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Home | Religion & Spirituality | Christianity The general went on to explain, “I would not want acceptance of overt homosexual behavior to be our policy, just like I would not want it to be our policy that if we were to find out that so-and-so was sleeping with somebody else’s wife, that we would just look the other way, which we do not. We prosecute that kind of immoral behavior.” General Pace’s position is supported by Christian bible scripture and church tradition as well as the religious teachings of the world’s major religions for millenniums. I have listed several of the bible passages in both the Old and New Testaments as well as writings of the early church fathers which speaks to the sinfulness of homosexual sodomy as an enclosure at the end of this article. Many writings of the other major world religions share this view point. Christians absolutely oppose discrimination against and oppression of gay people. In fact, Christians would fight for the equal and fair rights of gays and would defend them against any oppression or discrimination as long as gay people don’t seek to impose their homosexual lifestyles on them, their children, or others. Forcing Christians to say that homosexuality is not a sin is clearly such an imposition. It is a violation of the tenets of Christianity itself for any Chrstian to accept any lifestyle as being normal and moral if it runs contrary to the word of God in Holy Scripture. The old adage, "You're asking to much," definately holds true when the gay community attempts to impose this "new morality" on Christains. For practicing Christians accepting "gay morality" would be a sacrilege - a mortal sin. The issue is not if Christains can be tolerant of gays, they already are (they just reject the gay life style). The real issue is the increasing intolerance of the gay community of Christians and other people of faith. Christians condemn the sin, not the sinner. The problem is that gays refuse to distinguish between the two. Christians also condemn the sins of adultery, sexual promiscuity, and all other sins. You will find Christians caring for and providing for sinful drug addicts, prostitutes, and alcoholics. Visit any prison and you will find Christians ministering to the incarcerated criminals who have committed all manner of sin. Christians still love them all, pray for them all, and try to help them even as they condemn their sinful acts. Christians are not self-righteous. They know and understand that they too are sinners who need forgiveness. They feel great remorse for their own sinful transgressions. The difference is that Christians (1) recognize the sin as being sin, (2) feel genuine remorse for committing their sinful acts, and (3) they try to change and not repeat the same sins over and over again. The gay community on the other hand does not recognize homosexual sodomy as sin, feels no remorse for committing homosexual sodomy, and refuses to change their sinful ways. They continue to engage in homosexual sodomy over and over again without remorse. Moreover, the gay community insists that everyone else must accept their homosexual lifestyle as being both normal and moral. They seek to change laws so that they can punish anyone who disagrees that homosexuality is a good and acceptable “new morality.” That is hateful. That is dangerous. Gays don’t have to fear Christians but Christians should fear the gay community for wanting to persecute and punish them for their religious beliefs. It is both an intellectual failure and a failure of respect by the gay community to realistically expect people of faith to abandon the tenets of their faith in order to accommodate their scripturally defined sexual perversion. Accepting gays is not an issue. Gays are already accepted and loved like other sinners, to include devout Christians who are also sinners. However, accommodating the gay lifestyle as a matter of policy is at issue and would be a grave mistake. Gays refuse to accept that it is the sin itself that offends. Many gays will go so far as to blame God for their own homosexuality. They say God made them that way. That is like saying God ordained sinners to commit sin. It is true that God gave mankind “free choice” but it is also true that He wanted them to choose Him and His teachings and to avoid sin. It is likewise true that God condemned sin and unrepentant sinners. He promises to punish those who sin and those who do not repent their sinful acts. Christians are just sharing Gods message to the world. They want everyone to be “saved.” If God is indeed an infallible deity (and HE certainly is) then He would not condemn sodomy as an awful abomination and then create homosexuals and mandate that they commit this abomination. That would make God Himself a sinner which is impossible. It would constitute a contradiction that an infallible deity could not commit. If God did that then He would be less then perfect. If God is not perfect then He is not God. Hence, homosexual sodomy is an indeed a sinful abomination and gay people need to understand this truth. It is the duty of Christians to warn homosexuals, as an act of love, and to help protect others from falling in to such a sinful and perverted lifestyle. So, that is precisely what they are doing; the courageous Christians at least. Many Christians are cowards to their own faith. They remain cowardly silent and oblivious to the God ordained perversion of homosexuality that increasingly surrounds them and their loved ones. They fear being declared a “homophobe.” A phobia pertains to "fear." Hence, "homophobia" implies that one either "fears homosexuals" or "fears their own homosexual tendencies." In reality people of faith do not fear homosexuals in anyway. As much as the gay community may wish it to be true, they don't fear homosexual tendencies in themselves either. Perhaps some flirted with curiosity but they don't have a compulsion to sodimize someone of the same sex. That compulsion is perverted in the same way that pedophilia is. It should not surprise that most pedodphiles are gay. Christians simply reject the sin of sodomy, the practice of gay sex, in accordance with their faith. The gay community invented the word "homophobe" to slander anyone who does not agree with them or their gay agenda. It is kind of how they stole the word "gay" from the english language. The word "gay" of course refered to "happiness" or "joy" and had nothing to do with homosexuality. The gay commuity feels free to do exactly as they please and to change whatever they want any time they want to meet thier gay agenda, even the word of God. The expectation, of course, is that everyone must fall in line - or else. Evidence that the gay community invented the word “homophobe” to do harm to anyone who opposes their gay agenda and they have suceeded. It is sad how sucessful they have become, and how many good people have been injured because so many people of faith lack courage. Gays have no fear of speaking out at every opportunity but Christains do. The "homophobe" label has made Christians cower. It's almost as if it has become fashionable for modern day Christians to be cowards. That is not consistent with Christian heritage but it is the realtiy of the present. Many if not most Christians are afraid of words. But, courage requires one to overcome their fears. If you can’t be courageous for your own Lord and Savior and the Holy Spirit inspired word of God, can you be courageous for anyone? There are both sins of omission as well as sins of commission. God will also remember the Christian cowards (may God have mercy on them). They are the ones who know sin and although they don’t commit a particular sin themselves they only speak against it in private and in the “safety” of seclusion with like minded people. They are the Christian cowards who turn silently away while allowing God’s ordained abomination to flourish and threaten our youth and those who easily succumb to sin. By doing nothing to protect, they embolden perversion. Courage always involves personal risk. If you don’t assume personal risk then you can not be brave. General Pace is brave. In General Pace’s case he rightly does not want our nation’s military to embrace what he correctly knows to be a sinful lifestyle. A lifestyle that is an affront to the majority of people in our nation’s military services. I worry that even he is losing his courage in the face of the aggressive and mean-spirited gay assault on him or anyone who does not accept their perverted lifestyle as being both normal and moral. He needs our prayers to stay the course, the right course. The military's "Don’t ask, Don’t tell" policy allows homosexuals the freedom of "privately" continuing to choose their sinful and perverted lifestyle. Since God Himself gave us “free will” this policy seems consistent with the will of God to allow them “freedom of choice.” It would not be consistent with Gods will to permit a perversion that God Himself defines as an abomination to spread within the military ranks as a matter of “policy.” Hence, General Pace is absolutely correct that we ought never to allow this perversion of homosexual sodomy to be accepted as normal and morale in our armed forces. A lot of soldiers have committed adultery. They took the risk that if they got caught they would face consequences under the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ), and they did. The UCMJ also applies to the gay “military” community. Don’t ask, don’t tell. Leave well enough alone. If you get caught violating the rules, the laws, which you knowingly and willingly did, then good character demands that you have the courage to accept the consequences. God will keep His promise to hold homosexuals personally accountable for their sinful choices; just He does everyone else for whatever sins they commit. You can’t feel remorse and be forgiven of your sins if you defiantly refuse to change your sinful ways and tell God that He is wrong, that what God Himself defined as a sinful abomination is really not a sin at all. The gay community’s position that homosexual sodomy is good, normal, and moral is simply ridiculous from an intellectual secular perspective and sacrilegious from the perspective of the Christian faith and the other major religions of the world. Denial of God's truth will not save anyone on judgment day. That is just the honest to God truth – the facts. The Gay community likens Christians to radical Islamists, accusing them of being crazy theocrats who wish to harm. While it is true that in strict Islamic cultures homosexuals would absolutely be persecuted, jailed, beaten and even killed, it is an affront to decency itself to liken Christians to the same mentality as these genuinely evil Islamic radicals. Christians not only wound never do any of these things to gays, nor approve of anyone else doing such terrible things to gay people, they would defend the gays at their own risk and peril to keep them from being mistreated in such a manner. As is clearly noted, Christians love gay people; they just oppose and stand against sin as it is their duty and Christian obligation to do. It is the Gay community that hates Christians for being true to their Christian faith. Bible scripture, the inspired word of God, says sodomy is an abomination. That point is clear but for anyone who is in doubt I have included some of the pertinent bible passages below. For Christians it is a matter of faith that homosexual sodomy is a sinful abomination. To believe otherwise requires a Christian to deny their faith. That is like asking them to condemn themselves to hell. Today we have a genuine dilemma. The express practice of homosexual sodomy is increasingly deemed to be both normal and moral in our society. Over 2000 thousand years of religious moral teachings and traditions, encompassing all the worlds’ major religions can just be damned and declared wrong – so says the gay community. Gay people say gay sex is normal and moral; therefore everybody “must” accept this “new morality” or forever be labeled a “homophobe” and risk persecution if they fail to accept this new perverted morality. The sinner becomes moral and he who objects to the sin is deemed immoral. Bad becomes good and good becomes bad. The gay lobby will relentlessly attempt to force General Pace from his distinguished career as the nations top Marine and our armed forces top general? The gay lobby increases in power and in numbers daily. Sin is malignant and contagious, no doubt about it. The prevailing question is, “Will America cowardly stand by and watch; will Americans and Christians in particular allow sinfulness to flourish, without a fight, by their cowardly silence, thus making sin itself the new moral standard.” What ever happened to the courage of America’s faithful? God is watching. ///END/// ENCL: What does Holy Scripture and church tradition say about homosexuality? See below: 1 "If any one lie with a man as with a woman, both have committed an abomination, let them be put to death: their blood is upon them." (Leviticus 20-13). 2. "Do not err. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor the effeminate, nor liars with mankind [sodomites) ... shall possess the kingdom of God." (I Corinthians 6:9-10). 3. Thou shalt not lie With mankind as With womankind because it is an abomination ... Defile not yourselves with any of these things with which all the nations have been defiled, which I will cast out before you, and with which the land is defiled: the abominations of which I will visit, that it may vomit out its inhabitants ... Beware then, lest in like manner, it vomit you also out, if you do the like things, as it vomited out the nation that was before you. Every soul that shall commit any of these abominations shall perish from the midst of his people... I am the Lord your God " (Leviticus 18:22-30). 4."For this cause God delivered them up to shameful affections. For their women have changed the natural use into that use which is against nature. And, in like manner, the men also, leaving the natural use of the women, have burned in their lusts one towards another, men With men doing that which is filthy, and receiving in themselves the recompense which was due to their error ... Who, having known the justice of God, did not understand that they who do such things, are worthy of death, and not only they that do diem, but they also that consent to them that do them. “(Romans 1:26-27, 32). 5. "For if God ... reducing the cities of the Sodomites, and of the Gomorthites, into ashes, condemned them to be overthrow, making them an example how to deliver the godly from temptation, but to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be tormented. " (2 Peter 2.4-9). 6. "Be not deceived, God is not mocked.” (Galatians 6:7). 7. "A woman shall not be clothed with man's apparel, neither shall a man use woman's apparel - for he that doeth these things is abominable before God." (Deuteronomy22: 5). 8. In the Old Testament Scripture refers to the vice of homosexuality with specific severity: "And the Lord said: The cry of Sodom and Gomorra is multiplied, and their sin is become exceedingly grievous" (Gen. 18:20). 9. "The angels arrived at Lot's house, under the appearance of two handsome men.” But before they went to bed, the men of the city beset the house both young and old, all the people together. And they called Lot, and said to him: Where are the men that came in to thee at night? Bring them out hither that we may know them ... And they pressed very violently upon Lot; and they were even at the point of breaking open the doors. And behold the men (angles) put out their hand, and drew in Lot unto them, and shut the door. And them that were without, they struck with blindness from the least to the greatest, so that they could not enter the door. (Gen 19:4-1 1). 10. "And they (the angels) said to Lot: ... all that are thine bring them out of this city, for we will destroy this place, because their cry (of their comes) is grown before the Lord, who hath sent us to destroy them" (Gen. 19 12-13). 11. "And they brought him forth, and set him without the city: and there they spoke to him, saying: Save thy life; look not back, neither stay thou in all the country about, but save thyself in the mountain, lest thou be also consumed" (Gen. 19:17). 12."And the Lord rained upon Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven. And he destroyed these cities and all the country about, all the inhabitants of the cities, and all things that spring from the earth. And his wife looking behind her was turned into a statue of salt. And Abraham got up early in the morning, and ... looked towards Sodom and Gomorrah, and the whole land of that country, and he saw the ashes rise up from the earth as the smoke of a furnace." (Gen. 19:24-28). 13. "Thou shalt not lie with mankind as with womankind, because it is an abomination" (Lev. 18:22). 14. "If anyone lie with a man as with a woman, both have committed an abomination, let them be put to death: their blood be upon them" (Lev. 20:13). 15. On the punishment that God prepared for the Jews: "And I will give children to be their princes, and the effeminate shall rule over them ... the shew of their countenance hath answered them: and they have proclaimed abroad their sin as Sodom, and they have not hid it: woes to their souls, for evils are rendered to them.... The Lord standeth to judge the people" Is. 3:4-13). 16. Saint Paul, Apostle to the Gentiles, castigates the homosexual vice against nature and other grave sins, in this way "Do not err: neither fornicators, not idolaters, nor adulators, not the effeminate nor liars with mankind (sodomites).... shall possess the kingdom of God." (1 Cor. 6:9-10). 17. In the Epistle to the Romans Saint Paul threatens perverts with punishments even on this earth: "Wherefore God gave them up to the desires of their heart, unto uncleanness, to dishonor their own bodies among themselves. Who changed the truth of God into a lie; and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. For this cause God delivered them up to shameful affections. For their women have changed the natural use into that use which is against nature. And, in like manner, the men also, leading the natural use of the women have burned in their lusts one towards another, men with men working that which is filthy, and receiving in themselves the recompense which was due their error." (Romans 1:24-27). 18. Saint Peter stresses the infamy of the sin of sodomy and the chastisement God reserves for it: "For if God ...reducing the cities of the Sodomites, and of the Grommets, into ashes, condemned them to be overthrown, making them an example to those that should after act wickedly, and delivered just Lot, oppressed by the injustice and lewd conversation of the wicked, ...(then) the Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly from temptation, but to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be tormented" (2 Peter 2:4-9). 19.. Saint Jude is also very severe: "As Sodom and Gomorrah, and the neighboring cities, in like manner, having given themselves to fornication, and going after other flesh, were made an example, suffering the punishment of eternal fire, in like manner these men also defile the flesh, and despise dominion (of Christ), and blaspheme majesty" (Jude 7-8). The early church fathers were very pointed in their condemnation of homosexuality. Tertuilian, the greatest apologist of the Church in the second century, wrote: "All other frenzies of lusts which exceed the laws of nature and are impious toward both bodies and the sexes we banish.... from all shelter of the Church, for they are not sins so much as monstrosities" (Tertuilian, DePudicitia, IV, in J. McNeill, op.cit., p. 89. Saint Basil of Caesarea, the fourth century Church Father who wrote the principal rule of the monks of the East, wrote "The cleric or monk whom lets youths or boys or is caught kissing or committing some turpitude, let him be whipped in public, deprived of his crown (tonsure) and, after having his head shaved, let his face be covered with spittle; and (let him be) bound in iron chains, condemned to six months in prison, reduced to eating rye bread once a day in the evening three times per week. After these six months living in a separate cells under the custody of a senior elder with great spiritual experience, let him be subjected to prayers, vigils and manual work, always under the guard of two spiritual brothers, without being allowed to have any relationship ... with young people" (St. Basil of Caesarea, in St. Peter Damien, Liber Gomorrhianus.op.cit., cols. 174f). This passage should be mandatory reading for every Bishop or other high church official who learns that a homosexual pedophile priest or minister is one his subordinates. The great Saint Augustine, early church father, theologian, and biblical scholar who has been studied by every serious bible scholar in practically every reputable school of theology, regardless of denomination, is categorical in the combat against sodomy and similar vices. This great Bishop of Hippo writes: "Sins against nature, therefore, like the sin of Sodom, are abominable and deserve punishment whenever and wherever they are committed. If all nations committed them, all alike would be held guilty of the same charge, for our Maker did not prescribe that we should use each other in this way. In fact, the relationship that we ought to have with God is itself is violated when our nature, of which He is Author, is desecrated by perverted lust. Saint Augustine further states, "Your punishments are for the sins which men commit against themselves, because, although they sin against you, they do wrong in their own souls and their malice is self-betrayed. They corrupt and pervert their own nature, which You made and for which You shaped the rules, either by making wrong use of the things which You allow, or by becoming inflamed with passion to make unnatural use of things which You do not allow' (Rom. 1:26) - (St. Augustine, Confessions (New York: Penguin, 1967), Book III, chap. 8, p.65 - 66). When speaking of homosexual sodomy Saint John Chrysostom denounced homosexual acts as being contrary to nature and declared..."There is nothing, absolutely nothing more mad or damaging than this perversity" (St. John Chysostom, In Epistulam ad Romanos IV, in J. McNeill. op. cit., pp. 89-90). Saint Gregory the Great speaks to the manner in which God punishes Sodomites: "Brimstone calls to mind the foul odors of the flesh, as Sacred itself confirms when it speaks of the rain of fire and brimstone poured by the Lord upon Sodom... just that the sodomites, burning with perverse desires that originated from the desire of flesh, should perish at the same time by fire and brimstone so that through this just chastisement they might realize the evil perpetrated under the impulse of a perverse desire" (St. Gregory the Great, Commento morale a Giobbe (Rome: Citta Nuova, 1994), )QV, 23, vol. 11, p. 371, Ibid., p.7). Other great early church fathers and saints such as Saint Thomas Aquinas, Saint Bonaventure, Saint Cathrof Sienna, Saint Bernadine of Siena, Saint Peter Canisusand Saint Peter Damian wrote passionately against homosexuality and sodomy and warned those who practiced this evil to expect to receive Gods wrath in the fullest. Saint Darwinian warned that the homosexual sodomy abomination was so evil that it would be especially difficult for a practicing homosexual to receive forgiveness for this grave sin (although not impossible). He seemed to imply that it would be more difficult than for practically every other sin. According to established Catholic doctrine and in accordance with the early church fathers from which Protestant faiths also learn much of their theology, homosexuality is contrary to the will of God because its very nature embraces selfish actions which cannot fulfill the divinely ordained purpose of the reproductive powers. So, it is unrealistic as well as unfair for the gay community to expect Christians and other world religions to surrender the tenets of their faith built on over two millenniums of teachings, doctrine, dogma, tradition and Holy Spirit inspired scripture so that they can satisfy their urges and desires in what has always considered a sexual prevision throughout history. Article Source: http://www.articlewheel.com
Ed Coet is a retired US Army officer. He is also a professional educator and a widely published freelance writer and poet. Ed Coet has had numerous articles published on a variety of topics. Ed Coet’s short story, David’s Angel, was published in the popular Ezine Bewildering Stories (issue 234) on February 26th and is also published in the Authors Den. His short story,The Legend of Big Bertha, will be published on April 30th and his short story, Simon and Papa John, is scheduled for publication in mid-May. Ed Coet’s poems have been published in Purple Dream Ezine, Solder Works Magazine, Children, Churches & Daddies Magazine, Scars publications, Steller Showcase Journal, Both Sides Now Journal, Because We Write Magazine, Author’s Den Ezine, Lost Beat Poetry Ezine and Muscadine Lines, A Southern Journal.
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