The post which occasioned my response below.

Every time I read this topic, I’m beginning to feel less and less welcome here. This topic shows just how tolerant you are as you pass judgment on others, who do not feel the way you do. You people must feel really good about yourselves now.

I’m just trying to live out my life the best I can.

But hey, what do you care! I’m just a freak who goes against God and nature.

Every time I read this topic, I’m beginning to feel less and less welcome here.

Hrmm? Why so?

This topic shows just how tolerant you are as you pass judgment on others, who do not feel the way you do.

Who passed judgment on what? I certainly didn’t. The only person I will judge is one who is in the church. If you are not, it’s not my job, my right, or even my privilege to do so. Anyone who is outside the church falls under God’s judgment, not mine. Within the church, the only judgment I possess is that which pertains to someone’s teaching, or practice, of God’s Word. Nothing more, nothing less.

Anyone who tells you otherwise really doesn’t know his or her Bible.

Will I say I believe homosexuality is wrong, and do my best to keep it from being encouraged? You betcha. Will I judge someone for being homosexual? No way!

See, judgment involves passing sentence, and determining guilt, or innocence. There are only two sentences that matter, in the Biblical world, and both depend on God to mete out. This is outside the church, understand. Within the church, there is something a bit different, and it never involves the judgment of just one person – many are called upon in a situation where church discipline is involved.

The above passage is solely aimed at those “within” the church who seek to lead people within the church astray. There is no hidden meaning, no catch. It’s very plain, simple, and to the point. If your aim is, or the result of your actions is, leading those in the Body of Christ away from Christ – you are in deep, deep, trouble. It may not happen now, and it may not happen in this lifetime – but that is perhaps the strongest wording in the entire Bible. It’s a scathing denunciation of those who use the church for man’s ends. It was directed, also, solely at the poster I quoted, as an answer to the common skeptic’s argument he advanced.

You people must feel really good about yourselves now.

Not really. I mourn the fact that our culture is at the point where this is even a debate. So no, not really.

I’m just trying to live out my life the best I can.

So are we all.

But hey, what do you care! I’m just a freak who goes against God and nature.

That’s for you to talk over with God. I only quote what He said. Perhaps you should speak with the writer of the message, not the messenger – you know? I can only speak to what I’ve been told, what I believe, and what I have been taught.

My (ex) mother-in-law is a lesbian. We’ve had the same talk as has gone on here, really, and I’ve told her exactly what the Bible says about the practice of homosexuality. I don’t treat her any different than I would someone that had lied to me. It may annoy me, but hey, I sin too. I’ve lied myself. I’ve looked at women in ways I should not have, myself.

“For all have fallen short of the glory of God”

“There is none righteous – no, not one”

Everyone does wrong. There are no exceptions – but there IS a substitution, and there IS a refund. Jesus substituted Himself for us – Jesus paid the penalty, thus we get a refund on our sins – which would otherwise be Payable On Death.

Homosexuality is NOT the “unpardonable sin”. Nor is murder, nor is lying, nor are any other instances of wrongdoing. The only unpardonable sin is the refusal to accept His pardon. The riskiest thing for a man to do is NOT to go over Niagara falls in a barrel, it is NOT skydiving – it is putting off for tomorrow your acceptance of the only way out of the predicament we find ourselves in – wrongdoers who will one day be judged by a God who expects perfection.

“Today is the day of Salvation”. Not tomorrow.

I don’t judge – I point. Upwards.

Upon reading this response, I seem to come across a bit pedantic. I start out decently, I think, but fall into a sort of lecture mode. I wish I could change that, now – and I think I made up for it later. I consider it to be one of my least worthy attempts at explaining the dichotomy between judgment and pointing out transgression. I tried, though. I include it as part of my “historical” (in a sense) progression toward what I enjoy so much today.