Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. (1 Corinthians 6:9-10, KJV)

It’s Not Loving And Tolerant To Withhold Truth From Someone; It’s Hateful And Harmful

The homoppression I refer to here is not telling the truth to someone, claiming to be Christian, who self-identifies as gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered, queer (GLBTQ) and thereby leaving them under oppression in their sin of practicing the sexual immorality of sexual relations with another of the same sex aka homosexuality. As with any other sin e.g. heterosexual adultery or fornication, we are specifically commanded to tell people the truth according to God’s Word:

Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. (Galatians 6:1-2, ESV)

Here the Emerging Church-friendly comment of L. Ann Jervis in the New International Biblical Commentary concerning the above Scripture will prove helpful:

Addressing his readers as brothers, Paul turns to a fuller description of how a community living by the Spirit should behave. He first says that if someone is caught in a sin those who are spiritual should restore him gently. In contrast to 5:21, where Paul warned that those who do sinful acts would not inherit the kingdom of God, here Paul addresses the practical situation of a believer doing wrong.

This circumstance does not  call for the believer to be excommunicated or handed over to Satan (cf. 1 Cor. 5:5). Instead, the transgressor is to be restored, “put in order,” corrected for his or her own good. (153, bold hers)

Well, we can’t very well restore someone until they are first “corrected for his or her own good,” now can we? Don’t go running down the rabbit-trails. Sin, is sin; period. As our opening text tells us with crystaline clarity, unless one is willing to forsake it in the first place, i.e. repent they will not enter the Kingdom of God. However it’s also wrong, not to mention downright cruel and unloving, to simply leave professing believers under the oppression of their sin should they transgress. And as Dr. Walter Martin (1928-1989) used to say, “Christians can do a lot a stupid things.”

So the issue isn’t about whether or not Christians can commit sexual sin; only those with their heads deeply buried beneath the sand will deny that. Rather, the heart of the matter, is the appalling homopression and unloving refusal to follow what the Bible says concerning those openly practicing the sin of homosexuality. Many today are flat-out lying to these GLBTQ people, precious souls for whom Jesus also died, and telling them they are fine in the practice of their sin. The truth is neither they, or anyone else, can ever be in right standing with God while remaining in willful sin.

Why has Apprising Ministries “singled out” those practicing homosexuality? I’m glad you asked; 1) we have not, and 2) I’ve yet to notice websites such as Christ-Followers In Fornication, or Thieves 4 Jesus, or Adultermergent. As I brought out in Why No Condemnation For Christians Who Are Homopressive I have, however, been led by Emergence Christianity theologian Tony Jones to Queermergent; a website and group headed by “Christ-follower” and practicing lesbian Adele Sakler, who in addition to being co-leader of Richmond Emergent Cohort is also a GLBTQ advocate.

Being that openly gay “Bishop” Gene Robinson is overseer of the Episcopal churches in the state of New Hampshire where I currently reside, and because the issue of homosexuality is one within my own family, it didn’t take a genius to figure out I must speak out against the homopression currently slithering into mainstream evangelicalism, just as it once did the now dead mainline denominations. in closing this, for now, I’ll give you a glaring example of this homopression at The Gay Christian Network (GCN).

Having already acknowledged the possiblity of a gay Christian we turn now to their help section under “frequently asked questions.” There we find a number of questions, which if one is not careful can send us off chasing rabbits. A critical question is: “Does the Bible condemn gay sex?” And we’re told:

The Bible doesn’t discuss gay feelings, but it does discuss gay sex. There are only a handful of passages which mention same-gender sexual relationships, and all of them are negative.

There are basically two ways to interpret these passages, and gay Christians are divided on which is the appropriate one.

One view holds that the Bible does condemn gay sex, and that gay Christians should commit themselves to lifelong celibacy. This is the predominant view in the Roman Catholic Church, for example.

The other view holds that the Bible condemns certain sexual practices – including the homosexual sex rites of ancient pagan idol worship – but that God blesses a loving, monogamous, Christ-centered, same-sex marriage. A lot of information on this view can be found in the “Bible & theology” section of our resource page. (Online source, emphasis mine)

Let’s not wrestle with the snake here and stick to the most important concerns, which I have highlighted above. Kernels of truth within the eternally deadly lie would be: 1) The Bible condemns “gay sex”; and 2) sadly, Christians are divided concerning these passages. However, the fatal poison that’s been injected is that there are two legitimate ways to interpret those admittedly negative passages. Frankly, the Christians who would try to reinterpret the Bible in this area are thinking with their feelings and are not going by what the text of Scripture actually says.

Well-meaning or not, they are still falling for the oldest lie the enemy has: “Indeed, did God really say” (Genesis 3:1)? Men and women, tragically someone like me risks being branded homophobic because I happen to love GLBTQ people enough to tell them the truth. But rather it’s really people like GCN and Tony Jones who are, in very fact, actually perpetrating a type of homopression—albeit sincerely—by lying to them in Jesus’ Name. And shouldn’t the Body of Christ also love these people enough to admonish them to stop this madness, before it’s too late.

See also:

APPRISING MINISTRIES: SHOCKING NEW EVIDENCE JESUS CONDEMNED THE PRACTICE OF HOMOSEXUALITY

HOMOSEXUALITY AMONG SIN OF OUR TIMES

ROB BELL, PETER ROLLINS, AND QUEERMERGENT’S ADELE SAKLER

BUT DO EMERGENCE CHRISTIANITY AND BRIAN MCLAREN REALLY LOVE GAY PEOPLE?

SADNESS FOR “GAY CHRISTIANS”

WE FEEL HOMOSEXUALITY IS NOT A SIN

REJECTING SOLA SCRIPTURA OPENS THE DOOR FOR LESBIAN EPISCOPAL PRIESTS