On 21 Aug 2022, my heart sank when the Singapore government announced that it would repeal 377A. On the following day, Channel NewsAsia aired a video which showed local businesses supporting the LGBT community by hanging rainbow flags, with one particular bakery shop selling their goods at a special $3.77. My heart sank further, when that same video showed CCTV footage of that bakery where a passer-by threw their cakes at the staff members in a display of homophobia. This sets a very polarising view of us Christians and put us in a bad light, that if we do not support homosexuals, we are deemed as homophobic, or the new buzzword “hater”. What has been happening in the Western countries has finally landed on our shores. To the world, this is considered “progress”, as more of our nation’s morals are eroded.
However even as time changes, God never changes. He is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow (Mal 3:6, Heb 13:8). Even as those in the world choose to debase themselves and indulge in sinful pleasure, we as Christians must stand strong in the faith. God is the one who instituted marriage to be between a man and a woman, and it must be so till the end of time (Mat 19:4). If the Bible says that homosexuality is a sin (1 Cor 6:9-10), it doesn’t matter what the world says, or what the government says. In 1 Cor 6:9-11, the apostle Paul starts to list the kinds of sins that will not inherit the kingdom of God. The KJV uses the terms “effeminate”, and “abusers of themselves with mankind”. These two terms refer to the passive and active partners in consensual homosexual acts, the one who plays the role of a woman, and the one who plays the role of a man respectively. Both are guilty and have sinned.
The good news is homosexuality is a matter of choice, and that the Gospel can change people. We read in 1 Cor 6:9-11, the phrase “as such were some of you”. Paul was writing that there were some Christians in Corinth who used to practice homosexuality, but they were washed of their sins in baptism and were no longer living in sin. The same is true today - anyone who practices homosexuality can choose to turn away from it and live a godly life.
So how do we react to such news, or what if we know people who are openly homosexual? If we act as “haters”, then we drive the stereotype even further. Instead, we are not to show any form of hate, but instead to show love which stems from the desire for them to change. Do not treat them negatively, or think that the Gospel and the Church is not good enough for them, for we were once sinners too. The Church is a place for sinners. Jesus came into the world to call for sinners to repent (Luk 5:32, Luk 19:10). There is a phrase that is widely used that can describe this attitude: “love the sinner and hate the sin”, which we need to apply, lest our biases cause a soul to be lost.