Comments on the Rick Warren
LETTER/VIDEO STATEMENT TO UGANDAN CHURCH LEADERS
By Rick Warren, Pastor of Saddleback Church, Lake Forest, Calif.,
Regarding the Pending Anti-Homosexuality Bill Before the Ugandan Parliament
by Sandy Simpson
Deception in the Church Ministries
In a letter and video statement to the government and church leaders in Uganda, Rick Warren laid out his reaction to the anti-homosexuality bill that is pending with the Ugandan Government. Warren opposes it.
Now there are some provisions in the bill that any Christian should oppose such as imprisonment and possible death penalty for homosexuals (apparently just for being a homosexual), forcing pastors to report private counseling with gays, etc. However statements by Warren such as “While we can never deny or water down what God’s Word clearly teaches about sexuality, at the same time the church must stand to protect the dignity of all individuals – as Jesus did and commanded all of us to do.” does not address at all what the Bible teaches on sex outside of marriage which is defined as between a man and a woman including homosexuality. All sex outside of marriage is a sin before God and must be repented of. This also means that repentance will be followed by a turning away from practicing sin to practicing righteousness (1 Jn. 2:29; 3:4, 8, 10). When Warren states: “ALL life, no matter how humble or broken, whether unborn or dying, is precious to God” this is true but the Gospel is left out of this equation, thus presenting only part of the picture, thus presenting error alongside of truth. God wants all men to be saved and does not want anyone to perish (2 Pet. 3:9), but that is why He sent His only Son to die to purchase us salvation and forgiveness from our sins if we believe in Him and repent. Homosexuality is a sin and those who practice sin are destined for damnation (1 Cor. 6:9-10). Practicing homosexuals are living lifestyle sin, thus God does not love their sin and will punish them if they do not respond to the conviction of their sin by the Holy Spirit.
Though some of the provisions of the anti-homosexuality bill are unjust and should be removed we have to understand that HIV/AIDS is a huge problem there and is being propagated and spread by homosexual behaviors as well as other methods. Uganda is trying to find ways to protect their society against this deadly sexual disease. Warren states that we all have “the freedom to make moral choices and our right to free expression are gifts endowed by God.”. This statement comes from his erroneous teaching on “gifts”. He has taught repeatedly on this subject in his “Purpose” series and often confuses natural gifts with spiritual ones. Do we have the right to make choices that cause others to die of AIDS? If the “free expression” of homosexuality is a “gift endowed by God” then why does God prohibit it in Scripture? We are not just free to do anything we want as people created by God. There are laws against murder, and infecting others with HIV/AIDS should be prosecuted just as any other act of murder is. If you knowingly give someone poison and they die will you not be tried for that crime? Please click here to continue reading this article.
