Answers 4 Dan Haseltine

When talking about homosexuality we do have to divide it into two parts. Part one is “Is it morally wrong?” and part two is “If it is morally wrong and we are all sinners why do some look down on gays””

Is it morally wrong? I would say there are three common ways to determine right and wrong. First is society and government. Secondly we have religion and thirdly evolution. 

How could two people loving each other be bad? Well funny thing is many governments are accepting homosexuality but would not accept Incest. If a brother and sister are of marrying age and love each other should they have the right to marry? Father and daughter? Mother and son. Would the LGBT community push for recognition of these marriages? What if it were a brother and brother? Father and Son? Mother and daughter? The problem with society defining right and wrong is that society changes and truth and right are absolute.

 If we look to the Bible as absolute truth we see Romans 1 speaks extensively on how denying the existence of a higher power and worshiping Creation over Creator  (evolution) will lead to moral decay including rebellious children (v30), Fornication (v29) and homosexuality (v27) And is not evolution in truth the biggest propaganda behind the acceptance of Homosexual behaviors ? Christians should shed a tear when they see homosexuals claim “Many animals exhibit homosexual tendencies – therefore it is a natural part of sexual relationships.” Is that how lowly you think of yourself that you desire to emulate animals?  I have often seen male dogs force themselves on female dogs in heat – Is rape therefore also a natural part of sexual relationships? Dogs often hump peoples legs and inanimate objects. Is bestiality also natural? Some animals eat their mates or offspring. Is this also a natural part of sexual relationships? As Christians we believe human life is more sacred then animal life and Marriage in the same respect should be treated with more respect than being viewed as simply animal reproduction.

 If we accept morality as absolute we must accept the Biblical definition of homosexuality as sin.

Secondly though as we are all sinners, why does it seem so many Christians look down on gays? Romans 1 does not only describe the decline of morality in our society; it also claims men will become proud of their sins. We are all sinners but it is not a stretch to say that homosexuality is the sin many wear as a badge of pride. This pride is what often confuses the line for Christians between “Loving the sinner, but hatting the sin.  

For example- My friend lies to me. I am angry that he lied, but I don't hate him. He is my friend and I love him. However he is also mad at himself for lying. He does not identify himself as a liar; he hopes in the future to identify himself with truth and not with lies. If I tell my friend I am upset that he lied to me he will not take it as an offense but as honesty from a loved one. However, a friend reveals himself to be homosexual. I am upset about his sin, but he is my friend so I identify him still as my friend. He however identifies himself with his sin. Although I am willing to separate my feeling for his sin and my feelings for him, he demands acceptance of his new identity.   Although many Christians do fail at times to efficiently communicate that love, the separation of sinner and sin is often not the failure of the Christian but the crowd who identifies their life by their sin.

So what should be the response of a Christian to growing homosexual acceptance? As individuals we should be looking for excuses to help not to hurt. Jesus often talked about giving help with no expectation of a return. If you help someone you know to be gay don’t expect them to come to your church- help them for their sake not your own.  While we are one the subject-  help people of all races, ages, etc and don’t expect them to feel obligate to hear you witness. I’m not saying don’t witness just don’t help people just to guilt trip them into listening. If they listen the Holy Spirit can work. If they don’t maybe your good spirit will open the door for someone else.  

As a  church we are a help not an enemy. Just as the church should be a healing center for the drunkard, divorcee or down-and-outers the church should be a place of hope for homosexuals. The church, especially leadership, should be an example of purity in all matters sexual so as not to be hypocritical.   Especially within the walls of the church all sins should be addressed but few emphasized.  In counseling a Pastor may be more willing to address specific sins but behind the pulpit divorce and lying (and any other sin) should receive the same condemnation as homosexuality. Of course Pastors often focus on one topic a Sunday, but it should seldom seem that some topics are avoided or fixated on.   In politics, many churches may deem it more appropriate to avoid discussing homosexuality for similar reason to avoiding abortion and other hot topics.

As I have just stated that many churches may desire to avoid the matter of homosexuality you may wonder why I write on it in such length. The answer is two-fold and I will close with it.  #1 – Many Christians who address the issue only speak of the civil aspects I have mentioned and never definitely say yes or no to the question of the morality of Homosexuality. #2 – I fear the day is coming (if it is not already here) that  Christian leaders will say that morally Homosexuality is not a sin. 

 

 

 

 

Why the Church Should Provide for Widows and Orphans.

 

Throughout the Old Testament, God commanded that from the offering collected to provide for the Levities a provision be made to provide for the fatherless and widowed. There are many references but for time sake I will only reference three here.

Deuteronomy 14:29

And the Levite, (because he hath no part nor inheritance with thee,) and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, which are within thy gates, shall come, and shall eat and be satisfied; that the Lord thy God may bless thee in all the work of thine hand which thou doest.

Psalm 82:3 Defend the poor and fatherless: do justice to the afflicted and needy.

Psalm 68:5 A father of the fatherless, and a judge of the widows, is God in his holy habitation.

 

God commanded the church to continue in this practice.

James 1:27 Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.

One of the greatest growths of the Christian church happened in Acts 6:7, but in Acts 6:1 the church was in turmoil because of the neglect of caring for Grecian widows. Why did God command Israel to care for their widows and orphans? Why should the Church continue doing the same?

From the beginning God created relationships for man to enjoy. He created man and then introduced himself to man, setting up man’s must essential relationship – his relationship with God. Man without knowledge of God finds himself empty and unsatisfied. God then created women thereby creating man’s next essential relationship –  marriage and family. After the fall of Adam and Eve the knowledge of God became blurred and God has often sense then used human relationships, especially of marriage and Father and son, to try and portray how much he loves us.

In Jesus Christ, God portrayed the love of a husband for his wife. Jesus lived to give his all for his bride regardless of who accepted and who denied his love. Jesus’ job was to provide a secure home in heaven for a world who could never obtain that security. As a husband should love unconditionally and provide for his family Jesus gave his life on the cross, out of unconditional love, to make us his family.

In God the Father, God portrays the provision of the father for his children. When Jesus taught on prayer, he referred to God as the Father. The Father of the Lord’s Prayer is referred to as forgiving, protecting and providing. He forgives sins, protects from temptation and provides daily bread. Our earthly fathers may only forgive our stupidities, protect us from monsters in the closet and provide daily food, but the analogies are apparent. Christ also spoke in this passage about how no Father would give his son a scorpion when he asked for bread. When we pray we may not always ask for the right things, but God will provide what we truly need.

God tries to explain himself to man in these ways, and most can see glimpses of God’s love in their Father or husband. However many live without knowledge of the loving touch of either. Some have lost them at a young age, many others have been abandoned by the same. Who will show these that God is love and will never forsake them even if their Father did? The church should, as a direct represented of God’s love, step in and provide. Not just provided financially though, but to provide love, protection, nourishing, comforting and other tokens of godliness. It is not enough to buy a meal and say “I love you”. It is required to make friends, attend ball games, help with homework, and to be their when mistakes are made. It is necessary to love when a home run is hit and to love a young teenager is in jail on a DUI. No amount of words can make up for the actions of love displayed upon those without the love of a father or husband

 For far too long the church has failed in their provision for those in financial and emotion need and now those same do not look to God for help. They do not look to the church for answers. They believe they hold the answers or if they do not even believe in themselves they believe in the Government. It is time for the church to restore people confidence in themselves, the church and God by provided for orphans and widows, first within their church and then throughout their communities as the Lord provides.

 

This is the Day.

Psalms 118:24 -This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.

 

       Many times we have seen this verse and thought of how awesome God is in guiding and designing every day of our lives. This is a truth we see supported in the Bible (1 Corinthians 2:9) but is not the main thought of psalms 118:24. We see that this verse is probably speaking of Christ's rejection and Crucifixion.  Verse 22, speaks of the rejected stone becoming the cornerstone (Paul referred to Jesus as the cornerstone of the church) Verse 27, speaks of a sacrifice being made on the alter. How could God have designed such a dark and depressing day and desire for us to rejoice in it? We know that from the sorrow and death of the Crucifixion day the whole world has access to eternal life!

     One of the big thoughts I had when reading this verse is all the days we celebrate as special or as holidays. Romans 14:5-6, speaks of some people observing many holidays and some none. Some use this passage to say we should not observe holidays with pagan origins, but the verse tells us not to judge those who observe holidays differently then us, The main thought I want to bring forward is that for most Christians the day is not what is important, but the memory behind it. We don't celebrate Christmas because there is something special about December the 25th, but because it reminds us of God's love and Jesus' birth. I challenge us to think of some Holidays and to be thankful for there memories every day. Whether you thank a serviceman or servicewoman for their sacrifices or you do something special for your mom or dad, try to act on the memories honored in our holidays. You never know what day will be your last and you may not make it to the nest Father's day or Veterans days.  
 

Faith versus Fear

      Decisions that we make are the one of the most powerful directors of the destiny of our life. Every decision directs us down a path of consequences - either good or bad. There are two main forces that affect how we make our decisions - faith and fear. Whether faith or fear is more present in our life will determine many of the decisions we make. When there is great fear, greater faith is required to take the right action. Great men will always be great, but they shine when faced with great opposition. Men like George Washington or Abraham Lincoln would have been successful no matter what, but of not for the opposition they faced probably few would know their names. In the Bible, we see Moses as one of the greatest leaders of Israel. At the time of Israel's deliverance by God through Moses they where enslaved by the strongest nation in the World - Egypt. In Hebrews 11:27 the Bible say about Moses - "By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king: for he endured, as seeing him who is invisible." Moses acted on faith rather then fear, even though the potential for fear was great. He was defying the strongest nation on the earth, all while personally meeting with their leader. He commanded Pharaoh ,who many treated as a god, to release the Israelites. If he had any doubt in God's power it would be easy to by paralyzed by Pharaoh's armies, priest or anger. He had faith in God's power and proclaimed to Pharaoh that God was declaring war on him and his false deities. He accomplished God's mission for his life and was a great leader.

      In Mark 4:40 Jesus asked his disciples " Why are ye so fearful? how is it that ye have no faith?" They had been in the middle of a powerful storm and had waken Jesus from his slumber. Fearful for their lives they cried to him and he calmed the storm. Jesus rebuked them for there fear.  However almost all of the men in that boat went on to become great men of faith. How did this change come to pass?

      Where dose faith come from? Faith comes from past experiences of success. When we go to start our cars we have faith they will start because of previous experience them starting.  2 Timothy 1:7 gives us three experiences that add to our faith - Power, Love and a sound mind.

Power - Moses had faith in Christ's power because of miracles he was shown in the desert. The disciples saw the power of Christ every step of their 3 year journey with him. When Jesus left the disciples to ascend in to heaven, he commanded them to act on faith and spread the message of his salvation throughout the world. He also promised his power would go with them. The experience of power is a big reason why God will work miracles for even the lost at times, so when they receive the gospel they have the faith to believe. The more we as believers face struggles and see God's power our faith has reason to grow.

Love -  Even when God's power is evident, we often need to experience his love to believe he will use his power to benefit us not to harm or forsake us. Romans 5:8 give us one of the greatest examples of God's love . While we where sinners ,unprofitable for  God, he sent Christ to save us. As we experience God's love, even in the trials we can have faith to know God is working for our best.

Sound Mind - The experience of a sound mind is the ability to decide when out of the trails and difficulties how you will act in the hard times. To determine whether to act in fear or in faith when on the mountain top, so that you do not quit in the valley. When you know that God is good decide to trust him when all seems wrong. When you get back to the mountain top you will rejoice that you acted on your faith of the good times and not your fear of the valley.

Matthew 13 and Planting

 

Jesus used parables to relate Heavenly truths to people in simple terms.  Jesus used planting and seeds to convey Heavenly truths in Matthew 13.

 

 

In  verses 3-23 Jesus tells the Parable of the sower and the seed. The sower sows the seed and it grows or dies based on the quality of the soil on which it falls. In Luke 8:11 Jesus tells us the key to this parable is that the seed is the word of God. I see two main truths we can learn in this passage. As sowers of the word, we can only spread the word and we cannot determine the harvest. As receives of the word, we must examine our souls to see that we are fertile ground for God's word to grow.

 

In verses 24-30, Jesus use wheat and tare to compare the lost and saved. Jesus taught that both the lost and saved are planted in this earth. They will live this earth until the time that the planter gathers the wheat into the barn. He taught that we cannot judge who is saved or lost until that time of separation.

 

In v31-32- - Jesus compares the kingdom of heaven to a mustard seed, which is small when planted but grows into a great tree. We see that salvation comes through One (Christ) and is spread to all who will receive.

 

Matthew 17:20 - Jesus says if we have faith like a mustard seed we can move mountains. A great truth we see is that as a seed must be planted to grow so faith must be acted upon to achieve miracles.

 

Some other thoughts

 

1# - You reap what you sow. (Galatians 6:7)

2# - You reap more then you sow. (2 Corinthians 9:6)

3# - You reap after you sow. (Psalms 126:5)

4# - Reaping and sowing take time and hard work. (Psalms 126:5)

 



 

 

Principles 4 success.

     Everybody desires to be successful. Today I want to look at some Biblical principles 4 success.

     To begin we must define success. Success is hard to measure because in it simplest terms, success is accomplishing your goals. However we all have different goals.  Therefore we all measure success differently. To keep things at there base level I will compare our principles to a basic example - Washing dishes. If your goal for the next hour is to wash the dishes and you do it - you are a success. If you read blogs for the next hour, then you are a failure.

Principle #1 - Plan to succeed. You will not succeed if you expect to fail. I am not simply talking about visualizing your success either.

     Luke 14:28-30 - For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it?Lest haply, after he hath laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it, all that behold it begin to mock him, Saying, This man began to build, and was not able to finish.

      This passage speak of a man who built a tower but did not plan ahead enough to know how to finish it. He did not reach his goal. When setting a goal have a plan to arrive at that goal. If you are going to wash the dishes check for soap, have a place to put away the dishes and plan to complete the job. If you have no plan you will only have a dream or a ton of half finished projects.

Principle #2 - Count the cost. Success always comes at a price. In the passage above, the man building the tower failed to realize the cost of his goal.  As he lacked the money to finish the tower, he failed to achieve his goal.  The price of cleaning your dishes will probably only be a couple of nickels and dimes and 15 minutes of your time, but there is still a cost. And as your goals and dream grow so dose the cost. This is probably where people go from being successful to failures the quickest. Someone makes their goal earning a million dollars.  They dedicate time and energy toward their goal and make 1 million dollars. They are successful! Now they need a new goal and they look around and realize they have destroyed their marriage, family and health. Their new goal is to recover these things but they never can. They have now become a failure. Before chasing your goals and dreams count the cost!

Principle #3 - Do the little things right! In  Luke 19:12-24 Jesus tell the parable of the pounds. One man was given 10 pounds, one 5 and one 1. After a time they were required to give account of their investments. All had doubled their money except the man given 1 pound. He had hidden the money and returned no profit. He received no reward. Those who had doubled their money received power over cities because of their faithfulness. Many companies have Ceo's and bosses who are know for doing the most basic jobs even when others aren't watching. Others have started at the bottom (washing dishes) and have risen to the top. Jim Skinner started as an intern manager at McDonalds and is now CEO.

      One great Biblical story of doing the little things right is the story of David and Goliath (1Samuel 17). David's brother were in battle, but he was left watching the sheep. One evening his father came to him and told him that tomorrow he would take some food to his brothers. The next day David got up early(v20) and set of to the battle field. He arrived as Goliath was issuing a challenge against God and Israel. David was angry and asked why none would fight and what would the reward be for killing this giant. His brothers accused him of being battle hungry and having no business being there . He responded to this "Is there not a cause? (v29)" Many think the cause of David's life at that time was to kill the Giant and defend Israel, but what was the cause of David even being at the battlefield? His cause had been to deliver food to his brothers.If he had not risen early in the morning to do so, he would not have heard Goliath's challenge. His obedience to the little cause gave him an opportunity to face the giant cause.

     Principle #4 - Do all things right. If you do thing right you will get the right result. If you do things wrong, you will not. Cutting shortcuts will not gain you anything. Giving up morality or truth for quick "success" will lead to destruction. If you cut corners on your dishwashing who do you have to blame when someone ends up with food poisoning?