Hi Austin

Thank you for your comment at Provoketive Magazine (http://provoketive.com). We’re creating a space of rich conversation about life, faith, justice and culture without judgment. Our desire is to provoke the reader’s imagination through conversation and open up spaces of dialogue, learning, and hope.  We want to invite you to come back soon and continue to participate in the conversation. 

Thank you,
Jonathan Brink
Provoketive Magazine

You posted the following comment:
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I find it interesting Arbie that you describe our comments as dictating to you. This is the first time that I've been called elitist, thank you. I'm not arguing against homosexuality, or even against the state recognizing homosexual unions to the same degree that it recognizes heterosexual unions. Nor am I saying that because (I assume) you are homosexual, you are any more sinful that myself (who is heterosexual). I'll admit that I am a liar, I am a hater, I am a theif, an idolator, I have been, and probably still am a sexual sinner. I could probably agree with Paul that I am the foremost of sinners, but that is because I recognize these things as sin.

I am not saying you have to change your lifestyle to be Christian, or that you should desire Christ because of your sexual identity, or even that your identity (sexually or otherwise) needs to change UNLESS you are not recognizing yourself as a sinner in need of the grace God provides. My concerns have to do much more with Scripture, grace, and life.

If I'm offending you because I am saying that the Bible says homosexuality is a sin, then it's a failure to recognize sin that offensive, or a failure to accept the Bible as having the authority to identify sin, or a belief that my interpretation is so far off that I'm offending the truth by proclaiming it to be so. If it's the last, then let's talk about it. If it's the first 2, I'm almost certainly not going to change my mind after having spent the last 10 years in theological study to come to that understanding. If the Bible isn't the authority, then I have no hope of salvation, and I have no reason to believe that God is, God is personal, God is loving, or that there's a heaven. 

I absolutely agree that we all need a helping hand, but we can't give it to each other. That's the story of the prophets to me. Trying to help people live rightly, and failing miserably. God is the only one who can help us, and I pray that he does. I have no intent to pile burdens on others, and I would hope that I help, although I am certain that I do not help as much as I could.

I may be wrong, and I'll acknowledge that as a possibility, but God helps us wherever we find ourselves. If we have to be perfect then only God is in heaven, and we're all going to hell. If he comes where we are to help us where we are, then we have hope. But all that comes from the Bible.