Duck Dynasty

Dear Christians,
You have every right to be upset that Phil Robertson was suspended for paraphrasing God's Word concerning the sin of homosexuality.  Feel free to voice this opinion and to refrain from supporting A&E in the future.

But we need to talk.

All over Facebook today I have seen comments about "the gays" and posts demeaning homosexuals.  Let me be clear: homosexual acts are sinful.

That being said, homosexuals are sinners for whom Christ died.  We all have sin and each of us has certain sins with which we struggle more than some other people.  Men, can you tell me that you have never struggled with sexual thoughts about a woman who isn't your wife?  Women, can you tell me you've never coveted the relationship that another woman has with her husband?

All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

Now note that I am not saying that Christians should be silent about homosexuality, but we need to communicate the message in love.  These are sinners like you and me...sinners for whom Christ died...sinners whom God so loved that He gave His only Son.

All people need to be shown their sin so that they realize their need for a savior, repent, and receive the gift of salvation.  However when the messengers of the Savior come across as hateful and mean, those sinners are not going to want to learn more about the Savior.

Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, (Ephesians 4:15).

Setting up straw men to knock down and talking down about any given group of people is not going to help people to be open to hear the Gospel message which alone can bring about change.  Remember that, while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8)

God loved humanity even before any repentance took place.  This is the model of love that we are to emulate.

When Jesus encountered the woman at the well (John 4) who is living together with a man (committing adultery), note that Jesus doesn't begin the conversation by hammering her with the law of God, though he does bring the law into use.  Through this caring conversation the woman's heart is opened and she is brought to faith in Jesus as the Messiah.  Did she change how she lived as a result of her encounter with Jesus and her faith in Him?  No doubt she did.

This topic involves real people, with real lives, and real feelings.  So consider your words before you speak them or write them.  Will those words help or hinder the work of the kingdom of God?

-Speak the truth, but always speak the truth in love.

1 Corinthians 13

1If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.

4Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

8Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. 9For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. 11When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. 12For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.
 
13So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.