New Church Life Mar/Apr 2015 | Page 74

new church life: march/april 2015 If we choose to allow and affirm such relationships we need to be honest with ourselves that we are going aside from all the indications of God's Word in the Old and New Testaments and are being guided by other not very reliable things, such as human reason, experience and tradition. both from their study of language and of history that the term “dogs” may especially refer to people indulging in various kinds of sexual disorders, including homosexual practices. For a similar use of the term “dog”: You shall not bring the hire of a harlot or the price of a dog to the house of the Lord your God for any vowed offering, for both of these are an abomination to the Lord your God. (Deuteronomy 23:18) The point is to invite the inquiring person to consider seriously what the broader testimony of Scripture is in respect to “marriage.”  One husband with one wife is what the Lord taught and everywhere affirms, encourages and blesses. Same-sex sexual relationships, whenever they are referred to, either directly or indirectly, are always prohibited and condemned.  If we choose to allow and affirm such relationships we need to be honest with ourselves that we are going aside from all the indications of God’s Word in the Old and New Testaments and are being guided by other not very reliable things, such as human reason, experience and tradition.  When the Lord in the world was confronted with a person caught in the act of “adultery” (whatever form that adultery might have taken, and we are not told what form it was), He, out of His Divine mercy, did not condemn her to hell, (for she was still living in this world and could still repent), but He did say: “Go and sin no more.”   Should we not seek to do likewise whenever we are confronted with adultery in any of its perverse forms, including homosexual practices in socalled same-sex relationships or unions? The Rev. Willard L. D. Heinrichs is retired and lives with his wife, Vanessa (van Rij), in Longmont, Colorado. During his active ministry he served in Dawson Creek, British Columbia, Canada, as Superintendent of the South African Mission, and as teacher of religion in Bryn Athyn College and Theological School. Contact: [email protected] 184