The news
Yesterday I was watching a program on TV and the topic was gays and lesbians, earlier in the day someone else was talking about the same thing over the radio. I thought, eh! this issue is huge, it's really crazy out here, these guys are just gone and the way they justify their cause. At the back of my mind I thought (anti that's why I think Mich should grow up in UG at least co...)
Today I was checking out news in Uganda and there it was on the front page "Kampala Homosexuals speak out", ouch!! that hurts, it hit close to home, my people! ( I became patriotic after leaving the country you know). I've known for a while that these people are there but I guess it's different now because I'm looking at it from another angle. I probably don't know these people personally but they are fellow Ugandans, my heart goes out to gays and lesbians around the world but it especially goes out to my country men and women. Just reading how passionate they are about their lifestyle and the persecution they are facing makes me very sad.
Sad not because of what they are going through but sad that they could be so deceived.
They say “Don’t lay a hand on us, we are the homosexual children of God. God created us this way and all we ask is let us live in peace.”
I believe God loves these people more than we could ever imagine, actually there is nothing we as humans could ever do to thwart God's love for us, it's there, we are stuck with it and it's not going to change. The problem comes when we start blaming God for the way we are or the things we do. Kind of reminds me how this blame game runs in the family, it started with our greatest grand father and mother, Adam and Eve. Adam blamed Eve, Eve blamed the serpent, when as a matter of fact the sin was born in her very heart but she didn't want to take responsibility for it.
Like wise we all have issues, having "beef" for people, forging documents, corruption, sleeping with people we are not married to, telling lies, whatever the case. We always find something or someone to blame but ultimately the blame is ours because we thought about these things, we imagined how things would be better if we did them and finally after building the picture in our minds we went a head and carried out the did, justifying our actions.
Blaming someone else for our wrong doing is bad enough, but blaming God for our wickedness I think is the ultimate, that is a bit too much.
Obviously many would not see it that way because we have no idea how desperately wicked we are, we can do the worst things all by ourselves, there is no need for help because our nature as human beings is absolutely corrupt.
There is completely nothing good in us, I know people come to mind whom we think "so and so could never do wrong he/she couldn't harm a fly, they always have holy thoughts", well sorry to burst your bubble but there is no such person, not even Mother Theresa on her own would fit that mould. The fact is we are wicked period.
That is why we ALL NEED Jesus.
I imagine if Jesus was in Uganda at the present time, He would be hanging out with these guys, going to the gay joints and basically loving them. Listening to their pleas and issues and sharing with them the good news of what He had come to do.
So my focus is directed toward the Christians, I don't really mind what people brand themselves, born again, charismatic, protestant, baptist... those titles are endless. I'm talking to those who call themselves Christians, those who say they are followers of Christ, those who profess that Jesus is the son of God and accept what He did on the cross. What are we doing about it? are we being the "salt", the preservative we are meant to be?
Are we praying? asking God to soften the harden hearts that have been given over to confused lifestyles that they don't even know if they are male or female anymore.
Are we making them our friends so that we can influence them, or better still are we keeping the friendships going even after we were told they were gay/lesbian?
What are we doing?
24-25So God said, in effect, "If that's what you want, that's what you get." It wasn't long before they were living in a pigpen, smeared with filth, filthy inside and out. And all this because they traded the true God for a fake god, and worshiped the god they made instead of the God who made them—the God we bless, the God who blesses us. Oh, yes!
26-27Worse followed. Refusing to know God, they soon didn't know how to be human either—women didn't know how to be women, men didn't know how to be men. Sexually confused, they abused and defiled one another, women with women, men with men—all lust, no love. And then they paid for it, oh, how they paid for it—emptied of God and love, godless and loveless wretches.
28-32Since they didn't bother to acknowledge God, God quit bothering them and let them run loose. And then all hell broke loose: rampant evil, grabbing and grasping, vicious backstabbing. They made life hell on earth with their envy, wanton killing, bickering, and cheating. Look at them: mean-spirited, venomous, fork-tongued God-bashers. Bullies, swaggerers, insufferable windbags! They keep inventing new ways of wrecking lives. They ditch their parents when they get in the way. Stupid, slimy, cruel, cold-blooded. And it's not as if they don't know better. They know perfectly well they're spitting in God's face. And they don't care—worse, they hand out prizes to those who do the worst things best!
Romans 1:24-32
Today I was checking out news in Uganda and there it was on the front page "Kampala Homosexuals speak out", ouch!! that hurts, it hit close to home, my people! ( I became patriotic after leaving the country you know). I've known for a while that these people are there but I guess it's different now because I'm looking at it from another angle. I probably don't know these people personally but they are fellow Ugandans, my heart goes out to gays and lesbians around the world but it especially goes out to my country men and women. Just reading how passionate they are about their lifestyle and the persecution they are facing makes me very sad.
Sad not because of what they are going through but sad that they could be so deceived.
They say “Don’t lay a hand on us, we are the homosexual children of God. God created us this way and all we ask is let us live in peace.”
I believe God loves these people more than we could ever imagine, actually there is nothing we as humans could ever do to thwart God's love for us, it's there, we are stuck with it and it's not going to change. The problem comes when we start blaming God for the way we are or the things we do. Kind of reminds me how this blame game runs in the family, it started with our greatest grand father and mother, Adam and Eve. Adam blamed Eve, Eve blamed the serpent, when as a matter of fact the sin was born in her very heart but she didn't want to take responsibility for it.
Like wise we all have issues, having "beef" for people, forging documents, corruption, sleeping with people we are not married to, telling lies, whatever the case. We always find something or someone to blame but ultimately the blame is ours because we thought about these things, we imagined how things would be better if we did them and finally after building the picture in our minds we went a head and carried out the did, justifying our actions.
Blaming someone else for our wrong doing is bad enough, but blaming God for our wickedness I think is the ultimate, that is a bit too much.
Obviously many would not see it that way because we have no idea how desperately wicked we are, we can do the worst things all by ourselves, there is no need for help because our nature as human beings is absolutely corrupt.
There is completely nothing good in us, I know people come to mind whom we think "so and so could never do wrong he/she couldn't harm a fly, they always have holy thoughts", well sorry to burst your bubble but there is no such person, not even Mother Theresa on her own would fit that mould. The fact is we are wicked period.
That is why we ALL NEED Jesus.
I imagine if Jesus was in Uganda at the present time, He would be hanging out with these guys, going to the gay joints and basically loving them. Listening to their pleas and issues and sharing with them the good news of what He had come to do.
So my focus is directed toward the Christians, I don't really mind what people brand themselves, born again, charismatic, protestant, baptist... those titles are endless. I'm talking to those who call themselves Christians, those who say they are followers of Christ, those who profess that Jesus is the son of God and accept what He did on the cross. What are we doing about it? are we being the "salt", the preservative we are meant to be?
Are we praying? asking God to soften the harden hearts that have been given over to confused lifestyles that they don't even know if they are male or female anymore.
Are we making them our friends so that we can influence them, or better still are we keeping the friendships going even after we were told they were gay/lesbian?
What are we doing?
24-25So God said, in effect, "If that's what you want, that's what you get." It wasn't long before they were living in a pigpen, smeared with filth, filthy inside and out. And all this because they traded the true God for a fake god, and worshiped the god they made instead of the God who made them—the God we bless, the God who blesses us. Oh, yes!
26-27Worse followed. Refusing to know God, they soon didn't know how to be human either—women didn't know how to be women, men didn't know how to be men. Sexually confused, they abused and defiled one another, women with women, men with men—all lust, no love. And then they paid for it, oh, how they paid for it—emptied of God and love, godless and loveless wretches.
28-32Since they didn't bother to acknowledge God, God quit bothering them and let them run loose. And then all hell broke loose: rampant evil, grabbing and grasping, vicious backstabbing. They made life hell on earth with their envy, wanton killing, bickering, and cheating. Look at them: mean-spirited, venomous, fork-tongued God-bashers. Bullies, swaggerers, insufferable windbags! They keep inventing new ways of wrecking lives. They ditch their parents when they get in the way. Stupid, slimy, cruel, cold-blooded. And it's not as if they don't know better. They know perfectly well they're spitting in God's face. And they don't care—worse, they hand out prizes to those who do the worst things best!
Romans 1:24-32
A few years ago one of my closest friends admitted to me that she was gay. It took a lot of guts to tell me because at that time I was number ONE accuser of gay people. I had no sympathy whatsoever for them because to me they had made the decision to be homosexual. I often quoted Romans 1:24-32 to justify myself.
ReplyDeleteMy friend is a Christian who loves the Lord with all her heart and soul. She CLEARLY does not want to be gay. We've fasted and prayed together about this issue, bound and cast out spirits of homosexuality, asked for God to remove these feelings. It's a constant battle. She is just attracted to women and is repulsed by all the male attention she gets.
I find it hard to reconcile these verses with what my friend is going through and sometimes I wonder, 'Are they born with these instincts?' The Church of England ordains gay vicars as long as they remain celibate. Their position on homosexuality is that it is a reality but these people are not allowed to act on these instincts.
It has not actually come out to say that 'it is natural and not a choice to be gay', but their actions seem to imply it.
I have a heart for Gay people. Perhaps it's because I know someone personally, or maybe I have been influenced by the book by E. T. Sundby titled 'Calling the Rainbow Nation Home' which deals with Homosexuality and Christianity or it might have something to do with John, a gay man in my church who loves God, and has won so many people to the Lord through his testimony.
But...
I don't how to pray for them. All I do is love them and pray that God will give me answers that will speak life and not death to them.
Very deep, thoughtful, inspiring and challenging too. God has been challenging me to be compassionate but I'm still learning. Some of us have been in the same Xtian circles for so long - our friends and those we hang-out with and enjoy spending time with are basically all Xtian. Would I go to a gay bar? Man, that's a tight ship - and maybe that's what God is telling us we must do in order to be his hands and feet.
ReplyDeleteWould I go to a disco in order to pick up some new friends and tell them about Jesus? Again, per haps not. Maybe the challenge is to ask God to open our eyes and open doors of opportunity to minister to a hurting world....and if in the process we end up in a gay bar on a Wednesday nite.....may the Lord's will be done.
Mary, sermons like these are way out of reach lately, We are getting more and more inward focused. What can i get, where is my Visa, my car, my children, my house...the list of "my s " goes on. At the end of the day we have to change our focus and ask our selves, What is on Jesus' heart today? is He dreaming with you what your next car will be ?....or He is looking for the lost souls and confused people like the ones in subject? If each one of us had an objective to love a stranger every day...imagine the change this would bring.
ReplyDeleteWhen I came to this country, I first went through shock that even in churches, when you say "praise God" some may not know what to answer yet in Kampala, you just go to the park and shout "PRAISE THE LORD" you will get a multitude to answer. well, that just opened my eyes to the fact that many people in my country knew God but many Americans know about Him but dont know Him. i have workmates who are totally different, 2 of them are gay, 1 practices Yoga, 1 is a budhist, many eithists. I prayed to God because i thought this was going to be such a hard place to work, "who will I be sharing with about my walk with my Lord???
God gave me an illustration. Imagine a very big auditorium, with lights all off and the place is dark, people screaming and no one can find the exit, then you just walk in with only one candle...Haleluya every one will follow you...that little light will light up the whole place and all will want to follow it so they can exit. So is each of our lives, we are candles of light and hope to this dying world...please let your light shine today. Love the unloveables!
Be blessed.
God's Mercy
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteI am speechless because I have heard the message of the stones not less than thrice in about 5 days. I have been put in a position where I have judged someone who has done wrong, I have been overcome with disgust at another who has done wrong, I have called people names and bashed them and thought I was getting marks for not being in their shoes.....
ReplyDeleteSomeone played a song last week by Tonex called "Stones" and in it he sings about how we want to cast stones and sit back thinking that we have never done wrong. Even the very act of thinking we are better than others is in itself sin. That song was an eye opener for some of us. We are disgusted with sin not because we are feeling God's pain but because we are glad we are not the sinner who has been caught. We make a big show of airing out their dirty laundry yet our own closets are bursting at the seams!! I guess the reason Jesus could walk the talk is because he saw the people and not the things they did. No one is too far that God's grace can't reach out to them. Remember also that we ourselves can never ever finally deserve God's mercy and grace. Mercy I love the illustration God gave you. We would like to hind in "church" and bury our heads in the sand thinking that because we had a 'good' Sunday service our lives are alright. Then we go out and curse the next taxi driver that crosses our paths!! Woe to us, woe to us because we are so missing the point of God's ministry. The pews being filled up on Sunday does not in any way mean that the country is full of strong Christians. Jesus was called a drunkard and a glutton because he dined with people who were not in church circles. Look at how many people's lives were changed because of him. He came for the poor and broken hearted but we would much rather hang with the rich and whole!
But we are not without hope, when God stirs the hearts of many and reminds them to come back to what his heart is we need to rise to the call.
Thanks for that one Mary, Mercy and Millie.
love Edna
I feel you all. In homecell on Wednesday we were talking about making the community's problems our problems. The scripture was where Jesus said ..."when was I hungry and you visited me?......when was I thirsty and you gave me a drink?...... whatsoever you do to the least of my brothers (unloveables) that you do unto me"
ReplyDeleteI agree with Mercy. We need to stop asking too much of "what can I get out of God" and start asking "what can God get out of my life."
I've got a CD by Saddleback church on the subject "what to say to a gay friend." I'll do bullet points and send them to you.
Love y'all,
Millie.