I am a born again Christian, and I take it very seriously. Because I believe that the rule book was set by God and not by me I do believe that practicing homosexuality is a sin. But I do not believe that being gay is a sin.
How can those two beliefs coexist in me?
I am fat. Quite fat. I believe the Bible teaches me to be self controlled and to not be gluttonous. And yet, here I am. Fat. Why am I fat if I believe that it is gluttony for me to overeat? Well...because I overeat anyway. I fight this physical appetite every single day of my life. I do not claim it is okay, and I don't suggest that I should be a role model as one who lives a sinless life. I know lots of thin people too, some of whom rarely struggle at all with their weight and have even advised me on how to stop being the way I am. I have tried their advice to no avail. I have some areas that I almost never have a struggle to avoid the sin. I very seldom am envious for example, and I am not stingy. I do swear now and then to my dismay.
I don't know why I struggle so much with food and my weight. All I know is I do. I suspect that I might have been born with this particular propensity. I wonder how I would feel if large groups of people who claim to be loving and forgiving held rallies to condemn me with signs and hatred? I wonder if it would make me want to be in any way affiliated with them? I wonder if I might instead turn to a cheeseburger and decide that I might as well indulge my appetite since it doesn't matter anyway and I know I will be hated for even desiring a cheeseburger. I might even find other groups of cheeseburger lovers and be friends with them instead. I might even start to think that wanting a cheeseburger is a pretty normal thing to want and start to get pretty mad at the people who are treating me this way.
The funny thing is that I have sat in rooms packed full of Christians and admitted to them that I love cheeseburgers and that I eat them even when I know I should not. I even <gasp> told my pastor's wife a few days ago that when I was going through a hard time recently that I turned to food for comfort. I believe I said "everything else feels bad, my mouth could at least feel good." She knew I was not proud of it, and yet she hugged me and that told me I could keep trying, and would succeed one day.
I wonder what would happen if we treated people that way? I wonder if we would be where we are right now with the huge animosity that is being leveled against people like me-Born Again Christians-because a large group of people think I hate them. I don't. I love cheeseburgers too much to point a finger at anyone else.
Corinne, hank u for sharing this in such an understanding, transparent, and genuine way. I so agree. We are ALL sinners in need of a merciful savior.
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ReplyDeleteI thank you dear friend...and I struggle with gluttony everday and wish I could overcome!! I In fact love cheeseburgers too. :)
ReplyDeleteWe so need to love all around us no matter what their hangups/sin areas are. :) its not excusing the sin just loving through it. As my friend Gina said to me...we like we need to play God to them. He is certainly capable in His own!
Love you!!!
I love you Corinne, just the way you are!! And like you, I love my bil who is a practicing homosexual. What I don't love is his lifestyle and the fact that so many don't want to call that sin a sin anymore. It is so sad. In order for any of us to repent of our sins, we must be able to recognize them. Praying for us all!!!
ReplyDeleteHugs and kisses to you today!
Loved this! Thank you for your transparency, Corrine. It is refreshing. We should all focus on the planks in our own eye before obsessing over someone else's speck. I don't know any individual who isn't hurting or struggling in some way. It's unfortunate when certain sins get picked out and held up as worse than others. We are all sinners in need of a Savior.
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Corine:
ReplyDeleteI think you are saying that you resent that people are antagonist to the fact that your religion consider homosexuality a sin. I think you are misplacing the antagonism, because I don't think it's against the position, but against the actions that come from the position.
Let me put this way, using overeating as an example.
Let me say that I'm part of a large religion. My religion puts lot's of emphasis on gluttony as a sin. We think that people that are fat are in a state of sin, so they should not be allowed to go to fast foods chains and we elaborate laws to make sure that they don't stay on that state of sin. My religion also says that we love fat people, but we hate the sin (gluttony).
Fat people, as they are in a state of sin can not participate on our sacraments, but they are welcome on our church. I could go on an on, but I guess I made my point. I wonder what feeling you would have for my religion. I think we all consider gluttony a sin, but we treat it a lot different from other sins.
Anyway, I hope this helps you understand it better. I also want to emphasize that the feeling is not against your beliefs, but against the actions. I don't think people would mind your belief, if you didn't try to make they live by them. So they are active homosexuals but they don't share your beliefs, so why should they abide by them?
I'm a Christian, but I believe that we should focus on our sins and not on other people sins, so the only statement that I could make is about my sins. I guess I don't need to quote Jesus on that.
I hope that I was not too harsh, but I hope this helps you to understand why the animosity against born again Christians comes from and where is placed.
Dear Anonymous, I am sorry I didn't see this sooner. I actually completely agree with you, and was trying to make this very point with my blog article. I am not at all surprised that gay people think I hate them, I would think so too if I heard that I was born again Christian, since most of them are seriously angry, bitter, hypocritical people who point fingers at one sin while accepting and approving of others. I do not think that gluttony is okay, and I do believe it is sin, and I disapprove of *myself* when I engage in it. Sin is sin and I have a propensity to gluttony, the same as I suspect others have a propensity to other sins whether that be homosexuality or laziness or lying or whatever it may be.
DeleteThank you for your comments.
Just start eating raw and start living like a new creature in Christ. Remember you body is a temple of the Holy Spirit an sin is not to be justified by our fleshy desires. We must repent of our sins and do them no more. That is if you lobe God more than yourself.
ReplyDeleteI agree. Sin is not justified, and my point exactly. However who is to say that my sin is lesser than anyone else's?
DeleteWell said; I wish more people were open and honest about the things they struggle with. Thank you for sharing.
ReplyDeleteSin is sin. There are not little sins we only need to say little prayers for, or big sins we need to say big prayers for. As a born again christian, I know, ALL, of us walking this earth are sinners. There has only ever been one man who was not, Jesus. But He surrounded himself with sinners from every walk of life. He loved them regardless of their sins. I've not found anywhere in the bible that says Jesus loved their sins. So I believe we should follow His lead and love the person even as we might hate their sins.
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