WARNING: This is not your typical essay from a conservative Christian, so I invite you to read regardless of what you believe.
Last week, Obama made his now famous endorsement of same-sex marriage. Liberals rejoiced, and conservatives lamented. As a result, we see the debate continue about same-sex marriage. However, this post is not about my views on same-sex marriage (although as a full disclaimer I do believe that marriage should be between a man and a woman). It is about the bad theology that is often purported about homosexuality.
A friend of mine, who does not identify himself as a Christian, posted a cartoon to his Facebook wall of a man and Jesus hugging. The caption reads the words of Jesus to this man, “I am sorry I made you gay, but give me one last hug before I send you to hell for eternity.” I don’t blame my friend for believing this because this is what many Christians believe, that we are sent to hell because of a sin in our lives. The truth is what the Bible teaches in Romans 3:10, that “no one is righteous, no, not one.”
Paul takes this statement from a host of Old Testament teaching about sin in general. In Ecclesiastes 7:20, we read, “Surely there is not a righteous man on earth who does good and never sins.” In Psalm 14:3 and in 53:3, David writes, “They have all fallen away; together they have become corrupt; there is none who does good not even one.” In Romans 3:23, we learn that “For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”
I heard someone say once, “You mean to tell me that if all I do is commit a little white lie, I will go to hell?” No, because we are all guilty of so much more than that. The truth is that we are all sinners. We all commit sins every day, thousands of them. We all have committed “cosmic treason” as RC Sproul puts it. Whether we struggle with homosexuality or are the most adamant church attenders, we all are on a crash-course to hell unless Jesus intervenes.
So, the idea that we are sent to hell for one single sin is not biblical, and it is false. The gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ, is that we come to faith by obeying Jesus when he said, “Whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life (John 5:24).” So, our prayer should be saturated with repentance since we are all daily sinners. Whether we struggle with homosexuality, pornography, lust, envy, greed, idolatry, just to name a few, we should cry out for mercy for our sins so that Jesus can heal us, for we all regardless of sexual orientation share the same fate, unless Jesus intervenes. I pray that he intervenes.
