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Can practicing homosexuals be saved?

by | Dec 11, 2008 | LGBTG+, Secular Issues

practicing homosexualIf “practicing homosexual” means a person who is openly approving of homosexuality and is engaged in it, can this person be saved?  Yes and no.  Yes, because any sinner has the potential of becoming saved.  On the other hand, if the person is professing to be a Christian yet is unrepentantly practicing homosexuality, then it would appear that he would not be saved.  1 John 2:4 says, “The one who says, ‘I have come to know Him,’ and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.”  So, a homosexual can be saved, but once saved the Spirit of God will move that person to repent of the sin of homosexuality.  If a person continues to practice homosexuality unrepentantly, promoting it, etc., then that person would not be demonstrating evidence of regeneration. If that is what is meant by “practicing homosexual,” then such a person is certainly not saved.

But then again, a person could become saved, still fall into homosexuality, be convicted by the Spirit of sin, and all the while seeking to break free from it.  So technically, in this last sense, he could be saved and be a homosexual — not as a lifestyle, but as in struggling against his sin which sometimes can get the best of him.  It would be like a drug addict becoming a Christian and still being hooked on drugs.  He would struggle against it but still have the desire to participate in it.

I would say that a person who has professed Christ and is struggling against sin is demonstrating evidence of regeneration.  A practicing homosexual who confesses their homosexuality as a sin and is fighting to turn from it while looking to the cross is far different than an unrepentant homosexual who denies they are living in sin. Remember, many people who become Christians still struggle with many of their old sins.  Even Paul struggled, “For the good that I wish, I do not do; but I practice the very evil that I do not wish,” (Rom. 7:19).  We are not perfect and we must remember to be gracious to others, especially when they are stuck in an old sin, want to repent of it, and are trying to have victory over it.  This is when grace is needed, not law.  But, of course, we are never to encourage or excuse a person’s sin.  We must pray for them to attain full victory.

Now, some Christians will state that once you become saved, you should automatically have victory over all your sins.  This is an unfortunate burden they place on many Christians because “perfection” becomes the standard for measuring whether or not they are Christians.  This can cause people to doubt their salvation.  While it is true that we have victory in many areas when we become saved, it is also true that we still struggle with many of our old sins.  Of course, it is never okay for us to go ahead and sin (Rom. 6:1-2).  We must always struggle for holiness.  But the fact is, like Paul, we sometimes do the things we don’t want to do and don’t do what we should.  It is our struggle against sin that demonstrates that we are regenerate since we are seeking to be holy as God is holy (1 Pet. 1:16).

Finally, no dead people struggle for their life.  Only those who are alive will struggle.  Likewise, the dead in sin, the unregenerate, do not struggle against their sins.  Christians do.

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