It's unfortunate that, in the Christian context, homosexuals are the modern day lepers, said a former lesbian.
Beyond the advancement of the homosexual agenda in the nation's school systems and popular culture, the greater tragedy is that Christians have misrepresented God's character to the gay community and have alienated them from the Gospel, said Christine Sneeringer, director of Worthy Creations, an Exodus International ministry.
Sneeringer was walking out of homosexuality for two years when during one Sunday school session on abortion and homosexuality, she was met by harsh comments from Christians that were not unfamiliar to the gay community, she said in a testimony featured in a recent Coral Ridge Ministries broadcast.
One fellow believer said she doesn't have any compassion toward homosexuals while another agreed and added that AIDS is God's judgment against them. Both were unaware of Sneeringer's sexual history.
"It's no wonder that the average homosexual expects rejection from Christians," said Sneeringer, who was speaking to hundreds of Christians in Fort Lauderdale last month.
"There's not a homosexual in North America who doesn't know the evangelical viewpoint on homosexuality," she said. "But do they know there's a God in Heaven who loves them and who sent a Savior to die for them too?"
Not all gays want to be gay, she noted. But in a society that says it's okay to be gay, many don't know there's a way out.
In the wake of the Ted Haggard scandal, Sneeringer said she wished the former megachurch pastor, before becoming a prominent evangelical leader, would have felt safe enough to ask for help to overcome same-sex attractions through a community that preaches Christ's redeeming love and not judgment. Haggard recently moved out of Colorado Springs months after a former male prostitute alleged a three-year cash-for-sex relationship.
Sneeringer grew up in a home where her father verbally and physically abused her mother and was addicted to pornography. At 12 years old, she was sexually molested by her older cousin and later her brother.
At age 15, she got involved in her first lesbian relationship. Lesbians are often trying to protect themselves against further hurt from a man, said Sneeringer. And her homosexual relationship seemed to meet a need in her life at that time.
Not until Sneeringer joined a Baptist church’s softball team and met Christians who did not condemn or pass judgment on her did she realize the love of Jesus Christ. The women's team never preached to her, but just loved her and prayed for her.
In this new century, there are only two kinds of churches – the relevant and the irrelevant – she stated. Relevant churches uphold the biblical standard of morality in a culture that has lost morals and is bold to show God's love to those trapped in their sin.
Today, Sneeringer is no longer a lesbian. She's thankful for the relevant church that looked beyond her sin.
Now, Sneeringer is telling Christians to be that relevant church.
"What have we done to offer the gay community an alternative?" she posed to Christians. Just railing against gays hasn't helped them to know the redeeming love of Jesus Christ, the ministry leader stressed.
"Often Christians think that to love a homosexual is a compromise of their Christianity, that somehow their love would be misconstrued as condoning homosexuality."
But the second greatest commandment is to love your neighbor, Sneeringer highlighted.
A Christian's message must balance truth and love. Jesus, she said, accepted and loved sinners. And he loved them enough not to leave them in their sinful state but to challenge them to a live a life beyond it, Sneeringer explained.
There are some groups who have successfully reached out to homosexuals, including Exodus International, which helped her walk out of her lesbian life. Still, progress is slow and steady, she said.
"If we can't embrace and support the repentant homosexual, how much more will we struggle with showing God's redemptive love to the active homosexual?" she asked the Christian crowd, adding that many gays are doing their best to walk right with God and crucify their fleshly desires.
Sneeringer challenged Christians to spread Christ's redeeming love to the homosexual community.
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Clearly homosexual relationships seems to be brought on by a past hurt that has not been healed. THE FACT is the church does not know how to minister to a gay person all they do is say/act like : WELL BECAUSE IT JUST IS...or they point the finger condemingly [and men get scared that the Gay might turn them Gay etc] or they pass on the chance to minster as they feel awkward about it.
THE FACT IS: JESUS DIED FOR THE UNGODLY[Romans 5 v6] if there was such a people that HE DIED FOR it is Gays/Lesbians.
To add to this awkwardness we see EVES CURSE which GOd pronounced on Eve in Genesis as a punishment for her disobedience to Him..that her desire would be for her husband etc.
What would a church member say if a lesbian told them 'they are not under the first Adam but under the last Adam as their desire is not towards a man?[if the case of the curse was to be under a man?] .....Or if they said that there was no male or female in Him [Galatians 3v28]so there fore they are not sinning!!
Or even that sex with a Gay is not fornication as fornication is between a male and a female and not between same sex relationship!
Paul in Romans 1v25 likened GAYNESS to a condition brought on by Idolatry although it is hard to see how that could have lead to it but - it is clear IDOLATERS CANNOT INHERIT.
Sex is overated anyway!
sorry if duplicated
The women's team never preached to her, but just loved her and prayed for her.
Thank you, this speaks volumes to me.
My heart really goes out to people like this woman. I don't know how many stories I have heard from gays or lesbians that their father was abusive to them. So often homosexuality is the result of abusive relationships, primarily from the father. I think one part of stopping homosexuality is teaching men how to be good fathers. (I am not saying that homosexuality cannot be helped though, it is the individual's responsibility to do what is right)
Peter 4
1 Therefore, since Christ suffered for us[a] in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same mind, for he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, 2 that he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh for the lusts of men, but for the will of God. 3 For we have spent enough of our past lifetime[b] in doing the will of the Gentiles—when we walked in lewdness, lusts, drunkenness, revelries, drinking parties, and abominable idolatries. 4 In regard to these, they think it strange that you do not run with them in the same flood of dissipation, speaking evil of you. 5 They will give an account to Him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. 6 For this reason the gospel was preached also to those who are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit.
So far what i am understanding tfrom what i am reading and hearing is "That all the hate of the world is focusing on the gays". You are stoping a person man or women who proclaims to be a child of God from coming to Him. Would you feel better if it was under the table....i wish all Sinners would be alittle more open with problems hi I am a "(fill in the blank)"....so honesty is punishable by....when your time comes who will throw stones at you....ask yourself what is really wrong here. Be someone that make a difference in the world, and try and be the positive role model and be that shining light in the darkness and look at the Big Picture and Look at the Beast thats throwing the Stones.......From what i understand we all Fall Short of the Glory of God..
people,
the wisest father said ..leave the wheat and the weed to grow up together, we are making and giving the gay thing some much credit...with our attention and discussion. the question is gayism the greatest sin. I see this as a great lie of the devil, that would have us focus on eachother and not on the real issue.
sin is sin. wrong use of the body that is, in this case but there are other wrong use of the body that are much available and around us. I believe that the gay program is based on a fundamental question..........who is man?
what consist of one? is man his emotion, his body, etc...what about the man that ooze out lies, that can control his emotions, that can't control his eating habits or his tongue...
we should be mindful that focusing on the people mistakes alone and not the people breeds and widen a great gulf --- we may need a long bridge to rebuild it.
if we go the way of gay right or any right we would have too many right demands on our hands. the 'kleptomania' would demand theirs, etc.
all these are human questions...they need answers. let us as the church start provided answers