Apparently he has been struggling with this sin since his youth. He came to Christ and hoped that would cure him, but he says although he married and had children the feelings have never gone away. He broke the news to his family over 4 years ago, but has not gone public with it until a couple weeks ago. He is now divorced from his wife and living a homosexual lifestyle.
Especially discouraging is that this is not just something that he continues to struggle with. He has apparently completely embraced it and deceived himself into believing it's okay. In a recent interview he said,
If this is the way God made me, then this is the way I’m going to live. It’s not like God made me this way and he’ll send me to hell if I am who he created me to be … I really feel closer to God because I no longer hate myself.
There are a number of different ways we can respond to this and things to think about, but I have one particular thought I want to address. It seems too many Christians, as they get older, fall headlong into some sin or another, or simply fall away from the Lord(can't think of any other specific cases offhand). It's another clear reminder of how weak we really are and how much we need to keep clinging to our Saviour and to one another as believers. We need to be constantly aware that the possibility is there for all of us to become deceived and fall away. I cringe when I hear people say that it won't happen to them. Being aware that it can happen is half the battle.
Eugene Petersen titled one of his books, A Long Obedience in the Same Direction. He borrowed the phrase from Friedrich Nietzsche. The Bible uses words like steadfastness, perseverance, faithfulness. May we do our part and trust God to do His so that we can stay true for a lifetime.
Dave
2 comments:
It is always sad when a Christian gives in to temptation and chooses to fall away from God. Yes, we all do it, some from time to time, others more persistently. I know we put more of a focus on it when it is sexual in nature (and if I'm not mistaken, so does the Bible; but one thing that I really feel is important is that we do not "write off" people because of these sexual offenses. A comment in our pastor's sermon today, referring to how a prophet is never welcome in his hometown asked how likely members of the church would be to embrace a spiritual leader from our church, someone they knew and grew up with. I found myself thinking it would be fine as he listed off the offenses we might know about such a person, until he got to the offense of a woman who had gotten pregnant as a young teen. Would we really be willing to accept a great spiritual leader knowing she had been sexually promiscuous? I'm not going to answer this here, but when I read your post it got me thinking about these things.
I think it is a shame that we too often discard a life because of such faults. This man needs our prayers that he will come back to God and continue to persevere as he once did.
One thing I was wondering from your post was this: you say he was struggling with this sin for a long time and was wondering if you knew if he was continually failing to temptation or if you thought that homosexual feelings were a sin unto themselves. I would disagree with the latter, and from the rest of what you said he was steadfast in his resolution to follow God until a few years ago.
In answer to Jonathan's questions about if I know if Ray was continually giving in to temptation and if I think that homosexual feelings in themselves are sin: The impression from reading the article is that he did not give in to this temptation during his marriage. I don't know that for sure. Concerning the other issue about whether the feelings are sin, I would say it depends on what those feelings were. If he was lusting for another guy, I believe that is sin as much as opposite-sex-lusting is sin according to Jesus. I think this area is different from other areas. If a former alcoholic is desiring a drink but doesn't go and get drunk is that sin? I don't think so, but if a guy is desiring a woman he isn't married to, that is sin(Matthew 5:28). It seems to me that would be the case in this sexual area regardless if it's hetero or homo sexual.
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