Some time ago, a well-known celebrity makeup artist, who is openly gay, created a tremendous controversy with a gospel singer because she refused his invitation to sing at her wedding ceremony with another man.
The episode became well-known to the public, especially internet users, but what needs to be highlighted is the reason why the singer in question refused the invitation: it was something that was not compatible with the faith she professed and, according to her, if she accepted she would have to stop singing songs related to Jesus, as she would be endorsing something she couldn't, something that would "clash" with her faith.
The makeup artist, naturally, did not take the refusal well, even recording a video to demonstrate his indignation, declaring that he was no longer friends with the singer, that he would not accept anyone telling him that he was on the path to condemnation, nor would he accept that someone should be condemned "for loving".
For anyone who knows even a little about the Bible, it's no mystery that romantic relationships between people of the same sex are explicitly declared sinful in the text of Scripture:
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness.
(Romans 1:18-32 – ACF)
For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them.
For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen,
and are clearly seen by the things that have been created, so that they are without excuse;
For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him,
Before, their speeches became futile, and their foolish hearts were darkened.
Claiming to be wise, they became fools.
And they exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.
Therefore God also gave them over to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves;
For these people exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.
Therefore God gave them over to shameful passions.
Because even their women changed natural relations for unnatural ones.
And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another,
Men with men, committing shameful acts and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.
And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done.;
Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness;
full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice;
Being gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, proud, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents;
Foolish, faithless in their contracts, without natural affection, irreconcilable, without mercy;
Although they know God's righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.
In this passage, compared to facts in the article “The Doomsday Thermometer“The apostle Paul is more than clear in stating this and goes even further, declaring divine disapproval of such acts not only to those who practice them, but also and even to those who consent to them!
This practice, along with several others, is once again being condemned:
Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God?
(1ˢᵗ Corinthians 6:9-10 – KJA)
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 slanderers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.
However, in today's world, "love" seems to have become a kind of justification for everything, and examples of this abound:
In the US, in 2010, a Grandmother dated her own biological grandson. and they both agreed to hire a surrogate mother to have their child.
In the same country, more recently, a The mother acted as a surrogate mother for her own son., so that he could have a daughter with his boyfriend.
And what's most striking is that many see such acts as examples of "love"!
Even within the Christian community, there are those who no longer see such attitudes as sinful, always basing their decision on taking them out of context. 1ˢᵗ John 4:8.
Yes, it is true that God is love.
God loves the whole world so much that, as the most well-known verse in the Bible says, John 3:16, He gave his only begotten Son so that whoever believes in him may not perish but have eternal life—God's love for a world fallen into sin is unparalleled in existence—yet such people are incapable of seeing something extremely important presented in the same verse: God is only love IN CHRIST—so that whoever believes in Him may have eternal life!—and never outside of Him!
The world, which tries so hard to justify itself by pointing to God's love, forgets that God is also absolutely just and that, as recorded in Exodus 34:7 e Numbers 14:18, This in no way exonerates the guilty.
THE MILLION DOLLAR QUESTION
Therefore, the question is not whether God loves humankind: that is clear in the Bible!
The question that should be asked is: do those who speak so much about God's love truly love Him?
Does God's love find a response in the hearts of such people?
The Gospel is not a license to sin, nor is it an invitation to laziness!
In the parable of the wicked tenants (see Matthew 21:33-46One of the conclusions presented by Jesus is precisely that those who do not produce the fruits of the Kingdom of God will end up losing it, just like the Jews who rejected the Savior (verse 43).
And sin is not a fruit of the Kingdom. God loves the sinner, but not the sin.
Whoever truly loves the Creator and his Son, who has the Holy Spirit in their heart, that person will be the one who, as the Savior himself says, will take up their cross and follow him (see Matthew 10:38 e Luke 14:27), loving him to the point of being despised, if necessary, even by those in his own household.
Whoever has this love for the Creator, for his Son, and for the Holy Spirit will strive incessantly to fight against sin, not out of fear of being condemned, but so as not to displease the One who has devoted to them a purest love, without any merit on the part of the object of such love.
This is the love that, in fact, is the greatest fruit of the Kingdom: putting Jesus Christ first, regardless of the consequences, without stopping in the face of losses, regardless of the suffering that this may entail… just as Jesus loved humanity to the point of giving his life for it.
The permissive “love” that many hope to see in God is nothing more than a self-imposed illusion, used to justify sins they don't want to fight against.
This "love" is illusory, false, a source of deception, and definitely not the love of God.
And whoever says they “love God” and continues to practice sin, in truth does not love the true God, but a “cheap imitation” of Him, created according to their own convenience: such a person, in fact, never loved and does not love God.
Therefore, may the love that truly bears the fruit of the Kingdom be the foundation of all other fruits that arise in the lives of those who respond to God's true love.
Those who understand the depth and immensity of the Creator's love, even though it may be difficult, will not see the struggle against "pet sins" as impossible or unfeasible, even if they eventually fall into one: God himself, in the person of the Holy Spirit, will take charge of working repentance and strengthening love for the Creator in the hearts of those who love him.
And so it will be until the day when the fullness of this love will be lived out, in the New Jerusalem, for all eternity.
In the Bonds of Calvary.
ORIGINAL TITLEThe question is not whether God loves you, but whether you love Him.
Coincidences (or not) aside, it seems that the end times are revealing themselves more and more rapidly, and before the Lord returns like a thief in the night, we can already observe signs of the prophesied reign of the Antichrist consolidating not only in Brazil, but throughout the world!
In the 2023 phase of "The Worst Gospel," I decided to use new formats in the hope of helping to increase the reach of content related to the Scriptures—stories, videos, shorter texts, guest authors…—and this publication, which I took the liberty of revising and illustrating, is part of that project.
Thank you for reading this far.
I still need all the help I can get: comments, shares, and reactions help spread this content, which was entirely produced with the intention of contributing to the edification of the Body of Christ in the world.
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