Even Satan Believes in Jesus!
Neil Orts Responds
I stumbled upon your web page today. I was deeply saddened by what I read.
Dear Phil:
I'm sorry what you read saddened you. I hope you can come back to Whosoever and read some more and experience the struggles and the joys that are there as just another part of the human story.
Every human being enjoys the privilege of being loved by a kind Heavenly Father. He does not care who we are, or what we do, he loves us unconditionally. That much is very true.
It is good that we begin on some common ground!
ho has sold everything to follow Jesus.)
If anything, the Good News of Jesus is that even while we are in sin, Jesus
comes to save us. Rather than mocking Jesus, I believe it is Jesus' message.
Whew. All that and I'm not even getting into the basic assumption we
disagree about: That homosexuality is intrinsically sinful.
Let me ask you this: Are all the preachers who are saying that
homosexuality is wrong telling you that because that is what you want to
hear? On the issue of homosexuality, I can go to any number of places to
hear a variety of opinions and what I hear may or may not be what I want to
hear. To say we flock to Whosoever to hear what we want to hear is to
disregard a lot of serious struggle and pain and soul-searching. It also
assumes that all glbt folk want to hear something uniform in its message.
I've read a few things in Whosoever that I strongly disagree with. If I
understand Candace correctly, she's purposefully published a few things that
she disagrees with, just to display the spectrum of thought within the gay
Christian community. We are not single-minded in all things, there is no
unified gay agenda, and we differ on a variety of issues.
Believe me, I'm all for people taking responsibility for their actions.
It's one of my pet peeves of the current culture that everything that
happens is someone else's fault. I've more than once stopped a friend in
his or her tirade and asked them, "Okay, so what was your part in this
mess?" Usually they can find their part.
So, all I'm asking is that you not presume to know what I want to hear or
what my sense of responsibility is.
To take it a step further and assert that he will save people "in sin" is
mocking his very word. Satan believes in Jesus Christ! Will he be saved as
well? I doubt it.
Who then can be saved? Just ignoring for the moment that we are in
disagreement if homosexual orientation (and the acting upon it) is in itself
a sin, I have to wonder who dies "outside sin." Does the man who dies while
being an unrepentant gossip not get saved? Does the woman who dies holding
a grudge not get saved? Does the person who has not sold everything, given
it to the poor, and followed Jesus not saved. (I throw in that last one
because that is what Jesus told the rich young man it took to be perfect. I
personally know no one wIt is wrong to merely tell people what they wish to here and not have them take responsibility for their own actions.
I have several friends who are
gay. They are great people. They also admit that they are gay because it is
most comfortable for them, not because they were "born that way". They
experimented at an early age, or were molested by an adult, and never gave
it a second thought. They just kept seeking similar experiences going
forward.
I can't speak for your friends. Their story is their own. What I do know
from my life experience is that of the three boys with whom I experimented
as a pre-teen, two are married to women and the third is inconclusive as to
his sexuality. I also know men who experimented with women at an early age
and are gay. (I only know one person who experienced molestation as a young
girl and that wasn't by an adult. I therefore feel inadequate to comment on
situations of molestations.) In other words, I don't believe early
experimentation has that great of an impact on adult sexuality. It is what
it is: experimentation.
I'm curious to know how many are "several" and if your several friends
aren't just telling you what you want to hear -- or even if you're simply
hearing what you want to hear. That sounds more accusatory than I mean it
to. I'm just saying that when we have made up our minds about something, we
don't always listen with the ear of discovery but with an ear to prove our
own point. We all do it, from time to time. I'm doing it even now as I
project my experience on a few words of what you've told us about your
friends.
So, I leave you to take your friends' stories at their words. Just be aware
that not every gay person's story is the same as theirs and we all ask a
fair hearing.
I cannot argue with you there. I'm a poor Lutheran, but I disagree with
Martin Luther on the letter of James, especially after reading a commentary
on James by Elsa Tamez. There is an active component to faith.
Where we obviously disagree is on whether or not one's sexual orientation
has anything to do with that active faith. From my point of view (and I've
not always held it), sexual orientation is just another way of being. One
straight friend of mine has called it "another type of normal." It's not a
matter of morality in and of itself. All of my moral issues seem pretty
common to all humanity, gay and straight.
I have little more to say to your letter. There are obviously some places
where we share common ground. I suppose we'll have to trust in Jesus' grace
to be sufficient to cover our differences.
Peace,
If belief only precipitates salvation, the devil and all of his angels will
enjoy the same benefits of all "believers". Being a believer involves more
than just "believing". Those who hear the word must be doers of the word as
well. It may be your belief that initiates or encourages the doing, but to
believe only, profits you nothing.