Volume 3: Issue 1
July/August 1998
Becoming A New Creation In Christ
Table Of Contents
Cover Story: Becoming A New Creation In Christ:
..in Christ, we are new creations. But don't wrongly believe that we spring forth fully as new creations the moment we accept Jesus. No, we are constantly being renewed in Christ.
When we become a new creation in Christ we are transformed by the Grace of God. Sometimes it is dramatic, and people describe a blessed assurance that they have become brand-new people. Other times we may not notice any appreciable change, and are disappointed.
When Jesus comes into your life, one of the main changes is that your
attention is directed to love for other people and not to keeping the
rules that will somehow make YOU more acceptable to God.
When we face change, I think God is often pushing us to the edge of our ledges, asking us to do what we were born to do - 'spread our spiritual and emotional wings and fly'.
As gay people we have a uniqueness that allows us to perceive both the
feminine and the masculine. We can acknowledge both the strength and the
delicate world that surrounds us. Far from being separated from God, we are
very much in touch with His creation.
Homospirituality:
I write this to not only share with you a small part of my story,
but to let others know that God's grace is sufficient for you.
Each crisis in our lives is reflected in our spiritual dimensions. When
we hear lies or slander, we are reminded of Christ's truthfulness. When
we see society deliberately split asunder by racial tensions, we
remember that we are all God's children, and each is sister/brother,
mother/father to us.
.. grace means freedom from the bondage of sin and full, unqualified
acceptance by God. No longer am I bound by the negativity of the grace
killers telling me that just because I'm gay, I can't be a Christian. I
know better because I have experienced the miracle of God's grace.
The good news of the Gospel is for all-slave or free, Jew or
Gentile, male or female, and yes, gay, lesbian, or heterosexual. God does not play favourites, so you may
legitimately question the sincerity and the motives of anyone who does-and especially of those who claim to do so
in God's name.
.. here is where many
gays and lesbians are today. They have spent their lives walking the streets
utterly alone. They feel unloved, unworthy, and worst of all they feel like
God never really loved them. They feel like God lied to them.
 Blaine
--By: Father Damien Schill
I saw him in July, but we did not spend much time together. Blaine was dashing here and there. It seemed as if AIDS did not infect him that they had cured him. That was the last time he hugged me, the last time he kissed me, the last time I saw him alive.
I had thought that the baptism of the Holy
Spirit was another nice myth, but I was struck by a thunderbolt of God's
love. I knew, KNEW, that God loved me, that He made me, and that He
wanted the best for me.
Features:
There are many pastors and others who have heard the call to preach the gospel who are muzzled, simply because of their sexual orientation.
Readers sound off on what they like and dislike about Whosoever.
From The Pulpit:
.. the
quest for the divine determines all else. This is the one thing for which you will abandon everything, because God is everything. To
know God, to know what is real, to know the truth, is to be set free.
Really?!?
--By: Patricia E. de JongI fear that modern Christianity, as a religion, has had all the mystery and the wonder removed from it. In its
place is a religion made up of simplistic values, a legalistic bias stressing sin and salvation, and an emphasis on the right
kind of behavior providing entrance to eternal life.
We are being built by God. That is the beauty of the image before us in the scripture lesson today. The prophet seeks to
remind us that it is the everlasting God who is building us.
Bible Study and Inspiration:
As Christians judge "disputable matters"
and pass judgement upon those who practice homosexuality, they form a
"stumbling block" that is very spiritually harmful to gay and lesbian people.
Saying that I have faith is easy, simple to do. Anyone can say that they have
faith. But when your faith is tried, when you go through the fires of life and
come out with a better, purer, stronger, tougher faith than when you began then
you know you really have faith.
Holy Humor!
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