Understanding the Christian Perspective on Homosexuality (Through the Lens of John MacArthur)

We live in the midst of a sexual revolution that asserts homosexuality as normal, yet traditional Christian teachings consider it to be a deviation from God’s design for human sexuality. Pastor John MacArthur is a prominent voice in explaining the biblical stance on this issue.

### The Biblical View of Homosexuality

According to Scripture, homosexuality is viewed as perverse, abnormal sexual behaviour. The Bible consistently presents sexual relations as intended to be between one man and one woman within the covenant of marriage. Verses such as Romans 1:26-27, 1 Corinthians 6:9-10, and Leviticus 18:22 clearly articulate that homosexual behavior is contrary to God's design and commandments.

John MacArthur emphasizes that this stance is not based on personal prejudice but on the authority of Scripture. Christians believe that all forms of sexual immorality, including homosexuality, are sins that separate individuals from God.

### The Transforming Power of the Gospel

Despite the Bible's clear stance on homosexuality, the core message of Christianity is one of redemption and transformation. Many people who have engaged in homosexual behavior have turned away from this sin and found liberty and healing in Jesus Christ. According to Christian doctrine, this transformation is available to all sinners, regardless of the nature of their sins.

MacArthur underscores that through repentance and faith in Jesus, individuals are forgiven, saved, delivered, sanctified, and washed. 1 Corinthians 6:11 affirms this truth: “And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.”

### The Role of the Church

John MacArthur teaches that the church’s role is to uphold biblical truth while extending Christ’s love and grace to all individuals, including those who identify as homosexual. The church must preach the gospel, which calls for repentance and promises new life in Christ. This involves addressing sin honestly while also offering the hope and healing found in Jesus.

MacArthur often highlights that the church must avoid compromising on biblical teachings to conform to cultural trends. Instead, it should stand firm in the truth of God's Word, offering a message of salvation that is transformative and redemptive.

### Compassion and Truth

While maintaining a firm stance on the biblical view of homosexuality, John MacArthur advocates for approaching individuals with compassion and love. Christians are called to share the truth in love (Ephesians 4:15), pointing people to the forgiveness and new life available in Christ.

The gospel message is one of hope. It proclaims that no sin is beyond God’s forgiveness and that anyone can be made new in Christ. MacArthur's teachings emphasize that true Christian ministry involves both upholding biblical truth and demonstrating Christ-like compassion.

### Concluding Thoughts

In summary, the Christian perspective on homosexuality, as articulated by John MacArthur, is rooted in the authority of Scripture and the transformative power of the gospel. Homosexual behavior is considered sinful, but the message of Christianity is one of redemption and hope. Through repentance and faith in Jesus Christ, anyone can experience forgiveness, deliverance, and a new life.

Christians are called to stand firm in their biblical convictions while extending grace and compassion to all. By doing so, they faithfully represent the truth and love of Jesus Christ in a world that often misunderstands and misrepresents biblical teachings on sexuality.

For a more detailed exploration of this topic, you can listen to John MacArthur's teachings on homosexuality [here](https://www.gty.org/library/sermons-library/80-50).

  #luxvitacaritas

Lux Vita Caritas: Understanding Its True Meaning (Through the Lens of John Piper)

The words and the phrase "Lux Vita Caritas" are devoid of their true and deepest meaning unless they are understood as describing Jesus, the Christ, also known as Yeshua (ישוע) or Isa (عيسى).

### Lux Vita Caritas: Rooted in Jesus Christ

Next time you think of the phrase "Lux Vita Caritas," remember Jesus, about whom these words were written. Jesus is the embodiment of Truth and our one and only Savior. In John 14:6-7, Jesus says, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”

### The Cornerstone of Salvation

Jesus is the cornerstone of our faith. Acts 4:11-12 proclaims, “‘the stone you builders rejected, which has become the cornerstone.’ Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.” Piper would emphasize that Jesus's life, sacrificial death, and resurrection reveal the profound meanings of Lux (Light), Vita (Life), and Caritas (Love).

### LUX [Light]

When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (John 8:12). Jesus did not merely claim to be a light; He declared that He is the light of the world. This light represents the truth of God, illuminating our path and revealing the reality of our condition and God's provision for salvation. John Piper often highlights that only those who put their hope and trust in Jesus have this true light and walk in His truth.

### VITA [Life]

Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty” (John 6:35). Piper would underscore that Jesus alone meets our deepest needs and longings. All other pursuits fall short of the joy and fulfillment that come from following Him. Jesus is not just a source of life; He is the source of life, satisfying our spiritual hunger and thirst.

### CARITAS [Love]

The Bible teaches, “Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love” (1 John 4:8). Jesus is love because He is God. This love is demonstrated through His sacrificial actions, culminating in His death on the cross for our sins. Piper frequently speaks of how God's love is supremely manifested in Christ's atoning sacrifice, which saves everyone who turns from their selfish ways and follows Jesus by obeying His commands and trusting entirely in Him.

### Jesus: God the Son

Jesus showed by His life and words that He is God the Son. In John 10:22-38, Jesus explicitly states, “I and the Father are one.” Despite the opposition and accusations of blasphemy from His contemporaries, Jesus affirmed His divine identity and mission. He is the Messiah, the Son of the living God, as revealed to Peter in Matthew 16:13-17.

Jesus also prayed for His followers, saying, “I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one” (John 17:10-11). His unity with the Father and His mission to bring believers into that unity is central to His identity and work.

### Concluding Thoughts

The phrase "Lux Vita Caritas" finds its true and profound meaning in Jesus Christ. He is the light that guides us, the life that sustains us, and the love that redeems us. John Piper would urge us to see these words as not just theological concepts but as living realities embodied in the person of Jesus. Let us remember that in knowing and following Jesus, we experience the fullness of light, life, and love.

#luxvitacaritas

The Way, The Truth, and The Life: Understanding Jesus as our one and only Saviour (Through the Lens of Billy Graham)

Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6)

In Greek and Hebrew it reads:

Λέγει αὐτῷ ‹ὁ› Ἰησοῦς “Ἐγώ εἰμι ἡ ὁδὸς καὶ ἡ ἀλήθεια καὶ ἡ ζωή· οὐδεὶς ἔρχεται πρὸς τὸν Πατέρα εἰ μὴ δι’ ἐμοῦ.

 

John 14:6

Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. The ONLY way. It follows, then, that salvation and the knowledge of God cannot be found in any other worldview or religion. Not Islam, not Judaism, not Roman Catholicism, not Hinduism, not Buddhism, not Confucianism, etc.

### Jesus as Lux Vita Caritas

Why then do we speak of Jesus as Lux Vita Caritas (Light Life Love)?

### Lux (Light)

The Lux, or Light, refers to Jesus being the ultimate Truth. He illuminates our understanding and restores us to God. Just as a light in the darkness shows the way, Jesus shows us the way to God and exposes the reality of our condition and need for salvation.

### Vita (Life)

The Vita, or Life, refers to the eternal life found in Jesus alone. He said, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die” (John 11:25). In Jesus, we find life that is both abundant and everlasting, a life that overcomes the power of sin and death.

### Caritas (Love)

The Caritas, or Love, refers to the way in which Jesus is the only means to be reconciled to the Father in His love and by His love for us. “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). Through Jesus' sacrificial death and resurrection, we experience the profound love of God that redeems and restores us.

### Why Jesus Alone Can Save Us from Our Sins

Billy Graham consistently emphasized the uniqueness and sufficiency of Jesus Christ for our salvation. Let's delve deeper into why Jesus alone is able to save us from our sins:

**1. Jesus' Sinless Life:**
Billy Graham often spoke about the sinless life of Jesus as the foundation of His ability to save us. Jesus, being fully God and fully man, lived a perfect and sinless life. Hebrews 4:15 tells us, “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin.” Because Jesus was without sin, He was the only one qualified to be the perfect sacrifice for our sins.

**2. The Atoning Sacrifice:**
Billy Graham highlighted the significance of Jesus' death on the cross as the atoning sacrifice for our sins. In 1 Peter 2:24, it says, “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.” Jesus took upon Himself the punishment that we deserve, satisfying the justice of God and demonstrating His profound love for us.

**3. The Power of the Resurrection:**
The resurrection of Jesus is central to the Christian faith and was a frequent focus of Billy Graham's preaching. Romans 4:25 states, “He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.” Jesus' victory over death through His resurrection confirms His divine nature and His power to grant eternal life to all who believe in Him. The resurrection assures us that Jesus has conquered sin and death, providing us with the hope of eternal life.

**4. The Exclusivity of Christ:**
Billy Graham often emphasized the exclusive nature of salvation through Jesus Christ. In Acts 4:12, we read, “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.” Jesus Himself declared that He is the only way to the Father (John 14:6). This exclusivity is not about excluding others but about recognizing the unique role of Jesus as the Savior of the world.

**5. The Transformative Power of Faith in Jesus:**
Billy Graham witnessed countless lives transformed by faith in Jesus Christ. 2 Corinthians 5:17 declares, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” When we place our faith in Jesus, we are made new, forgiven, and reconciled to God. This transformation is a testament to the power of Jesus to save and change lives.

Billy Graham’s message was always rooted in the Gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ. He urged people to come to Jesus, to repent of their sins, and to receive the free gift of salvation that Jesus offers. Lux Vita Caritas – Light, Life, and Love – are found in their truest, deepest sense in Jesus Christ alone.

#luxvitacaritas

Total depravity

The theology of our total depravity is central to the Gospel, a truth that many resist but is essential for understanding our need for God's grace. Jonathan Edwards, the famous Puritan preacher, powerfully articulated these doctrines in his works.

Most people wrongly believe they can contribute to their salvation and that they are essentially good. Edwards challenged this notion, emphasizing that "all mankind are by nature in a state of total ruin." This ruin extends to every part of our being, making us utterly incapable of contributing to our salvation. As Edwards wrote, "The corruption of the heart of man is great. There is in the heart of man a great deal of pride, a great deal of self-righteousness."

### God's Sovereign Work in Salvation

In summary:

You can only be born again when the Father draws you, the Holy Spirit quickens you, and the Son frees you. Edwards emphasized the necessity of divine intervention: "A natural man has no ability or disposition to exercise the graces of the Spirit; he has no inclination to come to Christ, or to embrace him, or trust in him."

Until God causes you to be born of His Spirit, you are and will continue to be dead in your sins, hostile to God and His truth, and completely unable to save yourself. Edwards poignantly described this state: "The heart of man is exceedingly depraved, it is desperately wicked, it is dead in sin." Salvation, therefore, is completely the work of God.

### The Walking Dead

We are the walking dead before the Lord calls us to life. Edwards preached, "You have nothing that ever did in the least move God to be gracious to you, but it was because it pleased him to show mercy to you."

We are evil and wicked with no hope of ever being able to do anything to save ourselves. Just as you have no hand in your physical birth, you have no part to play in your spiritual birth. Edwards asserted, "Man’s good works are of no worth in the sight of God if they proceed not from a good heart...but the heart of man is wholly corrupt."

God alone saves. As sinners, we need to call out for mercy to God (and even this recognition of our need is by His grace alone). Edwards reminded us, "It is of infinite importance that we are sensible of our dependence on God for all."

### The Divine Initiative

Salvation is from first to last the work of God alone. No one can boast as we have no part to play but to cry out to God for mercy. Our salvation is His doing. Edwards wrote, "You contribute nothing to your salvation except the sin that made it necessary."

Until that happens, we are lost and can never save ourselves. Edwards encapsulated this truth with clarity: "The redeemed have all their objective good in God. God himself is the great good which they are brought to the possession and enjoyment of by redemption."

In understanding the theology of our total depravity and God’s sovereign work in salvation, we recognize that it is only through God’s mercy and grace that we are saved. As Edwards so profoundly taught, "Grace is but glory begun, and glory is but grace perfected." Our utter dependence on God for our salvation magnifies His glory and humbles us before His infinite mercy.

#luxvitacaritas

Find out more by listening to Rev MacArthur, see video below.

 

#luxvitacaritas

Roman Catholicism is not Christian

There are doubtless very many Christians in the Catholic Church.  

 

Those Christians do not follow the many Catholic, man made, teachings that are contrary to God's Word.

 

This has been the case from time immemorial.  Genuine Christians were being told to be circumcised to be saved.  Paul confronted Peter and said this, namely their needing to be circumcised, was contrary to the Gospel.  Peter and the others relented.  

 

Christians have had to follow Paul's example and fight for the true Gospel every since.  

 

Augustine, Gottschalk of Orbais, the Paulicians, the Waldensians, John Wycliffe, Jan Hus, Girolamo Savonarola, John of Goch, John Wessel, Johannes Oecolampadius, Martin Luther (all the other reformers) and very many others have had to fight the institutional religious establishment for the true Gospel in every generation.  They with millions more knew that the actual Church are the people of God and not those rulers and institution who claim to hold the keys (authority) and power of Christ as His supreme earthly representative.

 

No matter how the Catholic Church attempts to justify and downplay their official teachings and beliefs, they have not abandoned them.  Their ecumenical efforts are in stark contrast to their official teachings.  They try to interpret their dogmas to be more in accordance with God's Word but they refuse to admit that they are often at sharp odds with God's Word.

 

Remember, we are spiritually transformed when we repent and believe in what Jesus has done for us.  When we place our hope in Jesus' work on the cross.  His dying for us and taking the punishment we deserve, we are moved from spiritual Death to spiritual Life.  We are born again of God's Spirit.  God's Spirit unites with our Spirit to make us new creatures.  We can never be separated from God.  At that point we are Sealed by God's Spirit and we pass from Death to Life.  It is an irrevocable work of God.  (That is completely contrary to Catholic teaching.  Instead Catholic teaching holds that if you commit a mortal sin, you will go to hell unless you confess, repent and are purged.  In other words, you can lose your salvation if you do not follow the Catholic means of obtaining futher grace.)

 

Whether or not God has saved us is evident in the fruit that we produce. "The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control..." (Galatians 5).  None of these will save us.  They simply evidence God's Spirit at work in us.

However Catholicism teaches that we must be baptised, that we must partake in the Lord's Supper, that we must attend Mass, that we must confess to a priest.  These and many other requirements, such as penance and saying set prayers, form a key part of the Catholic faith and understanding of what is necessary to be saved.

 

However, the Word of God teaches clearly that salvation is by Faith alone, in Christ alone and by Grace alone.  Good works flow from genuine Faith but it is Faith that saves, not works.

 

The Word of God is to be our only guide in all matters pertaining to life and salvation, yet in Catholicism it is taught that the traditions of the Roman Catholic church are of equal weight to God's Word.  However, God's Word says that anyone who adds or takes away from God's Word will be cursed.

 

The Bible warns in the first chapter of the Book of Galatians that those who teach another Gospel are cursed by God:

"I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you to live in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ.  But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let them be under God’s curse!  As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let them be under God’s curse!"

 

It was this false Roman Catholic "church" that burned the first Bibles translated into English and has  persecuted genuine Christians through the Ages past (even burning them at the stake).  Throughout time, the genuine Christians, those that are saved by Faith alone, were kept as a faithful remnant.  

 

The people of God, the called out ones, the elect (chosen) in every generation are the true Church, the ones that God has imparted His Spirit to.  That true Church, consisting of all those who trust to God alone for forgiveness, without relying on anything they have done, has existed from the very first man, Adam.  

 

The Bible teaches that Abraham believed God and his faith was counted as righteousness.  The Bible teaches that we have to have the same faith.  The faith that trusts to God (and all He has done in the person of His Son) and not to ourselves.

 

For insight on the many other problems that characterise Catholicism see https://archive.org/details/boettner_romancatholocism_202307