THE NATURE OF SIN
april 1999..at this time, i was just starting to pray that
God would show me my sins and help me to repent of them.
i didn't understand why homosexuality was sin,
why something in the particular manifestation of same gender love
was wrong in itself.
but i did know that pride was a sin
and so i decided to start there.
as i began to pray and repent, i wondered:
could pride be the root of all my sins?
i wondered:
what was the real sin of sodom?
i had always thought that God's judgment upon sodom (in genesis 19)
clearly singled out and targeted homosexuality.
i believed that God's judgment against sodom
exemplified the fiercest of God's judgments.
but as i read more deeply in the bible,
i ran across a passage that made me stop and think.
this passage in the book of ezekiel revealed to me that sodom was indicted
for materialism and neglect of the poor and needy
-and that homosexuality was a symptom and an extension of these other sins.
in this passage, God is speaking to His chosen people in jerusalem
and warning them about their hidden sin using sodom as an example.
importantly, god does not say that this sin of sodom is the worst
of all sins.
instead, God uses the sin of sodom to reveal the greater sin committed by
His own people
'as i live, says the Lord God, neither your sister sodom nor her daughters
have done as you and your daughters have done.
look, this was the iniquity of your sister sodom:
she and her daughters had
pride,
fullness of food, and
abundance of idleness;
neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy...ezek. 16.48-50
i found this passage to reveal some surprising things...
sodom's sin is less offensive to God than jerusalem's...
that the root of homosexuality is also the root of a myriad of other sins...
pride...wealth...entertainment driven...lack of mercy
living according to God's standards is an acquired taste.
we develop a taste for God's standards only by disciplining our
minds, hands money and time....
God did not create us so that we would...
'amuse ourselves to death....
God calls us to be merciful to others for our own good
as well as for the good of our community...
you might notice that there is nothing inherently sexual about any of these sins...
importantly, we don't see God making fun of homosexuality
or regarding it as a different, unusual or exotic sin...
..God is a God of mercy, redemption, second chances and salvation.
..when Jesus uses sodom as an example..the example reveals that God
is angrier at..people of Jesus' day...
..and you, capernaum..will be brought to hades;
for it the mighty words which were done in you had been done in sodom,
it would have remained until this say.
but I say to you that it shall be more tolerable for..sodom in the day of judgment
than for you matt.11.23-4
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