Romans and LGB People

Many Christians recognise that the Old Testament Law does not apply to Christians, and so their "go to verse" in the New Testament is Romans 1:27. It reads (in the New Living Translation):

And the men, instead of having normal sexual relations with women, burned with lust for each other. Men did shameful things with other men, and as a result of this sin, they suffered within themselves the penalty they deserved.

They say that this clearly says that gay sex is wrong. But read it more closely... Lust - not love. My question to any Christian is this: are love and lust the same thing? I've yet to meet the Christian who said "yes"! So, this verse talks about lust between two men, it says nothing about two gay men who love each other.

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Leviticus and LGB People

I'm back after a long and well needed break! I recently was handed a list of Bible verses which are supposed to condemn loving same-sex relationships. I thought I could take each in turn, starting with the one that is most often cited: Leviticus 18:22 and 20:13. They say (NIV):

Do not lie with a man as one lies with a woman; that is detestable.

If a man lies with a man as one lies with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable. They must be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads.

Do these verses apply to us today? If so, what about other verses which say wearing clothes made of mixed fabric is wrong? (Leviticus 19:19)

The key to understanding Leviticus is this: "the law was designed to last only until the coming of the child who was promised" (Galatians 3:19). Leviticus ceased to be applicable with Jesus. Why? Again, the Bible tells us, "no one can be made right with God by trying to keep the law. For the Scriptures say, "It is through faith that a righteous person has life". This way of faith is very different to the way of law which says, "It is through obeying the law that a person has life"." (Galatians 3:11-12).

And here is Paul's bombshell: in Galatians 3:12 he quotes Leviticus 18:5 to show that Leviticus is part of the way of the law - not the way of faith in Jesus. In fact Paul goes on to say that if you think you have to keep one law, you have to keep them all! (Galatians 5:3). He says, "if you are trying to make yourselves right with God by keeping the law, you have been cut off from Christ! You have fallen away from God's grace" (Galatians 5:4).

So, when someone cites Leviticus to me, I remind them that Christians do not live under the Law of Moses. We live under grace, and we do not have to keep these laws.

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Book of Mormon - Is it true?

I had the Mormon missionaries round recently. We got to talking about how we know what is true.

The Mormons cited the Book of Mormon:

"And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost. And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things." (Moroni 10:4-5)

And how does the Holy Spirit do this? The answer came from Doctrine and Covenants 9:8-9 (another LDS scripture). It says,

"But, behold, I say unto you, that you must study it out in your mind; then you must ask me if it be right, and if it is right I will cause that your bosom shall burn within you; therefore, you shall feel that it is right. But if it be not right you shall have no such feelings, but you shall have a stupor of thought that shall cause you to forget the thing which is wrong; therefore, you cannot write that which is sacred save it be given you from me".

In other words, if it feels good - it's right. It sounds simple, ask God and He'll make you feel good if it's true. But, then what of people in other religions who feel good about what they believe? Are feelings a good way to test truth claims?

The Bible says

"Look to God’s instructions and teachings! People who contradict his word are completely in the dark." (Isaiah 8:20)

This makes sense; if we are convinced the Bible is true, then we know that those who contradict it cannot be teaching what comes from God. Mormons believe that there are many "gods". God has parents and siblings who are also gods. Yet the Bible says,

"You have been chosen to know me, believe in me, and understand that I alone am God. There is no other God - there never has been, and there never will be." (Isaiah 43:10)

So, according to Isaiah 8:20, where is the Mormon Church on the issue of how many "gods" exist? Isaiah says that it is completely in the dark.

The Book of Mormon also makes an interesting, and testable claim:

"And the angel of the Lord said unto me: Thou hast beheld that the book (the Bible) proceeded forth from the mouth of a Jew; and when it proceeded forth from the mouth of a Jew it contained the fulness of the gospel of the Lord, of whom the twelve apostles bear record; and they bear record according to the truth which is in the Lamb of God. Wherefore, these things go forth from the Jews in purity unto the gentiles, according to the truth which is in God. And after they go forth by the hand of the twelve apostles of the Lamb, from the Jews unto the Gentiles, thou seest the formation of that great and abominable church, which is most abominable above all other churches; for behold, they have taken away from the gospel of the Lamb many parts which are plain and most precious; and also many covenants of the Lord have they taken away." (1 Nephi 13:24-26)

The claim is that the Bible has been deliberately corrupted by the early Church resulting in the loss of "plain and most precious" things. This means that we need a restoration of the truth - which is where the LDS scriptures come in. Without that corruption everything the Mormon believes is meaningless. So is it true? The Book of Mormon footnotes claim this was first written around 600-592 BC. Leaving aside the fact that there is no evidence to support the Book of Mormon's existence prior to the 19th century, we can test this claim. And the Bible says we should. It asks an important question:

"How will we know whether or not a prophecy is from the Lord?" (Deuteronomy 18:21)

Good question! The next verse answers the question:

"If the prophet speaks in the Lord’s name but his prediction does not happen or come true, you will know that the Lord did not give that message." (Deuteronomy 18:22)

This is genious - it's so simple and it confounds self-fulfilling prophecy! So, if Nephi is a false prophet there may be some of his predictions which would not come true. And this is one of them! We know from the Dead Sea Scrolls and over 40,000 manuscripts for the New Testament, that the Bible has not been changed.

Conclusion: Mormonism fails the tests of doctrine, factual accuracy, and the test of a prophet. Doctrinally it contradicts what God has already said. It has no historical basis before the 19th century. Even if it did, the Book of Mormon fails the test of a prophet. Mormonism is therefore not from God.

Good Friday

There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.

- Jesus in John 15:13

This coming Friday is Good Friday, the day when Christians all over the world remember the death of Jesus Christ on the cross. Why is this day so important? Why was Jesus crucified? Who was really responsible? What does Jesus death mean for you?

At some points in history, and sadly, in some places today, Jews are known as "Christ-Killers". Let's dispel that myth right now - the Jews are not responsible for Jesus' death. Jesus came here knowing what would happen. He chose that path. The Bible says, "...it was the Lord’s good plan to crush him and cause him grief. Yet when his life is made an offering for sin, he will have many descendants. He will enjoy a long life, and the Lord’s good plan will prosper in his hands. When he sees all that is accomplished by his anguish, he will be satisfied. And because of his experience, my righteous servant will make it possible for many to be counted righteous, for he will bear all their sins." (Isaiah 53:10-11)

Do you see it? Jesus' death was God's plan! And it was for our benefit. So how can anyone blame the Jews, or the Romans for that matter? So who was responsible? Well, look at what Jesus came to do. He came to bear all our sins. If we never sinned, Jesus wouldn't have had to die. So in a real way, we are all responsible for Jesus' death.

How does Jesus' death affect our sins? The Bible says that "everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard" (Romans 3:23). It also says that, "the wages of sin is death" (Romans 6:23). Death in the Bible can mean:

• Separation of body and soul - i.e. physical death


• Separation of you from God - i.e. spiritual death

On the cross Jesus experienced both of these things. As well as physical death he was cut off from the Father for the first time ever. That's why, "...at three o’clock Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?”" (Mark 15:34) Shortly after, he died.

When Jesus was on the cross, God punished him for all the wrong things you and I have ever done. That's what Christians mean when we say that Jesus died for you. But that wasn't the end of the story. On the following Sunday morning, Jesus rose from the dead. He conquered death itself, and offers each of us a fresh start with God.

It's easy to have this fresh start with God. The Bible says that, "If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved" (Romans 10:9). It's that simple. You could say a simple prayer to do this:

Jesus,

Thank you for dying for me on the cross to take the punishment I deserve. Please forgive me for all the wrong things I've ever done. Fill me with the Holy Spirit and help me to live as you would have me live. I want to put you at the centre of my life from now on. I give you my heart, my life, and my future. From now on I'm trusting you with it all.

Amen

If you said that prayer, here's what Jesus promises you:

"We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are. For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. Yet God, with undeserved kindness, declares that we are righteous. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins. For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding his blood. This sacrifice shows that God was being fair when he held back and did not punish those who sinned in times past, for he was looking ahead and including them in what he would do in this present time. God did this to demonstrate his righteousness, for he himself is fair and just, and he declares sinners to be right in his sight when they believe in Jesus. Can we boast, then, that we have done anything to be accepted by God? No, because our acquittal is not based on obeying the law. It is based on faith." (Romans 3:22-28)

"Therefore, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us. Because of our faith, Christ has brought us into this place of undeserved privilege where we now stand, and we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God’s glory. We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love. When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners. Now, most people would not be willing to die for an upright person, though someone might perhaps be willing to die for a person who is especially good. But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. And since we have been made right in God’s sight by the blood of Christ, he will certainly save us from God’s condemnation. For since our friendship with God was restored by the death of his Son while we were still his enemies, we will certainly be saved through the life of his Son. So now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God because our Lord Jesus Christ has made us friends of God." (Romans 5:1-12)

This Easter, celebrate what Jesus has done for you! Give it all for the one who gave it all!

Image: Alberto Gomez/Google Images

Westboro

"These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.

Their worship is a farce, for they teach man-made ideas as commands from God"

(Jesus in Mark 7:6-7).

You've probably heard of Westboro "Baptist" Church. They're well known for their outrageous protests. Their main target has been gay men and American soldiers. They claim to be teaching the word of God - but are they?

Who are Westboro?
Westboro "Baptist" Church consists of less than 100 people, most of them from the Phelps family. The patriarch of the family is the Church's pastor. They have been listed as a cult by the Apologetics Index site http://www.apologeticsindex.org/111-westboro-baptist-church.

Are they Baptists?
The problem is that Baptists have no central authority, so anyone can use the name Baptist. So if you just go by the name, yes, they are. But Westboro isn't linked with any Baptist Union, and in fact they have been condemned by Baptists all over the world. In England the Baptist Union said this:

"We do not share their hatred of lesbian and gay people. We believe that God loves all, irrespective of sexual orientation, and we unreservedly stand against their message of hate toward those communities. Neither the style nor substance of their preaching expresses the historic, orthodox Christian faith. And we ask that the members of Westboro Baptist Church refrain from stirring up any more homophobic hatred..." http://www.baptist.org.uk/news_media/latest_news/gay_play.html

So, there you have it - they go so far as to say Westboro does not represent the true Christian faith! Could you get a stronger condemnation? They're not Baptists in any meaningful sense of the word.

With that in mind, in future this site will refer to them as the "Westboro Church".

Is what they're teaching Biblical?
Let's compare some of what the Westboro Church says with the Bible. Westboro says:

"Our message to this evil world is that God hates you, and you better prepare for the return of Christ in power and glory. Jesus came the first time to save; and Jesus will come the second time in vengeance, because you do not obey the Gospel. It will be soon, and you will experience the wrath of the Lamb, face to face." http://www.godhatestheworld.com/common/html/john316.html

That's the essence of what they teach. Whoever you are, God hates you. But what does the Bible have to say? Consider the most famous verse in the Bible, and the following verse!

"God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him." (John 3:16-17)

How does that fit with what Westboro teaches? They have had to come up with a complicated justification for rejecting what this verse so obviously teaches. So, Westboro says their message is that God hates you. The Bible says God loves you. Who will you believe?

Anyone who hates you, or tells you that God hates you does not know God. The Bible says, "anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love" (1 John 4:8).

How should we respond?
"Don’t repay evil for evil. Don’t retaliate with insults when people insult you. Instead, pay them back with a blessing. That is what God has called you to do, and he will bless you for it" (1 Peter 3:9). That's a hard teaching, but the measure of our love is not how much we love those it's easy to love. No, the measure of our love is how well we love those it's hardest to love, like those people at the Westboro Church.

Image from: http://www.godhatesfags.com/visual/photos/multisigns.jpg

Is Jesus God?

Lots of people claim that Jesus is just a good man, or that he's a prophet, a good teacher etc. They say the Bible doesn't claim Jesus was God - but is that true?

As an example, the Jehovah's Witnesses claim that Jesus was the first thing created by Jehovah. Jesus is not God, and so John 1:1 should be translated, "In [the] beginning the Word was, and the Word was with God, and the Word was a god" (New World Translation, published by Jehovah's Witnesses). They are right in that you can argue this translation from the Greek, but it can equally be translated, "In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God" (New Living Translation, cf. New International Version).

Who is right? The trick is to keep reading. In their own translation verse 3 says, "All things came into existence through him, and apart from him not even one thing came into existence". If Jesus is a created being, this makes no sense. How could he create himself?

Those who heard Jesus understood exactly what he was claiming to be. When Jesus claimed that "The Father and I are one" (John 10:30 NLT), his listeners responded with aggression. Jesus asks why they wanted to stone him, and "They replied, “We’re stoning you not for any good work, but for blasphemy! You, a mere man, claim to be God" (John 10:33 NLT).

We see this again in John 5:18 which says, "So the Jewish leaders tried all the harder to find a way to kill him. For he not only broke the Sabbath, he called God his Father, thereby making himself equal with God."  This is all the more significant as this is the Bible stating what Jesus was doing, as opposed to reporting what others understood.

Yes, Jesus claimed to be God. The Bible records those claims so that we can evaluate them. In a few weeks Christians around the world will be celebrating Easter. At Easter we remember why God came to the earth. He came to do something awesome - open the way for each of us to know him for ourselves, to be forgiven for everything wrong we've ever done, and to live with him forever.

In his own words: "When he came to the village of Nazareth, his boyhood home, he went as usual to the synagogue on the Sabbath and stood up to read the Scriptures. The scroll of Isaiah the prophet was handed to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where this was written: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for he has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the oppressed will be set free, and that the time of the Lord’s favor has come.” He rolled up the scroll, handed it back to the attendant, and sat down. All eyes in the synagogue looked at him intently. Then he began to speak to them. “The Scripture you’ve just heard has been fulfilled this very day!”" (Luke 4:16-21 NLT)

I love that passage! Jesus tells us what he came here to do - and it's quite different to what many people think he's about! He is about Good News, not judgement. He's about freeing the oppressed, not beating us down! To quote the Newsboys, "I'm not following a God that's imagined - can't invent this deity!... I'm not following a God I can read about. I can't train this deity! And that's why Jesus is the final answer to who I want my God to be".

Image: spiritualmike.org/.../Jesus_Smiling-224x341.jpg (Google Images)
Updated 10 May 2014

Truth

Pilate famously asked Jesus, "What is truth?" (John 18:38). That's a great question!

I think there is a twofold answer to that question. On the one hand, truth is anything that is true! Truth is truth by virtue of it being true! But there's another answer as well. Jesus said "I am ...the truth" (John 14:6).

Jesus also said, "you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free" (John 8:32). I believe that we can take this in both senses of the word truth. Truth sets us free, and Jesus sets us free. We can know what the truth is, and we can know Jesus! I think that's awesome! So I guess I have one question for you. Are you free? Really free? If not, you could be.