by Edward O. Bragwell Sr.<\/p>\n
“Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God<\/em>” (I Corinthians 6:9-10).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
We are sometimes accused of unfairly singling out “homosexuals” from the list of sinners in the above verses for our condemnation more than others. While I deny unfairness, I admit that there is a tendency to single them out. There may be a good reason for this. But before discussing that, for the record, I want to say that I don’t think any of those on the list in the above verses should be mistreated either by individuals or society as a whole. Instead, society should do what it can to rehabilitate them. And more importantly, we as Christians need to try to do whatever we can rightly do in order to reach them with the saving power of the gospel.<\/p>\n
But, having said all of that and admitting that we may give more attention to homosexuals, at the present time, than the others listed, I am prepared to suggest a reason of it. It may be because they are the ones who are openly and boldly flaunting their sinful lifestyles and pushing society to accept them as they are, even giving them special rights, without changes in their behavior. We would likely be giving as much attention to the other sinners listed if they organized orchestrated events and lobbied governments for “rights” like “gays” do. So far we have not seen many Fornicator Pride, Idolater Pride, Adulterer Pride, Thief Pride, Drunkard Pride, Reviler Pride, or Extortioner Pride events to push their agenda for special rights. The reason homosexuals are\u00a0getting<\/strong> more attention is that are\u00a0drawing<\/strong>\u00a0more attention to themselves.<\/p>\n
We would also like to point out that every sinner on that list was able to change. How do I know? The next verse says “such\u00a0were<\/strong>\u00a0some of you<\/em>” (I Corinthians 6:11). They were no longer such, having been washed, justified, and sanctified in the name of the Lord. There were no longer those things because they had been forgiven and no longer practiced those sins. Does that necessarily mean they would no longer have any propensity toward such sins? No. The former drunkard might be more tempted than others toward alcohol. The former thief might be more tempted to shoplift than others. The former fornicator might be sexually tempted by the opposite sex than others. So, the former homosexual might be sexually tempted by the same sex more than others. But, all of them must realize that they can resist the temptation with God’s help and not return to their former sinful practices – and that they will have to do that to be saved.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by Edward O. Bragwell Sr. “Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God” (I Corinthians 6:9-10). We are sometimes…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27],"tags":[35],"class_list":["post-42543","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-homosexuality"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":35038,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-not-the-homosexual-act-and-the-person-one-and-the-same\/","url_meta":{"origin":42543,"position":0},"title":"Is not the homosexual act and the person one and the same?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 6, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Please explain: \"God loves the sinner but hates the sin.\" Is not the homosexual act and the person one and the same? Answer: One of the current myths about homosexuality is that it is ingrained in a person and cannot be changed. This is shown false when Paul pointed\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":85157,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/homosexuality-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":42543,"position":1},"title":"Homosexuality (Frazier)","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 28, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Ken Frazier via Sentry Magazine, Vol. 15, No. 2, June 30, 1989 Homosexuality and the Church of England The general Senate of the Church of England, trying to satisfy both conservative and liberal wings, has decided that homosexual acts are not outright sin, but \"fall short\" of Christian ideals\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":43392,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/should-sex-before-marriage-be-encouraged-in-christianity\/","url_meta":{"origin":42543,"position":2},"title":"Should sex before marriage be encouraged in Christianity?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 21, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Should sex before marriage be encouraged in Christianity? Answer: \"Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":34083,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-boy-scouts-continue-their-ban-on-homosexuals\/","url_meta":{"origin":42543,"position":3},"title":"The Boy Scouts Continue Their Ban on Homosexuals","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 18, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Source:\u00a0\"Boy Scouts reaffirm ban on gays,\" The Los Angeles Times, 18 July 2012. After a two-year review by a special committee, they \"came to the conclusion that this policy is absolutely the best policy for the Boy Scouts.\" The policy is to exclude homosexuals from the organization. \"The Boy Scouts\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Issues"","block_context":{"text":"Issues","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/issues\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":35789,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/was-the-death-penalty-for-homosexuals-only-referring-to-hell\/","url_meta":{"origin":42543,"position":4},"title":"Was the death penalty for homosexuals only referring to hell?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 11, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Does Deuteronomy 20 really say that we should kill gay people? I was always under the idea that it was saying God was going to kill them by sending them to hell when they died because they knew better and refused to change. Am I right? It came up\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":26755,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-dont-a-lot-of-christians-accept-homosexuals\/","url_meta":{"origin":42543,"position":5},"title":"Why don’t a lot of Christians accept homosexuals?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 20, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: If the main Christianity rule is 'Love thy neighbor,' why don't a lot of Christians accept homosexuals? Answer: For the same reason, we don't accept murders, liars, thieves, and other sinners while they remain in their sins. Christians understand that sin is harmful to the sinner and those around\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42543","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42543"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42543\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42543"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42543"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42543"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}