Bible Question: homosexuals will not inherit the Kingdom of God, but my son was raised in the Church and he said that he is of God and yet he a homosexual. My question is God love sinner and hate the sin right ? |
Bible Answer: Undoubtedly, you will receive a few harsh answers from this question, because some Christians, like other people in the world, feel they need to tear others down in order to make themselves feel more secure. In my opinion, it is best not to even ask others for their opinions in this matter. But, since you did... allow me to address some basic misunderstandings, and then hopefully you can draw your own conclusion regarding your son... for it is obvious that you love him. THE KINGDOM OF GOD The first misunderstanding we have is of the phrase, "kingdom of God." It does not mean "heaven." The kingdom of God is not some ethereal place in the cosmos where our soul goes when we die. Nor is it in the future. The English word "kingdom" is an over-simplified translation of an ancient Greek word which means "the authority to rule over one's territory and possessions." As you can imagine, God has authority over the earth and everyone on it, because He is the Creator. He has authority to command His subjects. He has authority to give and take. And He has authority to provide for His people as well as to demand tribute from them. But, like an earthly king, the great King of kings has built-in limits to His authority, as well. How, you ask, can God have limits on His authority? For the simple reason that He cannot FORCE His subjects to accept His authority. They are free to rebel. They are free to deny Him. They are free to live their lives as they choose. But God's authority to rule is now. It is here, on this earth, in our lifetimes. And He calls us to accept His authority, to allow Him to rule over us, and to live our lives in accordance to the laws of His rulership. So do not think that your son is automatically excluded from "heaven" because he is currently choosing another way to express his sexuality. That is not what Scripture means when it says that homosexuals cannot inherit the kingdom of God... it simply means that homosexuals choose not to give themselves 100 percent entirely over to God's authority to rule over them. But then again, very few of us do. Let him who is without sin cast the first stone. THE MEANING OF SIN The second misunderstanding we have is in the meaning of the word "sin." Again, it comes from an ancient Greek word that means "to miss the mark." The word comes from the image of an archer shooting at a target. The archer's goal is to hit the target, of course. But if he misses the target, then he has "sinned" - that is to say, he has missed the target. The key to understanding this word is, how often will the archer miss the target before he gets really good at hitting it? Will he hit it perfectly on the first shot? Perhaps. Perhaps not. But the point is, the archer keeps shooting. In a similar sense, God wishes us to "hit the mark." But, if we happen to miss the mark, which we so often do, He doesn't automatically condemn us to an eternal torment in the deepest bowels of hell. That would be like killing the archer every time he missed the target; it wouldn't be long before we were completely out of archers! Our focus, therefore, should not be on condemning each other because we missed the mark, but rather on encouraging one another to hit the mark. Whatever it is that God has prescribed, that is what we should strive to "hit." God sets the target. We, as spiritual archers, must continue practicing until we master hitting the target. Jesus, on the other hand, was a Master Archer from the beginning, because He never "missed the mark." That is why He is our example. We are to learn how to stand for optimum stability; we are to learn how to hold the bow for maximum consistency; we are to learn how to aim for greater accuracy; we are to learn how much tension to put on the string; and we are to learn these things from the Master Archer Himself. He has shown us how to "hit the target" every time. All we have to do, is do what He did. CONDEMN NOT Therefore, we must stop labeling people as "sinners." And we must stop condemning people because they fall short in some particular area where we happen to be strong. I don't struggle with homosexual tendencies... but there are plenty of other things I do struggle with. And until I have mastered all my struggles and can hit every target without fail, then I have no place to criticize or condemn anyone. But then again, once I reach that point of mastery, once my character is like Jesus' character, I will probably no longer feel the need to criticize or condemn anyone. |