Race, sin, and sexual preference

Criticizing homosexuality really riles up the homosexual lobby and its supporters in the mainstream media, the civil rights industry, and the liberal side of the aisle. The homosexual lobby has grown so powerful that it pressured Washington, D.C., Mayor Vincent Gray to disinvite a black man from a commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington. Why? Because Donnie McClurkin called homosexuality a sin. McClurkin, a pastor and a Grammy-winning gospel singer, has said that after being sexually abused as a child by male relatives, he struggled with the sin of homosexuality, but God delivered him.

The mayor’s office probably assumed that because McClurkin is black, he held a “progressive” view of Scripture. In this case, race trumps faith and obedience. Ironically, Christian forgiveness, love, and brotherhood provided the framework for the civil rights movement. These days, blacks who see homosexuality as a sin are the wrong kind. Some homosexuals are even bold enough to equate the fight to dismantle government discrimination based on skin color with pushing for special rights based on sexual behavior.

Calling certain behavior a sin will divide people. Telling them what the Bible says about sin doesn’t promote peace and harmony. “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth,” Christ said. “I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.” The sword of the Spirit cuts and convicts. Christ came to reconcile sinners to God, and He’ll come again to deliver God’s wrath.

A man who overcomes temptation and submits to Christ’s authority is a powerful witness, even if he still struggles with the sin. After all, his soul may belong to God, but it inhabits a fallen body in a fallen world. To analogize Christian faith with civil rights, America has undergone an astounding repentance and redemption in abolishing human bondage and dismantling a government system that relegated certain members of its taxpaying citizens to second-class status. If the organizers wanted to be true to the message of the civil rights movement, they would have embraced McClurkin. Isn’t tolerance all about respecting differences?

The message is clear:

“… 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.”