Yo yo,
I need to wake up in 6 hours, but I also need to think this through. :P So let's go.
"2. Jesus gave Himself over to redeem us from our sins: Paul explained to Titus that the gospel involves delivering sinners from sin's power over their lives and their sinful ways: "For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Saviour, Christ Jesus, who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds." (Titus 2:11-14)."
Again, I think the potential here lies in how things get defined. 1. We're all sinful. Agreed. 2. Jesus (and the grace available through Him and what He did through dying on the cross in our place) is the only way. Agreed. 3. Though.
"Instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires". Here's one of the potential 'loopholes' I need to pursue. The grace of God available in Christ brings potential salvation to all who would receive it, yes? I was talking to a friend, kinda like debating their points. And I'm like, "but Jesus said you're forgiven, go and sin no more." and they were like "what is the sin in this case?" and I'm like "thou shall not commit adultery"; sexual immorality. Basically anything outside the marriage of a man and a woman, it's outside God's design, ya? And they told me how they were reading about something. Like it was only recently around Martin Luther's time that sex began to be viewed as acceptable in marriage, and like not just sin, but ok. Like the priests would be celibate to be truly pure, but the normal people would be living with some degree of sin in their lives. But the thought that "sex in marriage is a gift from God" a good thing to pursue in the right contexts, is a newer concept. What other things need rethinking? It just seems like too much to me to think that you can twist it further. I had a friend who is gay who is Christian and he had explained part of why he believes he shouldn't pursue a same sex relationship is that the image of marriage reflects God and the church, that a man and a woman reflect Christ and His bride, the church. To have a man and a man, would be to have Christ and Christ, which is not the image that God wants presented, or whatever. I don't even know where I'm going with this now. :P
Uhhhhh. Here's the thing I've been thinking lately. If God is almighty and powerful and worth giving up everything, He will supply the ability to do so. "you will not be tempted beyond what you can handle, but God will give you the strength to overcome" or whatever. If God defines this as sin and wants us to overcome it, why does it seem so impossible? I've spent years trying to fight it and I've gotten nowhere but deeply self-hating and shaming myself. Is there a way to work it out together? "in whatever condition each was called, there let him remain with God." (1 Cor 7:24) "But because of the temptation to sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband." (1 Cor 7:2)? So long as I am actively "looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Saviour, Christ Jesus" and praying for and receiving forgiveness in His name where I'm at, is that ok? Or is it more the way I've described God's hatred of sin that 'we cannot dwell with God at all because of His holiness'? Where is the line? Is a committed gay relationship, in marriage, that pursues Christ and loves Him first, claims forgiveness and confesses sin daily, and zealously pursues good deeds ok? Or is that living in active rebellion because God can supply the strength to live a life more conformed to His will? :/
Abraham was willing, at age 100, to sacrifice his only son because God said to do it. God must be worth it, right? Worth giving up everything that we've been hoping and longing for for decades.
But is there a way that it can work? ://////
D.Fa
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