Does the Bible Teach That a Christian Can Be a Practicing Homosexual?

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There's a couple places in scripture that maybe I'd go first. 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 says "Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the Kingdom of God? Do not be deceived neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters nor adulterers nor those who practice homosexuality nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God."

A couple things from that passage that I think we need to see. First of all is that people who live in an unrepented life from sin, any sin, that they don't have the hope of inheriting the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God is maybe another way to refer to what we would call Heaven - this place where God is where we will be with him forever. The scriptures seem very very clear here - that somebody who has an unrepentant heart towards sin, that they don't have the hope of Heaven. Another thing that we see here is that not everybody struggles in the same way. There's a whole list of sins here, and most of them there I've been tempted by in some way. I think anybody who's honest would say the same thing. But I think we need to see here that not everybody struggles with the same thing which, particularly in this conversation, one that is very sensitive, should lead us toward humility and compassion towards people who maybe are tempted in a way that we aren't.

So with this issue of homosexuality, this one, in particular, is very difficult because for someone who hears that, okay, Christ calls me to forsake this life, there's questions that they have to wrestle with that maybe other people with different sins don't have to wrestle with, like "Does this mean that I'll never be able to get married? Does this mean that I'm going to be alone for the rest of my life? Why did God make me this way?" A lot of questions come with that, so sometimes Christians, when we don't understand something, or when we forget where it is that Christ brought us from, we can have an attitude of people and their sin that maybe isn't as Christlike as it ought to be. So I think we should have a compassion and a humility and a graciousness towards one another. 

But at the same time, we need to say that the scriptures say this though, and in that list, it does say homosexuality right next to all the other sins I've been involved in. You could go through all of those and that was my life before Christ. So someone who's going to say I'm going to name the name of Christ, but then disregard his Word, 1 John 2:4 says that person is a liar. That anybody who says "I love him and I know him" but doesn't keep his commandments, he says they are a liar. Jesus says if you love me, you will obey my commandments. So to directly disregard something that Christ says and that God's Word says, but then say, "but I am one of his" the Bible says that's not true. So I think we need to examine ourselves. Let's say this to anybody with any sin who loves that sin and wants to hold onto to it. But in regards to our topic, I would say that. 

But the last thing we need to see here is how that section ends. It says "And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God." Christ saves sinners. That's what he came to do. And regardless of what our sin is, he washes us, and he makes us clean. He forgives us and gives us a new heart. And that doesn't mean that somebody who struggles with something and becomes a Christian that everything is okay or so easy now, because I'm still a fallen man in a fallen world, so I'm still tempted in ways that I was before. It doesn't mean that our desires or affections or temptations we're more susceptible to will just go away, but what it does mean is that in Christ, he gives us new affections for him, to where we will pursue him. Maybe not right away, but sometimes right away. Sometimes God just takes things away, sometimes he doesn't. Paul pleaded that God would take the thorn away from him, and why didn't he? I don't know, but what he did say, is his grace is sufficient for him. That's why Christians need the gospel just as much as non-Christians do. Non-Christians who struggle with homosexuality need to hear that Christ can save you from your sin, just like he can everybody else. But those who are Christians, who love the Lord, but struggle with tendencies or whatever it may be, need to to know that his grace is sufficient for them, and in their weakness he is strong, and that he will carry them through until the day that they see his face. 

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