Picking and choosing sins?

[Rcphill]

I am a believer and have been for 21 years, but I have some concerns regarding sins and what is accepted in the church and what is not.

To be honest, I have had same sex attractions since I was just a little kid and I have had same sex partners. About a year ago I felt called to leave that behind and remain single, but recently I have been questioning a few things.

According to the church, since the Bible says that marriage is to be between a man and a woman, then gay marriage is not allowed/is a sin. However, the Bible says that divorce (in 99% of cases) is a sin and that marrying a divorcee makes you an adulterer. Yet there are WAY MORE divorced people in the church than gay people, and this is just accepted and moved past. Why is this? Also the Bible states that gluttony is a sin, but look around you in church. What % of people are overweight or obese?!

Why is there a double standard? Why are people allowed to divorce/remarry, be overweight/obese and they still get to go to heaven yet someone who identifies as gay and marries the same sex is going to Hell? This just doesn’t make sense to me...

 

[bèlla]

Because its easier to castigate the things you’re not tempted to do than address the log in your eye. Of course there’s more overweight/obese and divorced Christians.

Take your concerns to the Lord. Allow Him to minister to your heart. Only God is infallible. Ignore the hypocrisy and stay close to Him.

 

[Fear2Believe]

I am a believer and have been for 21 years, but I have some concerns regarding sins and what is accepted in the church and what is not.

To be honest, I have had same sex attractions since I was just a little kid and I have had same sex partners. About a year ago I felt called to leave that behind and remain single, but recently I have been questioning a few things.

According to the church, since the Bible says that marriage is to be between a man and a woman, then gay marriage is not allowed/is a sin. However, the Bible says that divorce (in 99% of cases) is a sin and that marrying a divorcee makes you an adulterer. Yet there are WAY MORE divorced people in the church than gay people, and this is just accepted and moved past. Why is this? Also the Bible states that gluttony is a sin, but look around you in church. What % of people are overweight or obese?!

Why is there a double standard? Why are people allowed to divorce/remarry, be overweight/obese and they still get to go to heaven yet someone who identifies as gay and marries the same sex is going to Hell? This just doesn’t make sense to me...

I think the real issue here is your need to fit in with what traditions society has normalised. You feel you have the same rights to have a social marriage like anyone else, sorry, you don't. It's not because of your same sex attraction that you don't, it's because marriage does not exist in nature. Animals do not dress up in expensive clothes and present themselves to an authority to be melded together as one.

 

[Rcphill]

I think the real issue here is your need to fit in with what traditions society has normalised. You feel you have the same rights to have a social marriage like anyone else, sorry, you don't. It's not because of your same sex attraction that you don't, it's because marriage does not exist in nature. Animals do not dress up in expensive clothes and present themselves to an authority to be melded together as one.

I actually have no desire to get married and as I had stated, feel called to singleness. My problem is hypocrisy. How many Christians are you friends with who are gluttonous? Do you ever call them out and tell them to repent and lose weight? Highly doubt it! I’m tired of certain sins being made out to be worse than others and that if you’re gay you’re doomed to hell but anything else goes. It’s not right.

 

[Fear2Believe]

I actually have no desire to get married and as I had stated, feel called to singleness. My problem is hypocrisy. How many Christians are you friends with who are gluttonous? Do you ever call them out and tell them to repent and lose weight? Highly doubt it! I’m tired of certain sins being made out to be worse than others and that if you’re gay you’re doomed to hell but anything else goes. It’s not right.

I was friends with them along time ago, and I know what you're talking about here. But it's your choice in the end to either follow them, or you.

 

[chevyontheriver]

I am a believer and have been for 21 years, but I have some concerns regarding sins and what is accepted in the church and what is not.

To be honest, I have had same sex attractions since I was just a little kid and I have had same sex partners. About a year ago I felt called to leave that behind and remain single, but recently I have been questioning a few things.

According to the church, since the Bible says that marriage is to be between a man and a woman, then gay marriage is not allowed/is a sin. However, the Bible says that divorce (in 99% of cases) is a sin and that marrying a divorcee makes you an adulterer. Yet there are WAY MORE divorced people in the church than gay people, and this is just accepted and moved past. Why is this? Also the Bible states that gluttony is a sin, but look around you in church. What % of people are overweight or obese?!

Why is there a double standard? Why are people allowed to divorce/remarry, be overweight/obese and they still get to go to heaven yet someone who identifies as gay and marries the same sex is going to Hell? This just doesn’t make sense to me...

First, some denominations were founded to accommodate divorce, but that was not the norm of Christianity from the beginning. So it's only a double standard for parts of Christianity, and not all of it.

Second, having same sex attractions is not in and of itself sinful. One is not damned for their attractions, but for what one does with their attractions. I am attracted to all sorts of things but control and channel my attractions mostly to do good and not do evil. So must we all.

We need to be gentle with sinners, speaking the truth to them in kindness. Not excusing sin, but seeking to rescue the sinner. That is not popular, not PC. What is PC is accepting every sin. But that results in actually hating the sinner, who you should be challenging to give up their sin. Whole denominations have ceased proclaiming the whole truth about redemption from sin because they have accepted the goodness of what they once knew to be sins. So some say greed is good, and expect believers to be prosperous. Some say marriage is hard, so it's OK to keep trying with new people. Some say any or every kind of sex is good if that's what you want to do.

People may go to hell for not being warned. The Church has a duty not to allow us to pick and choose our sins.

 

[Not David]

I actually have no desire to get married and as I had stated, feel called to singleness. My problem is hypocrisy. How many Christians are you friends with who are gluttonous? Do you ever call them out and tell them to repent and lose weight? Highly doubt it! I’m tired of certain sins being made out to be worse than others and that if you’re gay you’re doomed to hell but anything else goes. It’s not right.

Those sins are terrible too. It is worse if you think that the Fall happened because Adam ate when he shouldn't had.

 

[chevyontheriver]

I think the real issue here is your need to fit in with what traditions society has normalised.

Society has normalized divorce and remarriage. Society has just finished normalizing homosexual marriage. Society has not yet normalized obesity.

I think a bit of countercultural non-normality may be a good thing.

 

[SoldierOfTheKing]

Better to speak against sin inconsistently than not at all.

 

[RaymondG]

I am a believer and have been for 21 years, but I have some concerns regarding sins and what is accepted in the church and what is not.

To be honest, I have had same sex attractions since I was just a little kid and I have had same sex partners. About a year ago I felt called to leave that behind and remain single, but recently I have been questioning a few things.

According to the church, since the Bible says that marriage is to be between a man and a woman, then gay marriage is not allowed/is a sin. However, the Bible says that divorce (in 99% of cases) is a sin and that marrying a divorcee makes you an adulterer. Yet there are WAY MORE divorced people in the church than gay people, and this is just accepted and moved past. Why is this? Also the Bible states that gluttony is a sin, but look around you in church. What % of people are overweight or obese?!

Why is there a double standard? Why are people allowed to divorce/remarry, be overweight/obese and they still get to go to heaven yet someone who identifies as gay and marries the same sex is going to Hell? This just doesn’t make sense to me...

Yes there is Hypocrisy in the church.....but you can also find Holiness there. Yes there are people that sin in the church, but there are those there who walk after the spirit as well.

I find it wiser to look for and think on the good and positive, than to worry about the bad and negative.

 

[D.A. Wright]

-

 

[Sketcher]

I am a believer and have been for 21 years, but I have some concerns regarding sins and what is accepted in the church and what is not.

To be honest, I have had same sex attractions since I was just a little kid and I have had same sex partners. About a year ago I felt called to leave that behind and remain single, but recently I have been questioning a few things.

Good on you for leaving it behind, and staying with the faith.

According to the church, since the Bible says that marriage is to be between a man and a woman, then gay marriage is not allowed/is a sin. However, the Bible says that divorce (in 99% of cases) is a sin and that marrying a divorcee makes you an adulterer. Yet there are WAY MORE divorced people in the church than gay people, and this is just accepted and moved past. Why is this?

Some of them were not reached or not serious followers until after they became divorced. Not that it makes remarriage OK. I have spoken against it, and I have received flak for it. But God's word stands true.

Also the Bible states that gluttony is a sin, but look around you in church. What % of people are overweight or obese?!

I don't know, but not all obesity is attributable to gluttony. There's allergies and other health conditions combined with food choices and activity levels that can explain plenty of it without a need for gluttony.

Why is there a double standard? Why are people allowed to divorce/remarry, be overweight/obese and they still get to go to heaven yet someone who identifies as gay and marries the same sex is going to Hell? This just doesn’t make sense to me...

Whether that double standard exists or not will depend on the church you are going to, but it's inconsistent. If eternal security exists for the divorced and the overeaters, it also exists for you. If it doesn't exist for you, it doesn't exist for them.

What I will say is that less licentiousness is better than more licentiousness, though no licentiousness is best. When some Christians indulge in sin A, that is not a license for you or me to indulge either in sin A or in sin B. Rather, the Christians who indulge in sin A need to be appropriately corrected.

 

[D.A. Wright]

According to the church, since the Bible says that marriage is to be between a man and a woman, then gay marriage is not allowed/is a sin. However, the Bible says that divorce (in 99% of cases) is a sin and that marrying a divorcee makes you an adulterer. Yet there are WAY MORE divorced people in the church than gay people, and this is just accepted and moved past. Why is this? Also the Bible states that gluttony is a sin, but look around you in church. What % of people are overweight or obese?!

Why is there a double standard? Why are people allowed to divorce/remarry, be overweight/obese and they still get to go to heaven yet someone who identifies as gay and marries the same sex is going to Hell? This just doesn’t make sense to me...

How do you know the 400 pound guy didn't weigh 500 6 months ago? It only takes 5 minutes a day to consume enough calories to keep someone fat. The other 1,435 minutes could have been spent successfully resisting temptation.

 

[Fear2Believe]

Society has normalized divorce and remarriage. Society has just finished normalizing homosexual marriage. Society has not yet normalized obesity.

I think a bit of countercultural non-normality may be a good thing.

Well if you don't believe in an invalid ceremony in the first place, then all other issues that grow out of that core illusion will just disappear.

 

[redleghunter]

I am a believer and have been for 21 years, but I have some concerns regarding sins and what is accepted in the church and what is not.

To be honest, I have had same sex attractions since I was just a little kid and I have had same sex partners. About a year ago I felt called to leave that behind and remain single, but recently I have been questioning a few things.

According to the church, since the Bible says that marriage is to be between a man and a woman, then gay marriage is not allowed/is a sin. However, the Bible says that divorce (in 99% of cases) is a sin and that marrying a divorcee makes you an adulterer. Yet there are WAY MORE divorced people in the church than gay people, and this is just accepted and moved past. Why is this? Also the Bible states that gluttony is a sin, but look around you in church. What % of people are overweight or obese?!

Why is there a double standard? Why are people allowed to divorce/remarry, be overweight/obese and they still get to go to heaven yet someone who identifies as gay and marries the same sex is going to Hell? This just doesn’t make sense to me...

Other people sinning does not justify our sins.

Sin is transgression of the Law (1 John 3:4).

We are not to “gauge” what is right and what is wrong by observing how good or bad other people act. We are to look to God and His standards.

Jesus said “"But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness...”

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

[redleghunter]

I think the real issue here is your need to fit in with what traditions society has normalised. You feel you have the same rights to have a social marriage like anyone else, sorry, you don't. It's not because of your same sex attraction that you don't, it's because marriage does not exist in nature. Animals do not dress up in expensive clothes and present themselves to an authority to be melded together as one.

I think there is a reason humans marry and animals don’t.

 

[redleghunter]

I actually have no desire to get married and as I had stated, feel called to singleness. My problem is hypocrisy. How many Christians are you friends with who are gluttonous? Do you ever call them out and tell them to repent and lose weight? Highly doubt it! I’m tired of certain sins being made out to be worse than others and that if you’re gay you’re doomed to hell but anything else goes. It’s not right.

I get your point on gluttony. But do you observe heavy people scarfing down a burger in the pews at church?

Isn’t it body shaming to point this out? Meaning we probably don’t know why someone is heavy in the first place. When I was in the Army a Soldier was undergoing chemotherapy and to control his nausea he was on some pretty high doses of steroids so he could keep eating. He blew up fast. Now suppose he entered your church. Would your first thought be gluttony if you did not know him?

I’m not saying this is a frequent or majority case, but do you see the issue of judging where others are at in their struggles.

 

[Fear2Believe]

I think there is a reason humans marry and animals don’t.

Animals form life long partnership's, but they don't need to prove it. Why do we I wonder?

 

[redleghunter]

Animals form life long partnership's, but they don't need to prove it. Why do we I wonder?

Imago Dei

 

[Fear2Believe]

Imago Dei

How does that relate to what I said?