Why Do We Just Need Faith?

Dear Pastor Andy, I'm a Catholic and went to Catholic School (2nd - 8th grade) and have read much of the Bible there. This is a serious question and I want serious answers. I have been struggling with weather I believe and feel bad.  I was an Atheist for a couple years after 8th grade and this std speech guy came to our school and told us a ton of blatant lies about sex and std's (this made me really mad) and i had been noticing many contradictions in the Bible.  Why do we just need faith, why doesn’t He just tell us?  I can’t just believe the world simply is (a greater force had to create it) but I simply can’t believe in a god (it's to convenient, such as confession and to harsh such as gays going to hell when there born that way).  I don’t understand why I need faith.  Does it say in the Bible, why we need faith, and why?  And do you really believe God hates gays ... I'm worrying so much about religion lately.  Should I just pick up my morals and forget about God?

My Reply:

You sound sort of similar to this father who asked Jesus to heal his son, but the way he asked was, "If you can". Jesus basically asked what he meant by "if I can"? And the father replied, "I believe, help me with my disbelief (or doubt").

I don't know if you've ever seen any Indiana Jones movies, but in the one about the Holy Grail, Jones is following a book's direction, when he comes to a huge cliff and void. The book tells him to just walk across, but to the eye, he can see no way possible without falling to his death. But then, with no other reason, he steps out, actually expecting to fall, only to land his first foot onto a thin bridge that was camouflaged by the rocks across the way. All he had was faith, and it was his response to this faith that caused him to see the full truth, which in turn, caused him also to fully believe. But if he didn't have faith, then he'd never have been able to cross over to the other side.

The reason you need faith, as Paul explains in Romans and Galatians, is because there’s nothing else you can do to be saved. You can’t obey the Law, for the Law says that you must follow ALL the Law.  He uses Abraham as an example of somebody who was righteous before God because of his faith.  And because of his faith, God made a covenant with Him.  So now, to be connected with this covenant, we too must accept Jesus through faith, not by works.  And anybody who receives Jesus through faith is a child of Abraham, and as a child of Abraham, we’re heirs of the covenant/promise that God made with him.  But this is only achievable through faith.

As for "being born that way", if you mean born sinful or born into sin, then we were ALL born that way...not gay, but sinful.  And this sin that we're born into does tend to influence our decisions.  But then that explains all the more reason that we need Jesus to rescue us from our sin.

Honestly, I don't believe God hates gays.  Although I DO believe that God hates their gay desires and that they follow through on them.  Granted, many gays who I've spoken with did wrestle and struggle with Scripture about their desires, but still ended up giving into their desires.  Paul explains that such is sin, but because they chose their desires over God, God let them go ahead and do whatever shameful thing their hearts desired. He didn't ALLOW the sin, for it's still sin, but He let them continue in the way they chose.  And the reason for them going to hell isn't because God is sending them, but because they continue in their sins and continue to reject God and HIS ways...it's unrepentant, even justified sin.  

But to look at hell and condemnation, you also have to understand that anybody who continues in their sin, justifies their sin, and continues to reject God's ways are going to hell, also, not just homosexuals.  Many straight people do the same.  Heck, many people even claim the name of Jesus Christ as their Lord, but continue in their sinful ways, justify their sin as acceptable because they think it's OK as according to the culture of the day, and follow their sinful desires.  For example, in 1 Corinthians 6:9-10, Paul gives a list of types of people who will not inherit the Kingdom of God.  But then look at verse 11: "Some of you were once like that. But you were cleansed; you were made holy; you were made right with God by calling on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God."  In other words, regardless of one's sexuality, if they repent of their sins to Jesus, deny themselves, and give their whole selves to Jesus and His ways, then they will be saved.  Nobody is exempt from salvation.  But they must accept it and be willing to throw off their sin and sinful desires as if a coat that was on fire.  

There's a saying, "Jesus loves you enough to meet you where you're at, but loves you too much to leave you there."  Jesus WANTS you to allow Him to transform you into something that you're not now, but can and are destined to be, but you've got to first put your faith (trust) fully into Him, take His hand, and allow Him to guide you across the void, even if you can't yet fully see the road at the moment.

Take some time to read the passages linked throughout my answer, and take some time to ask Jesus for help in the areas where you have trouble believing Him and His Word. Talk also with your (or a) Priest/pastor, and pick up a mentor to help you grow in Christ.

---Pastor Andy

Quoting the Bible IN Context

Question:

It seems that whenever anyone quotes from the Bible it is automatically out of context, or that whatever the Bible says, Christians just believe the opposite.  For example, It says homosexuality is wrong - Christians don't. It says that women shouldn't speak in church - Christians don't believe this either.

Have I now found the right context, should I just believe the opposite of whatever the Bible says.

My Reply:

I think one of the biggest issues we have in Christianity today is that so many "Christians" are biblically illiterate and very liberal in their theology. So they don't know what the Bible says, and even when they do, they pick and choose what they want to believe, usually based on feelings, friends’ experiences, or cultures outside the Church.

Actually, I'm glad you mentioned the 1 Corinthians text in your question. For, in response to it, if you put it into the correct context, you'll see that believing that women shouldn't speak at all in church is in fact taking that little paragraph out of context.  
1 Corinthians is a reply letter from Paul to the Corinthians. Part of it is what was reported to Paul from members of Chloe's house-church, part of it was in response to a previous letter written to him asking about certain issues.  In 1 Corinthians 14:34-35, Paul is addressing the need for order during the worship service.

In the context of this passage, the girls didn't understand everything being preached...it was over their heads. But instead of asking their OWN husbands, they were asking other men and other women's husbands, thus disrupting the worship, and disturbing the men they were asking, who really wanted to listen. Notice IN CONTEXT, Paul tells them that they should shut up and wait until after they're home, where they should ask their OWN husbands for understanding.  Paul says it's disgraceful for them to speak in church because the focus is supposed to be fully on the Lord...their disturbances are preventing this (it's in sync with Paul's talk about the head coverings).  If you have doubt of this, then notice that women were not the only ones Paul tells to shut up in service, but also prophets who were speaking out of turn, and those speaking in tongues without interpreters, something you'll notice if you keep this paragraph in the context.

So you see, Paul wasn't saying that women (in general) shouldn't speak in church, but that these particular women need to shut their mouths during worship so as to stop disrupting the focus from Christ.

As for homosexuality, you're right, it is wrong. I think though that so many people attack gays with the Bible that people's compassions cause them to see scripture incorrectly, thus judging it or counting it wrong. Then they start believing whatever they want (or feel is right) instead of what the Bible actually says. I think that if they were to focus on 1 Corinthians 6:11 ("And that's what some of you WERE. But you were washed, sanctified, and justified..."), instead of the verses before it, they'll see that it's not a means of tearing gays down, but helping them to understand that such is not the behavior of those within the Body of Christ...there's supposed to be a transformation by the Holy Spirit that takes place...a cleansing, sanctification, justification, and transformation. Those behaviors mentioned in this chapter are those of the culture outside the Church, and thus unacceptable as ones of those called to be Holy, as God is Holy.

How's that for quoting scripture IN context?

---Pastor Andy
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