Purity Culture (Modesty), Sex, and LGTBQ+
There are so many issues within and surrounding the Church that the Church doesn't talk about or confront. However, these issues need to be talked about if they are ever going to be fixed. I feel very strongly about these things, and so hopefully I won't go on a rant about it, but I will be talking about them in this post.
Christians have been labeled as judgmental for many years, and honestly the shoe fits. Ministry and outreach today looks nothing like the ministry of Jesus. Jesus truly loved people, even sinners. Let me be clear, he didn't love their sin, but he loved them. Yet, today we get so caught up on people's sin that we forget to love them.
Whether they are Christians or not, we should love people unconditionally in order to show how God loves us. Romans 5:8 even says that God, "showed his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us."
First off comes purity and modesty within the Church. As a whole, the people of the Church do not talk about this correctly and tend to have double-standards. First off, I'll talk about modesty. When it comes to modesty, men and women should dress appropriately as to honor the Lord. However, on the flip side of that, the Church in general doesn't talk about how men shouldn't look at women as pieces of meat. Men and Women should view as each other as brothers and sisters in Christ.
Men in general seem to be the worst about this. I personally know just as many Christians that "check out" women as I do non-believers that "check out" women. This is a huge issue. We are supposed to honor each other in every aspect of life, and we can't do that if we are looking at people and lusting after them. So it is just as much on men and their modesty and how they look at women as it is on women dressing modestly.
"But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart."
Matthew 5:28
"Likewise also that women should adorn themselves in respectable apparel, with modesty and self-control"
1 Timothy 2:9
"Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body."
1 Corinthians 6:19-20
Since I am already on the topic of sex, I wanted to talk about sex in general. Sex is good. However, it has to be in the right context. Outside of marriage, sex is not good. God designed sex for unity between man and woman within marriage. Here are some verses to back these things up:
"Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous."
Hebrews 13:4
"For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality;"
1 Thessalonians 4:3
That being said, just as with any other sin there is forgiveness for when people do have sex outside of marriage. This is the part that the Church doesn't talk about. The Church as a whole condemns those who have sex outside of marriage even though most members of the Church have had sex outside of marriage. So if you have had sex outside of marriage, there is forgiveness for it. Don't sit in shame and discouragement. As I heard someone say one time, "don't focus on the sin, but on the Savior." Too many of us get caught up in shame and forget that forgiveness, grace, and mercy are all waiting for us when we run to the Father.
"If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."
1 John 1:9
Next is a huge issue in the Church with the way that we deal with the LGBTQ+ community. Gender identity has become a huge part of our culture. It seems like the Church views this sin as heavier and worse than other sins, which is not biblical.
My personal belief on this is that we should love these people. Just as mentioned earlier, Jesus loved people. This doesn't mean that you have to love people's sin. However, we should love them first. An example of this in the Bible is in John chapter 8. In this passage, Jesus came across a group of religious men who were about to stone a woman who was caught in the act of adultery. They said to Jesus, "Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery. Now in the law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?" Jesus said to them, "Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her."
Then after all of the religious men had left and it was just Jesus and the woman, Jesus said to her, Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?" The woman responded that no one had. And Jesus said, "Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more."
You see, Jesus didn't come to judge and condemn us. He came to love, forgive, and help us to turn from our ways. Yet that isn't what the Church looks like at all. We judge first, we don't forgive, and we turn people away instead of helping them turn from their sin. Are we not all sinners that don't deserve God's grace? I know at least for me I don't deserve anything but the wrath of Hell. Yet, God has forgiven me and shown me grace and mercy, and he wants us to show these things to other people and show them that he wants to do this for them too.
The Church isn't reflecting Christ or honoring him in this way and it needs to change. We as Christians need to stand up and love people. It doesn't matter what they have done or are doing. Sin is sin, no matter the shape or size. Murdering someone holds the same weight as a lie. And we need to start viewing these things as such. We need to stop creating a culture of hatred and judgement and create a culture in the Church of loving people as they are, just as God loved us in all of our brokenness.
Until people of the LGTBQ+ community, adulterers, and people living in sin start coming to church, the Church isn't where it needs to be. If we don't love these people enough to share the Gospel with them, then we don't love God. We need to talk about these things even though they are uncomfortable in order to grow and learn how to reach these people in love instead of judging and never reaching them.