Friday, January 19, 2018

How Can a Perfect God Call the LGBT Lifestyle Sin?

The following is an edited email conversation with a college student asking for help in sharing biblical truth with a friend who has embraced our culture’s view on the LBGT lifestyle. My hope in sharing this is to give you some logical principles and arguments against popular culture’s false assumptions. My hope is that this will prompt more thought and dialog in your sphere of influence about how you might be more winsome yet courageous to speak the truth into the darkness of this enslaving philosophy. 

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Hi Mr. Kloter, quick question. I’m talking with someone about God. They are a massive supporter of LGBT. 

How can a perfect God can call the LGBT lifestyle sinful when it’s something they can’t change about themselves?

I know we’re supposed to love them and point them to Christ and all, but how can they be Christians while ignoring/participating in sin they can’t really change?
Can an LGBT person be a Christian since repentance means the need to turn from and avoid LGBT behaviors?

I know I can be forgiven for my own sins and with God’s help and with encouragement from others, I can fight and begin to conquer that sin, but a LGBT person can’t really just not be gay anymore can they?

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Dear __________,

First, consider the presuppositions of the person/people you're engaging.

1. He/she is making judgements about God's standards.  Consider asking, "What standard are you using to determine right/wrong or good/bad?" You need to learn the source of their truths/beliefs. Help them understand that your truth-source is from the God who made you/them. 

2. The label "gay" is not helpful.  A wiser way to think of people is whether they’re lost or saved, believer or unbeliever, child of God, lover of God or enemy of God. This helps us think of the LGBT person as “on the same bench” as any other individual. Their struggles and temptations are not unique from others at the root level (Rom. 3:23; 1 Cor. 10:13).

3. Therefore, I would argue that “gay” or LGBT is not an identity. These labels simply describe attitudes and desires of the heart that manifest themselves in predominant ways. When a sinner is saved, he/she is radically transformed, they are a “new creature,” they are no longer defined by the beliefs, habits and behaviors of their past (1 Cor. 6:9-16; 2 Cor. 5:17). The transforming grace of the Gospel makes people new and different with new insights, wisdom, desires, and power to change to become more like their Lord (Phil. 2:12-13). 

4. Consider discussing the fact that if he/she is able to make judgement claims, they must also allow for the fact that God is not only free to make his own judgements, but has the authority to do so as Creator.

5. He/she described God as perfect, so you have common ground. A perfect God’s Word is also perfect, without blemish, flaw or error. Furthermore, God's perfect word does not lack anything that you would need to know in order to deal with this issue, or any other, for that matter.

6. Since God’s Word is perfect, then God's perspective on homosexuality is perfect when He calls it sin (Lev. 18:22, 20:13; Rom. 1:26-27; 1 Cor. 6:9-10).

7. Note that he/she assumes that homosexuality is a genetic predisposition. On what basis is he/she making this claim? How does he/she know this? What is their truth source? Even if science may discover a gene that is more common in those with this predisposition, it doesn’t change God’s “predisposition on homosexuality. He calls it sin. He calls the sinner to confess, repent and turn from sin and turn towards righteousness. He offered His son in love to enable the homosexual to be free from this and to enjoy fellowship with Him.

8. He/she assumes that homosexual behaviors cannot be changed. This is true. Their only hope is to repent and believe the Gospel. God does not command a change without giving them the power to do so. That power is given as a gift of grace through the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of His Son, so that the LGBT might live in a harmonious relationship with this perfect God. That's not unloving, that's amazing.

9. He/she claims God is unfair. This is correct; God IS unfair. He offered his sinless son to die for people who hate and reject him. He offered his sinless son to die for people who are sinners and deserve Hell. That is the greatest act of unfairness recorded in human history.

10.  He/she asks for fairness. Fair treatment of sinners by a perfect God would mean their eternal punishment. Every human deserves Hell, nothing more, nothing less (Rom. 3:23, 6:23).

11.  All sinners, including the LGBT (they are not unique 1 Cor. 10:13), can become a Christian by repenting of sin (turning from their sin and rejecting their own self-righteousness) and trusting fully in the righteous life of Christ for their own righteousness, and trusting fully that Jesus' blood paid their eternal debt.


12.  Any person who truly has been "born from above" (Jn. 3:3) will grow in hatred towards sin (Pr.13:5), including LGBT thinking and behaviors (Eph. 4:17-24), and they will grow in their desire to grow in holiness (Ps. 40:8).


Kent Kloter

Friday, January 12, 2018

The Five Steps to Making the Most of Your Time: Why I Don’t Do New Year’s Resolutions



I’m not a tremendous fan of New Year’s Resolutions. In the last week or so, Casey and I have seen the population surge and dwindle at our favorite fitness center. 

I am a bigger fan of Ephesians 5:15–16 which says, 
[15] Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, [16] making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. (ESV)

I like to use my time wisely, and I have tried so many methods, it could make your head spin. I think I have finally found one that works, is easy to follow, and is easy to replicate. I have tried explaining it to a handful of folks, and no one has fallen asleep yet, so stay with me.

Here are my five steps to making the most of your time:
1) Start from the Bottom Up. 
See the diagram in this post. Resolve that your purpose in life is to glorify God—nothing else. Consider passages of Scripture like 1 Corinthians 10:31, 2 Corinthians 5:9, Psalm 1:1-2, and Ephesians 2:8-9 as passages that can firm up that resolve.

2) Your Roles and Responsibilities Flow Up From Your Purpose. 
Make a list of all of your roles and responsibilities. There are personal roles...
Child of God
Husband
Father
Son/Brother
Neighbor
etc.

And there are ministry roles...
Elder overseeing Outreach Ministries, Buddy Program, Community Compassion Ministries, etc.

You might have others…
Work team manager
Coach
Rotary Club member
etc.

3) Decide a Time Period for God-Glorifying Projects Related to Roles/Responsibilities.
I decide upon projects I can accomplish for every role during a certain time period. It is easy for me to think fall, spring, and summer semester, but it might be easier for you to think about quarters. You decide. Some roles have multiple projects, some have one, and some may not have a project for your current time period. 
I list these projects at the start of each semester.
Some samples are...
Child of God:
Study Colossians for 2-3 hours a week.
Memorize a passage of Scripture every two weeks.
Read spiritual books for at least a half hour 4 times a week in the evenings 
Etc.

Elder overseeing Outreach Ministries:
Ask someone or a couple to direct the Donut Run and Run for the House
Ask someone or a couple to direct Community Days summer outreach
Contact care leaders about getting an outreach coordinator for each group
Plan out spring semester schedule for a class called: Making Convos Gospel-Centered
Etc.

Some of your projects might have multiple steps. If so, write out each step.

4) Make a Weekly To Do List
In the past, I could not tell you what I should start working on at the start of a week. My answer would have been, “Whatever is right in front of me.” I had no sense of priority. In step 4, go over your projects every Sunday night or Monday morning and make a weekly to do list. This helps you to not loose track of projects and also helps you know what is best for you to work on. This also helps me to think through what are the best things for me to do not only in my work, but also with home projects, discipling my kids, and planning time with Casey.


5) Make a Daily To Do List
Each morning, I look at my Weekly List and decide what to do that day. Of course some things are daily things (especially those related to being a Child of God), but not all are. I don’t put down too many things so I have some flex time to put out fires. 

Hope this helps! I use the Evernote app across all my Apple devices to do all of the above, but you could use paper and pencil for this if you wanted to. Let me know if I can help you!


Pastor Ben