BiGay and Christian Community Group
A safe place for bi, gay, and other non-straight Christians to discuss the issues related to being bi/gay and Christian. It doesn't matter what denomination, or even religion you are, come and discuss the particulars of your lives, where being non-straight and Christian is concerned. Even if you are Jewish or Muslim or anything else you are welcome to discuss the...
Remember when Christ was on the cross, the one thief that was being crucified with him asked for forgiveness, and Christ responded with "today thou shalt be with me in paradise". In the end, no matter how much man judges you, no matter how much you judge yourself, Christ love's you. God did not send Jesus to condemn the world, but to bring salvation to the world.
We have to take the Bible in whole not just the parts we like, and throw away or change what we don't. However, no matter what you are being told, He wants to forgive us. Once our name is written in the Book of LIfe, it can not be taken out no matter what we do. You have to realize what I've been trying to tell you, The Bible does not say that just being Bi/Gay, is a sin, acting on it is, but just having the feelings isn't. Even though if we act on those feelings we commit a sin, God desires to forgive us for those sins, not condemn us.
I have a friend, a preachers daughter, she met the wonderful man, fell in love, and after a storybook romance and wedding left for her honeymoon. Just six hours after she said "I do", she was in the hospital, and her wonderful man was in jail for beating the shit out of her. The people in the hotel room next door calling the police because of the commotion. He believed that once she said I do, that meant she had to do exactly as he said, and could not disagree with his opinion, not even over the quality of the room service food. She ended up staying married to him for over two years, going to the emergency room every couple of months, because he would beat her so bad. Why did she stay with him, because the first time he beat her like that, on their wedding day, she called her parents to come get her. Her dad told her that if she left her abuser she would be disowned because he refused to have a daughter that was divorced, because divorce was such a bad sin.
What does that have to do with this? The Bible teaches us that the church is the bride of Christ, and just as this guy thought being married gave him the right to beat his wife, you are only focusing on the punishment of God, and you refuse to acknowledge the love of God. God wants us in heaven with him, He does not want us condemned to hell, that's why He made it so easy for us to be forgiven.
Yes, God is a vengeful God, He is vengeful against His enemies, but He is a loving forgiving God to His children. Just as God told the apostle Paul, that "My grace is sufficient", His grace is sufficient to carry us through. I am not saying we can live however we want, or that we can do whatever we want. I am saying that forgiveness is easy, the love, grace and most importantly the mercy of God is easy to obtain. Even so, once we receive the forgiveness, we have a duty, and a command to live according to His plan, but He knows we are human, and He knows we are going to fall, we are going to slip, we are going to fail, we are going to lose sight of where we should be, and He is always right there ready to forgive, and more importantly He forgets our sin.
I don't know how else to explain this to you. I do understand how you feel about yourself, I have spent most of my life hating myself because of the feelings I have. I have spent most of my life wanting to be punished for my feelings. But, we don't have a God of wrath and punishment, we have a God of love and forgiveness. Despite that, WE have to ACCEPT His forgiveness, it isn't just given to us. Realize that God wants to forgive you, all you have to do, is ask Him. All you have to do is be willing to accept his love.
"For I know the thoughts I think toward you, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you grounds for hope. Then shall ye call upon Me, and ye shall go and pray unto Me, and I will hearken unto you. And ye shall seek Me, and find Me, when ye shall search for Me with all your heart." Jeremiah 29:11-13
Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near: Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. (Isaiah 55:6,7)
Hebrews 4:16 Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain MERCY, and find GRACE to help in time of need.
John 5:24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and SHALL NOT COME INTO CONDEMNATION; but is passed from death unto life.
John 5:38 And ye have not his word abiding in you: for whom he hath sent, him ye believe not
John 5:40 And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life.
You can quote all the scriptures that you want, but unless you submit your lives to Jesus’ teaching and repent of your sins; you won’t have eternal life.
John 5:45 DO NOT THINK I WILL ACCUSE YOU, to the Father: there is one that accuseth you, even Moses, in whom ye trust.
For our sake He made Him to be sin who knew no sin, SO THAT IN HIM WE might become the righteousness of God.” 2 Corinthians 5:21
She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, NEITHER DO I CONDEMN THEE: GO, and sin no more. John 8:11
God does not condemn the prostitute, and in telling her TO GO and to sin no more, He releases her from her trial. Just as he releases us.
John 3:17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved
God does not want to condemn us, He wants to forgive us, if we just turn to Him.
All we have to do is follow 2 Chr. 7:14 if my people, who are called by my name, WILL HUMBLE themselves and PRAY AND SEEK MY FACE, AND TURN FROM THEIR WICKED WAYS, then I will hear from heaven, and I WILL FORGIVE their sin and will heal their land.
There is no reason to feel condemned just because you have feelings that you did not ask for. There is no reason to feel condemned if you fall, or if you get sidetracked, all you have to do is come to God, and you will find him waiting to forgive. " But then we have a duty to live according to His commandments (New Testament commandments, we are no longer under the law but under grace). The law was given to condemn people of their sin, Christ came to forgive and banish condemnation. But that is for another discussion.
We have to take the Bible in whole not just the parts we like, and throw away or change what we don't. However, no matter what you are being told, He wants to forgive us. Once our name is written in the Book of LIfe, it can not be taken out no matter what we do. You have to realize what I've been trying to tell you, The Bible does not say that just being Bi/Gay, is a sin, acting on it is, but just having the feelings isn't. Even though if we act on those feelings we commit a sin, God desires to forgive us for those sins, not condemn us.
I have a friend, a preachers daughter, she met the wonderful man, fell in love, and after a storybook romance and wedding left for her honeymoon. Just six hours after she said "I do", she was in the hospital, and her wonderful man was in jail for beating the shit out of her. The people in the hotel room next door calling the police because of the commotion. He believed that once she said I do, that meant she had to do exactly as he said, and could not disagree with his opinion, not even over the quality of the room service food. She ended up staying married to him for over two years, going to the emergency room every couple of months, because he would beat her so bad. Why did she stay with him, because the first time he beat her like that, on their wedding day, she called her parents to come get her. Her dad told her that if she left her abuser she would be disowned because he refused to have a daughter that was divorced, because divorce was such a bad sin.
What does that have to do with this? The Bible teaches us that the church is the bride of Christ, and just as this guy thought being married gave him the right to beat his wife, you are only focusing on the punishment of God, and you refuse to acknowledge the love of God. God wants us in heaven with him, He does not want us condemned to hell, that's why He made it so easy for us to be forgiven.
Yes, God is a vengeful God, He is vengeful against His enemies, but He is a loving forgiving God to His children. Just as God told the apostle Paul, that "My grace is sufficient", His grace is sufficient to carry us through. I am not saying we can live however we want, or that we can do whatever we want. I am saying that forgiveness is easy, the love, grace and most importantly the mercy of God is easy to obtain. Even so, once we receive the forgiveness, we have a duty, and a command to live according to His plan, but He knows we are human, and He knows we are going to fall, we are going to slip, we are going to fail, we are going to lose sight of where we should be, and He is always right there ready to forgive, and more importantly He forgets our sin.
I don't know how else to explain this to you. I do understand how you feel about yourself, I have spent most of my life hating myself because of the feelings I have. I have spent most of my life wanting to be punished for my feelings. But, we don't have a God of wrath and punishment, we have a God of love and forgiveness. Despite that, WE have to ACCEPT His forgiveness, it isn't just given to us. Realize that God wants to forgive you, all you have to do, is ask Him. All you have to do is be willing to accept his love.
"For I know the thoughts I think toward you, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you grounds for hope. Then shall ye call upon Me, and ye shall go and pray unto Me, and I will hearken unto you. And ye shall seek Me, and find Me, when ye shall search for Me with all your heart." Jeremiah 29:11-13
Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near: Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. (Isaiah 55:6,7)
Hebrews 4:16 Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain MERCY, and find GRACE to help in time of need.
John 5:24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and SHALL NOT COME INTO CONDEMNATION; but is passed from death unto life.
John 5:38 And ye have not his word abiding in you: for whom he hath sent, him ye believe not
John 5:40 And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life.
You can quote all the scriptures that you want, but unless you submit your lives to Jesus’ teaching and repent of your sins; you won’t have eternal life.
John 5:45 DO NOT THINK I WILL ACCUSE YOU, to the Father: there is one that accuseth you, even Moses, in whom ye trust.
For our sake He made Him to be sin who knew no sin, SO THAT IN HIM WE might become the righteousness of God.” 2 Corinthians 5:21
She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, NEITHER DO I CONDEMN THEE: GO, and sin no more. John 8:11
God does not condemn the prostitute, and in telling her TO GO and to sin no more, He releases her from her trial. Just as he releases us.
John 3:17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved
God does not want to condemn us, He wants to forgive us, if we just turn to Him.
All we have to do is follow 2 Chr. 7:14 if my people, who are called by my name, WILL HUMBLE themselves and PRAY AND SEEK MY FACE, AND TURN FROM THEIR WICKED WAYS, then I will hear from heaven, and I WILL FORGIVE their sin and will heal their land.
There is no reason to feel condemned just because you have feelings that you did not ask for. There is no reason to feel condemned if you fall, or if you get sidetracked, all you have to do is come to God, and you will find him waiting to forgive. " But then we have a duty to live according to His commandments (New Testament commandments, we are no longer under the law but under grace). The law was given to condemn people of their sin, Christ came to forgive and banish condemnation. But that is for another discussion.
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