Listener Question about Homosexuality

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Welcome back to Coffee with a Calvinist.
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This program is dedicated to helping you better understand the Word of God and the doctrines of grace.
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The Bible tells us, do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who is no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.
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Get your Bible and coffee ready and prepare to study along.
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Here's your host with today's lesson, Pastor Keith Foskey.
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And welcome back to Coffee with a Calvinist.
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My name is Keith Foskey and I am a Calvinist.
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Today is Thursday, September 10th, 2020.
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And if you're following along in our daily Bible reading today, you're going to be reading Titus chapter two.
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We're doing one chapter a day through the New Testament in 2020.
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And if you'd like a copy of our daily Bible reading, you can go to sgfcjax.org and find it there.
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Also, if you are in the Jacksonville area and do not have a church home, we'd like to invite you to Sovereign Grace Family Church.
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This coming Lord's Day, we have Sunday school at 930 and service at 1030.
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All right, it's Thursday and we have started a new schedule for the program.
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Mondays are going to try to be our interview day.
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Tuesdays are going to be the day that we focus on, excuse me just for a second here, Tuesdays are going to be our pop culture day, Wednesdays are going to be in the news Wednesday and Thursdays is going to be Thursday free-for-all where I answer questions from the audience or deal with some other subject that just happens to be on my mind.
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Thursday's going to be a free-for-all.
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So if you ever have questions or anything, we're probably going to be addressing them on Thursday.
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Now, before I begin with today's question, I do want to mention something from yesterday's program.
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Yesterday's program, I mentioned critical race theory and I mentioned Donald Trump and I mentioned some things from the news and I mentioned Dr.
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Al Mohler and the briefing.
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That's a program that I do listen to and what I found out, I record these things a day or two early and I had recorded that two days before it went live and I found out Dr.
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Mohler did the exact same subject on the briefing that I did on Coffee with a Calvinist that day.
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One, it's great that we're dealing with the same subjects as Christians, but at the same time, I thought about it, I said, wow, somebody might think I just went and heard what he said and just parroted what he said.
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That's not true.
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I recorded it.
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I had no idea what he was going to do, but I thought it was interesting.
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If you want to know more about that subject that I dealt with yesterday, feel free to go listen to the briefing from yesterday, September the 9th.
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He deals with an aspect of it that I did not deal with, more the side from the issue of law and so if you're interested in diving a little bit deeper into that subject, go ahead and do that.
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So today is Thursday, free for all, and we're going to be answering a question about homosexuality.
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Now I want to bring the question up and I want to read it to you.
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This is a listener question.
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This is based on something that I said on Tuesday's episode because on Tuesday's episode, I dealt with what's known as the West Wing question, the question of how do we understand biblical law and how do we apply Old Testament law within the new covenant? And so this was a question that came from one of our listeners, and some of you may remember Richard.
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This is Richard Rodin.
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He was actually a guest on Coffee with a Calvinist not too long ago.
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We had him as an interview.
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You can go back and see that interview on our YouTube page if you're interested.
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He and I talked about his church and we talked about life as Reformed Christians and we had a great conversation.
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And so here is his question.
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He says, allow me to submit a follow-up question related to this that you may want to address in a subsequent episode.
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As you said toward your closing, homosexuality is a sin that needs to be repented of just like any other sin, yet so many Christians make it a hill in which to die on.
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Homosexuality seems to be the sin above all sins amongst Christians.
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I can remember as a child, many Christians commenting about presidential candidates and lamenting or praising them based on whether they viewed homosexuality as sinful or not.
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So my follow-up question is this, if homosexuality is a sin like all others, then why do Christians put more emphasis on it than they do promiscuity, drunkenness, or gluttony, to name a few? Does homosexuality present larger ramifications if left unchecked? What's the reasons behind it getting so much more attention? I'm fairly certain I know the answer, but many may not.
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And as iron sharpens iron, perhaps you've got insights I've overlooked.
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All right, Richard, I want to thank you.
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I know you're a listener, so I want to thank you for sending that question in through Facebook, and I want to address that question now.
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First of all, I want to, as I was thinking about your question and thinking about how you framed it, I want to just say right off the bat that there are those who look at homosexuality as the sin of sins among Christians.
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They see it as the worst of the worst.
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And so it has to be considered to be just above all else.
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And I don't think that that is fair.
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I don't think it's right to take homosexuality and say this is a particular sin that's worse than, as you said, promiscuity, or drunkenness, or gluttony, or any other sin.
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Homosexuality is a sin.
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But that's the issue at hand.
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The issue at hand is that many outside of the church and inside of the church are saying that homosexuality is not a sin.
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They're either saying that it's a lifestyle choice, or they're saying that it is a righteous behavior to engage in.
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And it's not just anymore about acceptance.
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It's about glorying, or affirming, or saying that it is a good lifestyle.
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And that's the problem that many of us have regarding homosexuality.
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And that's where the distinction lies between it and something like gluttony, or promiscuity, or drunkenness, or any other sin.
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When we think about the sin of lying, for instance, that seems to be one sin that the world continues to at least affirm is wrong.
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The world continues to say, at least on the surface, that lying is wrong.
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I've even heard people say, you know, well yes, of course I hurt someone, but at least I didn't lie about it.
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Or yes, I cheated on my spouse, but at least I didn't lie about it.
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Or yes, I did this or that, but at least I didn't lie about it.
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So it seems as if the world still affirms, at least on the surface, the concept that lying is wrong.
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We still have it as part of our law.
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You cannot lie in court.
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It's perjury.
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If somebody lies to another person, that can often break a relationship.
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Lying is wrong.
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Believers know it.
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Unbelievers know it.
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It's very common, and I think a right understanding, that if you are a liar, you are wrong.
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So imagine somebody comes along and somebody says, lying's not wrong.
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Lying is good.
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Lying is healthy.
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Lying is a lifestyle that I want to make my lifestyle.
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I want to make this how I live my life.
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I want to be an active liar, and I want to be in a relationship with another liar, and we're going to do nothing but lie.
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And we're going to be just absolute deceivers all the time, and we're going to live in a state of absolute deception.
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Now of course I'm exercising what might be referred to as the absurd, because I'm using an absurd example, but sometimes this is a way, a rhetoric, a rhetorical way of describing a situation, because what I'm doing is I am describing a situation that is, I think, at least similar to what is happening in regard to the issue of homosexuality.
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Because within the subject of homosexuality, someone is not saying that we need to accept repentant homosexuals.
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What they're saying is that homosexuals do not need to repent.
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What they're saying is that homosexuality is not a sin.
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They're saying that this lifestyle is good and right and wholesome, and it needs to be not only, as I said, accepted, but it needs to be glorified.
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And so now you see the problem.
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The problem is not that it's a sin that's necessarily worse than other sins, but what it is is that it is a sin that is being regarded as not a sin.
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It's being regarded as something that is good and wholesome and right, and right away you see the problem, because this is where we get to the question of Scripture.
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Does the Scripture say that homosexual activity is a sin? I would say absolutely and without question, and I would point to specific passages such as Romans 1, which talks about how when God gives someone over to a debased mind, one of the things that we see as a result of that is not only homosexuality between men, but women as well, and we see that in Romans 1.
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And then we see in 1 Corinthians 6, there's a listing of sins.
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Paul says, here are some sins, and such were some of you.
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He references a whole litany of things, and among those he uses the language of homosexuality.
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Now there are those who have made the argument that these statements are not about homosexuality.
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There is a movement, and I must say I'm upset by the use of language, because I'm a Reformed Christian, and there is a movement called the Reformation Project.
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And I think they've absconded with the name, Reformation.
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But the Reformation Project is meant to try to normalize homosexual behavior and try to reinterpret passages like Romans 1, 1 Corinthians 6, and try to say that they're not talking about homosexuals that are in a loving, committed, monogamous relationship, but they're talking about homosexual abusers, people who abuse others in a homosexual way, and those who argue for this argue for a particular social situation that was happening, particularly in the time of Paul in the first century, and they said this is what Paul is addressing.
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He's not addressing committed, monogamous, homosexual relationships.
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But my response to that would be nowhere in the Bible is homosexuality ever painted in a positive light.
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It is always in the light of unnatural and perverse.
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It is never natural and wholesome and good.
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And when Jesus describes what it means to be in a marriage relationship, Matthew 19, he clearly says that a man and a woman make a marriage relationship.
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One man, for this very reason, a man shall leave his father and mother, and again, that was a man and a woman, so a man shall leave his father and mother, shall join to his wife, cleave unto his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.
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There is a natural pairing between man and woman that is not natural between man and woman and woman.
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There is a man and a man are a mirror image of one another.
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They are not complementary.
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Their relationship is not according to nature.
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And again, if you're homosexual and you're listening to this, please understand, I truly do love you.
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I truly do.
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I would pray that you would hear my words as not condemning you as an individual and saying you are a terrible person.
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I'm not saying that.
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I'm saying that this action is a sinful action, this behavior is a sinful behavior, and God calls us to repent of our sins.
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And so if you come to me, and I have had this happen, I've had this happen over the years, I've had people come to me and they say, I struggle with homosexual desire.
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Okay, I want to pray for you, I want to encourage you to resist sin.
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The Bible says flee fornication, flee sin.
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So I want to encourage you and pray for you and be a person who loves you.
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I'm not just going to kick you out onto the street.
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I'm not just going to say I hate you because I don't.
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And I want to be there as an encouragement to that person.
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And that's different than someone who comes and says I'm an active homosexual, I'm living a homosexual lifestyle, and God wants this for me, this is the way God made me.
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I would say no, I reject that idea, I don't believe that it's true, I don't believe that you are this way, and this is the only way you can be, and there's no repentance.
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And again, I know that some listening to this might think that I'm archaic, but I do believe God can save a homosexual out of homosexuality.
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I believe the Bible teaches that, I believe we see that.
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There are people that this has clearly happened in their life.
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Rosaria Butterfield is a good example of this.
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And if you've never heard of Rosaria Butterfield, I would encourage you to look at her and at some of what she has written.
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My wife and I last year read a book, The Gospel Comes with a House Key.
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At some point we will probably give a review of that book because it's important.
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I think what she said, she has a lot of good things to say in that book.
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I don't agree with every single thing that she says, and that's why it would be a review.
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We'd have an opportunity to discuss some of what she said.
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But as a person, she's a person who was an active homosexual living in a community of homosexuals and she has repented.
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She's now the wife of an elder in a Presbyterian church, I think, I think I'm saying that correctly.
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And so here's an example of this, and so it's not unprecedented, it's not unfounded, and those who would say, once a homosexual, always a homosexual, you cannot ever leave that community, you cannot ever leave that feeling or that desire, I think that's wrong.
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I think God can change a heart, I think God can give you new desires, and this is my position on the issue, is that it is a sin that needs to be repented of, and that is a struggle.
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We all have sins that we struggle with, and so that would be the difference, I think, between a person who came and said, this is something I struggle with, okay brother, let me help you with the struggle, let me love you, let me encourage you, brother, sister, whoever you are, let's fight this battle together, versus someone who says, I don't need to fight the battle, it's wholesome, it's right, it's good.
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It would be the same to me as if somebody came into my office and said, you know what, I'm a liar, I'm a happy liar, I'm happy in my lifestyle of deception, and I'm going to continue to be a liar, I would say, you need to repent, you are living in unrepentant sin, this is dangerous, turn and flee, and run to Christ.
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And so, that is, I think, the major difference that I would see.
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And now I want to address another issue, because in the question that Richard asked, he asked, do people put more emphasis on this, and I've given you the reason why I think why.
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I think the difference is because when you say it's not a sin, then it has to receive a different emphasis, because it's being explained differently.
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That's the first thing.
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But there are people, I think, who have an aversion to homosexuality for unbiblical reasons, and they do have a certain, I hate to use the word prejudice, but it really is, they find homosexuality icky, and they don't have a biblical basis, they don't know what the Bible says, they don't care what the Bible says, they just don't like gay people.
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I think that's wrong.
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I think that we should love people, even people that we might find their particular lifestyle distasteful, because they are image bearers of God.
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And so we have a responsibility to love them, and this is why I would never hold up a sign that, like those from the church up north, I forget the name of it, but you know, the one that says God hates fags.
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When I see that, I say that is not the way.
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I don't believe that is the way that we should be seeking to encourage people.
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Now I have other friends who will go to events like pride events, and they will preach the gospel, but they preach the gospel in a loving way, and an encouraging way, and trying to call people out of sin.
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Now the thing is, the people at the pride event, they don't make the distinction.
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They see the people with the signs that say God hates fags in the same way as they would see someone who's offering them a loving appeal with the gospel.
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So I'm not saying they're going to see us the distinction, but we should know the distinction.
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As Christians, do you have a family member, I ask you this if you're a believer, do you have a family member who's caught up in a homosexual lifestyle, what is your attitude toward them? Do you say, oh I don't want to talk to them, I don't want to have anything to do with them, or are you lovingly appealing to them with the gospel? I think it's a very important question.
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And so I hope that this has brought some clarity on the issue.
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Perhaps in a future episode I will take an opportunity to go through Romans 1, go through 1 Corinthians 6, deal with those texts more, but because of a lack of time I'm not going to be able to do that today, but I do want to leave you with one resource.
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I want to leave you with this.
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If you have never read Dr.
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Michael Brown's A Queer Thing Happened to America, I would encourage you to read it.
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Now let me say this, I know that some of you have issues with Michael Brown, I do too.
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He's charismatic, I don't really care for some of his teaching, but on this subject he has no peer.
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He has done the research, he has done the study, he has done the legwork, and the man is a scholar.
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No matter how you feel about his theology, he is a scholar.
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And Dr.
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Michael Brown's A Queer Thing Happened to America is one of the most important books I ever read on this subject, and I will be doing a review of that one day in the future.
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So if you want to learn more about the subject of the homosexual agenda, and how these things are being pushed in our world, and even within the Church, and how the Bible responds to these things, then I would encourage you to look up Dr.
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Michael Brown's A Queer Thing Happened to America.
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So again, thank you for listening today.
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I hope that this has answered your question well, Richard, and I hope that this has been an encouragement to you, our listeners.
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Again, thank you so much.
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My name is Keith Foskey, and I've been your Calvinist.
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May God bless you.
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Thank you for joining in for today's episode of Coffee with a Calvinist.
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Keep in mind, we have a new lesson available every weekday morning at 6.30 AM on YouTube and Facebook.
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If you enjoyed this lesson, please take a moment to respond by hitting the like button, leaving a comment, and subscribing to the channel.
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On behalf of Pastor Foskey, thank you for listening.
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May God bless you.