Attention gathering title...I know.
I recently had a conversation with an acquaintance. He was in great distress over an upcoming wedding. The wedding was for his aunt who he had been close to all of his life. However, late in life, his aunt had disclosed her lesbian lifestyle. She was now set to marry her life partner and this acquaintance was obviously invited.
He explained to me that he was unable to go because he didn’t support her lifestyle and her choices. He took the time to write to her and explain that although he loved her, he could not attend and celebrate something he was so vehemently against.
He read me the letter. It was very carefully written and he expressed as much grace as possible with his message.
This really made me think about how I might handle such a thing. It made me very curious about how each of you might handle such a thing.
Thought I would wait to comment until after I heard what you all might have to say. I will share after that.
Come out? Are you about to share more than expected? If so, my response will be much different.
@tomfournier11 Wow! I’ve updated the post as I intended to write “comment”. But talk about provoking thought! Would it be much different? And why? And how? That was the point behind posting this. Of all the the spots to have a typo!! Gotta wonder if that was subconciously intentional?!
Ha! Awesome.
OK - now I understand the comment on the BIBLE STUDY SIDE...here's my copy/paste from there:
Hi Everyone!
Just catching up on the replies and wanted to touch on something. I texted Tom to ask where the homosexual comment came from - seemed out of nowhere :) - he confirmed that Mark asked or mentioned something about it on an earlier post.
I would like to hit a handful of bullet points on this if that's OK:
1) Romans 1, 1 Timothy 1, and 1 Corinthians 6 all hit on homosexuality
2) Romans 1 talks about foolish hearts being darkened and hardened - basically spiraling from bad to worse - part of that bad to worse (in some cases) is men burning with desire for men and women for women. This seems to be a "giving over" to wickedness. Without God's staying hand we are ALL capable of more evil than we know
3) 1Corinthians speaks of the "unrighteous not inheriting eternal life" - among other things, it lists homosexuality as one of those "things"
4)1Timothy speaks of using the Law properly. The intent of the Law is to expose the sinner to their sin. I was at a "rah rah" meeting for conservatives years ago (actually Mark was there too) and the speaker was hammering on homosexuals. This is an example of a poor use of the Law. The speakers intent (supposedly) was to preach the Gospel; however, if that was truly the intent, I would think he would have used something that would be more likely to convict the crowd of conservatives - like "if your cheating on your taxes your sinning" - rather than bash homosexuals. The Law must be used as it was intended, to shine the light of Truth on a sinner - as a mirror shows us who we are physically, the mirror of God's Law shows us who we are spiritually
5) To say a person is wired to be homosexual or is born that way may or may not be right. Whether this is true or not, we know this excuse is used to justify the lifestyle. If we use this reasoning in the life of a heterosexual we could say, "I was wired to love blonds, brunettes, red heads, ALL WOMEN, therefore don't judge me if I want to run around and have sex with all, I was born this way". The Bible makes it clear, "all fornicators will have their part in the lake of fire". This puts most people, if not all, homosexual or heterosexual, in the SAME EXACT BOAT. What boat? The boat that needs Jesus to pay for and save them from the consequences of their sin!
6) If the promiscuous heterosexual OR the practicing homosexual does not see their lifestyle as sin, then there is nowhere else for the conversation to go on the subject. The Holy Spirit must convict them of their sin before they see it as sin. If they see it as sin, then they are ready for the command to repent and believe the Gospel. If they DO see their sin as sin, repentance has already started since repentance is a "change of mind" - but it doesn't end their. Their mind also needs to be changed in such a dramatic way that they abandon the sinful life and turn to Christ for cleansing, forgiveness, and salvation. They will trust in Jesus alone to save. Jesus said, "repent and believe the Gospel"
7) Lastly - if someone doesn't see their sexual lifestyle (promiscuous heterosexual or practicing homosexual) as sin, we can still address other sin that the Lord may use to convict and convert the soul - like lying or stealing. There is NO DOUBT that a soul that has been converted will NOT continue in sin; therefore, if the Lord uses someone's history of stealing to convict them and they are converted and following Christ, eventually the Lord will convict them of their sexual sin as well. I like what I heard a preacher say last week, "our job in sharing the Gospel is like a waiter, he need to deliver it without spilling it" - in other words, we don't add to it, or take anything away, we simply present it, as Paul said, without "eloquent words". First - we are sinners (then get specific) Second - the consequences of our sin are eternal - eternal punishment in hell Third - "but God, being rich in mercy" sent His Son to live the perfect life, die a brutal death, bear the sins of the world and the Wrath of God, rise on the third day, that whoever believes in Him will have eternal life - it is a legal transaction, He takes all your wickedness and nails it to the Cross where it's "paid for" and gives you His perfect Righteousness
Amen! You might be called to be a preacher, Brother Steve! An insightful one at that!
Another Amen to that! love the posts.
I believe Steve has already been called. No doubt. Amen!!!!