If I did this or If I’m like this do you think I’m going to Hell?
I hear that question a lot from friends and peers and common society.
Well… this would be my response to them.
actually
I’ll explain vicariously through David Kinnaman’s response to his friend Mark in his book UnChristian.
“So David, do you still think I am going to hell because I am gay?”
“Well… I don’t know what I said before. I am sorry if I said you were going to hell because you are gay. Here is what I believe. It all comes down to what you do with Jesus. I believe he was the Son of God. Not everyone believes that, but I would give anything for you to see the reality of Jesus. His life gives my life meaning and purpose. He can do the same for you.”
I paused to let that sink in and thought about leaving it at that, but I ventured gently into the heart of Mark’s question.
“No one goes to heaven for what they do or don’t do. That’s the message of Jesus. Every human sins, and we all deserve hell for that. But Jesus freely offers everyone his grace. I know it’s not an easy part of Christian theology, but yes, I believe homosexual behavior is a sin, but it’s no different that any other sin, no different that if I sleep with someone other than my wife or even have a momentary sexual fantasy. God created sexuality, so it is good, but it can be expressed in wrong ways. Every one of us, gay or straight or whatever, expresses sexuality in broken ways.”
I glanced around, glad that the restaurant was virtually empty. mark was looking at me intently. He did not seem particularly happy.
“You know what, though, I would give anything to see you come to know Jesus. I really would. I would die for that. Everything hinges on what you decide about Jesus.”
My aim in my conversations with those who bring up that question then, is not to tell them that they might go to hell if they continue such behaviors, however it would be to reveal to them that sin is an insurgence against a holy God. I would be a hypocrite if I didn’t, because the things I do also subjects me to the wrath of God. My level of sin and someone else’s is never really different. To various degrees it might, but in the totality of our sins, we are still measured as ones deserving of condemnation. That is why I have to talk about sin as it is taught biblically because only the biblical evidences of the notion of sin can reveal to the listener the beauty of the Gospel.
David Kinnaman writes in the excerpt that it is ultimately up to us to decide on what we want to think of Jesus. Instead, I want to shift the attention to a God-centered philosophy rather than a man-centered philosophy by saying it was, is and will always be God who first reveals to us the state of depravity present in the human being which leads man to follow Him and make such a pivotal decision.
I hope for the rest of my life I’ll have many conversations like this and always have a consistent answer revealing the true nature of sin and the beauty of the Gospel. The Gospel is where my heart banks on. The Gospel is my confidence in which I cannot see. Yet the Gospel is my sustenance and my shelter.
Have you ever heard of the idiom “Home is where the heart is”?
Well my Christian conviction lies on the Gospel which is the roof over my head.
