Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these the wrath of God is coming. In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all. | Colossians 3.5-11
Yesterday, I addressed the concept that Christians should be known by their love. I have also laid out the Christian view of marriage and why Christians are so apt to defend it. This brings us to the next question usually brought up: why this sin? Is there a reason why Christians are so focused on homosexuality specifically?
This question usually comes in one of two ways. The first way this question is asked is in relation to the OT laws. Why do Christians pick and choose what laws they are going to follow and which ones they aren’t? The answer to this has to do with understanding what the law was given for: revelation of who God is, moral guidance (protection), civil order, and ceremonial practice (Tim Keller wrote a great article on this: http://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/making-sense-of-scriptures-inconsistency). The moral law is eternal, the civil order was specific for the Jewish people, and the ceremonial laws were given to prepare people for the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. The reason why Christians don’t follow all of the OT laws is because they aren’t Jewish people in ancient times living under the temporary law, but are Christians living under the law of grace (Galatians 2.19-21).
The second way that the question of other sins is brought up has to do with hypocritical Christians: no one is without sin, why does this one get so much attention? The reason why it gets a lot of attention right now is because it is in the news. Christians had not been asked in the past to legally and financially support homosexuality and to celebrate the institution of same-sex unions. The reason there is a spotlight on it right now is because there is a spotlight on it right now (see the rainbow colors on your Facebook feed). It wasn’t Christians who took this case to the Supreme Court or who felt the need to make it the big issue of the day.
This does not take away the accusation that Christians are hypocrites. Christians are called to flee from sin and push back against things done in rebellion to God and His design for creation. They fail. You could take the list above and walk into any church and find someone who is struggling with the very thing listed…but they are struggling. The current narrative on homosexuality asks Christians NOT to struggle, even more, to accept what God calls sin; in marriage, it asks Christians to celebrate sin.
The issue isn’t just the sin of homosexuality; it is that Christians do not want to be part of encouraging sin in any way (and are specifically warned not to in Romans 1). If you think that this is the only sin Christians care about, you should come to church some time.