Okay, I just have to come out and rant about this. It’s been sticking in my craw for days. The other day I was reading a post on a blog that I follow and I saw several photos of people picketing to protest gay marriage.
May I present to you Exhibit A:
All I can say is, “Really???”
No matter what your beliefs are, do you really believe God’s divine purpose and plan for your life is to be on a picket line protesting another person’s sins with hate signs?
Wake up and smell the Jesus!
Just look at these signs. They are an abomination! God does not hate anyone! God LOVES everyone. He may not like what we do, but He loves us just the same. His love for us is not based on our actions, otherwise we'd all be dead! Including the holder of this sign!
“But the Bible says that homosexuality is a sin.”
Yep, it sure does! It also says that about divorce. And pre-marital sex. And lust. And anger. All of which most Christians today are guilty of or have been guilty of at some point, myself included. I could go on and on and on about the myriad other sins that both Christians and non-Christians alike are guilty of on a daily basis.
So, with that being said, how could someone believe that God's divine purpose and plan for their life is to travel around the country and protest another person's sins with hate signs? How would they feel if someone was splattering their sins onto picket signs and protesting them and declaring that God hates them to the entire world?
The Bible clearly defines those things that God calls sin. God does not differentiate between your sin or my sin or their sin. There are no varying degrees of sin. It’s all the same to God. Sin is sin.
My gluttony and lust.
Your foul language.
His secret porn addiction.
Her latenight profession.
A kid cheating on a test.
That guy who always complains about everything.
The entire human population's immoral sexual acts.
The people that won't forgive.
The pedophiles.
The serial killers.
People that are rude to waitresses and janitors.
The guy next door that always steals your newspaper.
That guy you heard about on the news that murdered his entire family and then committed suicide.
Not to mention someone holding a sign that says "God hates you" which is a bonafied lie from the pits of hell.
You get the point.
It's all sin.
Sin is basically just another way of saying “anything God wouldn’t do” or “anything outside of God’s character, which is holy and pure and perfect.”
Sin is something we all have in common. It is inherantly a part of our human nature. We are fallen creatures. Depraved individuals. Objects of wrath.
For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. --Romans 3:23, NASB
If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. --1 John 1:8, NASB
But God has given us remedy for our corrupt condition. That remedy is salvation and sanctification. That salvation comes to us by faith in Jesus Christ....
Can we boast, then, that we have done anything to be accepted by God? No, because our acquittal is not based on obeying the law. It is based on faith. --Romans 3:27, NLT
...and that sanctification by the transforming power of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. --2 Corinthians 5:20, NASB
When we ask Him to save us, He does! Then he deposits his Spirit into us whereby we become partakers in His divine nature. This is the moment of salvation.
Then God begans the work of our sanctification. If we continuously seek intimacy with Him and yield to Him, He will gradually makes us more and more like Christ.
Now the deeds of the flesh (sinful nature) are evident: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these…but the fruit of the Spirit (divine nature) is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. –Galatians 5:19-23, NASB
No amount of picketing and protesting, especially with hate signs, is going to be the catalyst to this process. It is something that can only happen through a close, personal relationship with God. And hatred is not going to lead people to Christ.
It is only by love that they will be drawn into a relationship with God.
Now I would like to specifically address the sin of hatred. If they don’t know anything else, they need to know that God is love.
And picketing with hate signs is clearly against God's nature, because God is love.
The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love. --1 John 4:8, NASB
If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from Him, that the one who loves God should love his brother also. --1 John 4:20-21, NASB
How about doing the true will of God and bringing the love of God to all people?
How about telling them the truth -- that God loves them and wants a relationship with them?
How about spending all that wasted time picketing and hating by actually telling them about the One and Only that loves them - Jesus Christ?
How about telling them that there is hope. That God loves them and has never given up on them?
That it is not His will that any should perish, but that all would come to repentance?
May I present to you Exhibit A:
All I can say is, “Really???”
No matter what your beliefs are, do you really believe God’s divine purpose and plan for your life is to be on a picket line protesting another person’s sins with hate signs?
Wake up and smell the Jesus!
Just look at these signs. They are an abomination! God does not hate anyone! God LOVES everyone. He may not like what we do, but He loves us just the same. His love for us is not based on our actions, otherwise we'd all be dead! Including the holder of this sign!
“But the Bible says that homosexuality is a sin.”
Yep, it sure does! It also says that about divorce. And pre-marital sex. And lust. And anger. All of which most Christians today are guilty of or have been guilty of at some point, myself included. I could go on and on and on about the myriad other sins that both Christians and non-Christians alike are guilty of on a daily basis.
So, with that being said, how could someone believe that God's divine purpose and plan for their life is to travel around the country and protest another person's sins with hate signs? How would they feel if someone was splattering their sins onto picket signs and protesting them and declaring that God hates them to the entire world?
The Bible clearly defines those things that God calls sin. God does not differentiate between your sin or my sin or their sin. There are no varying degrees of sin. It’s all the same to God. Sin is sin.
My gluttony and lust.
Your foul language.
His secret porn addiction.
Her latenight profession.
A kid cheating on a test.
That guy who always complains about everything.
The entire human population's immoral sexual acts.
The people that won't forgive.
The pedophiles.
The serial killers.
People that are rude to waitresses and janitors.
The guy next door that always steals your newspaper.
That guy you heard about on the news that murdered his entire family and then committed suicide.
Not to mention someone holding a sign that says "God hates you" which is a bonafied lie from the pits of hell.
You get the point.
It's all sin.
Sin is basically just another way of saying “anything God wouldn’t do” or “anything outside of God’s character, which is holy and pure and perfect.”
Sin is something we all have in common. It is inherantly a part of our human nature. We are fallen creatures. Depraved individuals. Objects of wrath.
For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. --Romans 3:23, NASB
If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. --1 John 1:8, NASB
But God has given us remedy for our corrupt condition. That remedy is salvation and sanctification. That salvation comes to us by faith in Jesus Christ....
Can we boast, then, that we have done anything to be accepted by God? No, because our acquittal is not based on obeying the law. It is based on faith. --Romans 3:27, NLT
...and that sanctification by the transforming power of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. --2 Corinthians 5:20, NASB
When we ask Him to save us, He does! Then he deposits his Spirit into us whereby we become partakers in His divine nature. This is the moment of salvation.
Then God begans the work of our sanctification. If we continuously seek intimacy with Him and yield to Him, He will gradually makes us more and more like Christ.
Now the deeds of the flesh (sinful nature) are evident: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these…but the fruit of the Spirit (divine nature) is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. –Galatians 5:19-23, NASB
No amount of picketing and protesting, especially with hate signs, is going to be the catalyst to this process. It is something that can only happen through a close, personal relationship with God. And hatred is not going to lead people to Christ.
It is only by love that they will be drawn into a relationship with God.
Now I would like to specifically address the sin of hatred. If they don’t know anything else, they need to know that God is love.
And picketing with hate signs is clearly against God's nature, because God is love.
The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love. --1 John 4:8, NASB
If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from Him, that the one who loves God should love his brother also. --1 John 4:20-21, NASB
How about doing the true will of God and bringing the love of God to all people?
How about telling them the truth -- that God loves them and wants a relationship with them?
How about spending all that wasted time picketing and hating by actually telling them about the One and Only that loves them - Jesus Christ?
How about telling them that there is hope. That God loves them and has never given up on them?
That it is not His will that any should perish, but that all would come to repentance?
Then leave the rest to God.
And walk away in perfect peace knowing that you did exactly what Jesus commanded.
This I command you, that you love one another. --John 15:17, NASB
Above all, keep fervent in your love for one another, because love covers over a multitude of sins. --1 Peter 1:8, NASB
More Atrocities Committed In The Name of God
More Atrocities Committed In The Name of God
--Creating multi-million dollar businesses and calling them churches or ministries. (Christianity)
--Standing on a street corner waving a Bible and screaming at people that they are going to hell. (Christianity)
--Sexually abusing children. (Catholicism)
--Ritual flogging of oneself in an attempt to "kill the flesh" through self-torture. (Catholicism)
--Playing Jonas Brothers records in reverse to prove that these fresh faced Disney Channel stars are in fact worshipping Satan in their music. (Christianity)
--Bombing abortion clinics and killing the doctors, nurses and patients inside. (Christianity)
--High-jacking airplanes, crashing into the World Trade Center and Pentagon and killing more than three thousand Americans. (Islam)
--Stoning to death or throwing acid on any woman accused of adultery. (Islam)
--Making women cover every inch of their flesh including their face with dark, heavy cloth. (Islam)
--Mutilating adolescent girls and women by circumcising their genitals in an attempt to reduce their “libido." (Islam)
--Gathering in hate rallies with signs touting such slogans as "God hates you", "God hates Jews", "Fags are beasts", "God hates fags", "Obama is the beast" and "Thank God for dead soldiers.” (Christianity)
