GAY TRUTH

The Federalist  ran a story yesterday about a certain pastor ’s appearance on  The View . One of the hosts asked him what his church teaches about homosexuality and abortion . The pastor dodged the question. Another host, Joy Behar , followed up by asking very specifically whether abortion is a sin. Still, the pastor could not bring himself to say that abortion is a sin. Rather, he said that each person has to “live to their own convictions” and that God would be the judge. A few thoughts on this: 1. His answer is not sufficient. As a pastor, you have a responsibility to speak the truth in love, and it is not loving to fail to speak the truth ( 1 Cor. 13:6 ;  Eph. 4:15 ). One can do both at once, but it was not done here. “We do not use deception, nor do we distort the word of God. On the contrary, by setting forth the truth plainly we commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God” ( 2 Cor. 4:2 ). 2. The questions are not surprising. Any pastor should kn

Praise and worship during the opening night of Hillsong Conference in Kiev, 2006 (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) I love and care about people – from all walks of life; people with various beliefs, ethics, perspectives and lifestyles . I care that humanity and some within the Christian church can be so quick to alienate and ostracise others who are different than them; those who live differently, think differently, speak differently. I also live by my own convictions, and hold to traditional Christian thought on gay lifestyles and gay marriage. I do believe God ’s word is clear that marriage is between a man and a woman. The writings of the apostle Paul in scripture on the subject of homosexuality are also clear, as I have mentioned in previous public statements. Hillsong Church welcomes ALL people but does not affirm all lifestyles. Put clearly, we do not affirm a gay lifestyle and because of this we do not knowingly have actively gay people in positions of leadership, either