How Conditional is Your Love? How Serious Is Your Sin?
I recently came across a video about a really unlikely friendship - a pornstar and a pastor.
Let's just think about that for a bit. A pornstar and a pastor, friends? And not just any pornstar, but one of the most famous pornstars in the industry. A really pleasant surprise. You can watch the video yourself down below.
It got me thinking - how quick are we to judge something as sinful and just leave it at that? In this case, porn. We tend to ignore and anything and anyone associated with pornography; it's all taboo. Realistically, it's because it makes people feel uncomfortable. I mean, how likely would it be to find a pastor preaching about pornography to an entire church, XXX Church excluded? But we can commonly talk about pride, jealousy, and bitterness because it's more acceptable and common.
I understand that there are age-appropriate topics and some churches are more conservative than others, but that doesn't mean the people at those churches any better or less sinful than the hookers down the street. The thing is we forget that sin is sin. No matter how big or little of a deal it is in our eyes. Sin separates us from God.
Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
It doesn't matter if everyone does it, it doesn't matter if no one sees it - God hates ALL sin. I'm so blessed and glad that people like Craig Gross and Mike Foster (founders of the XXXchurch) have been so touched by the love of Christ to begin this movement.
This is real love. This is the love of Christ! You know, Jesus sat down with prostitutes and whores and the diseased, he hung out with outcasts and genuinely loved and cared for them. He didn't let their sin stop him from loving them.
Since they thought it foolish to acknowledge God, he abandoned them to their foolish thinking and let them do things that should never be done. Their lives became full of every kind of wickedness, sin, greed, hate, envy, murder, quarreling, deception, malicious behavior, and gossip. They are backstabbers, haters of God, insolent, proud, and boastful. They invent new ways of sinning, and they disobey their parents. They refuse to understand, break their promises, are heartless, and have no mercy. They know God’s justice requires that those who do these things deserve to die, yet they do them anyway. Worse yet, they encourage others to do them, too.
How many times have you caught yourself being greedy? Being jealous? Lying? Gossiping? What about bragging about yourself? Breaking promises? Holding grudges? I'll tell you, Hitler didn't go to hell because he killed thousands of people and you're not damned to go to hell because you lied to your parents. Hitler, me, you, everyone, we're all damned to go to hell because we sin. Thankfully, that's not the end of the story; Jesus is our way out. (Here's where it can get kind of confusing for people who don't really know about the Gospel - see end of this post)
Our tendency to treat anything associated with porn as taboo has created the completely wrong assumption that Jesus doesn't love these people, and I think it's safe to say that this goes with the assumption that gay people are in the same position.
So let's set things straight (clearer, no pun intended): Sin is sin, no matter how serious or trivial it may seem. God created humans, who chose to be and do whatever they wanted - God doesn't like what they do. Jesus loves/d these people: porn stars, porn producers, murderers, rapists, sluts, gay people, straight people, breathing people, non-breathing people, bad drivers, crappy mayors, etc. He chose to intercede on their behalf so they wouldn't have to experience God's anger.
He continues to intercede on our behalf because he loves us no matter what we did and no matter what we do. All it takes is faith in him to get to heaven - you don't have to be a pastor, you don't have to pray the rosary, you don't even have to go to church. Your salvation, your guaranteed ticket to heaven, doesn't depend on how good of a person you are or how much money you give to the church.
Accept Jesus as your Saviour, genuinely ask him for forgiveness, and experience the life-changing grace of God in your life. You'll never be the same.
Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
So here's my attempt at explaining the Gospel...
See, God is completely perfect and hates sin. He created humans and gave them complete freedom. Satan, who pretends to be your friend but is your biggest enemy, tempts you to disobey God's commands. Because of this disobedience (aka sin), God got really angry. Eventually, God decided he would provide a way for people to dodge his wrath and avoid going to hell. He sent Jesus, who loved people selflessly and unconditionally, to die and show people what true love was. He was their Deliverer, their Messiah and lived a sinless life; though he was 100% human, he was also 100% divine (holy, perfect, godly). He did everything that God, through the Holy Spirit, commanded him to do; he performed miracles and told stories (fables/parables) that demonstrated what unconditional love was all about.
People loved him and people hated him, especially the government - yet he loved them all. So after tons of complaints about Jesus being a rebel and a law-breaker, they decided to give him the worst possible punishment that existed at the time: put him up on a hill, have him nailed to a cross, naked, and put a crown of thorns on his head, since he was a 'king'. He undeservingly endured the worst criminal's death. People mocked, spat on and whipped him. They said, 'If you're really a king, come down from the cross and save yourself' - he didn't. It seemed like the hugest defeat.
But it was on the Cross that Jesus took ALL of God's wrath upon himself so no one else had to (including everyone yet to exist). It's the people who accepted Jesus and believed in him as their Saviour who would end up in heaven after death. Jesus said He would come back to earth as a judge, and take everyone who had genuine faith in him; those who chose not to would be left to suffer and go to hell.
Let's just think about that for a bit. A pornstar and a pastor, friends? And not just any pornstar, but one of the most famous pornstars in the industry. A really pleasant surprise. You can watch the video yourself down below.
It got me thinking - how quick are we to judge something as sinful and just leave it at that? In this case, porn. We tend to ignore and anything and anyone associated with pornography; it's all taboo. Realistically, it's because it makes people feel uncomfortable. I mean, how likely would it be to find a pastor preaching about pornography to an entire church, XXX Church excluded? But we can commonly talk about pride, jealousy, and bitterness because it's more acceptable and common.
I understand that there are age-appropriate topics and some churches are more conservative than others, but that doesn't mean the people at those churches any better or less sinful than the hookers down the street. The thing is we forget that sin is sin. No matter how big or little of a deal it is in our eyes. Sin separates us from God.
Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
It doesn't matter if everyone does it, it doesn't matter if no one sees it - God hates ALL sin. I'm so blessed and glad that people like Craig Gross and Mike Foster (founders of the XXXchurch) have been so touched by the love of Christ to begin this movement.
This is real love. This is the love of Christ! You know, Jesus sat down with prostitutes and whores and the diseased, he hung out with outcasts and genuinely loved and cared for them. He didn't let their sin stop him from loving them.
Since they thought it foolish to acknowledge God, he abandoned them to their foolish thinking and let them do things that should never be done. Their lives became full of every kind of wickedness, sin, greed, hate, envy, murder, quarreling, deception, malicious behavior, and gossip. They are backstabbers, haters of God, insolent, proud, and boastful. They invent new ways of sinning, and they disobey their parents. They refuse to understand, break their promises, are heartless, and have no mercy. They know God’s justice requires that those who do these things deserve to die, yet they do them anyway. Worse yet, they encourage others to do them, too.
How many times have you caught yourself being greedy? Being jealous? Lying? Gossiping? What about bragging about yourself? Breaking promises? Holding grudges? I'll tell you, Hitler didn't go to hell because he killed thousands of people and you're not damned to go to hell because you lied to your parents. Hitler, me, you, everyone, we're all damned to go to hell because we sin. Thankfully, that's not the end of the story; Jesus is our way out. (Here's where it can get kind of confusing for people who don't really know about the Gospel - see end of this post)
Our tendency to treat anything associated with porn as taboo has created the completely wrong assumption that Jesus doesn't love these people, and I think it's safe to say that this goes with the assumption that gay people are in the same position.
So let's set things straight (clearer, no pun intended): Sin is sin, no matter how serious or trivial it may seem. God created humans, who chose to be and do whatever they wanted - God doesn't like what they do. Jesus loves/d these people: porn stars, porn producers, murderers, rapists, sluts, gay people, straight people, breathing people, non-breathing people, bad drivers, crappy mayors, etc. He chose to intercede on their behalf so they wouldn't have to experience God's anger.
He continues to intercede on our behalf because he loves us no matter what we did and no matter what we do. All it takes is faith in him to get to heaven - you don't have to be a pastor, you don't have to pray the rosary, you don't even have to go to church. Your salvation, your guaranteed ticket to heaven, doesn't depend on how good of a person you are or how much money you give to the church.
Accept Jesus as your Saviour, genuinely ask him for forgiveness, and experience the life-changing grace of God in your life. You'll never be the same.
Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
So here's my attempt at explaining the Gospel...
See, God is completely perfect and hates sin. He created humans and gave them complete freedom. Satan, who pretends to be your friend but is your biggest enemy, tempts you to disobey God's commands. Because of this disobedience (aka sin), God got really angry. Eventually, God decided he would provide a way for people to dodge his wrath and avoid going to hell. He sent Jesus, who loved people selflessly and unconditionally, to die and show people what true love was. He was their Deliverer, their Messiah and lived a sinless life; though he was 100% human, he was also 100% divine (holy, perfect, godly). He did everything that God, through the Holy Spirit, commanded him to do; he performed miracles and told stories (fables/parables) that demonstrated what unconditional love was all about.
People loved him and people hated him, especially the government - yet he loved them all. So after tons of complaints about Jesus being a rebel and a law-breaker, they decided to give him the worst possible punishment that existed at the time: put him up on a hill, have him nailed to a cross, naked, and put a crown of thorns on his head, since he was a 'king'. He undeservingly endured the worst criminal's death. People mocked, spat on and whipped him. They said, 'If you're really a king, come down from the cross and save yourself' - he didn't. It seemed like the hugest defeat.
But it was on the Cross that Jesus took ALL of God's wrath upon himself so no one else had to (including everyone yet to exist). It's the people who accepted Jesus and believed in him as their Saviour who would end up in heaven after death. Jesus said He would come back to earth as a judge, and take everyone who had genuine faith in him; those who chose not to would be left to suffer and go to hell.
I do think, however, you're a little bit flawed in the "you don't even have to go to church" argument; we need the intstitution of the Church, to breed, to sustain, persay, Sinners and future god-willed Saints. Everybody sins, it takes real bravery and breadth to admit to our faults.
ReplyDeleteNo one can do it alone.
ReplyDeleteGod's anger still exists; but He is Holy; don't challenge Him. We are still sinners, but He HAS redeemed the whole world.
ReplyDeleteWhat I meant by "you don't have to go to church" is that you don't have to go to church to be saved. Take into consideration Christians who are persecuted for their faith, for example, or those who become Christians on their own. They may not have the opportunity to go to church. There's nothing we can do by ourselves to gain our salvation.
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