Love Thy Neighbor

I was happy to see the Arizona Governor veto the bill that would allow business owners to refuse service to gays because of religious objections.  That might seem like an odd thing for a Christian to say. I am by no means supporting the homosexual lifestyle. I believe the Bible clearly states that it a sinful lifestyle. But I am supporting Christian values and human dignity. I am standing up for what the Bible commands Christians to do.

The Bible commands us to love people. We are to love our neighbor and we are to love our enemies. Gays are not our enemies, they are human beings caught up in the trap of sinful behavior. The Bible tells us that we are not at war with people, but with demonic spirits. We are not giving our consent to the homosexual lifestyle if we sell a gay person a tube of toothpaste or serve them a hamburger. We are only selling a product to a human being. Who knows that along with that toothpaste or hamburger we might also be able to impart a word of friendship and plant a seed showing the love of Christ? If we deny service, we are cutting ourselves off from the very ones whose lives we need to be touching, not to mention we are not doing what the Bible commands us to do, “love your neighbor as yourself”!

On the other hand, I hope we can get away from the current prevailing thought that we hate everyone we disagree with. We can have differences of opinion and still be friends and not hate each other. A Christian who hates people for any reason is not living the biblical Christian life. But when Christians stand with the Bible and say that Homosexuality is sinful, that is deemed to be “hate speech” and we are called homophobes. I’m not afraid of you nor do I hate you just because I disagree with you. Christians must tolerate Homosexuals, but Homosexuals apparently don’t have to tolerate Christians! Where’s the fairness in that? Shouldn't we all be held to the same standard and be required to give life and freedom to each other?

Enablers

We have become a country of enablers. Under the guise of love and tolerance, we have enabled people to live in sin and not feel guilty or ashamed of their actions. As a matter of fact, guilt and shame have become dirty words themselves. No one can be held accountable for their actions because they are either ‘sick with a disease’, ‘born that way’ or ‘free to live their lives as they see fit’. They can't help it, so how can we blame them? We must accept them as they are and love them and their ways. I am afraid to think of what is coming down the pike next, but I’m sure we’ll find a way to accept it no matter how perverted or evil it is.

What God calls sin is sin. There’s no way around it, over it or under it righteously. We may not hold ourselves or others responsible, but God can and will. We may candy-coat the truth, spare people’s feelings and enable (even reward) bad behavior, but God will not. He will punish it. It will feel the full weight of His wrath. There will be no excuses accepted, no humanistic reasoning debated and no tear-filled cries for mercy granted on the judgment day. Mercy is only available in the here-and-now. Make things right before you die or suffer the consequences before a Holy God.

I feel badly for the millions of people who have fallen into deadly sin because society has put their stamp of approval on it. People use to turn from sinful living when their conscious’s bothered them. But now society has declared that not only can we live any old way we want, but we must tolerate, respect and even admire others who live perverted lifestyles. And I’m not only talking about homosexuals. Alcoholics have a disease, thieves have a disease, sex addicts have a disease, child molesters have a disease, adulterers have a disease, and on and on. No one is responsible for their evil deeds. And how dare you Christians quote from some ancient fairy-tale book to tell us different. There is no absolute truth. There is no moral standard. There is no God.

The Bible says there was a time when every man did what was right in his own eyes. It says there was a time when the Earth was so full of sin that God destroyed it with a flood. It says that there was a time when man’s thoughts were only evil continuously. Look around and see history repeating itself.  The final cleansing will be with fire, not water; and sooner than we think.