Wait, gay sex isn't a salvation issue?!

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I recently posted a video sharing why I think God's wisdom for our sexualities is worth following (Proverbs 4:6-7, Matthew 7:24-25).

I made a passing comment at the start of the video that I don't believe gay sex is a salvation issue. Some were surprised, so I wanted to explain.

First, any suggestion that same-sex sexual sin is worse or less forgivable than greed or idolatry or any other sin is inconsistent with the Scriptures. And often homophobic.

Second, while the Scriptures warn that sexual sin seems to impact the sexual sinner more, the Scriptures never suggest that Christ's work on the cross atones for sexual sin any less.

So setting those aside, let's talk more generally about whether a Christian who consciously and repeatedly refuses to repent for a specific sin loses their salvation.

Call me an old-fashioned evangelical, but I'm convinced that all a person needs to do to become a Christian is to privately confess to Jesus, "I'm a sinner. I need a savior. Jesus, I want your forgiveness for all my sins past, present, and future. I want you to be the Lord of my life, even though I know I'll fail at that every day until I die or You return."

And then I'd encourage the new believer to be baptized publicly as a public confession of their faith.

When I prayed that prayer years ago, I repented, in advance, for all sin I would commit and Jesus forgave, in advance, all sin I would commit.

If a person fails to repent of a specific sin in the future, I don't think their salvation is in jeopardy, because Jesus has already forgiven them for that sin. That's how big the love of Jesus is!

Some might respond, "Are you saying there's nothing a person can do to lose their salvation? Nothing?"

I'm not a Calvinist. I don't believe in once-saved-always-saved. I also don't think Jesus revokes our salvation. Nor do I think there's anything another person or the Enemy can do to take our salvation from us.

The only person who can change our salvation status is ourselves.

Sometimes people abruptly decide they want to give the gift back to Jesus, and Jesus will oblige.

Other times, it happens more gradually, after months or years of ignoring the Holy Spirit, drifting away from God, and hardening our hearts, a person gets to a place where they don't know when exactly they left the faith. all they know is that they were a Christian 5 years ago, but today they aren't.

This gradual kind is more sinister, because people rarely start out intending to lose their faith. Instead, they slowly fool themselves into it.

Others might respond, "But isn't it different if someone consciously refuses repentance versus unconsciously refuses repentance?"

Honestly, no.

The more years I see clients as a mental health counselor, the more I become convinced that this distinction around self-awareness and responsibility is baloney.

I don't buy that we're more responsible for conscious sinful thinking over subconscious or unconscious sinful thinking. It's all us. Some of us are just better at hiding ourselves from ourselves than others are.

At some level, I think all of us are daily saying "I know this is a sin and I don’t care I’m going to keep on doing it.”

Some of us say it consciously. Others say it at another level. But I think our responsibility is the same.

The good news is, Jesus isn't surprised and his forgiveness is complete!

Now, am I saying there are no consequences for our sin? And for refusing repentance? No!

God's wisdom isn't arbitrary. His definitions of sin aren’t random.

He's warning us because the things He's labeled as “sin” will bring harm to us and others either in the short-term or the long-term.

So if we sin, even if we're already forgiven, we still have to deal with the natural consequences of sin on this side of heaven. Jesus never promised to shield us from that.

That's why Christians should still repent of specific sins, even if they're already forgiven.

Repentance is the process by which we face the consequences of our decisions, we remind ourselves of Christ's forgiveness, we ask the Holy Spirit to help us more successfully resist damaging sin in the future, and then we take practical steps to build up our capacity to resist.

If we want to experience the fullness of life on this side of heaven that Jesus offers, we must repent, specifically, for every sin.

This also highlights the risk of refusing to repent.

While I don't think that refusal to repent automatically leads to Jesus revoking our salvation, repeated refusal risks us slowly hardening our own hearts to the Holy Spirit.

We risk tricking ourselves into walking away from Jesus and giving back His free gift of salvation.

So yes, it's wise to repent and guard against the hardening of our hearts!

But what I ultimately wanted to communicate with my recent video was that fear and shame may be good short-term motivators, but they fail long-term.

Instead, the best motivator for following God's wisdom is the possibility of fullness of life on this side of heaven.

I refrain from gay romance/sex and lean into the kingdom work and intentional Christian community that God has offered me because I really think that's gonna lead to the best life for me on this side of heaven.