TAKING A BIBLICAL STAND
A friend of mine read an article encouraging Christians to show love and not condemn those practicing unbiblical lifestyles. The author was correct in making that point, but his article also tended to make Christians feel guilty for believing what we believe and articulating it when we need to. Below is a reprint of an email response to my friend. ---Billy Long
TAKING A BIBLICAL STAND ON THE ISSUES
A letter to a friend
I am sure that you already have the correct posture on the issue and towards those who disagree in belief and practice. You have the correct Biblical belief and I know that you love people in the way the Lord tells us to. So I am pretty sure you have the right attitude. You want to share your belief and you don’t want to condemn anyone. God is the Judge.
However, the problem occurring today is that we are accused of a hateful and condemning attitude for simply believing and especially for articulating the Biblical position on homosexuality. Will Durant in his really great volumes on world history, quoting from "The Annals of Tacitus," says that the early Christians during the Roman persecutions were called haters of mankind because they would not agree with and participate in the immoral practices that were accepted and common in the Roman empire at the time.
Spiritual truths usually have “two sides” to the same coin. Truths are usually in tension and we have to hold to both without disregarding either. One verse says, “Bear one another’s burdens..” Another verse says, “Let every man bear his own burden.” I don’t have to choose between the two verses, but rather hold to a belief that encompasses both. One verse tells me that I am to love my brothers and help bear their loads and encourage and strengthen them in any way I can. The other verse tells me that my brothers should assume responsibility for their lives and not just “bum” on others. Both verses are true, both together make me balanced. To disregard either verse makes me a one-legged kicker on the team. I need both.
The same is true in the homosexual issue or any sin. We love people, including the sinner, because God so loved the world. But we also call people to repentance as Jesus did, and as the apostles did. No minister ever loved more than the apostle Paul, and yet he spoke very plainly and even harshly regarding sin in the church (Rom 1, and a few more verses in Corinthians). John said, “God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world.” But he also said, “He that believeth not is condemned already.” Jesus came to save sinners, and He is very merciful and pardons us, and His love is beyond comprehension. But he did say to the churches in Revelations first three chapters, “Repent or else…”
He was talking to the churches in the first three chapters of Revelation. Jesus was more stern with the Pharisees. And he was more kind and gracious to harlots, publicans, and sinners. But nevertheless, he did call them to repentance.”
We had fellows struggling with the homosexual issue in the church in Raleigh in the early days. We stood with them, did not condemn them, and the other men supported and held them up while they were dealing with it. Our attitude and posture was, “We love you and will stand with you, as you fight through to your deliverance. But it would have been wrong for us to think we were showing love if we had accepted and approved homosexual practice as normal and good.
My thoughts are that in dealing with any moral issue we must be kind, considerate, and not attack or be self-righteous and condemning. But we have to take a biblical stand in what we believe and practice. There will be people who will accept us for what we say and who we really are. But there will be people who will hate us for simply believing what we believe, and will be highly offended if we actually say anything.
I know there are Christians who unwisely have a bad and unloving attitude. That’s not good. But even with a good attitude, we will be accused of hate.
The greater problem today is not the Christians’ lack of love, but the spirit of permissiveness and immorality that is plaguing our land and infecting the church. I tell people what I believe, but let them choose their own life. You said, “I don’t care.” But I think you actually mean you let each person live his own life and let him answer to God for it, without your dictating or controlling them. That’s about where I am.
But the problem now is that those who don’t believe the Biblical position on this issue, are not satisfied with our approach as I just described it. But they want to aggressively and actively propagate the lifestyle. They want it to be shown as normal and good, which is happening now on TV and movies, and even in commercials. They want to teach it in schools and make it illegal to speak against the practice.
The spirit of the world is pressing into our culture, and it will be among those things, along with abortion, that destroy us. Remember Sodom and Gomorrah and those of whom Paul says, “God gave them over…” The society given-over is a fierce society.
So in summary, I think you already have the right attitude and the right belief, and you do love and are kind. Some people will be okay with that. Others will think you are evil. But that’s the way it goes. No matter how palatable we make the gospel, some people will be offended and stumbled by it. No matter how wise we are, some will still consider us to be fools. No matter how much we love the sinner, some will still consider us “haters of mankind” simply because we believe sin is bad. The apostle Peter in 1 Peter 4: 1-6 speaks of the fact that we will suffer because we live according to the will of God rather than the desires of men. He says they will think it strange that we do not run with them in their immorality and sin.
However, the problem occurring today is that we are accused of a hateful and condemning attitude for simply believing and especially for articulating the Biblical position on homosexuality. Will Durant in his really great volumes on world history, quoting from "The Annals of Tacitus," says that the early Christians during the Roman persecutions were called haters of mankind because they would not agree with and participate in the immoral practices that were accepted and common in the Roman empire at the time.
Spiritual truths usually have “two sides” to the same coin. Truths are usually in tension and we have to hold to both without disregarding either. One verse says, “Bear one another’s burdens..” Another verse says, “Let every man bear his own burden.” I don’t have to choose between the two verses, but rather hold to a belief that encompasses both. One verse tells me that I am to love my brothers and help bear their loads and encourage and strengthen them in any way I can. The other verse tells me that my brothers should assume responsibility for their lives and not just “bum” on others. Both verses are true, both together make me balanced. To disregard either verse makes me a one-legged kicker on the team. I need both.
The same is true in the homosexual issue or any sin. We love people, including the sinner, because God so loved the world. But we also call people to repentance as Jesus did, and as the apostles did. No minister ever loved more than the apostle Paul, and yet he spoke very plainly and even harshly regarding sin in the church (Rom 1, and a few more verses in Corinthians). John said, “God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world.” But he also said, “He that believeth not is condemned already.” Jesus came to save sinners, and He is very merciful and pardons us, and His love is beyond comprehension. But he did say to the churches in Revelations first three chapters, “Repent or else…”
He was talking to the churches in the first three chapters of Revelation. Jesus was more stern with the Pharisees. And he was more kind and gracious to harlots, publicans, and sinners. But nevertheless, he did call them to repentance.”
We had fellows struggling with the homosexual issue in the church in Raleigh in the early days. We stood with them, did not condemn them, and the other men supported and held them up while they were dealing with it. Our attitude and posture was, “We love you and will stand with you, as you fight through to your deliverance. But it would have been wrong for us to think we were showing love if we had accepted and approved homosexual practice as normal and good.
My thoughts are that in dealing with any moral issue we must be kind, considerate, and not attack or be self-righteous and condemning. But we have to take a biblical stand in what we believe and practice. There will be people who will accept us for what we say and who we really are. But there will be people who will hate us for simply believing what we believe, and will be highly offended if we actually say anything.
I know there are Christians who unwisely have a bad and unloving attitude. That’s not good. But even with a good attitude, we will be accused of hate.
The greater problem today is not the Christians’ lack of love, but the spirit of permissiveness and immorality that is plaguing our land and infecting the church. I tell people what I believe, but let them choose their own life. You said, “I don’t care.” But I think you actually mean you let each person live his own life and let him answer to God for it, without your dictating or controlling them. That’s about where I am.
But the problem now is that those who don’t believe the Biblical position on this issue, are not satisfied with our approach as I just described it. But they want to aggressively and actively propagate the lifestyle. They want it to be shown as normal and good, which is happening now on TV and movies, and even in commercials. They want to teach it in schools and make it illegal to speak against the practice.
The spirit of the world is pressing into our culture, and it will be among those things, along with abortion, that destroy us. Remember Sodom and Gomorrah and those of whom Paul says, “God gave them over…” The society given-over is a fierce society.
So in summary, I think you already have the right attitude and the right belief, and you do love and are kind. Some people will be okay with that. Others will think you are evil. But that’s the way it goes. No matter how palatable we make the gospel, some people will be offended and stumbled by it. No matter how wise we are, some will still consider us to be fools. No matter how much we love the sinner, some will still consider us “haters of mankind” simply because we believe sin is bad. The apostle Peter in 1 Peter 4: 1-6 speaks of the fact that we will suffer because we live according to the will of God rather than the desires of men. He says they will think it strange that we do not run with them in their immorality and sin.
Also, the church in standing on and proclaiming the word of God (the Bible) acts as the world’s conscience reminding them that their sins are actually sins and displeasing to God. Sometimes their reaction to this is to accuse us of judging. The men of Sodom did this to Lot simply because he would not participate in or place approval on their sins. They said, “He came here to stay, and he keeps acting as a judge.”
We do need to show love and not condemnation. But we must avoid the tendency to feel guilty for believing what we believe and articulating it when we need to. I think the greater concern and problem in our nation now is the failure of the church to speak up and take a stand and hold firm to the biblical position. The word of God and the testimony of Jesus are our foundation on which we must stand. They are also the target of the enemy and his forces.
“And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, the they did not love their lives to the death.” Revelation 12:10. ---Billy Long
We do need to show love and not condemnation. But we must avoid the tendency to feel guilty for believing what we believe and articulating it when we need to. I think the greater concern and problem in our nation now is the failure of the church to speak up and take a stand and hold firm to the biblical position. The word of God and the testimony of Jesus are our foundation on which we must stand. They are also the target of the enemy and his forces.
“And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, the they did not love their lives to the death.” Revelation 12:10. ---Billy Long
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