| I have been reading the letters pertaining to homosexuality, and WELS policy. I have a question: My 70 year old father is a homosexual, and lives a homosexual lifestyle. I have tried to teach him his sinful ways for the past five years, as have my other family members, I even had the minister talk to him. I have been taught to honor my father and mother, but WELS says I should not associate with him. Won't I go to hell for not honoring my father and mother.
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| From what you say, it appears that you are applying the commandment to love and honor parents. Christian love does not mean that you condone or overlook sin. Christian love confronts a sinner with his sin, which you have done. And I don't sense that you have done this in an angry or disrespectful manner, but in a way that shows concern for your father's spiritual welfare. I would encourage you to do the same in the future. Continue to plant the seed in your father's heart. You can assure him that you love him and respect him as your father, but that you do not condone his sinful lifestyle. You can point out to him that God does not approve of his lifestyle either and that one day your father will have to given an account of his sin to God. You can point out to him that there is a Savior, Jesus Christ, who will not only forgive his many sinful homosexual thoughts, acts, and desires, but will also help him resist the temptation to act out such desires in the future. You never know when that seed will sprout in his heart. But even if he does not see the error of his ways, you will have applied God's Word to your relationship with your father. You will have acted in the way that God wants a Christian son to act toward his straying father.
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