speaker 1:
I have searched my heart and I've went before the Lord in prayer and petition that I claim only His truth and what the Word says, so that truth might set people free. Now, over the course of my research for this subject, i have been quick to judge people's motives When I see they have strength in the truth. I now see that it is my passion for the truth that has blinded me from having compassion on those who wish to save others. And what I mean is this when someone goes description with the intent to find a way to validate someone into salvation that lived contrary to God's plan, it isn't always with the intent to lead people astray. But what they have done is justified sin without repentance and claim it is only in belief that saves us. It is not my desire to cast anyone out or keep anyone from coming to the faith. I have never advocated preaching sin in the centers, but the love of Christ who has shed his blood to make a way for them to be saved. My purpose here is to direct believers to the Word. Once the Word has been firmly planted, then the Holy Spirit can lead them to the truth through love and conviction. But how can someone change if we deny the truth or we confuse the truth? When someone comes to know the love of Christ, they have the opportunity to find it in themselves, to love Christ back. They do this by following after him. Now, if they find that the path is too hard or if that asks too much of them, they will turn back and stop following after Christ. They prove that the love of God was never truly in them, and we know this to be true in Scripture. There were those who followed Christ when he was on the earth, but once the path became hard or they heard things they didn't want to hear, they abandoned Christ and stopped following after him. You can read that in John 6, which ends in verse 66. Verse John 2, certain. Verse 19 says they went out from us but they did not belong to us, for if they belong to us they will have remained with us, but by their departure they made it clear that none of them belonged to us.
Speaker 1:
2 Timothy 4, starting in verse 2, says preach the word and be prepared in season and out of season. Reprove, rebuke and encourage with every form of patient instruction. For the time will come when men will no longer tolerate sound doctrine, but with itching ears they will gather around themselves preachers. They will gather around themselves teachers to suit their own desires, so they will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myth. Now, i've always believed in this. Passage in Scripture meant that people couldn't stand the truth, so they would find someone who would preach to them things that made their sin okay.
Speaker 1:
I find that things are never quite so simple when it comes to us as a people. What I've learned recently is that it doesn't always start out with the intent to cast out the truth. Sometimes it's their love for others that leads some to grab on to anything that will include them into salvation, knowing that salvation is for everyone who believes. So it is with an open heart and a clear conscience that I approach to something. It is one that I never thought I would hear myself talk about on the podcast, but due to recent events and the popularity of this subject among our society, i have been led to speak about homosexuality, the LGBTQ movement and those we know who are part of this culture. This term on my recent Sunday school classes upside down, put in a very good way at that. It helped open my eyes to why I have always become so heated over this particular subject.
Speaker 1:
Now the question was asked that kicked the whole debate off was this We know the homosexuality is a sin, but what about those who were born gay? If we say God made them that way, how can we consider it a sin? The word of God says in Psalms 1, 39, 13, for you form my inward parts, you knit me together in my mother's womb. Isaiah 648 reads But now, o Lord, you are our Father, we are the clay and you are the potter, we are all the work of your hands. So God made us all. And if you made them this way, then how can we say it is a sin for them to be the way God made them. To blame God for the sin of the world shouldn't be something new to me, but I couldn't believe how frustrated this made me. Among believers, we expect that kind of mentality from the world, and wouldn't you know, it would be my own wife who would ask this question. Now, trust me, this isn't the first time we've heard about discussing it with us, but we've never done it openly in public before. I find that saying God made people to be confused and go against the design was sacrilege to me. It made me very hostile to the very thought and one I would hotly debate. I consider us to be a gross misrepresentation of God.
Speaker 1:
The class went really well, a lot of things were said that were really helpful, and we ended the class on a very good note, but it didn't end well with me. I had it in my mind that I was going to go home, i was going to gather all the scriptures together And I was going to put an end to this debate once and for all. Once I got home, me and my wife, we picked up where we left off in class and I could see that she was getting upset with me. She told me to stop raising my voice, which meant that I had been getting upset with her. It was while I was stating my case, for who knows how many times, that that still small voice, the one in my mind that I've come to trust it, whispered to me. It said aren't we all born with this in nature? no-transcript, and if we are, is that God's fault too? You see, god has infinite love and wisdom.
Speaker 1:
Was opening my eyes to something I didn't see about myself. I was being judgmental when I wasn't listening. I was defending God, and God didn't need my protection. But I needed to be humble and have compassion. I needed to see the love of others, and this question came to mind was is a child born with the ability to be selfish, or is that something that's taught? And we know that the nature of sin is in everyone, and we see that some people are just more prone to violence or more susceptible to addictions in each and every form. Still others, it's greed or the want for more. Yes, we are all born with the same nature, but we find that something were just weaker in certain areas than others.
Speaker 1:
Paul says this in 1 Corinthians 7, when he was talking about the weaknesses of lust and people getting married or being married. He said do not deprive each other, except by mutual consent, and for a time such you may devote yourself to prayer. Then come together again so that Satan will not tempt you through your lack of self-control. I say this as a concession, not as a command. I wish that all men were as I am, but each man has his own gift from God. One has this gift and another has that.
Speaker 1:
Paul was saying that he didn't feel the need to gratify the flesh in this way And he wished that all men were like him. But he knew that that was impossible because of the weakness that some people had. So he said that men should have wives and women should have husbands to keep the devil from attempting him because of their lack of self-control. And doesn't really sound very fair that some shouldn't have it, shouldn't be tempted at all, while others struggle greatly with it. But we find that we all have our weaknesses. Paul himself states that he had a thorn in his side and he pleaded to God to take that thorn from him, but God didn't, so that his weakness, he, could be glorified. Now we don't glorify God by gratifying our weaknesses. No, we glorify God by denying ourselves and overcoming our weaknesses.
Speaker 1:
My wife has a people loving Christian. She wants everyone to find a way to salvation, but what she was doing was trying to find a way to condone their sin. Now, trust me, i get that When a person has an addiction problem, we try to make concessions for them. Because of their addiction, you know that it's eating away at them and sighing and they can't help sometimes for where they act. But this actually goes even further than addiction, for with an addict, that person knows what their building is hurting themselves, killing themselves, and it's hurting the ones they love. But it's not this way with homosexuality.
Speaker 1:
They don't say how this hurts anyone. Why can't they just love whoever they want to love? What's so wrong with them being happy? And we try to explain to them that what they are doing goes against God's plan And God calls that a sin. And then they say well, i can't help who I love or who am I attracted to. If that's a sin, then I'm already damned and I might as well be happy when I'm doing it.
Speaker 1:
This has brought a lot of believers to agree and then call into question on understanding the word. They say I understand that's what the word says, but I don't agree with it, so that our understanding must be wrong. And then, if you bring them scripture that removes any doubt, then they ask this age old question. Then they ask this age old question And when I got recently from my wife, why didn't God just make heaven, put us all in it with the capacity only to do what is right? Then we wouldn't have to watch and know that people are going to die and go to hell. Why did God make the tree of knowledge and then put it into a place where we could eat from it and damn ourselves? Why didn't God and his father put such things out of our reach?
Speaker 1:
While we love to take the easy way out and blame God, yes, he could have done just that. May I ask you, what kind of a good father would he be if he took all our choices away, put us in a box and made us mindless robots? Don't we know that it's a good father, a father who loves us, who wants us to grow and to learn that we need interaction and choices. We need problems to solve and obstacles to overcome. We are never greater as a people or as an individual than we are when we are faced with adversity and we do what is just and right by putting people above ourselves. But you have to have a choice to be able to do that. You think God wanted to send his only son, who always obeyed and done what was right, to take the punishment for all of us who did not? Don't you think he would prefer to spare himself that pain? How selfish can we be as a people when we want to blame God for the opportunities that he has given us? I really don't know why he loves us or why he wants us to be with him, but I can tell you I am certainly grateful that he does. I want you to hear me in this. If you don't hear anything else I have to say, hear this. Love without a choice is not love at all. God loves us and for us to love him in return, there must be a choice And, as a loving God and father, he has provided us with that choice And we can't blame God because people will make the wrong one.
Speaker 1:
Let me ask you a question Why is sexual sin considered one of the worst kind of sins? What does Scripture say? that we know the mind of God First Corinthians, in the sixth chapter, says the body is not intended for sexual immorality, but it's for the Lord and the Lord for the body. By his power, god raised the Lord from the dead and he will raise us also. Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and unite them with a prostitute? Never, or don't you know that he who knights himself for the prostitute is one with her and body, for it is said that two will become one flesh. But he who knights himself for the Lord is one with him in spirit, away from sexual immorality. Every other sin a man can commit is outside his body, but he who sinned sexually sins against his own body. Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you? When you have received from God, you are not your own. You were bought at a price. Therefore, glorify God with your body.
Speaker 1:
Let me ask you another question What does abomination mean? It is defined as an offense to God and his character. It is used to define acts that are repugnant and detestable to God. The Vitticus 1822 says homosexuality is an abomination to God. But wait, try reading all of the Vitticus 18, the whole chapter. When you do, you will see that God hates every kind of sexual sin that is done outside the lawful union of a marriage. And we know what God calls marriage, for how can two become one flesh By the union of two to make a child Who is the offspring of both? And we know that such things are naturally only possible between a man and a woman.
Speaker 1:
But you say that's the Old Testament. We don't live in the Old Testament, we live in the New Testament church. I can't tell you how much that frustrates me when people say that to me. Do we not know that the New Testament is just an extension of the Old? I mean, they basically testified about each other. The quotes you hear from Jesus, paul, peter, john, these were all quotes from the Old Testament. Or don't we know that the prophets and the writers of the Old Testament were speaking words that came from God Himself? God is the same yesterday, today and forever. He never changes.
Speaker 1:
Did Paul not say this in 2 Timothy 3, starting in verse 16, that all Scripture is God's breath, useful for instruction, for prediction and for correction, for training and righteousness, so that the man and God may be complete, fully equipped for everything and work. What Scripture do you think Paul was referring to? We know that the New Testament wasn't put together for 40 years after the death of Christ, so Paul wasn't referring to the New Testament, he was referring to the Old Testament. He talked and preached from the Old Testament. But I'll be fair, i will recite you from the New Testament. I'll give you a few, so we leave no doubt. First, that's along in verse 4-3,.
Speaker 1:
For it is God's will that you should obey, for it is God's will that you should be holy. You must abstain from sexual immorality. Each of you must know how to control his own body in holiness and in honor, not in lustful passions like the Gentiles who do not know God. Relations 519. The acts of the flesh are obvious sexual immorality and purity, debauchery, idolatry and sorcery, hatred, discord, jealousy and rage, rivalries, divisions and factions, with envy and drunkenness, orgies and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. Wow, did you hear what he said? He said to people who live like this they will not inherit the kingdom of God, no matter what anyone else told you. Colossians 3.5 says Put to death. Therefore, the components of your earthly nature, sexual immorality and purity, lust, evil desires, greed, which is idolatry. Because of these, the wrath of God is coming on the sons of disobedience.
Speaker 1:
Let me go even a step further 1 Corinthians 5, starting in verse 9, i wrote to you a letter not to associate with sexual immoral people. I was not including a sexual immoral of this world, or the greedy or the swindlers or the idolaters. In that case you would actually have to leave this world. But now I am writing you not to associate with anyone who claims to be a brother, but with sexual immoral or greedy or idolatry, or verbal abuser or a drunkard or a swindler. With such a man do not even eat. What Paul writes here is that those who claim fellowship with Christ but they live like this and we can't associate with them as we do with brother, we may come to them and plead our case, testify to them and ask them to repent, but we can't remain with them. By doing so we are condoning their actions. Now you might say, as with all these scriptures, i've never really heard the words homo-sensorality use. I'm glad you asked.
Speaker 1:
Romans 1, starting in verse 26. It says For this reason God gave them over to dishonorable passions, even though women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. Likewise, the men abandoned natural relations with women and they burned with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men and received in themselves a dupe penalty for their error.
Speaker 1:
Now, if you read Romans 1, we find that it's the absence of God, the denial of God, that causes this. When we push God out of our lives, this is a state we find ourselves, and it is obvious we as a people that we have pushed God out of our government, we have pushed God out of our schools, we have pushed the morals of God out of our country. And when the absence of light is gone, what happens? The darkness fills the void. When we look around, we see all the craziness and we wonder what happened. We have children who have access to all sorts of evil and the palm of their hands at all times, and we wonder what the choices they make. Now I could go on and on and on about the darkness in this world, how close to coming up Christ is, but I'll say that for another time.
Speaker 1:
Yes, we are all born in this sin. The meaning of salvation is that we agree that we are sinners and we repent from our sins. We have gone our own way and now we choose to go the way of Christ. We will put His will before our own. We will choose His love over our own desires. We will accept His truth, and that truth will set us free. As Scripture says from Christ sets free. We'll be free, indeed. No longer will we be called alcoholics, murderers, sinners, liars, cheaters, idolaters, addicts, fornicators, adulterers, homosexuals and haters of God's plan, but we will be called children of God. I'm going to end this one here, but before I do, i'd like to say this God loves you. He truly, truly loves you and no matter what you're saying, it is around deep. You. Thank you fallen into it. He is the hope of our salvation. If you truly believe in Him and you want to know Him, he will come in and He will make all things good. I love you. God bless you until next time. Goodbye.