Today, I read Luke 16:15 where Jesus said to the Pharisees: “…but God knoweth your hearts: for that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God.”

On the margin of my Bible I had noted down the theological definition of the word “abomination.” It comes from the Greek word [bdelugma} which means an object of repulsion or disgust because in essence, the thing, act or person essentially clashes with the disposition or nature of God; it is some thing or act which is inherently destructive of societal or family harmony.

Thus, to God, idolatry is an abomination; fornication is abomination; adultery is abomination; incest is abomination even bribing a judge and using unjust weighing scales in business are all abominations unto God. These things all clash with the holiness, the nature, and disposition of God. These things breed disharmony in family and society.

The next question is: is homosexuality an abomination as well?

I know that I am now treading on dangerous ground because readers may have strong feelings on the matter.  I also know that discussing homosexuality is inevitable because just last week, a church in Baguio City landed in the headlines when it performed two gay unions.

I approach the subject in the light of a more personal experience, though. On Thursday, June 9, 2011, I was sitting at the third floor corridor of the Bookman Building, waiting for my case at the NLRC to be called.  Seated next to me was a person who at first glance, I thought, was a tall and rather bony girl. I smiled at her. The longer I sat there, I noticed her hands, and then I noticed that she had an Adam’s apple. She got a call and her voice, the way she answered the call, the way she spoke, all that led me to conclude that she was a he.

My attention was called away from my seatmate by the appearance of an acquaintance, a lawyer also. He also had a hearing at the NLRC, but unlike me, his case had already been called and he was leaving to go back to the office. He was my classmate in grades 5 and 6 and all through high school. He was also my classmate in one class when we were undergrads in UPD and, then, he was a classmate in one class in law school. Our high school batch just had a mini-reunion two weeks before and neither of us were able to make it.  So I walked over to where he was and said hello. We spoke briefly.

When I returned to my seat, the guy, he said his name was Joel, looked at me and smiled. So I tried to make conversation by commenting what a small world it really was that I saw my classmate there at the NLRC that day. I enumerated the many chance meetings I had with that classmate, and the many similarities in our lives, and then, I added, “pareho pa kaming anak ng pastor.” Which was true, my old classmate and I are both pastors’ kids.

To this bit of information Joel said “Pastor? Ano’ng church po ba kayo?” So I replied, “Baptist kami. Ako Bible Baptist.”

Joel turned to look intently at me and said “Bible Baptist?  Sila yung mga nangangaral na once saved, saved forever, ano po? Ako kasi, christian din ako.  Nakapag-attend na ako sa Bible Baptist. Yung ang naaalala kong turo nila.”

Firmly believing that we should be ready to give an answer to anyone who asks us of the hope we have in Jesus Christ, I began a conversation on the doctrine of salvation and the assurance of salvation.  He seemed to readily agree with what I was saying and the verses I was quoting seemed already familiar to him. This led me to think that he had heard all this before and that salvation and assurance of salvation were not really what he wanted to talk about.  So I smiled at him and politely waited for him to pick up the thread of conversation.

After a pause, he finally asked me:  “Ano po ba ang pananaw ninyo? Ang mga katulad ko po ba ay puede ring ma-save?”

So I said; “All have sinned and come short of the glory of God.  Are you a sinner? Kasi, Jesus Christ came to save sinners.”

He sighed with obvious relief, “Yan nga po ang talagang matagal ko nang tinatanong sa isip ko. Katanggap-tanggap po ba sa Panginoon ang mga gay na katulad ko?”

So I began with the doctrine of sin: how that man was born with a sinful nature and that this sinful nature manifests itself in all that we think, feel, say and do. Everyone has a sinful nature and the only difference is the way our sinful nature manifests itself.  For some, their sinful nature manifests itself in habitual lying, others, in homosexual behavior.

I then showed him Leviticus 20:13 where it declares that in God’s sight, when a man lies with another man as he would lie with a woman, that is an abomination.  I also showed him Romans 1 and 1 Corinthians 6:9.  I said: the Bible declares that homosexuality is an abomination in the sight of God. The question is, do you agree with God that it is an abomination? I told him that a choice is laid before him: either to believe what the Bible says, that homosexuality is an abomination in the sight of God, and to repent; or, he can take the common belief that there is nothing wrong with homosexuality.

Can God save a homosexual who trusts Him as His Lord and Savior?  Of course, God is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. But this was not what was bothering him because he said to me: Ang gumugulo po sa isip ko ay yung tanong na: kung na-save ka na, dapat na bang talikuran ang pagiging bakla?  O, kung ipagpa-tuloy ko ang buhay na ganito, mawawala ba ang kaligtasan ko?

So I threw him the same question:  ano ba ang kaligtasan?  Hindi ba ito’y pag-talikod sa kasalanan at pananampalataya na sapat ang ginanap ni Hesus sa Kalbaryo upang ikaw ay iligtas?  Hindi ba’t noong naligtas ka’y ipinako na kasama ni Hesus ang makasalanan mong pagka-tao?  Bakit ibababa mo pa ang makasalanan mong pagkatao mula sa pagkaka-pako nito sa krus kasama ni Kristo at mamumuhay ka pa sa kasalanan? How should we who are dead to sin live any longer therein?

Kung tunay kang naligtas, ang kaligtasan mo ay nakasalalay sa ginanap ni Hesus sa Krus ng kalbaryo, hindi sa iyong ginawa o ginagawa o magagawa. We are saved by grace through faith and not by our own works. Ang tanong mo ay hindi na tungkol sa assurance of salvation or permanence of salvation.  Ang tanong mo ay kung paano ka mamumuhay ng karapatdapat sa bago mong katayuan bilang anak ng Dios. Ang nais mo talagang itanong sa akin ay, kung puede ka pang magpatuloy sa homosexual lifestyle kung ikaw ay saved na.

He replied: katulad ko po, hindi na po ako nakikipag-relasyon.  Pero ang bihis ko po at kilos ko, gay pa rin. Nagkakasala pa rin ba ako?  Masasabi  po bang nabubuhay pa ako sa kasalanan e hindi na nga po ako nakikipag-relasyon, wala na po akong boyfriend simula noong ako ay ma-save.

So I told him: ang tao ay tripartite being: meron siyang body, soul and spirit.  Noong ma-save ka, you were immediately justified by God in your spirit. Binigyan ka niya ng bago at eternal na buhay.  Kaagad iyon. Noong minuto rin na ikaw ay manalig kay Hesus, ang kaparusahan ng iyong kasalanan, yung penalty of sin ay inalis na ng Panginoon. Ngunit ang iyong soul, ito ay binabanal sa araw-araw ng Dios, you are being sanctified day by day in your soul. Ibig sabihin nito’y sa araw-araw, ang kapangyarihan ng kasalanan or the power and dominion of sin sa iyong mind, emotion at will ay inaalis unti-unti ng Dios.  Sa muling pagbabalik ni Hesus, sa Rapture, ang huling bahagi ng ating kaligtasan ay ang kaligtasan ng ating katawan, when it is glorified.  Then, ang presence of sin na ang tatanggalin ng Panginoon.

Maitanong ko sa iyo: bakit ka pa nagbibihis at kumikilos na gay?  Dahil ba sa hindi mo pa ma-bago ang kilos mo at mga habit mo? O dahil sa isip mo’y umaasa ka pang mapansin ng isang lalaki?  It depends, sabi niya. Kasi, kung you are still a victim of your old lifestyle, the Spirit of God helps us with our infirmities. Pero kung kaya ka nagbibihis ng mala-babae ay para maka-akit pa, nakikita at nababasa ng Dios ang ating kaisipan at puso.  Ang sabi ni Hesus, whoever looketh at a woman with lust is already guilty of adultery.  So, hindi mo na kailangan pang makipag-relasyon sa isang lalaki upang ikaw ay magkasala ng homosexuality, diba? Tumingin ka lamang ng may pagnanasa sa isang lalaki, in the sight of God, you have already engaged in the homosexual act.

Sa kahuli-hulihan, ang choice ay nasa sa iyo  pa rin.  You either choose to believe the Bible that homosexuality is an abomination before God, or not. You have to choose if a homosexual lifestyle is consistent with your profession of salvation. No pastor or church can make that choice for you.  Ang choice din na mamuhay ng patuloy sa kasalanan kahit na ikaw ay nilinis na mula sa kasalanan ay nasa iyo pa rin. Hindi mawawala ang kaligtasan mo–ang issue doon ay, tunay ka nga bang naligtas?  kasi, kapag naligtas ang tao, at siya’y binago na ni Hesus, nagbabago na rin ang pananaw niya sa luma niyang buhay. Iyong ang buod ng repentance: a change of mind and heart that results in a change of lifestyle.

Ang tanong ay:  sino ang masusunod sa buhay mo?  Ang sarili mong pananaw ng tama’t mali, ang feelings mo, ang choice mo, o ang sinasabi ni Hesus sa Biblia. Doon malalaman talaga kung ang tao ay ligtas na ngang tunay. Unti-unti’y na-uumay na siya sa dating buhay, unti-unti’y namumuhi na siya sa lahat ng bakas at bahid ng lumang pagka-tao.  Hindi na mahalaga ang dating pananaw, ang mahalaga na ngayon ay ang Salita ng Dios, ito na ang kanyang panuntunan.  If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed. Ang pagtalikod sa kasalanan ay isang fruit meet for repentance, sa Tagalog, bungang angkop sa iyong pagsisisi.

Wala kasing makaka-alam na tao sa iyong paligid kung ikaw nga ba ay ligtas na. Ngunit, ang iyong bagong pag-galaw, pag-kilos, pag-iisip, damdamin at asal ay ebidensiya ng bago mong espirituwal na ugnayan sa Dios Ama sa pamamagitan ni Hesus.

When my case was finally called, Joel looked exhausted.  He looked relieved and yet, at the same time, burdened anew with the choice he knew he had to make. Following Christ is a choice all professing Christians must make. It cannot be enforced upon people.  It is a personal choice to walk worthy of the calling to salvation with which we have been called.

We cannot lose our salvation as we never worked to obtain it.  It is God who  keeps our salvation secure by the eternal blood of Jesus Christ, the Eternal Son of God.  No amount of sin in our lives can undo our salvation. But, if we willfully and consciously choose to live consistently in our sin, the question is no longer whether we are in danger of losing our salvation, the question is, were we ever saved at all?  The struggle against sin in our lives is the very evidence of our new eternal life. How can we who have been dead to sin (saved, from sin, in other words) live any longer therein? That is to say, willfully living in sin is inconsistent with one’s profession of salvation.

Thus if one professes salvation and still consciously and willfully clings to and embraces his sin, that person’s profession of salvation must be false.  One cannot be saved from sin and still insist on living in the filth of sin.

I realize that many people may be offended with this view of mine. Many more will be offended by my having expressed my view.  If the incident did not happen to me at all, I would not have said anything, but the issue presented itself to me.  I am merely addressing it.

The same principles apply with fornication, adultery, gossiping, anger, laziness, greed, covetousness, worldliness — all manifestations of sin and the sinful nature. We are all sinners.  We can be saved from sin.  Being saved from sin means being dead to sin, being crucified with Christ unto sin, so that when Christ rose from the dead, we rose with him too, we are no longer slaves to sin.  We do not have to live under the dominion of sin.  This is salvation.