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To: mkjessup
The church doors should be open to all sinners (all of us have fallen short). However, the expectation should never be that sin will be condoned among a gathering of believers.

The idea, rather, should be that sinners invited into the church would be convicted of their sins, repent, confess and believe on Christ as their savior. Their repentance implies a turning away from their sins and that they would in the words of Christ: "Go and sin no more."

If Rev Osteen has opened the doors of his church to homosexuals based upon the above principles, more power to him and his congregation. If, on the other hand, he opened the doors of his church to homosexuals with the idea that he is implying that their sins should be ignored, then he is committing a grave error of, both, judgement and faith.
13 posted on 06/12/2008 6:33:07 AM PDT by Lucky Dog
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To: Lucky Dog

“The church doors should be open to all sinners (all of us have fallen short). However, the expectation should never be that sin will be condoned among a gathering of believers.

The idea, rather, should be that sinners invited into the church would be convicted of their sins, repent, confess and believe on Christ as their savior. Their repentance implies a turning away from their sins and that they would in the words of Christ: “Go and sin no more.”

Thank you, I completely agree. Everyone should be allowed in the House of God. So many times, Christians react toward gay people with an especially judgmental attitude. While homosexuality is most certainly a sin, many other sins are ranked up there equally with it, according to the verse below. There are many sitting on church pews guilty of many of the following:

Corinthians 6:9-10 – “Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.”

However, if these preachers pander, preach a politically correct gospel, and deceive people into believing their sins are acceptable, they will be accountable to God on Judgment Day.


33 posted on 06/12/2008 6:59:10 AM PDT by chickpundit
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To: Lucky Dog
The church doors should be open to all sinners (all of us have fallen short). However, the expectation should never be that sin will be condoned among a gathering of believers. The idea, rather, should be that sinners invited into the church would be convicted of their sins, repent, confess and believe on Christ as their savior. Their repentance implies a turning away from their sins and that they would in the words of Christ: "Go and sin no more."

Exactly. I would assume that all churches, and certainly all churches that follow Jesus, would welcome homosexuals every Sunday. I know my church would welcome them. We also welcome those guilty of adultery, and a broad range of otherwise imperfect Christians. I'm not sure why this would be news.

There is a difference between welcoming homosexuals, adulterers, Clinton-supporters, or any other group of sinners, and rewriting scripture or pretending that their actions are not clearly addressed in the Bible.A reformed tax collector once wrote:

[Matt 9:9-14] As Jesus passed on from there, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax office; and he said to him, "Follow me." And he rose and followed him. And as he sat at table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat down with Jesus and his disciples. And when the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, "Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?" But when he heard it, he said, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. Go and learn what this means, 'I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.' For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners."

35 posted on 06/12/2008 7:00:44 AM PDT by RogerD (Educaiton Profesionul)
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