Dear Tim,
I do not believe that those who are saved are still sinners and fall short
of the glory of God. Before we were saved we were sinners and fell short of
God's glory. The reason why we must not judge the people in the world is for
that exact reason, that we were sinners, who God decided to save. Our
salvation was not for anything we had done, it was simply by God's grace,
through our belief that God can save me. Our judgement of others in the
world is self righteousness, believing we through some form of our own works
are saved. If we judge others in the world we are judging ourselves because
we also belonged to the world before we were saved, but God judged us
righteous through Christ's righteousness, and this imputation through the
working of the Holy Spirit in ones life, brings mercy and love, not
judgement and hate.

There are many scriptures saying we should not have anything to do with the
world for if we do so we will come away tainted by the association. God is
calling even now, speaking of Babylon, "come out of her my people", and
those who have heeded this call are already saved. To say that I am a sinner
who is saved argues against the many many good people in the world whose
deeds speak volumes, but their allegiance speaks idols. How can those, who
say I am a sinner who is saved, be any different from the rest of the world
who are sinners unsaved. Jesus came to save me from my sin, (Mat. 1:21) and
not save me still in my sin.

To argue that a homosexual is welcome as a child of God, goes against too
many scriptures, both old and new testament, to hold any water. A homosexual
who changes his spots is certainly welcome into God's Kingdom. The criteria
for entering the Kingdom of God IS, "You must be born anew." (John 3:3) A
person who is born again through the Spirit of God shakes off these old evil
habits of the world, and starts to take on righteous habits as the Spirit
leads. A murderer cannot enter the Kingdom, neither a thief or a person who
bears false witness, or one who covets, so why would a homosexual have
special treatment? When one is born again one takes on the culture that is
exclusively God's so that the old man of sin does not rule ones life
anymore.

Barry

----- Original Message -----
From: Tim Warlick <cuprayer@...>
To: <christianunity@...>
Sent: Thursday, March 22, 2001 4:56 AM
Subject: [CU] Article: about marriage, sexuality and spirituality


> Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
>
> Some of this article deals with some of the same subjects of recent posts
on
> this list.
>
> Indeed, conservative Christians, who articulate their belief that God
calls
> Christians to love everyone but not actions that scripture calls sinful,
> complain that they are accused of bigotry and inciting hate crimes. "We
are
> to love people who are sinners -- all of us are sinners and fall short of
> the glory of God -- but you are to be discriminating about what behavior
you
> accept," says Bill Merrell, vice president for convention relations of the
> Executive Committee of the Southern Baptist Convention. "To claim that
leads
> to hatred is a form of hate speech itself."
> Gays and lesbians, on the other hand, argue that too often conservative
> Christians use the pulpit to paint homosexuals as perverted and beyond the
> reach of God's love, language they say provides justification to harm
them.
>
> http://www.faithtoday.com/livinggaydebate0600.htm
>
> Interesting article recognizes the importance of the issue.
>
> Love in Jesus,
> Tim
>
>
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