Thoughts?
New (wrong) thoughts on homosexuality: Progressive Revelation
Chrtistian gay advocates say: progressive revelation has "revealed" that homosexuality is now acceptable to God. Just as it was okay to have multiple wives in the Old Testament, and God changed that rule such that we can now only have one wife, we can now see in our culture that God has changed the rule about homosexuality.
First, what is progressive revelation?
Progressive revelation means that God did not tell us everything from the beginning. He has revealed information about Himself, his law, and salvation in steps. Over a period of time He has told us more and more.
In the Old Testament we see God taking people from a pagan culture and teaching them how to be the people we were created to be. He did not try to change them in a day, but instead took 2000 years (from Abraham until Jesus came) to lead them to the point at which some could accept Jesus as the Messiah.
In reading the Old Testament we can see that people do not change easily. For example, from the beginning God has made it clear that He is the only God, and that worshipping idols is not only useless, but wrong. Yet the Israelites continued to turn back to worshipping idols for 1000 years after they were told it was wrong -- from the time of Moses until the Babylonian captivity.
Imagine what would have happened if God had skipped the Old Testament and sent Jesus right away. Jesus, and his message, would have been ignored (as were most of God's Old Testament prophets). We'd have a dead messiah and no salvation.
So God took His time and changed things slowly, at a pace humankind could accept. For example:
<> Nowhere in the Old Testament does God say that having multiple wives is okay. He did not reveal that it was wrong until the New Testament. However, from the beginning it has always been wrong to have more than one wife. Genesis 2:24 says:
"This explains why a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one." (NLT)
Genesis does not say "is joined to his wives" -- it is very clear in saying "wife" (singular) and that the "two" (not three or four or five) are joined into one.
However, God knew that if He immediately tried to change the culture which supported having multiple wives, in our free will we would have turned away from Him. Instead of drawing us closer to Him, we would have turned away from God.
So God progressively revealed what He wanted and allowed man to change his culture slowly over a long period of time. That is why it is called progressive revelation.
It is important to note that we are talking about what God has revealed to us. How does God communicate with us today? Through the Bible. With the birth, death and resurrection of Jesus -- and the New Testament -- God's revelation is complete.
Gay advocates say that in today's world God is continuing to reveal new things to us through our culture. That since homosexuality is culturally acceptable, it is acceptable to God.
WOW! What is that really saying?
We know that culture is created by people. That's why we have so many different cultures. If we are saying that God is communicating to us through our culture, we are saying:
1. That American culture is the one true culture blessed by God. All other cultures, for example those that do not accept homosexuality, are wrong.
2. Since culture is created by people, God is changing based on what people want! And as you know, what we want changes all the time.
That God should change is beyond comprehension. If God changes, how are we to know that He has not changed His mind about salvation? Maybe tomorrow morning we'll wake up and find that God has changed His mind and only people who drive BMWs are saved. If God changes, we can not be sure of anything. We are lost in uncertainty, never knowing for sure what is right or wrong; what God loves and what God hates; or how we can be saved.
The truth is: God's revelation to us ended when the last book of the New Testament was written.
http://www.evangelical.us/homosexuality/progressive-revelation.html
New (wrong) thoughts on homosexuality: Progressive Revelation
Chrtistian gay advocates say: progressive revelation has "revealed" that homosexuality is now acceptable to God. Just as it was okay to have multiple wives in the Old Testament, and God changed that rule such that we can now only have one wife, we can now see in our culture that God has changed the rule about homosexuality.
First, what is progressive revelation?
Progressive revelation means that God did not tell us everything from the beginning. He has revealed information about Himself, his law, and salvation in steps. Over a period of time He has told us more and more.
In the Old Testament we see God taking people from a pagan culture and teaching them how to be the people we were created to be. He did not try to change them in a day, but instead took 2000 years (from Abraham until Jesus came) to lead them to the point at which some could accept Jesus as the Messiah.
In reading the Old Testament we can see that people do not change easily. For example, from the beginning God has made it clear that He is the only God, and that worshipping idols is not only useless, but wrong. Yet the Israelites continued to turn back to worshipping idols for 1000 years after they were told it was wrong -- from the time of Moses until the Babylonian captivity.
Imagine what would have happened if God had skipped the Old Testament and sent Jesus right away. Jesus, and his message, would have been ignored (as were most of God's Old Testament prophets). We'd have a dead messiah and no salvation.
So God took His time and changed things slowly, at a pace humankind could accept. For example:
<> Nowhere in the Old Testament does God say that having multiple wives is okay. He did not reveal that it was wrong until the New Testament. However, from the beginning it has always been wrong to have more than one wife. Genesis 2:24 says:
"This explains why a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one." (NLT)
Genesis does not say "is joined to his wives" -- it is very clear in saying "wife" (singular) and that the "two" (not three or four or five) are joined into one.
However, God knew that if He immediately tried to change the culture which supported having multiple wives, in our free will we would have turned away from Him. Instead of drawing us closer to Him, we would have turned away from God.
So God progressively revealed what He wanted and allowed man to change his culture slowly over a long period of time. That is why it is called progressive revelation.
It is important to note that we are talking about what God has revealed to us. How does God communicate with us today? Through the Bible. With the birth, death and resurrection of Jesus -- and the New Testament -- God's revelation is complete.
Gay advocates say that in today's world God is continuing to reveal new things to us through our culture. That since homosexuality is culturally acceptable, it is acceptable to God.
WOW! What is that really saying?
We know that culture is created by people. That's why we have so many different cultures. If we are saying that God is communicating to us through our culture, we are saying:
1. That American culture is the one true culture blessed by God. All other cultures, for example those that do not accept homosexuality, are wrong.
2. Since culture is created by people, God is changing based on what people want! And as you know, what we want changes all the time.
That God should change is beyond comprehension. If God changes, how are we to know that He has not changed His mind about salvation? Maybe tomorrow morning we'll wake up and find that God has changed His mind and only people who drive BMWs are saved. If God changes, we can not be sure of anything. We are lost in uncertainty, never knowing for sure what is right or wrong; what God loves and what God hates; or how we can be saved.
The truth is: God's revelation to us ended when the last book of the New Testament was written.
http://www.evangelical.us/homosexuality/progressive-revelation.html