by Shannon Rayford

Created on: February 21, 2009   Last Updated: March 06, 2009

Leviticus 18:22 states, "Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination." Many Christian churches have banned membership to those who are homosexual. Some have chosen to give homosexuals counseling to cure them of their homosexual urges. These churches do these things and use this quote from Leviticus to back up their actions and beliefs, yet I do not understand why they have picked this sin to focus on rather than the many other sins mentioned in the Bible.

Matthew 19:9 says, "And I say unto you, Whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication, and shall marry another, committeth adultery: and whoso marrieth her which is put away doth commit adultery," but there are many churches that have preachers that have been divorced and remarried and there are many preachers who perform marriage ceremonies for those members who get remarried. My point is if the Bible says this is wrong then how come the church, and the government for that matter, has not made a rule or law that no one can get divorced except in the case of infidelity? How come they haven't made it a rule or law that those who have been married can not remarry? In fact, adultery is mentioned fifty- two times in the Bible, while homosexuality is only mentioned twelve times, so why do we focus on the latter?

1 Timothy 5:8 says, "If any one does not provide for his relatives, and especially for his own family, he has disowned the faith and is worse than an infidel," so how come the church has not denied membership to deadbeat parents? Why do we not hear about churches giving counseling sessions to those that are not taking care of their families to cure them of their sinful ways?

Believe it or not I am a heterosexual female and I am not sure if homosexuality is right or wrong. I just know it is wrong for me and I am sure that these people have a personal relationship with God just as I do. What upsets me is when people go through the Bible and pick out those sins that don't apply to them and focus only on those. I'm sure that everyone can find a passage in the Bible that says something we have done in our lives is sinful, whether it be divorce, homosexuality, adultery, or anything else. If we, as Christians, decide it is our job to determine what kind of people are worthy of entering the doors of the church, then their should be a lot of empty churches around. If the government wants to decide who can and can't be married, then their should be a lot of single people and miserably married people in the world.

We see many people using these Christians sayings such as, "What would Jesus do." Do you think Jesus would ban people from the church? Of course not. Jesus dined with tax collectors and talked to prostitutes. I do not believe He would treat homosexuals as we treat them. And we must remember one of His most famous quotes, "He that is without sin among you, let him cast the first stone." (John 8:7)

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