I must say, it seems to me that you try to understand homosexuals more than you try to understand Jesus. Jesus did not congregate with unrepentant sinners, he communed with those who turned their backs upon their old ways and believed in Him. Those who heard his message and rejected it, he to rejected and shamed amidst the masses.

Who cares if homosexuals are becoming mainstream? Pharisees anyone?

Good advice, and a thorough discussion of the topic. I need more of this type of information. My pastor has never spoken on this subject before.

1 Corinthians 5:9-11 says two things: if a Christian is involved in homosexuality we are not to associate or even eat with them (they are to be handed over to Satan so that their sinful nature might be destroyed but their spirit saved on the day of the Lord). It is there opportunity to repent.

If an unbeliever is involved in homosexuality they are to be welcomed into the church (like any other unsaved person to hear the gospel message and be saved from their sin).

If the believer is not treated harshly (for repentance purposes) the alternative is you are allowing 'yeast' to affect the church. This yeast (v8) will corrupt the truth and so we end up with this influencing yeast namely: ordained homosexual priests, homosexual marriage, the Homosexual Community Churches, God made me this way (meaning let's blame God for my sin),then we end up with a separation theology which states: God hates the sin but not the sinner (God actually gives THEM over to their sinful desires).

Please know this truth that God is NOT ANTI-HOMOSEXUAL, but according to His Word, He is ANTI-HOMOSEXUALITY!!! How many times have you heard it said that God loves the sinner but hates the sin? Apparently this truth is too subtle for most Americans. WHen your children disobey you and do stupid things that place them in perilous situations, don't you just HATE IT? At the same time do such activities diminish your love for them? If your love for your child can be diminished by ANYTHING they do or say, you need a refresher course on what "love" means!
We love homosexuals while we HATE their sinful activities. While we must express our love for them by telling them the truth about God's love for all people, we simply can not aat the same time love them and tolerate their behavior. That kind of tolerance is the opposite of love. It is indifference. After we have told the homosexual about God's love for them and His disdain for their behavior, the rest is up to them.

This is an excellent article and I hope Christians will share it with others in their churches. I am a Christian who has struggled with same-sex attraction, like Kyle, for many years. I married, raised my children, attended church and served there, but kept my struggle a secret because I often heard the condemnation within the church. It was the place I wished I could share because I wanted so much the support of my Christian brothers . . . but it was the place I feared most to share. I am well along in the struggle now and much more transparent, but I understand why Christian men and women who struggle remain silent. Churches need to recognize our special significance in helping people find freedom from this sin -- which has the same root as all sin though it may bear a different fruit.
My blog: http://thom-signsofastruggle.blogspot.com/ focuses on this issue in hopes of helping fellow Christians find freedom.

Thanks for your courage in posting this article.

Thom Hunter
http://thom-signsofastruggle.blogspot.com/

I am not a minister. But what does the Bible mean when it says "God gave them up to their vile affections"--etc. etc.Check Rom.1:15-32,Lev.18:22,2 Pet.3:1-9, I Cor.6:9-11 &16-20.

The author said it. Homosexuality is on the same level as gluttony and I can't tell you the number of pastors I've seen come to a potluck dinner and sit down with a plate that needed side boards.

Interesting article, but I think you begin from a false premise: Only deal with the passage from Romans, "so that we sidestep the challenge that the OT doesn't speak to us." Paul, being a good Jew and Rabbi/Pharisee would have used the OT as the foundation of his argument as he filtered his understanding through the ministry of Jesus. There is no sidestepping the "challenge."
Secondly, declaring others reinterpret, and an unsuccessful interpretation at that, doesn't give the author very solid grounding when no interpretation is offered other than "this is what Romans says, therefore anything else is wrong." It may just be that there needs to be great dialogue between OT, NT, cultural issues of the time and cultural issues of our day. Only in this process does one "carefully interpret the Bible".

Very good article, with a lot of good things to think about, as well as act on. I think it's interesting to consider all of the "choice" implications, and essential to further study concerning when it should be considered to have been a choice, or incidences when something happened at a very young age to lead down that road.

Homosexuality its a sin according to the Bible, but so its judging your fellow men. We must try to overcome our own faults, before we start criticizing the behavior of others. Homosexuals have the same color of our skin, they love the same, and care about God the same that we do, but they fight a terrible enemy, that would like nothing else but to destroyed all of us. They need our understanding just like a drug user and an alcoholic need AA meetings. The Holy Book clearly state that we must forgive other's people sin 77 times 7. My advice its to not even start counting the times, we must forgive, period. Homosexuals will become hostile to our advice just with the comments of their sexuality. It will immediate drive them to the defense, stating that they do not feel it to be a sin. Its better to just not say anything and treat them like you would to any other human been. We must accept them as they are and pray for they do the same for us. We must reason together for fellowship.

Our LORD did speak about Sodomy in reference to Sodom & Gomorrah what the world would be like in End Times. It will be a horrifying time when people will be totally given over to doing what they want to do with others with nothing & nobody to stop them. Homosexuality word as used today is a politically correct word used instead of Sodomy.

This article's approach agrees with Christ's approach to the woman at the well: Compassionately sharing the truth about Himself and one's sin. Christ upheld the morality of the laws as given to Moses. If Christ wanted to change the law on homosexuality, He would have been vocal about it. As an actor, I work with homosexuals and my sister-in-law lives the lifestyle. I strive to compassionately share Christ. Alan's right: lead them to Christ and He will make the changes.