Recently a man, running for governor of a large state, stated "children should not be 'brainwashed' into thinking that homosexuality was acceptable". Immediately people that were his opponents and those who were in favor of brainwashing children to be homosexuals branded him as "homophobic" which is a term often used by many to criticize anyone who speaks out against the sin of homosexuality. The statement was made to a group of Jews who apparently know that God doesn't support homosexuality and the man making the statement claimed that his religious denomination, which is the largest in Christianity, is supportive of that statement. (as an aside: just because some religious teachings in a denomination are wrong doesn't mean we throw out the whole denomination. Be encouraged to evaluate all religious teachings with what Jesus and God teach and throw out the teachings that are not compatible by following the example of the Bereans who "examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true".) Also recently there have been several instances in the news of people being mistreated, because they decided to enjoy the abnormal lust of homosexuality. Mistreating people, even sinners, is not an example of Jesus who said, "Do to others as you would have them do to you". Another behavior, that is unacceptable to society and to God, is called adultery. In some societies people are openly mistreated who are caught engaging in homosexuality or adultery and even killed, which may be the extreme of mistreatment. Yes, God did destroy Sodom and apparently homosexuality was a key factor in their sins. The sin of homosexuality may not have been as common as adultery in Jesus' day but it was still present as Paul discusses the problem, mentioning both men and women involved in homosexuality. 1. Some who try to promote homosexuality use the detail that Jesus didn't address the subject specifically to advocate their opinions. Jesus also didn't address abortion or witchcraft or pedophilia, all of which are mentioned as sins in the Teaching of the Twelve Apostles, the Didache, recorded around the same time as the Gospels. Also, Jesus didn't mention the sin of having sex with animals but sins are still sins regardless of whether Jesus mentioned them or not. 2 Some will say they are only aroused by someone of the same sex, others prefer young children and others prefer animals. We do not validate sin by our desire to sin.

How does Jesus want us to treat homosexuals? Since there is no mention of Jesus encountering people who were engaging in that behavior, we cannot directly state facts like we can on the subject of adultery. We do know that Jesus was very strong about saying we need to "obey" God and that God said, "Homosexuality is absolutely forbidden"3. There is no question about homosexuality being a sin and if a person deceives another by convincing them they were created that way and that their perverted lust is normal, they could be risking behavior that as Jesus states, "cause one of these weak people to sin". As mentioned previously, following Jesus would not seem to support mistreating any sinner. If a person thinks that by picking on a homosexual or mistreating them they are helping punishment them, that person is risking behavior that belongs to God, as God states, "I will punish those who do wrong. I will repay them"4. Never act like you are God or you may be punished worse. One time when Jesus was given the opportunity to support mistreating a woman caught in adultery, His first response to discourage the men wanting to mistreat her by stoning her to death was to say, "He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first". It worked because apparently each man realized they have sin and left. Jesus then responded to her in a manner we should consider as our response to any sinner including homosexuals. Jesus did not lie to her and say, "it is okay, it was just an affair". Neither did Jesus condemn her by saying, "you are going to hell". After Jesus noticed that all of her accusers were no longer condemning her as they had left, He said to her, "Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more"5. We need to encourage all sinners to "sin no more" and possibly pray with them and teach them how to persist in prayer and maybe even use spiritual warfare. God can guide you how to help someone who wants to be free of the bondage of sin.

We cannot fix what is not broken! Do not try to help sinners that are not ready to be helped. When Jesus hung on the cross, He was with two sinners or criminals. One was arrogant and one was broken and recognized he had done wrong and reached out to Jesus. Jesus only helped the one who was broken and reached out for help. Remember that God's spirit will "convict" others of sin not you6.

Let's pray: "God help us to treat all sinners, especially homosexuals, the way You want us to treat them. Guide us how to be honest without being offensive. Help all sinners be convicted of their sins and turn back to You. If need be, rescue sinners from the evil one and guide them in spiritual warfare. Thank You for Your help and guidance, in the name of Your son Jesus, amen."

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