People's Champ

Romans 1:18-22 ...

"The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse. For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools..."

There has been a firestorm back at home following the comments on homosexuality of international boxing world champion Manny Pacquaio who has converted into Born Again Christianity in 2012 from Roman Cotholicism. He has since turned away from his vices, womanizing, drinking and gambling. I like Manny now more than ever (except for his political ambitions he sucked as a congressman, and now he is running for the senate), he quoted from Leviticus, stood firmly by his religious views apologising only for the offense he may have caused supposedly comparing humans and animals or LGBT being worse than animals as the media would like to spin it, but he stood firm by the bible and his convictions saying that what is important is God's truth despite a lot of supporters leaving him, including global brand and leading LGBT supporter Nike. I've been following some discussions online in local media outlets and have found that there are disconnects in majority of Christian responses against homosexual behaviour - it's just that we seem to be too quick to quote the bible without explaining its relevance in the topic in a way that invites people to thoughtfully consider rather than to beat them up with our Holy Book, which are easily dismissed with ad hominems such as charges of bigotry and hypocrisy, and largely misinformed challenges to biblical truth. While I do enjoy online polemics from time to time (and when I have the time), I find less and less fruitful conversations about this issue and so I would like to offer some suggestions about systematically arguing for the biblical Christian position. Firstly, let it be known that our assumption is that God exists and be ready to defend that. One very relevant argument for God's existence in this case is The Moral Argument, after all the issue of homosexuality is thick with discussions about morality (discrimination, freedom, privacy and what's good for society), so before anyone thinks we are "evil" or "hypocritical", they already assume an objective moral framework, but if they are atheists, it all becomes meaningless: (1) Objective moral values only exist if God exists, (2) objective moral values do exist, (3) Therefore, God exists. This is a foundational truth in Romans 1 which in sin people "suppress". Furthermore, Romans 2:14-15 says that those without God's special revelation can know right from wrong because, they have God's general revelation of his basic moral law in their conscience. Now, if God exists, we can no longer go just on the basis of our own opinions. We have to find out what God thinks on the issue. So how do you find out what God thinks? We Christian say, you look in the Bible. And the Bible tells us that God forbids homosexual acts. Therefore, they are wrong. Basically the reasoning goes like this: (1) We are all obligated to do God’s will, (2) God’s will is expressed in the Bible, (3) The Bible forbids homosexual behavior, (4) Therefore, homosexual behavior is against God’s will, or is wrong or immoral. There it is, our simple bridge of clarity to the seeming disconnect. Surely, the premises can be validated or rejected, we have to have reasons why we believe our premises are true, then the conclusion logically, inescapably follows: (1) itself is supported by The Moral Argument, (2) is supported by appealing historically to the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth, and arguments to fulfilled biblical prophecy, historical reliability and archaeology, and lastly (3) is supported by biblical hermeneutics and exegesis of Genesis 1, 19, Romans 1, Leviticus 18-20, 1 Corinthians 6, 1 Timothy and other letters of St. Paul pertaining to homosexuality, marriage, and creation. Again, we must converse with humility and respect as always, we are not in any way superior just because we have God and reason behind your comments. Like St. Paul wrote to the Corinthians, we came from the same position, we were all sinners in need of grace, and like last night's cell word, we were all, in one sense, Barabbas. Lastly, I think Pacquiao dealt with the issue gracefully, while everyone, all our other mostly pro-LGBT celebrities and who's whos were giving him a piece of their mind, calling for boycotts and bigotry, he did not bite back nor argue endlessly. Instead, he filled his social media with more biblical truth and showed his family all worshipping the Lord. The evidence from a life transformed is very powerful. And so I pray that God will keep him and his family strong in Christ. He may not be everyone's "people's champ" now, but, there's a real champ in God's eyes!

1 Corinthians 6:9-11

"Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived... And that is what some of you were. 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."

P.S.: Horus is at it again trying to debunk Biblical truth about homosexuality and same-sex marriage by using the Bible itself! Shocking! Sounds very familiar? Yes, I see it all too often in online discussions, here's an entertaining exchange on the matter: http://tinyurl.com/hl8x3w4

P.P.S.: Here's a concise animated video explaining the Moral Argument for God's Existence: http://buff.ly/1guDBqD

~27.02.2016