Everyone?

One of the things that surprises me most when I talk to some people is that they don't know/have never been told that God loves them. In fact, so many people say "God must hate me" or "God must hate that kind of people", or even that I must hate them!
 Oh how Satan, the father of lies, corrupts the truth.
  Others come from a different perspective and ask, "How could God love that person? After all the horrible things they've done, they don't deserve to be forgiven or loved by God."
 Well, today I'm going let you know how God can forgive those people and why He loves everyone.

The first subject I'm going to address, which will take up most of this post, mainly because it's a very current topic in the UK and also it is also linked to one of, I think, the most widely believed lies out there, is

Homosexuality

That's right, I said it. There is so much hurt and confusion over this topic, and it's one that nobody can escape talking about, especially at the moment with the consultation on marriage going on in the UK.

 One of the most shocking (and untrue) things I have heard about homosexuality is that God must hate anybody who is gay.

Truth #1: God loves everyone.

I touched on this in my blog "Life?" a couple of entries ago, and I'm going to refer you to the same verse I used there:

"For God so loved the world, that He gave His only son, that whoever belives in Him should not perish but have eternal life." John 3:16

God does not hate people who are homosexual. Christians should not hate people who are homosexual. Unfortunately there may be those out there who do profess to hate people who are gay but you know what, they're not living in accordance to the word of God which is the ultimate truth. Jesus isn't like that. He loves us all, no matter what circumstances are in our lives our what kind of sin we do a lot. God wants everyone to come to Him and be saved:

"This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our saviour who desires all people to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth." 1 Timothy 2:3-4

If God is in complete control and desires everyone to be saved through Jesus, why doesn't He make them? Because He gives us the choice. If God forced Himself upon us, would it really be real love? Because He loves us He gives the choice to us, even though it hurts Him to see us making decisions that, eventually, are eternally harmful to us.
 God doesn't hate people who are attracted to people of the same gender, or who have sex with people of the same gender. He hates the sin, not the sinner.

The second thing I am going to tell you, may be something you have never been told before which wouldn't be surprising because even as christians we're prone to believing differently.
Truth #2: All sin is the same.
I know, I know- it sounds crazy. What I'm saying is, there is no sin that is worse than another one before God, the ultimate and perfect judge.
 "Now hold up," I hear you sayin', "you're telling me, Amy Ferry, that stealing a pencil from work is the same as being some crazy mass murderer?"
 Yep. That's pretty much what I'm saying. In society, we seem to have this "moral ranking" of "big sins" and "little sins"- in fact, that's probably less true these days because morality, in the west especially, is just a mess- anway, the point I'm making is, God is perfect. We can't be in heaven unless we too are perfect, which we aren't, which is why God sent Jesus to take the punishment for our sins so that we might be blameless before God and join Him in Heaven etc etc.
"Yeah, yeah, Amy, you said all that in the other blog, get to the point!"
  I am, just wait for it.
 What I want you to take away from that is, it doesn't matter how much sin is in our lives or what those sins are, the reality is that you still can't get into Heaven on your own.
Context: Being gay isn't any better or worse than anything else and actually, as far as being attracted to people of the same sex goes, that isn't ANY different to lusting over someone of the opposite sex; having sex with someone of the same sex is exactly the same as having sex outwith marriage in a heterosexual relationship. THEREFORE, how could God, or anyone, possibly hate people who just happen to be inclined to this particular sin? Would make zero sense, bro.
 Under God we are all the same. We are brandished sinners, unable to change anything in eternity's perspective without the grace and mercy of God. That's why it's called grace, because none of us deserve it. God gives it to us purely because we are His creation and He loves us.
 Christians aren't any better you, whether we would have you believe that or not; we have exactly the same problems, issues and temptations and we screw up- some of more than others in different ways but that is irrelevent. The only difference is that we have allowed God to come into our lives, throw the sin away and free us from guilt, and give our lives the long-awaited makeover that it so desperately needs. Although we can't condone homosexuality, because the bible makes it very clear that any type of sexual immorality is a sin, that does not mean we think we are better or that we dislike people who are gay. God calls us to love everyone just as He does and to view them as He sees them- easier said than done- and that does not disclude anyone.

 I'm going to speak very quickly about homosexuality in the context of marriage, because it is very relevent to us at the moment. I believe in equality. I believe that everyone should experience the joy of loving someone and having an intimate relationship with them, however, marriage is an institution instigated by God. We know that God is holy and perfect, and as imperfect beings, we often don't understand certain things about God's character and His judgement, but because He is perfect we have to believe and have faith that He is just. As a perfect being, God instigated marriage so therefore, marriage was created perfect. God saw that it was good for a man to leave His family and "hold fast to His wife and become one flesh". The bible makes it very clear that marriage is to be between a man and a woman- and you can argue all you want about polygamy in the Old Testement (I actually don't understand that but hey, I never claimed to know everything, right?) but it is still between a man and a woman. God created woman with man in mind; they fit together not only physically but mentally too. They compliment one another. After the fall, all throughout the bible, it is then made very clear that homosexuality- a man behaving with another man as he should with a woman or vice versa- is a perversion of the perfect image God created of man and woman (which is created in His image by the way; Man and Woman = God and Christ. Therefore, perfect image) and that is is sinful. The reason bible-believing christians do not agree with same-gender marriage is that
a) God created marriage and gave its definition. We are not at liberty to change that and
b) Marriage is a perfect institution instigated by God and homosexuality is a sin inspired by Satan. It doesn't even make sense biblically that the two could ever mix.
 Now of course, there is imperfection in marriages- we're sinners, we can't do anything perfectly, and yes, in most places marriage isn't actually respected as the holy union that it should be- a life-long commitment to one person- and that's among heterosexual people, christian and non-christian alike so really, the image of marriage has already been defiled and altered. However, the marriage of two people of the same sex isn't, biblically, possible.
 Now maybe you're reading this and you don't believe in God or Jesus or that the bible is legitimate and that's fair enough, it's your decision, but that is why bible believing christians, like myself, cannot accept same-sex marriage. I understand that this is a sensitive issue, but all I ask is that you accept this is what the bible says and that I, as a follower of God, believe and respect it, just as I respect that you make your own choices and choose to believe what you do.

I'm just going to close by tackling the second thing I brought up- how can a perfect and just God forgive people who have done such awful and horrific things that He himself says are sinful? Well hopefully you grasped the idea from truth #2, God views us all as sinners no matter how little or much there is or whether they are "big sins" or "little sins". All sins are equal beneath the judgement of God and none of us actually deserve forgiveness or eternal life. We are in no position to judge other people's sins as worse than our own. God will forgive anyone of anything, if only they come to him in repentance and ask Him.

Well, I know that's a lot to take in and I don't ask you to believe it all, just so you know that's what the bible says- I don't claim any of this as my own wisdom or intelligence it all comes from the bible, the living word of God. Any christians reading, if you feel that in some way I have misportrayed any of it or that I'm off on anything, I welcome any correction. I don't want anyone believing something that isn't right. On that note actually, don't take everything I've said as fact just like that, go and look it up, read the bible for yourself and see what you think.
 Thanks for bearing with me on this one and not abandoning me, if you've gotten this far. It's just my heart breaks for all the people out there who believe that God isn't interested in them or who think there is no path to God for them; there is and God is waiting to accept you with open arms. You know the angels party it up every single time one person is saved? Pretty cool, I think.
 God bless you guys, I'm praying for you :)

19 Years

19 years of life.

19 years of smiles.

19 years of laughter.

19 years of tears.

19 years of sorrys and thank yous.

19 years in the loving care of Christ Jesus.

On Friday 11th May 2012, I turned 19. Looking back over the past year, I have so so much to be thankful for. It has been, without a doubt, the best year of my life so far. This time last year, there is no way I could have pictured what my life would be like and I certainly wouldn't have been as bold as to imagine it this good.

  A lot of people won't know this but in the last few months of 2010 I found myself struggling with mild depression. I was halfway through my last year of school, I had auditions to be worrying about for music courses, I'd recently dislocated my knee cap and so practice on my flute was more arduous than usual, I had a piano exam that I HAD to pass, I was struggling with the fact my Mum was going to be getting remarried- it felt like I had all this stuff to deal with and I just couldn't do it; it was too much.

 Without dwelling on that too much, everything that I was worried about back then and that I thought was too much for me to deal with, God took it and made it wonderful.

• He lead me away from music, which I had been planning on doing in higher education for years by that point, and lead me to chemistry at Edinburgh University. Nobody I know ever dreamed that I would end up studying a chemistry degree at university, in fact even my 6th year chemistry teacher was kinda shocked (probably didn't think I was good enough, woteva!), but in some twisted, only-God-could-make-this-up way, it's worked and I can't imagine doing or being anywhere else!
• My Mum being remarried is one of the most blessed things that has happened. They are so happy and God has just blessed them and their marriage so much, and although it's sometimes upsetting because my Dad isn't here, my Mum is happier than she's been in a long time and that's what's important.
• God threw everything up in the air and put me in catered accommodation. I applied for self-catered, and after I had fulfilled my conditions for Edinburgh I still didn't get an offer for accommodation until eventually, they told me I had no other option but a bunkbed room in catered accommodation. This seemed absurd because 1) I am a fussy eater and so being in catered accommodation just made no sense and 2) I thought there was no way I could afford it. However, looking back now I can't imagine how different my life would be if God hadn't switched things up; I have met the most incredible and lovely people who I plan on being friends with for a long, long time (if that's okay with them!) and after having no close, God-orientated friends throughout my high school career, I now have an abundance of them! God is so faithful.
• I have found a wonderful church which is just a continual blessing and has brought a new meaning to my Sundays.
• I'm currently in the middle of fundraising for a mission trip to Cuba! I've never been on a mission trip before and, to be honest, probably wouldn't have pushed myself into doing it by myself and I certainly wouldn't have gone as far away as Latin America! But God is sovreign and has a plan! I'm so excited that God is using me in this respect and I can't wait to see how He will use this trip, not only to help me change those around me, but to change me and my perspective and and continually challenge me in my relationship with Him.

I could literally speel on for ages about how much I have to be thankful for over this past year, but I think you get the idea. For those of you who are of the "How can you know for certain that God is real? Where's the proof?" clan, I know in my heart, for certain, that God is real because, not only is He in my heart but He makes Himself evident in my life! He leads me, guides me and even speaks to me! Imagine that, the Almighty Creator of the Universe would stoop so low as to have an intimate relationship with me; an imperfect sinner who's constantly letting Him down and making decisions that are contrary to what He would have me do. WOW, is that love or is it love?

Dear Heavenly Father,
Thank you so much for all that you have given to me, all throughout my life, even the things I didn't like at the time. I thank you that you are sovereign and that you have a plan for my life in which you are glorified and I am sanctified [made more like the Lord Jesus]. Thank you that, despite all the times I let you down and do things that I'm not proud of, that you don't love me any less because of it because I am your daughter through Christ, who you sent on the greatest rescue mission in history to save me. Lord, I pray for all those people out there who are hurting and who don't know what it's like to have you in their lives, I may not know their problems and hurts but you do and I pray that you would put your hand of comfort and healing upon them and really make them aware that you love them regardless of who they are, where they're from, the things they're not proud of, or whether they like men or women. I pray you would just speak to them through circumstances in their lives that they may see you and recognise that all you want is for them to be saved and to get to know you, so that they might spend eternity with you in heaven where there is no sin, no crying and no pain.
 Father, please go before me in my life and may I continue to get to know you better and to love you more, no matter what the circumstances. I love you,
 In your son's precious name,
Amen