[continued from previous message]   
      
   and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death" (James 1:14-   
   15). Rather than make excuses for grievous immorality, we need   
   to point homosexuals to the gospel of Jesus Christ as the way to   
   be forgiven, set free of their sin, and saved. "If the Son   
   therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed" (John   
   8:36).   
      
   Q. I am against the "special rights" homosexuals demand, but I   
   do not believe that homosexuals should be discriminated against.   
   Isn't that a proper stand on this issue?   
      
   A. No. If citizens are not allowed to discriminate in any way   
   with regard to out-of-the-closet homosexuals, then there is no   
   basis for denying those involved in sexual perversion the right   
   to adopt and teach children, marry one another, be policemen or   
   medics, serve in the armed forces, be elected officials and   
   judges, work for you, and rent from you. It is because of the no-   
   special-rights approach that we now have open homosexuals   
   involved in many activities from which they should have been   
   banned, and principled property owners and businessmen are   
   required by law in many states to rent to and employ persons of   
   low moral character engaged in immoral conduct which flies in   
   the face of the deepest beliefs of the landlords and employers.   
      
   Q. If we speak against homosexuality, what if someone then   
   commits violence against a homosexual?   
      
   A. Those who champion homosexuality are trying to shame into   
   silence their opponents with the speculation that being against   
   homosexual acts may cause a crime. Because someone may twist   
   something right into an excuse to do something wrong must not   
   restrain us from speaking the truth. Homosexuality is wrong,   
   sinful behavior. Criminal violence is also wrong, sinful   
   behavior. We should not encourage the first by caving in to   
   unfounded threats that somehow we are causing the second.   
   Adultery is also wrong, and sometimes injured parties take the   
   law into their own hands and react violently. Does this mean   
   that we should never say a negative thing about adultery?   
      
   Q. But if we speak out against homosexual acts,couldn't we be   
   the cause of suicide?   
      
   A. The homosexual activists demagogue the suicide issue to   
   silence decent people from publicly stating their beliefs. Any   
   group of people involved in immoral, reckless behavior, such as   
   drug use or drunkenness, adultery or prostitution, always have a   
   higher suicide rate than those who live morally. Should we then   
   stop speaking out against all evil behaviors?   
      
   Certainly young people involved in committing homosexual acts   
   are at first troubled in their consciences; and when they are   
   told by the older "gay activist" that they were born to commit   
   those acts, they may well despair and take their own lives,   
   thinking that they have no other way out. By contrast, the   
   Christian who shares the gospel with young people involved in   
   sexual perversion gives them a way to not only be freed from   
   that way of life and have a clear conscience but to also be   
   forgiven and adopted into the family of God. In this, the   
   Christian offers life and hope while the "gay activist" offers   
   only death and despair. It is the homosexual advocates,   
   teachers, and leaders who are causing suicide, not Christians   
   standing up for the Word of God.   
      
   No matter if you are a homosexual or not, if you have not   
   repented of your sins and put all your trust in Jesus Christ for   
   salvation and right standing with God, you are headed for   
   eternal damnation when you die. Jesus said, "I am the way, the   
   truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me"   
   (John 14:6). He commanded, "Repent ye, and believe the gospel"   
   (Mark 1:15). Because every person has "sinned, and come short of   
   the glory of God" (Rom. 3:23), every person stands condemned as   
   a lawbreaker before God. The Bible says, "It is appointed unto   
   men once to die, but after this the judgment" (Heb. 9:27).   
      
   How will you answer to God for your sins on judgment day? You   
   cannot work them off. "For by grace are ye saved through faith;   
   and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works,   
   lest any man should boast" (Eph. 2:8-9). You cannot expect the   
   perfect Holy Judge to simply let you walk away from justice, and   
   He will not. The Bible warns that all sinners are sentenced to   
   hell. Hell is a perfect picture of God's perfect hatred of sin.   
   The Bible says that it is a place of weeping and gnashing of   
   teeth, a place of outer darkness and unquenchable fire (Matt.   
   8:12, Mark 9:46), and those sent there are punished forever. The   
   Bible also tells us, "For God so loved the world, that he gave   
   his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should   
   not perish, but have everlasting life" (John 3:16). Jesus   
   Christ, God the Son, "was made in the likeness of men" (Phil.   
   2:7) while remaining the Son of God.   
      
   He lived a perfect life on earth and offered up that perfect   
   life as a sin offering once for all on the cross. "But this man,   
   after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down   
   on the right hand of God" (Heb. 10:12). Jesus was raised from   
   the dead by the power of God and, in this, not only defeated sin   
   but also death. Most importantly, by shedding His perfect blood,   
   He paid for the sins and cancelled the sentence of all those who   
   will ask to be forgiven of their sin and put all their faith in   
   Him for salvation. If you want to be saved and spared eternal   
   judgment, you must truly repent of your sins, believe the   
   gospel, and put all your trust for salvation in the Lord Jesus   
   Christ (Rom. 10:9-10). "For he saith, I have heard thee in a   
   time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succored thee:   
   behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of   
   salvation" (2 Cor. 6:2).   
                     
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)