why gays won’t go to hell
There have been several debates lately on the OpenDiary message boards about gay marriage, and what some of the parents around here would do if their child came out to them as gay. Of course, there are people throwing around Scriptures about why homosexuality is a sin. One of my very good friends [Missing Nine Minutes] posted the following reply, which I thought was very good, and she gave me permission to reprint it here. Now I won’t go into my beliefs, because I still haven’t figured it all out myself, but I think this is a very good Bibically-based counterargument for the “homosexuals will go to hell” argument:
warning: religious essay to follow, using the text that has come into play to shine a little more light on the subject.
romans 2:1 (following a long list of acts that displease God, including “disobedience to parents” and “envy”) — therefore you are inexcusable, o man, whoever you are who judge, for in whatever you judge another you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things.
translation: everyone does bad things. if you judge another person for doing something wrong, the judgment that you imagine for them might as well fall on your head because you’re not blameless either.
romans 3:9-11 — what then? are we better than they? not at all. for we have previously charged both jews and greeks [gentiles] that they are all under sin. as it is written: “there is none righteous, no not one; there is none who understands; there is none who seeks after God.”
translation: are God’s chosen people better then those others? no — all people sin equally regardless of their religion of choice. no matter what you profess to believe, God knows you’ll still screw up. you will never be without sin.
romans 3:20 — therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin.
translation: under the old law, no one will be good enough to get into heaven and enter God’s presence. (and my own personal take — all sins are equal in God’s eyes. doesn’t whether you’re madly jealous over my sexy razr phone, or want to get into my pants. to God that’s all the same proof that we’re flawed.)
romans 3:21-24 — but now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed (1), being witnessed by the law and the prophets, even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. for there is no difference; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (2), being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus (3).
translation: three parts here.
1. now we show you how cool God is.
2. even though no one is perfect (and — here it is again — there is no difference between our imperfections),
3. Jesus Christ offers redemption.
if you’re a christian, you already believe that the way a person can be saved is by believing in and personally accepting the sacrifice that Christ made for all of humanity. we don’t have to be perfect to accept that (thank goodness, right?). he made that sacrifice for everyone, knowing how much we as a species tend to screw up. but the type of sin we all do everyday is not a factor in that salvation.
go ahead if you like and believe that being gay is a sin. personally, i’m so flawed by my extremely religious upbringing that half the time i believe that my typical married-people-type-of-sex is wrong (not to mention my bisexuality), so the issue confuses my little brain. i make so many mistakes that i don’t think i need a checklist.
but by your own religious doctrine, isn’t this the end of the being-gay-equals-eternal-damnation argument? let’s put it another way: have you ever disobeyed your parents? there you go — in God’s eyes that’s the same as having sex with a girl. biblically speaking, it’s all sin and all forgiven by the grace of God in whom you have chosen to put your trust.
all text is taken from the new king james translation.
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