Leading Someone Away from the Faith

        I will try to make this as short as possible. Many of us (Believers) have had the opportunity to lead someone to Christ. It is very beautiful and quite fulfilling. Where the Church of America has failed is not the leading one to Christ, but the willingness to compromise truth in order to get someone to believe. For example, someone who considers themselves to be very scientific and intellectual chooses not to acknowledge Christianity because it is based upon an ancient book that "contradicts" everything they hold sacred (science). Certain Christians come along and say you need not adhere to the Bible because it's all about loving Jesus. It then becomes questionable as to whether or not this person has truly been saved or led to believe a lie. 

              Quite recently I was in a debate with an individual who thought it was possible to believe in the Bible and Christ whilst at the same time proclaiming the consumption of meat to be a sin. They had never been corrected...never shown how a proclamation such as this contradicts both Scripture and Christ. And so, I took it upon myself to confront the individual. When proven utterly wrong, they turned to threats. Saying that they would leave the faith if I continued to speak. Those around me began to panic because they would never wish to lead someone AWAY from the faith...but I stood my ground. A choice had to be made. Either allow the individual to control what the Scriptures and believers say, or speak the truth and defend the faith. 

Voting Against Homosexual Marriage as a Christian

Argument for Gay Marriage and the Rebuttals:

1.      The Government has no right to dictate who and what can get married. They need to stay out of everyone’s personal lives and let them do as they please whether it’s wrong or right. Simply because one religion says it is a sin does not mean the Government should favor those religions claims.

•    This seems like a valid argument. I mean, we do not live in a theocracy and everyone has the right to choose… and yet… there are some flaws in this line of reasoning. Firstly, it is true that the government should not be the one dictating as to who or what can marry. Since, marriage is a Biblical institution; the Church should be the one to decide. My question is… has the government set the guidelines? The debate concerning Prop 8 did not spring into existence out of nowhere. As a matter of fact, the reason as to why it even exists is not because of the Christians, but the homosexuals. Their very argument rests upon the fact that marriage is a religious institution, and yet, they desire to be married? If marriage is a religious institution as they claim, than why strive for it? Prop 8 was created as a defense/rebuttal to the attack on the sanctity/definition of marriage. The Homosexuals seek the governments aid when a business owner refuses to higher them because of their sexual preferences…crying discrimination! And we must all comply. And now, they thrust their beliefs upon us and we cry to the government (via Prop 8) and yet we are met with arguments such as this one….that the government should stay out of it? Prop 8 was created by the homosexuals because the Church wanted to conserve to the original definition of marriage.

2.      As a Christian, I believe that humans are given free-will to do whatever they please and this includes sin. We cannot make laws that control an individual even if those laws keep them from sinning. This is a land of equal and free rights.

•   For a moment, this argument seems somewhat valid, but let’s take another look at it. It is true that humans do have free-will. Hell did not stem from predestination, rather, humans choose to go there. However, simply because someone has the right to sin, does not mean we, Christians, should change our laws to better suit human nature. As stated earlier, marriage has already been defined Biblically and this is because this country was founded on Judeo Christian ethics. A country must be founded on some type of moral system or else you will have ethical relativism and another Sodom and Gamorrah or another Nazi Germany (granted, they were a Christian nation until they rejected what the Bible taught). A Christian believes that man is fallen and naturally evil; hence, our rights and beliefs were endowed by our Creator. If you wish to change that which we were founded on, than do not claim to be an American. What is amazing about this country is that we have the opportunity to be loyal to that Creator… to obey Him. We have the right to uphold what He determines as virtuous and right. True, this is the land of the free… but as a born again Christian, this means we are free to make the right decisions even though our fellow man may not approve. We serve God and not man.  By clinging to the Biblical definition of marriage…we are not condemning the homosexual of sin… instead, we are glorifying that which is God’s.

3.      As a Christian, I believe that Jesus would have respected the Homosexuals decision to get married. Jesus was all about love and respect and acceptance. He died for all because He loves all. He didn’t reject someone because of their sin; instead, He washed their feet and took them under His wing. For what reason would a Christian seek to condemn and cast away a homosexual… we need to love them as Christ would.

•    Ya…. This is what I call the argument of a 2 year old. Someone who may be an old Christian but never moved from milk to meat. It is true that we are called to love everyone. The homosexual is our brother or sister created by God… the same blood of Christ that saved us is also capable of saving them! Here is the thing though, Jesus would not have recognized the homosexuals as actually married. Even if they had a huge wedding ceremony and were blessed by a liberal rabbi… He would not have even acknowledged that marriage because the definition of marriage is between a man and a woman. He wrote that definition out! For Christ to bless or condone a marriage between the same sex would make Him contradict the Bible. For instance, it’s like someone saying this square is a triangle…it does not logically follow because by definition a triangle has three sides and not four. You would have to change the definition of one or the other in order to make that statement true.  Christ does love the homosexual, he loves all sinners. Remember when Christ helped Marry the prostitute? He did not say, “I respect your decision to be a prostitute…you are free to do as you wish.” No, instead He said, “go and sin no more.” He acknowledged her sin and told her to stop. We, as Christians, must be Christ like in everything we do. Whether we be at a party, at work, at school, or voting. We do not put aside Christ at any moment in our life (though we fail and choose to ignore Him). Why then, when given the opportunity to uphold this right, this word, given to us by our Creator…why then would you choose to ignore that which Christ wrote, defined, and believed? We do not have the right to change the Bible. Love the homosexual…but love God first.

4.      As a Christian, I believe that humans have the right to do whatever they wish including sin. The Church cannot control individual’s free-will.

•    This argument is very much the same as #2, but it is very inconsistent and falls apart in lieu of other examples of free-will and moral choices. For instance, how could someone be for legalizing homosexuals getting married, but against legalizing prostitution and abortion? Surely they will argue that abortion is murder and murder is wrong. And yet, what is “wrong?” What are you basing wrong off of? As a Christian, your morality is based on the Bible…the very Bible that you had just compromised to suit the choice of another individual. You see, you are against abortion because in the end….it’s morally wrong. What about prostitution? A woman should be free to do as she wishes with her body. You can’t tell her that what she is doing is wrong and then make laws restricting her from doing as she pleases. But wait, why would you even object to her claims? Perhaps I have gone in the wrong direction with this argument. Maybe you are against prostitution and abortion because it is dangerous for the woman and unhealthy? Let me ask you this…is homosexual sex healthy for the individuals (http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/topics/msm/)? Is it healthy mentally and spiritually for the child they adopt? You are not fighting/arguing against your fellow man, you are arguing against what God has deemed natural and holy. As a Christian, if you say there are no negative side-effects to homosexuality, than God must have not known what He was talking about.