You shall be holy

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You shall be holy; for I the Lord your God am holy.

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← What's all the fuss about sexual liberty vs. purity and faithfulness in marriage? Click on the photo to read the cross-references in these important Scriptures! The article "The Holy Trinity And Same-Sex Marriage" by Dr. Bradley Nassif describes the immense pressure on Christians to conform to this world's value system in which evil is called good, good is called evil, sweet is called bitter, and bitter is called sweet.

Today in western society, the LGBTQ lifestyle is being presented as the norm for society and traditional Christian morality is being rejected... even in our legal system. Dr. Nassif is described as "the leading academic expert on Eastern Orthodox and Evangelical dialogue." I've had the great privilege to meet him personally and his thinking has deeply influenced our ideas for what has become Agape Restoration Society. He writes -

"Anyone watching the news today is aware that we are living in an age where secular forms of diversity and pluralism are valued over and above biblical truth. This applies especially to issues of gender and sexuality. Activists in the so-called LGBTQ movement have successfully challenged traditional Christian understandings of marriage and family in nearly every forum of American public life, including school curricula, the media, and the courts. Nowhere is this more evident than in the Supreme Court recognition of gay marriage."

This article goes on to list some of the Scripture references that support a principled yet compassionate position on these issues. The man-woman relationship when properly realized reflects the mutual support, love, and interdependence of the Holy Trinity, as the article's title indicates.

We can and should accept those in the LGBTQ community as valid human beings loved by God and created in His image without affirming their lifestyle. It is one thing, however, to have homosexual desire but abstain, another to engage in homosexual acts "in the closet," another to "come out of the closet," and yet another to affirm its acceptability and advocate it as the norm for everyone. The article concludes -

"Hatred has no place on this battlefield. On the contrary, Christians should be the first to come to the defense of those who have been hurt, injured or bullied by hateful adversaries. We must continue to speak the truth in love even though it is a countercultural message that calls people to a life of wholeness through the saving gospel of Jesus Christ."

The church in Corinth had problems with sexual misconduct: incest - see 1 Cor. 5:1, and fornication which is ("porneo" in Greek: it has a broader meaning including fornication, adultery, homosexual acts, and beastiality - see chs. 5:11; 6:9-12; and Rom. 1:27. Even if, as ch, 6:12 states, it is legal and socially acceptable, Christians are to "come out from among them and be separate" - ch. 6:14-18. And as St. Paul wrote a bit further on, we are to be a good example for all people to emulate - ch. 9:22 and 10:33.

When church leaders - pastors, priests, or bishops - use "weasel-words" to excuse fornication, adultery, or homosexual acts, I am reminded of Mat. 24:15 - "When, therefore, you see the abomination of desolation, which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand)" referring to the holy place later being defiled by Antiochus Epiphanes who slaughtered a pig on the altar in the Jewish Temple, defiling that holy place.

And even later, when Constantinople was captured, the enemy armies defiled the altar in Hagia Sophia Cathedral by letting prostitutes have sex on it. Similarly, in the Old Testament we read - "You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination" (Lev. 18:22). Even verbally affirming or encouraging, not only committing such behavior is a sin - "But I have this against you, that you tolerate your woman, Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess. She teaches and seduces my servants to commit sexual immorality, and to eat things sacrificed to idols" (Rev. 2:20).

Another thoughtful resource on this topic is the book we just recently bought is Christian Faith and Same-Sex Attraction by Fr. Thomas Hopko, which you can get from Amazon. Richard John Neuhaus, former Editor-in-Chief of First Things, wrote about this book - "In a winsomely accesible manner, he draws on the treasures of Orthodoxy to invite all of us to move from disputation to reflection, and from there to the wholeness for which we are created by God."

Fr. Thomas uses theological language that may be hard to follow, but in essence he says that God's "providential permission" was to create mankind with free will, so only in that sense can a person say he/she was "born that way". It is not a part of God's "essential good will" (p. 56). And still another excellent resource featuring Fr. Thomas and several other speakers is the four-podcast series "Transformation: Same Sex Attraction Through The Lens Of Orthodox Christianity" from Ancient Faith Ministries. All Christians are called to holiness and wholeness, not to disputations and strife. All Christians are called to holiness: Strive for it!