Quote (bentherdonethat @ Mar 20 2011 10:05pm)
That's exactly like saying there's no such thing as a lying Christian, or as an adulterous Christian, or any other kind of sinning Christian.
Guess there's no such thing as a Christian then, unless you're saying the instant a person becomes a Christian they stop sinning for the rest of their lives.
Well, my reply was to CaptnCrunch. In his opening post, my belief was that he was insinuating that the gay people he was speaking about were still practicing homosexual acts. That is why I gave my answer the way I did.
A person can be "gay" and be a Christian if he has repented, confessed and been baptized for the remission of sins and turns from the homosexual acts. If he continues in those homosexual acts he continues to sin willfully. Of course the person can still repent but I don't have an answer as to how many times a person can willfully sin for the same act and ask for forgiveness before God will harden their hearts.
I have never mentioned this on this forum but there was once a time in my life where I was on the verge of becoming "if I wasn't already one" an alcholic. I had tried soooo many times to quit. I even asked God to help me several times to no avail. "BTW I was not a Christian at this time" All those time I had asked for help, deep down inside I really didn't want the help because I loved the taste, the affect, the invincibility it gave me. You see, God gave me free will to choose. It took certain events in my life to make me realize I was on a path of distruction. Only then did I finally use my free will and decide to turn from the sin and defeat the desires that controlled me. Reason I am saying this is because I know what it is like to have an addiction. I know personally how hard it is to try and quit something and turn from sin.
What it boils down to is every man has free will. The fact that people can change is a wonderful thing and a reason to be thankful. People will say, "That's just my nature -- I can't help it," well, I know for a fact we do have a choice.
The two passages that points to the free moral agency of man says that man has the ability to change are Ezekiel 18; Romans 6. Since man can change, he doesn't have to continue as he is. He has a choice.
So, we must conclude that people are like they are because that's the way they want to be. I can say this because not only of what the Bible says but because I have personally lived it.
Those who are ungodly, weak, or unfaithful are so, not because they can't help it, but because they choose to be. Those who are godly, strong, and faithful are so because they changed.
Change is the idea of repentance. It involves a change of mind. Jesus spoke of a son who had said he wouldn't do what his father said, but later he repented and went (Matthew 21:28-29). The people repented at the preaching of Jonah (Matthew 12:41). The book of Jonah describes that as turning from evil (Jonah 3:10).
Matthew 21:28-29 (New King James Version)
28 “But what do you think? A man had two sons, and he came to the first and said, ‘Son, go, work today in my vineyard.’ 29 He answered and said, ‘I will not,’ but afterward he regretted it and went.
Matthew 12:41 (New King James Version)
41 The men of Nineveh will rise up in the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and indeed a greater than Jonah is here.
Jonah 3:10 (New King James Version)
10 Then God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God relented from the disaster that He had said He would bring upon them, and He did not do it.
As a side note, Jonah 3:10 gives a example where God has changed his mind about something. Prayer can do this my friends. If someone is gay and they obey God's will and commandments and becomes a Christian according to the Bible God will hear their prayers and help them. I truely believe this will all my heart.
As Ozzy says, "Good night, I love you alllllll". You gotta have the album to know what I'm talking about.
