A View from the Castle

I feel like such a wimp sometimes and other times I feel like an ogre. I feel like I ride the pendulum when it comes to our girls. I am trying to follow my brother's advice, that is Michael Pearl of "Train up a Child" and I know his advice is biblically sound and works it is just soooooo hard sometimes. You know I feel so guilty when I have to spank my little girls butt. She is just so smart and sometimes just blatantly defiant and she knows it and I know it and well, there you have it. She has to have the rod sometimes. We are working on the defiant attitude right now. Better get a grip on it now. God knows we saw enough of it in the 7 + years at the Children's Home.

Anyway, I just feel guilty and there is that little angel, or is it the devil, sitting on my shoulder saying. "Don't you remember all you went through to have that little girl? And now here you are spanking her. Shame on you! All she did was tell a little lie. She doesn't even know what she is doing". Now that I think about it, it must be the devil. Anyway, it is hard not to just give in to your emotions and just say. It's OK just don't do it again. Gosh, don't we all wish that just worked.

OK, so let's talk about the homosexuality and Christianity subject. I will be typing myself into oblivion if I try to fully explain myself on this but I am going to try my best. I have grown up with lots of gay people around me. It began with my sisters friend from church who was in love with my sister. Of course it wasn't reciprocated but it did add a dynamic to my young life that I was not fully aware existed until I realized I had a gay best friend. And he was a friend of mine from church too. Then I grew up and went to college and met more people, professing Christians with fruits of the spirit evident in there life. They turned out to be gay too. I could give you lots of details, family members, acquaintances, close friends etc. My heart was breaking to think that all these people, just because they preferred sex with their own sex would go to hell regardless.

SO, this is the conclusion I came to . First, I don't believe you are born gay. I believe you can have a predisposition to effeminate or manly characteristics that make you subjected to ridicule and make you yourself question your sexuality but I don't believe you are born that way. That would leave you no choice in the matter. I don't believe God does that. I may be wrong. Anyway, secondly, I believe you can be gay AND be a born again Believer in Jesus Christ. I believe that once you are saved you are SAVED. Period. Written in the Lambs book of life. No giant erasers in heaven. It's grace that we just can't fathom. SO, when the Bible talks about liars, and effeminate, adulterers etc not inheriting the Kingdom of Heaven, I believe it is saying the truth. HOWEVER, you must remember that once you are born again, your a sanctified, sealed and sainted. You may be trapped in your flesh until you are perfected when Jesus comes and takes us outta here.

Now hold on a minute you say. That means you can get saved and then do whatever the heck you want. And I say a big fat YES. That is why Jesus said go MAKE DISCIPLES not go get a bunch of people saved. Salvation is the easy part. Discipleship, learning to follow Christ, to become like him, to die to self daily, etc. Now that is the hard part. Our brother's and sisters who are living the homosexual lifestyle and still claim to be Christian can very much be just that. They are just deceived by the devil and are missing out on a closeness with Christ that some of us experience occasionally. I mean come on now. If you want to argue the point, why do we make such a big issue of homosexuality and not fornication or adultery? Is it more socially consciousness or judgemental ism or what?

Now I didn't just arrive at this overnight. I had a few friendships that I lost because of this issue. I never lost a friendship over the fact that someone was sleeping around or was a habitual liar or was doing things that were unholy. Just over the homosexual issue. I came to realize that could not be what Christ wants us to do. After all he is all about love. I know I know he said go and sin no more. What an idyllic mentality. He could have that and still love us in spite of ourselves. He has ALWAYS known what our abilities are and he chose to create us anyway. OK, so I have started a whole heap of controversy I am sure.

Bottom line is, I believe that once you are saved, God looks at you as he looks at His Son. You are a Saint. Period. You didn't get there by anything you did and you can't hold on to it or lose it because of something you do. Grace... wonderful, amazing, simple grace. If you choose to live deceived sometimes it is not of our own necessary choosing, after all remember what Paul said. Something like this. "What I want to do, I don't do and what I don't want to do, I do" so even Paul wrestled with the flesh. Doesn't mean he was lost does it?

OK so that's enough of that.
Until we meet again.
David