msnbc.msn.com — ARLINGTON, Texas - A mega-church canceled a memorial service for a Navy veteran 24 hours before it was to start because the deceased was gay.Officials at the non-denominational High Point Church knew that Cecil Howard Sinclair was gay when they offered to host his service, but after his obituary listed his life partner, it was called off.
Aug 11, 2007 View in Crawl 4
Closed AccountAug 12, 2007
I was at work ;)
proseandpromiseAug 12, 2007
Because Jesus believed and taught things as though truth existed. When he was with lepers and prosititutes he loved them, but he called sin sin. He said to prostitutes "go and sin no more." He called out the woman at the well who was living with her husband. He doesn't do this just so she knows that he knows about it and is ok with it. He calls it out to provide an answer. He came for the sick, but he came to make them well and to show a different way of living. That's why the early church called itself "The Way." Now to do somethign for someone who was still sick, who was unrepentant, that was reserved for members of the way (like a funeral) would have been difficult to jive with Christ's devotion to calling people to change.
proseandpromiseAug 12, 2007
Sin isn't really the issue. Repentence is. That's always the issue. You guys are half-right. Everyone has sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. The question isn't that - it is how the homosexual lifestyle reflects on repentance. I couldn't be a Christian and go on lying without regret. Nor could I go on cheating on my wife. The Bible is clear about unrepentant sin. Read 1 Corinthians. In the church I work at, before I got here, someone was asked to leave the congregation because they refused to stop cheating on their wife, or to admit that that was sinful. When sin is brought to our attention and we consciously choose to not even attempt to change course we are disregarding grace, the spirit, and potentially salvation. The Bible is clear that ongoing, unreprentant sin is a qualifier from temporary removal from the Body of the CHurch. Part of that is that the rites of the church aren't administered. THis is just good Biblical Ecclesiology. Part of this church's problem was bad ecclesiology. Offering to do the service for someone that they didn't know reflects that they don't hold a funeral service in as high a regard as they probably should. And so it certainly makes there sudden moral judgement look suspiciously political, but at the core, the move was Biblical.
fondlesackwiAug 13, 2007
I guess that means you could decide to go gay then too, if you wanted. You must be attracted to the same sex also, if they are. I know I made a choice to be Heterosexual, didn't we all? I wonder how many gay people you really know. I know a few, and they sure don't talk about the day they woke up and decided to go gay just for the hell of it. You would have to be absolutely nuts to do something like that in this homophobic hell hole that we live on!!! (not that I believe in Hell)
ellabeeAug 13, 2007
BRAVO