Saturday, 30 September 2017

LOVE MEANS NOT EXCUSING SIN (Letter to Dom Post, Oct 1)



I feel sorry for women who can’t marry each other (Knockback for couple on wedding, September 30), in their church of choice, but Christ made it very clear: Christians must obey Church teaching.
 
Rev Jenny Dawson makes the common mistake of conflating love and charity. “Love” means many things to many people but for Jesus it meant only the love of God (charity), which includes love for everyone. True Christian “inclusiveness” means loving God in all people as Jesus did, but not excusing sin in anyone, as Jesus himself did not.
 
And when I say “God” I mean the God of Moses who proscribed homosexual acts as an abomination, and the God of Sts Paul, Timothy, Jude and Peter who all reiterated this divine teaching. Scripture itself would seem to be very good reason why “the mainstream churches in New Zealand have struggled” with this issue. There’s pain involved, yes; but Christians follow Christ, who died in pain on a cross.
 
As to Pope Francis and his opinions on LGBTQ people, Pope Francis is not the Church. And “accepting and embracing” doesn’t mean condoning.
 
As to the plight of the Paekakariki Protestants, most likely a heterodox church somewhere will be happy to bless them soon.

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