Kindle Location: 583-589
"She said: 'Rosaria, if people in my church really believed that gay people could be transformed by Christ, they wouldn't talk about us or pray about is in the hateful way they do.'
Christian reader, is this what people say about you when they hear you talk and pray? Do your prayers rise no higher than your prejudice?
I think that churches would be places of greater intimacy and growth in Christ if people stopped lying about what we need, what we fear, where we fail, and how we sin. I think that many of us have a hard time believing the God we believe in, when the going gets tough. And I suspect that instead of seeking counsel and direction from those stronger in the Lord, we retreat into our isolation and shame and let the sin wash over us, defeating us again. Or maybe we muscle through on our pride. Do we really believe that the word of God is a double-edge sword, cutting between the spirit and the soul? Or do we use the word of God as a cue card to commandeer only our external behavior?"
Kindle Location: 602-607
"The world's eyes register what a life in Christ takes away, but how do I communicate all that it gives? Do I really believe, in Charles Bridges' words, 'The very chains of Christ are glorious' (Proverbs 33). Peter, after being beaten for preaching the gospel, rejoiced that he was 'counted worthy to suffer shame for [Christ's] name' (Acts 5:41). I pondered this. To the world, this is masochism. To the Christian, this is freedom. Did I really believe this? Do I really believe this today?"
Kindle Location: 660 - 688
"Pride combined with wealth leads to idleness because you falsely feel that God just wants you to have fun; if unchecked, this sin will grow into entertainment-driven lust; if unchecked, this sin will grow into hardness of heart that declares other people's problems no responsibility or care of your own; if unchecked, we become bold in our sin and feel entitled to live selfish lives fueled by the twin values of our culture: acquiring and achieving. Modesty and discretion are not old-fashioned values. They are God's standards that help us to encourage one another in good works, not covetousness.
You might notice that there is nothing inherently sexual about any of these sins: pride, wealth, entertainment-driven focus, lack of mercy, lack of modesty. We like to think that sin is contained by categories of logic or psychology. It's not. So why do we assume that sexual sin has sexual or affectual origins? That is because we have too narrow a focus about sexuality's purview. Sexuality isn't about what we do in bed. Sexuality encompasses a whole range of needs, demands, and desires. Sexuality is more a symptom of our life's condition than a cause, more a consequence than an origin.
Importantly, we don't see God making fun of homosexuality or regarding it as a different, unusual, or exotic sin. What we see instead is God's warning: if you indulge the sins of pride, wealth, entertainment-lust, lack of mercy, and lack of discretion, you will find yourself deep in sin--and the type of sin may surprise you. That sin may attach itself to a pattern of life closely or loosely linked to this list. While sin is not contained by logical categories of progression, nonetheless, sin is progressive. That is, while sin does not stay contained by type or trope, if ignored, excused, or enjoyed, sin grows and spreads like Poison Ivy.
But God is a God of mercy, redemption, second-chances, and salvation. And therefore, when Jesus uses Sodom as an example during his ministry on earth, the example reveals that God is angrier at the religious people of Jesus' day than the inhabitants of Sodom. Jesus says this to God's people in Capernaum:
And you, Capernaum, who are exalted to heaven, will be brought to Hades; for if the mighty works which
were done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. But I say to you that it
shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgement than for you. (Matthew 11:23-24)
Jesus tells us clearly that had Sodom seen God's power manifested before them as Capernaum had, they would have repented and lived. Jesus' injunction that God is more greatly grieved by the sins of those who claim to know him than by those who know him not, struck a chord for me. There is a fairness and capaciousness to Jesus' words that simply is not reflected in modern evangelical culture. We see this capaciousness reflected in Jesus' invitation noted in the chapter's end. Jesus declares: 'Comes to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light' (Matthew 11:28-30). These passages also convinced me that homosexuality--like all sin--is symptomatic and not causal--that is, it tells us where our heart has been, not who we inherently are or what we are destined to become."
- Rosaria Butterfield
from: http://www.amazon.com/Secret-Thoughts-Unlikely-Convert/dp/1884527388/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1360442237&sr=1-1&keywords=the+secret+thoughts+of+an+unlikely+convert
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