Do Not Be Deceived!

 Have you ever had someone argue with you and say something like, "You don't keep all the laws of Leviticus like eating shellfish and mixing two kinds of cloth so why would you point out the sexual laws of Leviticus??  You Christians just pick and choose Bible verses to fit whatever you are against!"

The answer to that is very simple.  We only follow the laws, edicts and commands that were carried over into the New Testament.

Had God repeated the prohibition against shellfish and pork in the New Testament then followers of Christ would be abstaining from those.  But instead God freed followers of Christ from dietary prohibitions.  We can eat shrimp, clams and oysters without sin!  But we are not freed from sexual sin in the New Testament.  This fact God makes very clear.

My Bible reading for today came from 1 Corinthians 6.

8 Instead, you yourselves cheat and do wrong, and you do this to your brothers and sisters. 9 Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men[a] 10 nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.

How can God be any clearer in His points about behavior that He doesn't approve of?  "Men who have sex with men" is NOT approved by God.  Neither are men who have sex with women out of wedlock, or drunkards, or swindlers.  It's all called sin.

And while no sins are beyond the reach of Jesus to forgive, Paul is pointing out that if we live lives that are filled with this kind of behavior there is a very good chance that we were never saved and and still dead in our sin.  People who are dead in their sin will not inherit the kingdom of God.