Pastor Contends Christians Have Obligation to Warn Homosexuals
by Allie Martin
August 9, 2005
(AgapePress) - An Ohio pastor says Christians who are silent on the issue of homosexuality are not practicing Christ's love. In his new book, Silent No More, Rod Parsley tackles many issues facing concerned Christians, including the homosexual agenda.
Parsley, senior pastor of World Harvest Church in Columbus, Ohio, insists that Christians have a responsibility to address and confront homosexual activism. He says being tolerant toward homosexuals does not mean remaining silent while radical homosexual activists attempt to force their lifestyle on the rest of America.
"These people teach our children in public school, they are in places of business, they live in our communities," Parsley acknowledges, "but there's a difference in tolerance and forcing others to give credence to a lifestyle that we believe is abhorrent." According to the Christian author and evangelist, those who follow Christ have a responsibility where homosexuals are concerned. "The fact of the matter is, we must move people first to compassion, then to wisdom, and then to duty," he says.
World Harvest Church's pastor is also the founder of the Center for Moral Clarity, which exists to effect moral change in America by encouraging "passionate and persuasive Christian leadership" and by educating, mobilizing and equipping believers to speak up for biblical truth in their culture. The outspoken minister encourages fellow Christians not to back down from speaking the truth in love about the homosexual agenda.
According to God's Word, the homosexual lifestyle is not only sinful, Parsley asserts, but also deadly. He points to the first chapter of Romans, for instance, in which scripture refers to women abandoning natural relations for unnatural ones and men committing "indecent acts with other men," resulting in their "receiving in themselves the due penalty for their perversion" (Rom. 1:27, NIV).
"Even if you take Romans 1 out of the picture," the author of Silent No More notes, "I'm against homosexual marriage and I'm against the homosexual lifestyle because the average life expectancy of a homosexual and lesbian in the United States is 42 and 45, versus 75 and 79. These people are fighting for a lifestyle that is robbing them of half of their life expectancy."
Parsley says he and others who trust in scripture have a duty to address homosexuals, compassionately, with scriptural truth. "And as a born-again believer in Jesus Christ," he explains, "my responsibility is to warn them of their lifestyle and tell them that Jesus Christ came to give us life and that more abundantly." According to the Ohio pastor, Christians who remain silent on the issue of homosexuality are not practicing the love of Christ.
Allie Martin, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online. Allie recently returned from a trip to India where he visited various ministries.
