The Loving Truth


Some people are good at speaking truth, and others would rather gloss things over or ignore controversial subjects altogether. But when it all comes down, we need to be able to not only speak the truth, but to speak it in love. Have you ever had to speak the truth to a friend about his or her sin? Tell us about your experience in a comment on this post.

ENCOUNTER article: "Truth Spoken in Love"
article author: Martha Willey
magazine: March 13, 2011 issue of ENCOUNTER

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

you have NO proof that the bible says that god is against it! we all sin, what makes homosexuality a bigger sin than things like stealing, lying, or cheating. no one is perfect and niether are you.
i respect your feelings about homosexuality, but you have no right to voice it in a article read by many children and teenagers.

Unknown said...

I was appalled by this extremely insensitive article that was written in a Christian CHILDREN'S article. How dare you say that homosexual people are sinners and try to force young children to tell them that they are wrong and not hang out with them. You have no right to tell people who they can love and who they can't love. Everyone has a right to love and happiness and saying that we are better than them and have the right to take that away is something that I find extremely disconcerting. I also love how you said that there were many Bible verses that directly quote against homosexuality; and did not put any in of course, but there are also so many Verses that say that you should treat everyone equal. God gave us free will to be who we are and I would not have it any other way. I am NOT going to give up my friends who are gay because you said so, and you should NOT be saying that I should! Everyone is entitled to their own opinion and YOU are the one who is sinning because you are saying that they can't express their right to free will.
Also, how dare you compare homosexual people to murderers! Some gay people are the sweetest people I know and they are not hurting you in any way, shape, or form. When you say they are sinning because they don't have babies, what about people who chose not to have children or can't have them? Are they sinners too? Am I not allowed to associate myself with people who aren't going to have babies or can't? How can you say that we are not all equal?
A goal that we have striven towards in the world today is equality for everyone. By saying that we are not all equal is going against what the Bible has taught us. The Bible says that we should treat everyone the same, and in the Muslim, Buddhist, and Jewish religions everyone is equal. What you are saying is; people who are different than you are not equal. I don't believe that people who believe in God and are as kind and loving as some of them are going to hell for being "sinners." Jesus came down to save us and treated everyone as equals; he did not...SAY THAT ANYONE WAS LOWER BECAUSE OF THEIR SEXUAL ORIENTATION!!!!
Another issue I have with your... article... is that Jesus did not come down and say "Repent from your desires, because I don't want you to be happy." God wants all of us to be happy and by taking that away from them, you are taking away the very thing that makes them who they are. I wouldn't have my gay friends any other way; besides, you can't just say "DON'T BE GAY!" because honestly that's not going to make them change. Scientific studies have shown that people are born gay. If God made people so that they could be born gay-which has been proven-, then God wanted them to be that way. Isn't God the ultimate creator of us all?
In conclusion, our church has unsubscribed from your insulting magazine. My friend and I have burnt that article and watched it scatter to the wind. If gay people are going to hell, then I would rather go there with them and the people who support them, then spend an eternity with people like you.

Anonymous said...

this article is disgusting! let people live like they want to live and live life to the fullest! not only did this article have bad english, but it had no text support. dont quote god if you dont have proof of what he said. and did you know its a sin to say that certain people are going to hell! at my church, this article was passed out without notice that this article was this magazine. there have been weeks were we dont hand them out because of articles like this. this article is completly and utterly disgusting, and i will not read from this magazine again!

ENCOUNTER—The Magazine said...

This article certain has generated passionate responses. And we appreciate that! As the author asserted, it is not popular to express the traditional Christian view defining homosexual acts as sin. These preceding posts bear that out.

But it seems that in these passionate responses some have misrepresented the author’s view. She maintains that a response to homosexuality must reflect the content of Scripture and also respect and love those struggling with what the Bible affirms to be destructive behavior. We stand by those views.—The Editors

Anonymous said...

what makes homosexuality different from a regular relationship? is a regular relationship a sin to? because there is NO difference between homosexuality and a regular guy and girl relationship!besides that homosexuals date someone of the same sex/gender!

Anonymous said...

Thats fine that you stand by those veiws and i wont stop you, but you have no right to be trying to influence the minds of children to think your way when alot of people don't agree with what you are syaing. On issues like that KEEP YOUR OPPINIONS TO YOURSELF!

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