Sin=Sin

I wrote a blog a while back concerning this very same topic. It’s the topic that is discussed the most worldwide. It’s the topic that almost every single person on each side does not understand. It’s the topic where most people are on a side simply to be on a side.

Homosexuality.

Stop. Before you even think the words “oh that’s a sin” I’m gonna need to you to stop.

You weren’t expecting that^ little sentence, huh? But lets be honest, that’s what first came to mind.

Now, I’m not saying that homosexuality isn’t a sin. Saying that would completely 100% contradict what scripture says. The bible clearly states that it is a sin. That’s not what this blog is about.

All Sins Are Equal

Say it with me this time. Out loud. I don’t care where you are; I don’t care who you’re with. Make sure you hear it.

ALL SINS ARE EQUAL

Gossip= adultery= gluttony=lying=murder=sexual-immorality=homosexuality=idolizing=sin

Currently I am attending a Gap Year program in Branson, Missouri called “Link Year”. While I’ve been here, as you can imagine, many conversations have started about the topic of homosexuality. I’ve heard many views from both sides, some views that made sense, others that did not. The biggest thing that still makes me think when it comes to Christians and homosexuality is this: Why do we (the majority of Christians) hate so harshly on homosexuality, yet praise other sins such as idolatry, gossip, gluttony?

Re-read that last part if you have to, but then really think about it.

Netflix. How many times do you tweet or talk about how much you love Netflix but also how you hate it because you spend all your time on it? Before you say, “well, I think that’s a little extreme to say that I’m idolizing it just because I love it.”

            i·dol·a·try - worship of idols, extreme admiration, love, or reverence for something or someone.

Twitter. All the subtweets you see and take part in. What do you think that is?

            gos·sip - casual or unconstrained conversation or reports about other people, typically involving details that are not confirmed as being true.

Thanksgiving.  Now calm down, Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. But lets get real.

            glut·ton·y -  habitual greed or excess in eating.

In 1 Corinthians 6: 9-10 it says this:

“Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality,¹⁰ nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.” (ESV)

Alright. So, most of the time when people are being jerks and are bashing the heck out of homosexuals, they will put that verse out there. Yes, it does say in black and white ink that people who practice homosexuality will not inherit the kingdom of God. But neither will the sexually immoral, idolaters, adulters, ect. Like, read the rest of the verse guys. You know what it says? All sinners. So, sorry Westboro Baptist guys, looks like Gays aren’t the only ones going to Hell. We all are. Right?

No.

Yes we all deserve Hell, it is the only thing that we will ever deserve. However, Because of Jesus Christ and his sacrifice for Him we have the overwhelmingly, fantastic, this-is-so-crazy-awesome, opportunity to believe in Him and spend eternity with Him in Heaven.

Most people when reading 1 Corinthians 6: 9-10 will leave out the most important part. Verse 11.

“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.” (ESV)

That doesn’t say just the greedy or sexually immoral are washed and sanctified. It talks of every single sin. No matter what sin you’re in right now, were in in the past, or will be in the future; You are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God, if you believe in Jesus as your one true Savior.

I’m going to cut this blog off here because I have to study for school and brush my teeth and be hygienic and what not. However, I hope that this made sense. I also hope that if you are gay and you are reading this, that you do realize that being gay doesn’t mean you are constantly sinning, but that you are constantly a sinner in need of a Savior, just like every single other person on this earth. I hope that people who are homophobic or just do not understand homosexuality at all gained a new perspective. I pray that the day will come when everyone will finally realize no one person is better than another, and in reality, we are all dirty, awful, sinners with one perfect, amazing God waiting for us to come home. 

~Link Life~

It was parents weekend and my favorite nugget came to be my friend

But aren't we just the cutest siblings?

We rode in Ali's trunk again

No, it hasn't started snowing yet. Yes, I bought a sled.

TGIF consisted of riding my Heely's down hills at Dogwood and taking artsy pics of reflections

 

Link rn

I don't know y'all. There's been a lot of emotions and feelings and thoughts that have never been there these past few weeks here at link. It's scary, but I know God's putting me through it for a reason. As hard as it seems to keep believing that, it's what I have to do.

 What I have learned from this past week though, is that friends are cool people. Sometimes they do stuff that really irritates you, sometimes you do stuff that really irritates them. Thankfully, the friends here, understand forgiveness and are able to give and accept it easier than most people I know. I'm able to be real with people face to face for the first time and able to listen to other peoples struggles and actually get to know them. It's not like kamp, we're not with each other for just a month. It's 9 months, so far it's been almost 2 months and relationships keep growing. Don't get me wrong, it's hard at times, real hard, but I think I'm slowly starting to open up with people and I think that's a good thing. I don't really do it that often, but this week it's something I've been forced to do multiple times, and it's actually not as bad as I thought it was. So, S/O to that and to cool people at Link who love Jesus and love talking about Jesus and S/O to krispey Kreme discounts. With out them, Link wouldn't be the same, and Monday morning accountability breakfast wouldn't be the same.

~Link Life~

I longboarded into a freshly painted parking lot

There's still some tar on my body.

I haven't moved my darts yet because I'm so proud of doing this

I snuck away from small groups monday and got inside a giant bass

Joe White gave me $60 on his birthday and wouldn't let me say no. So.....

This is my small group. we're cute

Courtney came. So ice cream was necessary

Being Nice is Nice

Do you ever notice how when people judge or make fun of people you know really well, you get offended? The people making fun of them don't know what they've been through, they don't know them at all so why the heck are they judging them? I personally get extremely irritated when people make fun of or talk behind my best friends back. They don't know her, they don't know what all has happened in her life to make her that way, and they haven't made any effort to get to know her, so why are they judging her? But then, I turn around and immediately judge someone else who I think has a bad attitude about everything, or is annoying.  As believers we're called to love one-another as ourselves and not to judge others for their ways.

While at Link Year, there have been multiple people who have been "annoying" or "dumb" and have just really gotten on my nerves for being themselves. It wasn't until recently I realized some things that have happened to a certain person who I thought was incredibly annoying. After finding out this information, my entire view changed on her and how I need to start viewing others. There's a reason that person acted "annoying" and it wasn't a happy reason. Some people don't know how to deal with things that have happened in their past and they act out in certain ways. That doesn't make them annoying, that doesn't make them dumb, that doesn't make them anything but God child that you are an equal to.

I've realized I need to stop judging people by the way they act and accept them as my brother or sister in Christ and love them. Because aside from spreading the gospel and growing in relationship with Christ, that is all I'm called to do.

~Link Life~

This looks dope. @K-1 dock

It was my birthday Saturday and I went to Panera and these goons were there

This is Katie. Katie is my friend.

I got a job at Landrys. I have to wear this. Help. This is my disgusted face.

My best friend sent me the best thing ever for my birthday. it has thumb holes

Riley and I got in the trunk of Ali Pavs car *vroom vroom *

Jesus Isn't The Opening Band

“Well, I know you don’t believe in God, but you don’t want to go to Hell, do you?”

When I hear people say that to non-believers, it really grinds my gears, ya know? Maybe you don’t know. But you’re about to find out why it does make me extremely frustrated.

I've heard countless people say it to others. I've said it a few times myself a few years ago. And I've even been told it a couple of times. And the fact that so many people make going to Heaven a reason for believing that Jesus is our Lord and savior and following His word, is really frightening. If the only reason you're following God's word and trusting in Him is so you get a ticket into Heaven, is like saying Heaven is above God, more important and more satisfying. 

When going to a concert, there is always a band or performer that typically opens up for the main band. The majority of the people in the venue are going to be there for the ending band, the one who is most likely on tour and who set the concert up to begin with. Everyone knows the band, everyone likes the band and everyone knows their songs. However, the opening band is typically one that not many people have heard of and one who people don't know their songs. In most cases, people going to the concert will look up the opening band, listen to some songs, get to know them a little, all so that they are comfortable and know what is happening leading up to the main band. 

When we say people need to believe in God so they can go to Heaven, is like saying you need to believe in God, and read up on Him a bit so you know what's happening when you get to Heaven, but only focusing on the Heaven part and not at all on Jesus and what he did for you to get into Heaven. You should believe and follow God's word because you know it's true and you want to personally know God more. Not so you can get into Heaven.

That's just a little tid bit that I've been thinking about this week. So, don't say that. Cause, no. 

~Link Life ~

This is the extended version of Riley and I's music video intro

Riley and I went to Springfield for Chick-fil-A and put 30x

butter on my sandwich instead of my preferred 4.

The gas is actually now $2.89. so....

I'm not sure how it happened

but yesterday

I ended up cooking Chick-fil-A for Link Dinner.

With help from my other chefs.

Reading The Lines

This week at Link has probably been my favorite week thus far. We had a pretty dope speaker, D.A. Horton, come in and talk to us and answer some questions that he answered with biblical support. I can honestly say that with each session we had, I was more and more interested. One thing that really stuck out and blew my mind, was when we got onto the topic of whether or not Jesus descended into Hell after being crucified, for 3 days. This is something that I had heard being said multiple times while growing up. Today, however, after really looking at the scripture, I realized it's not true at all, and it didn't take extreme studying to figure that out.

When mentioned that Joyce Myer mentioned of Jesus going to Hell for three days in one of her books, D.A. said that it was not true and that she never took it back and that she just let it sit. I was confused, and so were some of my other classmates. We had heard countless times that Jesus went to Hell after his crucifixion and then rose from the dead. I immediately went to scripture to find where I had heard that.  I remembered hearing something along the lines of "He descended into the lower parts of the earth" (I was wrong). What I was looking for was Ephesians 4:9 which states

"(In saying, 'He ascended,' what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower regions, the earth?"

Ephesians 4:9 (ESV)

I  read that verse maybe 4 times. Then I read the study notes at the bottom that said " lower regions, the earth. In the incarnation, Christ descended from the highest heavens to the lowest regions (i.e., to the earth), where he suffered, died, and was buried, but where he also defeated death and rose again."

Now, I really hope that y'all are understanding this, because I didn't and I was frustrated. I didn't understand it, though, because I looked over it 4 times. I didn't stop and actually read it, I read it in a hurry because I thought that what I was taught was right and didn't want to be wrong. The way I read it was "....he had also descended into the lower regions of the earth?" and looked over the (i.e., to the earth) in the study portion. So I'm sure that when I asked D.A. to explain what the lower regions of the earth was and why Jesus suffered and how I was confused and thought that meant he went to hell, I'm sure he thought in his head: "She literally just read me the answer. What the heck."

Christ descended from Heaven where he was first at the right hand of God. He descended onto the earth, where he had his ministry and died for our sins which were his sufferings. Another verse proving that Jesus did NOT descend into hell include:

" he [David] foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption."

Acts 2:31 (ESV)

 I don't know. Maybe this wont blow your mind like it did mine. But it made me realize, I looked over that verse so many times, I looked over the study of the verse so many times, and still was blind to what it said. It made me sit for a second and think "what else have I mis-read? What else have I overlooked." ya know? I am very grateful for this learning experience though. I know, now, that when reading and studying God's word, I will start to pay more attention to the context and words that I am reading. Cause, I don't want to rearrange His words into my own. Cause my words aren't perfect, my words are crud. His words, however, His words are the real deal, y'all. 

~Link Life~

This is my small group. We're hot, single but not ready to mingle.

For our TGIF we went to "Passages" a biblical historical museum in Springfield. I made a friend.

Shay Shay, Vito and I went on a very important mission to find an Indian costume. We succeeded 

We got pizza and chicken too.