Tempted beyond our ability?

Over 20 years ago it was my responsibility to drive my grandmother to Providence, RI to the nursing home her paraplegic sister lived so they could visit. I did my duty but I admit, I didn't enjoy it. As a young healthy man entering his 20's, it was such a discordant experience to walk the halls among those so broken physically and mentally. My reward for providing the ride was lunch with Grandma across the street at Friendly's. My Grandmother dearly loved her sister and felt so bad for her. She was in that nursing home because of a doctor's malpractice, who promised relief from leg pain by cutting a few nerves. He seemed unable to discriminate, if possible, between the nerves that translate pain and those that command movement. Hence, she had spent the last couple decades in a wheelchair. Her life was bad before as well. She had married a violent alcoholic. When I started bringing Grandma to visit, Grand aunt was widowed. At least that pain had faded. Additionally, she had developed diabetes. Despite all these, she never struck me as a bitter woman. My grandmother liked to sit with her for an hour and chat. She also exchanged letters with her regularly as well. She was a wonderful example of compassion. But one aspect of her compassion disturbed me. She always brought a bag of sweet candies for her sister to suck on. She snuck them in and hid them in her drawer, because they were forbidden to this wonderful, overweight, diabetic woman. Her doctors wanted to save what was left of her pancreas and kidneys. My grandmother wanted to give her something sweet to someone who had so much sour in her life. It was compassionate, but misguided. It was compassionate in the short term, but practically malicious in the long term.

I forgot about this part of my life, until my bike ride in to work this morning, as I thought about my Christian siblings who struggle with homosexuality and the compassionate theologians who want to help them. Theologians are the doctors of the church. But some of them question whether homosexual activity is a manifestation of sickness in the soul, in other words, a sin. But there are those of us, not even theologians, just EMT's or concerned friends who read the same Bible these doctors do and can't understand how some theologians come to different opinions from Paul and Peter and Moses. The explanations range from, the trajectory of the Bible anticipates what it couldn't explicitly say 2000 years ago, incompetence theory, or the mere men who wrote the Bible could not imagine the progress our world would make in tolerance, it's not a timeless message, or that no one could correctly read Greek then or now, it's not clear about important things, or that Jesus didn't explicitly condemn it, ony the words in red are reliable, or that the temptation is greater than anything God could expect his people to overcome, hence it must not be a temptation but a gift from God, re-categorize sins to blessings.

The church in Corinth was a gentile church surrounded by idol worshipers and sexually immoral, including homosexuals. Here is what Paul wrote to them in 1 Corinthians 10.

10:1 For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, that our fathers were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea, 10:2 and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, 10:3 and all ate the same spiritual food, 10:4 and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they were all drinking from the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ. 10:5 But God was not pleased with most of them, for they were cut down in the wilderness. 10:6 These things happened as examples for us, so that we will not crave evil things as they did. 10:7 So do not be idolaters, as some of them were. As it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.” 10:8 And let us not be immoral, as some of them were, and twenty-three thousand died in a single day. 10:9 And let us not put Christ to the test, as some of them did, and were destroyed by snakes. 10:10 And do not complain, as some of them did, and were killed by the destroying angel. 10:11 These things happened to them as examples and were written for our instruction, on whom the ends of the ages have come. 10:12 So let the one who thinks he is standing be careful that he does not fall. 10:13 No trial has overtaken you that is not faced by others. And God is faithful: He will not let you be tried beyond what you are able to bear, but with the trial will also provide a way out so that you may be able to endure it.

There is a great deal packed into such a few verses. Verses 1-5 clarify that these are people who experienced God, the Israelites are an example to the church, v. 6 and 11. Paul instructs us to learn from their mistakes which resulted in God's judgement on them. Idolatry in v.7, the background is at Exodus 32:6, sexual immorality in v. 8, the background story is in Numbers 25:1-9, loss of faith in v. 9, the background story is in Numbers 21:5-9, and complaining in v. 10, the background story is in Numbers 16:41-50, are all the sins we need to watch for carefully. On top of that, pride slips in, which can also lead to our downfall, v. 12. We are not guaranteed freedom from temptation, but we are guaranteed victory if we choose it in v. 13.

When I was in Haiti in February, the missionary I was with, Scott Long of Mission E4, I asked him about evangelizing those involved in voodoo. He told me that it was very important to stress conversion from voodoo to Jesus, otherwise, the voodoo believer simply includes Jesus in the pantheon of gods they worship. But for them to leave voodoo can be very difficult. And the temptation to return to it is real and strong. It's hard to walk by faith in Jesus alone. Certainly, there are some "compassionate" theologians who would not consider themselves so harsh as to prohibit syncretism, even as Paul does. The short term compassion in allowing syncretism can result in the judgement of God, is definitely NOT compassionate when viewed from the long term.

It is interesting that Paul does not list these historical examples in their historical order. he jumps around from Exodus to various stories in Numbers. In his letter to the Roman church he sees a sequential relationship between idolatry and sexual immorality, homosexuality in particular, as well as a vile stew of sins in Romans 1:18-32.

Jesus convicted a woman of her sin by living with a man she wasn't married to in John 4:18. Jesus affirms marriage as that established in the beginning of creation, between one man and one woman, in Matthew 19.

19:3 Then some Pharisees came to him in order to test him. They asked, “Is it lawful to divorce a wife for any cause?” 19:4 He answered, “Have you not read that from the beginning the Creator made them male and female, 19:5 and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and will be united with his wife, and the two will become one flesh’? 19:6 So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.” 19:7 They said to him, “Why then did Moses command us to give a certificate of dismissal and to divorce her?” 19:8 Jesus said to them, “Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because of your hard hearts, but from the beginning it was not this way. 19:9 Now I say to you that whoever divorces his wife, except for immorality, and marries another commits adultery.” 19:10 The disciples said to him, “If this is the case of a husband with a wife, it is better not to marry!” 19:11 He said to them, “Not everyone can accept this statement, except those to whom it has been given. 19:12 For there are some eunuchs who were that way from birth, and some who were made eunuchs by others, and some who became eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. The one who is able to accept this should accept it.”

The eunuchs are those who can't marry, either due to physical incapacity or, perhaps, because of homosexual orientation. If we entertain the idea that Jesus is including homosexuals in the category of eunuch, then we could surmise that some could be born that way, internal factors, and some may have become that way, external factors. It's not unlike diabetes. Some people are born with it and some develop it as they age, like my grand aunt. No matter how it developed, it is a controllable sickness of the soul. Denial of sugar is painful to the diabetic, as self-denial of gay sex for the homosexual Christian is painful. Condoning gay sex for the gay Christian does seem compassionate in the short term, but if Paul is trustworthy, then it only leads to God's judgment on the one who engaged in the sexual immorality. But Peter warns those who would teach falsehoods that a fierce judgment awaits them, 2 Peter 2.

But can the gay christian overcome the temptation to indulge in gay sex? If the word of God is true, then the promise of 1 Corinthians 10:13 is the one to hold onto. No trial has overtaken you that is not faced by others. And God is faithful: He will not let you be tried beyond what you are able to bear, but with the trial will also provide a way out so that you may be able to endure it. But this isn't the promise for the homosexual believer. This is for the heterosexual who is not married, or is tempted to adultery, and for the former idolater, who left voodoo or hinduism or buddhism, and for the murderer and the liar and the proud one and the thief and anyone who repented of their sins to follow Jesus. The pain of denial is the pain of the mortification of the flesh and the elevation of those things God made our bodies for, through the power of God which was demonstrated three days after the crucifixion in the resurrection of Jesus. Paul tells the church in Colosse, another gentile church, in Colossians 3

3:1 Therefore, if you have been raised with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 3:2 Keep thinking about things above, not things on the earth, 3:3 for you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 3:4 When Christ (who is your life) appears, then you too will be revealed in glory with him. 3:5 So put to death whatever in your nature belongs to the earth: sexual immorality, impurity, shameful passion, evil desire, and greed which is idolatry. 3:6 Because of these things the wrath of God is coming on the sons of disobedience. 3:7 You also lived your lives in this way at one time, when you used to live among them. 3:8 But now, put off all such things as anger, rage, malice, slander, abusive language from your mouth...

and he goes on. These are the things we are saved from. And we are saved to something as well. Paul tells the Galatian church the "from" things and the "to" things in Galatians 5

5:13 For you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters; only do not use your freedom as an opportunity to indulge your flesh, but through love serve one another. 5:14 For the whole law can be summed up in a single commandment, namely, “You must love your neighbor as yourself.” 5:15 However, if you continually bite and devour one another, beware that you are not consumed by one another. 5:16 But I say, live by the Spirit and you will not carry out the desires of the flesh. 5:17 For the flesh has desires that are opposed to the Spirit, and the Spirit has desires that are opposed to the flesh, for these are in opposition to each other, so that you cannot do what you want. 5:18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. 5:19 Now the works of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity, depravity, 5:20 idolatry, sorcery, hostilities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish rivalries, dissensions, factions, 5:21 envying, murder, drunkenness, carousing, and similar things. I am warning you, as I had warned you before: Those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God!

5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 5:23 gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 5:24 Now those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 5:25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also behave in accordance with the Spirit. 5:26 Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, being jealous of one another.

This is all done by the power of God dwelling in us. Self-control is one of those things we are saved to. The good news for the gay christian is that these urges can be submitted to the Spirit of God by the his power.

I'm not arguing for perfectionism. Neither does the apostle John who says in 1 John1 8 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. However, I am arguing against permissiveness. John also says in 1 John 1:6 If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.

Whatever your sin weakness is, that is like your spiritual diabetes, however you acquired it, either by intent, yours or others, or by genetics. The sin is like candy, bursting with abundant sweetness while it kills you a little more. Beware of friends who offer you more candy out of sympathy. When you eat the candy, ask for forgiveness so you can be healed as James tells us in James 5:15-16, but don't keep eating it and ask God to bless it either. He promises a way out from our temptations. He does that because he loves us. We know he loves us because he died for us on our behalf. We know he has the power to save us as it was demonstrated in his resurrection. God is so good.