CATALYST Youth- October 13, 2017- "GOOD GOD? BAD NEWS!"

As we get closer to Halloween and I see a lot of the disturbing and violent decorations hanging from the store shelves, it reminds me that our world, in REAL LIFE, is disturbing enough! Do we really need to put plastic heads on top of sticks on our front lawn? You only need to look at the news or check out social media for a reminder that our world is REALLY MESSED UP! 

Every day we see and hear all kinds of bad news: terrorists driving cars into crowds of people or planting bombs, mass shootings at concerts, North Korea launching missile tests, crazy racism and mistreatment of people just because there skin is a difference colour, people living in poverty, starving to death, or refugees risking their lives to escape their country because it’s just so incredibly dangerous! All of those things can leave us questioning the goodness of God. If God is so loving, why doesn’t he just fix everything that’s broken with our world and stop evil from happening? That's the question we tackled this week.
 
GOD ISN’T TO BLAME FOR THE EVIL IN OUR WORLD
 
We often blame God for a lot of the evil in the world—because if he’s all powerful and all loving, he should stop all this stuff from happening. He should cause cheeseburgers to rain down from heaven to feed starving children! He should swoop in like a superhero to stop all of the drug dealers and child abusers, leaving them all tied up for the police like Spiderman does! If God can create all of creation with just ONE word, than he’s DEFINITELY able to put an end to violence and crime.
 
So why doesn’t he? Doesn’t he love us? Doesn’t he care about starving or abused children? Doesn’t he care about the families of the people who were shot while attending a concert in Las Vegas? Well, to answer that question, we have to look at the book of Genesis (the very first book of the Bible). In it, it tells us that God created everything- including people- and when he was done, he called it all GOOD. What that means, is that there wasn’t any lying, there wasn’t any greed, there wasn’t any hatred, there was no jealousy, there wasn’t any violence or killing- animals didn’t even eat other animals! Basically, it was heaven on earth!

That all changed, not because of anything that God did, but it was because the first two people he created made a choice. It was the first sin—or in other words, the first choice to do the opposite of what God wanted for them. Adam and Eve were tempted and decided to disobey God.
 
All of the evil and violence in our world is because of one thing- God created humans with the freedom to CHOOSE. All of us have the freedom to choose to love and follow God and live the way that he wants us to, or to go our own way and do whatever we want instead. That included Adam and Eve, that included that crazy gunman in Las Vegas, and that includes you and me. So then, why did God create us with the ability to choose?
 
When I was a kid, I got a robot dog for Christmas. It was called a Spot Bot- and at the time, it was one of the coolest toys ever. You would put in the batteries, flick a switch, and it would roll around on the floor in circles, wagging its little plastic tail and “barking” with a weird robotic dog voice. As much as I loved my little Spot Bot, it wasn’t anything like having a REAL dog. Sure a real dog would do nasty stuff like poop or pee on the floor and you would have to clean up after it, but a real dog would also run up to you and lick your face and snuggle with you when you come home and really love and depend on you. Now, we aren’t dogs to God. In fact, James 1:18 says that humans are God’s prized creation. We aren’t animals to him. BUT, when God created us, he didn’t want robots that were programmed to love and follow him—he wanted people who would FREELY CHOOSE to love and follow him—because THAT’S REAL. You wouldn't want someone to marry you one day because they were forced to do it. You would want someone to CHOOSE to marry you because they love you and want to! God wants us to WANT to have a friendship with him. He wants us to choose to love and follow him!
 
Adam and Eve were the first humans, who made the first terrible choice to reject God’s way and go their own way instead…and we’ve been doing it ever since. God made a perfect world for Adam and Eve and told them not to do ONE THING—and they did it. In the Bible, God tells us how he wants us to live our lives…but do we really care or listen?
 
Some of us do, but most of the people in this world do whatever they want. Sometimes what they want is to be kind, caring and thoughtful, and sometimes what people want is to be greedy, to get revenge, to say or do unkind things, to be selfish, and even to hurt or kill other human beings. It’s our choice to SIN—to do the opposite of what God wants us to do—that makes this world so evil and messed up. This doesn’t thrill God at all. In fact, it horrifies him! It makes him totally sad! When God sees the evil things his creation does, that breaks his heart!
 
God doesn’t let children starve in poor countries—that happens because those countries might have evil leaders who keep wealth for themselves while allowing others to go hungry, or it’s because people would much rather help themselves than to help other people. For example, did you know that each year about $400 billion dollars worth of food is wasted because it goes uneaten or spoils in the fridge? If that food could be collected and passed out or shared- the waste alone would be enough to feed the world’s 870 million hungry people! We can’t blame God for starving children.
 
God isn’t the one firing bullets into crowds of people. That’s because people are CHOOSING to do something that God hates! The bully at school is choosing to be a bully. The greedy corporation is choosing to be greedy instead of paying employees a fair wage. When you make fun of somebody at school and hurt them, it’s because you CHOSE to do the opposite of what God wants you to do. When we all choose to live the opposite of how God intends life to be lived—when we SIN- is there any wonder that our world is so evil and messed up? Sometimes I’m surprised that it’s not MORE messed up! So, it’s not God’s fault that there’s so much evil in our world… and if he were to take away our choice to do right or wrong—the world would be a perfect place—but we wouldn’t be humans- we would be robots—so God is letting this play out for awhile.
 
GOD WILL MAKE EVERYTHING WRONG WITH THIS WORLD RIGHT AGAIN.
 
2 Peter 3:9 says- “The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent”.
 
This verse gives us the reason why God hasn't yet become so fed up with the evil and injustice in the world that he puts an end to it all. God promises in the Bible that one day, he WILL make everything wrong with this world right again. He’s going to judge the world. While we can look at the news and wonder why God isn’t doing it right now, this verse tells us that it’s because God is being PATIENT hoping that more and more people will come to follow him. It tells us that God doesn’t want anyone to be destroyed! He wants everyone to repent!
 
That word “repent” means that he wants us to turn away from our bad choices, to accept his love and forgiveness and CHOOSE to follow him! The good news is that all of the evil and terrible things in this world aren't going to last! Everyone who chooses to live their lives the opposite to how God wants will one day stand in front of him and be judged based on the choices they made. 

If we want to be a part of heaven one day, if we want to be a part of the perfect world that God will restore, it all boils down to a choice. We can CHOOSE to ask God to forgive us, we can CHOOSE to follow God’s way instead of our own way…or we can do the same thing that Adam and Eve did, and CHOOSE to do what we want instead (SIN). When we make that choice, the Bible says that our sin separates us from God. While we can't control how others choose to live their lives, what choice will YOU make?

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS


1. When you see all of the bad news on social media or on TV, how does it make you feel? Does it make you angry? Does it make you sad? Does it frustrate you? Why?

2. Read 2 Peter 3:9 together at home. Ask your teen why they think God is so patient and is allowing us to freely choose to do evil things at this time?


3. That verse says that God wants EVERYONE to repent. Ask you teen what it means to "repent"? (It means to turn away from sin- to choose to love and follow God instead of doing whatever you want.)


4. Encourage your teen that the everyday choices they make are either making this world a better place or a worse one! Pray with them and ask God to help them resist the temptation to do what's wrong, and to make the tough choice to do what's right-- even if it's not what they naturally might want to do.

CATALYST Youth- September 29, 2017- "SQUAD GOALS PART 3"

This week, we concluded our series on "SQUAD GOALS" by reviewing our talks from previous weeks, and then looking at one more amazing picture of friendship in the Bible found in Mark 2 and Luke 5.


It tells us about four guys who carried their friend (who was paralyzed) to meet Jesus, believing that Jesus could do the impossible! At the time, Jesus was super popular. He was known for doing incredible miracles (like healing people from incurable diseases) and teaching people about how to get right with God. When the friends arrived where Jesus was teaching at the time, they were really disappointed. There were insanely huge crowds and they couldn't even catch a glimpse of him.


That's when these friends did something a little crazy. They actually hoisted their friend onto the roof of the house Jesus was teaching in, and then THEY STARTED TO TEAR A HOLE IN THE ROOF so that they could lower their friend down right in front of Jesus. This tells us that these guys REALLY believed that Jesus could do impossible things. Imagine how brave and bold you would have to be to climb onto someone’s roof and bust a hole in it just to meet somebody inside!

When the hole was big enough, they lowered their buddy right in front of Jesus. Luke 5:20 says, “Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the man, “Young man, your sins are forgiven.”

Now this is where the situation gets a bit weird. This guy was lowered down to Jesus BECAUSE HE WAS PARALYZED! It was kind of obvious to everybody that he needed to be healed. But instead of doing the obvious, Jesus FORGAVE THE MAN’S SINS? Isn’t that kinda shocking? This lets us know something REALLY important- we all need to experience God’s love and forgiveness! Without it, our sin separates us from God and we can’t be a part of heaven one day. It’s even a more serious problem then being paralyzed! Sin is a word that describes all of our choices and inclinations to go our own way instead of God’s way—to say and do things that are the opposite of what he wants for us- and the Bible says that our sin separates us from God—that if we don’t have this sin problem dealt with, we won’t be able to have a friendship with God and we can’t be a part of heaven!

When Jesus said this man’s sins were forgiven, there were some religious leaders there who went NUTS! They told Jesus that only God had the power and authority to forgive someone sins- and they were ready to kill him right then and there!
 
Luke 5:22-26 says...

“Jesus knew exactly what they were thinking and said, “Why all this gossipy whispering? Which is simpler: to say ‘I forgive your sins,’ or to say ‘Get up and start walking’? Well, just so it’s clear that I’m the Son of Man and authorized to do either, or both. . . .” He now spoke directly to the paraplegic: “Get up. Take your bedroll and go home.” Without a moment’s hesitation, he did it—got up, took his blanket, and left for home, giving glory to God all the way. The people rubbed their eyes, incredulous—and then also gave glory to God. Awestruck, they said, “We’ve never seen anything like that!”
 
Here, Jesus proved that he was the Son of God—and that he has the power to forgive our sins and give us a brand new start--- he proved it by healing this guy right in front of a huge crowd of eyewitnesses!
 
The four friends of this guy did something pretty simple, but super important—they introduced their friend to Jesus! Because they brought him to Jesus, not only did he experience forgiveness and his heart was made right with God, but he was miraculously healed, picking up his mat and walking home! By doing simple things like inviting a friend out to CATALYST or offering to pray for a friend who’s in trouble or sick, you’re pointing them in the direction of Jesus—someone who can not only help them in life, but can FORGIVE THEM and give them a brand new start, just like he did for the paralyzed man!

DISCUSSION FOR HOME:

1. In the account of Jesus healing the paralyzed man, what did you find most shocking or surprising?

2. Jesus was more concerned with where this man was spiritually than the fact that he was paralyzed! What does that tell us about our greatest need?

3. Why did Jesus end up healing the man, almost as an afterthought? What did it tell the crowd of onlookers?

4. This might open up an opportunity to talk to your teen about where they're at spiritually.

5. Take the opportunity to pray with your teen. Pray for their friends who are far away from God and making bad choices in life. Pray that they would come to know the God who loves them and who wants the best for them.

CATALYST Youth- September 22, 2017- SQUAD GOALS PART 2

This week, we continued our series, "SQUAD GOALS", by talking about frenemies! Frenemies are people who act like your friend some of the time, but then do things that are pretty un-friendly. For example, if someone only wants to hang out with you when their other friends are around, if they make fun of you or gossip behind your back, if they are jealous of you when something great has happened in your life, if they are controlling or bossy, if they only talk about themselves and don't listen to you, if they tear you down physically, emotionally or spiritually, then you might just have a frenemy.

Real friends cheer for each other! Real friends have each other's backs! Real friends actually want the best for you and care about you! I shared a story about how one of my guilty pleasures is watching MASTERCHEF AUSTRALIA. The thing I like about it is that, while all of the people are competing against each other to be the best chef and win a prize, the way they treat each other is so unusual. Instead of saying mean things behind people's backs, hoping that others will mess up, or wishing that something terrible would happen to other contestants, the people on this show, year after year, ACTUALLY CHEER FOR EACH OTHER! It makes me want to move to Australia! They actually celebrate when someone else does better than them! They treat each other like best friends! They actually cry and hug people who leave the competition! A few years ago, one of the contestants was even willing to give up his place in the competition so that he wouldn't have to cook against one of his friends!

In the Bible, the story of Jonathan and David shows an example of an AMAZING friendship. In 1 Samuel 18-21 we learn that Jonathan was the next in line to become the King of Israel, but God chose David to be the next king instead. Instead of competing against each other, Jonathan was a REAL friend to David. He shared things that he had with him, he stood up for him and protected him when his dad (the king at the time) was trying to kill him. He refused to say or do anything that would hurt his friend, even though if David was out of the picture, he would have been guaranteed to be the next king! One time, when Jonathan stood up for David and refused to hurt him, the king became so angry he tried to kill his own son! Jonathan actually risked his life to protect his friend! We should all be friends like Jonathan! We should all want friends like Jonathan!

Some times, though, our friends aren't at all like Jonathan. Sometimes they're frenemies, hurting or betraying us. If you're dealing with a frenemy, here are a few tips:

1. PRAY FOR HELP
Even though David had an awesome friend in Jonathan, he also had a lot of not-so-awesome friends. In fact, he wrote down a TON of prayers that are recorded in the Bible, where he cried out to God for help. In Psalm 33, he told God about people who were attacking him, against him, making fun of him, laughing at him, and hating him, and David asked God to help him. We need to talk to God when we're dealing with frenemies and ask him to help us.

2. SPEAK UP
If you’ve got a “friend” who’s acting more like a frenemy, then you HAVE to tell them. There’s a possibility that they might not even be aware of how they’re treating you or how they’re affecting you- and if you never tell them, they’ll never know! Jesus said in Matthew 18:15, “If your brother or sister sins against you, go to them. Tell them what they did wrong. Keep it between the two of you. If they listen to you, you have won them back”. It’s really important that you give frenemies the chance to change their ways. Jesus says that if you go to the person in private and have an honest talk, it might just repair the relationship!

3. CHOOSE LOVE
The Bible has a lot to say about how you should treat people who mistreat you…and it’s pretty shocking! Jesus said in Matthew 5:44, “But I tell you, LOVE your enemies and pray for those who persecute you”. And when Jesus says we should pray for people who mistreat us, he’s not saying that we should pray that a piano will fall out of the sky and land on them, but that we should pray that great things would happen to them and that they would change for the better! Jesus is saying that we should treat others with kindness EVEN if they treat us like garbage. That revenge is never an option!
 
That’s REALLY hard to do…because we naturally want to hate them, and hold a grudge against them, or get revenge and make them feel the way they made us feel…so we need to ask God to help us to forgive those frenemies and not stay all bitter and angry.
 
Forgiving someone doesn’t mean that what they did is ok or forgotten. It doesn’t mean that you’re automatically best friends again. But it means that you’re choosing to let go of the anger and hate you have for them.

4. END IT!
Last week we talked about the importance of choosing the right people to hang out with. If you go to a “frenemy” and explain to them how they made you feel, and they keep being a “frenemy”, then that’s probably a good reason for you to stop hanging out with them. That can be hard—because you might like the person 80% of the time, but it’s CRAZY to stay friends with a frenemy. It’s much better to surround yourself with some good Australian chef friends or people like Jonathan who cheer for you, want the very best for you, and really have your back! 

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS FOR HOME

1. Ask your teen if they've seen any examples of frenemies. What do frenemies do? Encourage your teen that if they have a frenemy, they need to talk to their "friend" to let them know how they make them feel.

2. Pray with your teen. Pray that they would be a great friend to others. Pray that their "frenemies" would change and become real friends. Ask God to help them to surround themselves with friends who cheer for them and really have their back.

CATALYST Youth- Sept. 15, 2017- "SQUAD GOALS PART 1"

This week, as we kicked off a new season of CATALYST, we launched a new series called 'SQUAD GOALS'. This week we focused on how the friends that you choose will either influence you in good or bad ways. We looked at a few verses from the Book of Proverbs that talk about making wise friendship choices.

Proverbs 12:26 says, "The righteous choose their friends carefully, but the way of the wicked leads them astray”.


This verse says that people who love and follow God and do their best to live the way that he says is "right" need to be a bit choosy when picking friends. One of the reasons why Christians often get together at church or youth group is so they can be encouraged to keep following Jesus, and challenged to make good choices in life. This is important because there's a lot of temptation and pressure in life to walk away from God or not take following him seriously. We need friends who can cheer us on and encourage us to make right choices in life! 

Proverbs 22:24-25 says, “Don’t be a friend of a person who has a bad temper. Don’t go around with a person who gets angry easily. You might learn their habits. And then you will be trapped by them”.

Most of us have probably got into trouble because we were hanging out with a crowd who liked getting into trouble. This verse reminds us that the people we hang around with might lead us into trouble or into dangerous situations, so it's best that we think carefully about how our friends might influence our choices or behaviour. 

Proverbs 13:20 says, “Walk with wise people and become wise. A companion of foolish people suffers harm”.

Here we're reminded that when we surround ourselves with "wise" people-- people who make solid choices in life (people who love and follow Jesus, people who are hard workers or good students, people who are kind, caring or generous etc...)-- they'll influence us for the better!

Proverbs 27:17 says, “As iron sharpens iron, so a friend sharpens a friend”. 

Back in Bible days, they would rub the blades of knives back and forth against each other, and when they did, it would make both those knives sharper. It seems kind of magical to me, but I’m sure some science is involved. Anyway, the point of this verse is that friends should help each other and make each other better the more they spend time together. Does that describe the friendships that you have?

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS FOR HOME:

1. Ask your teen if they can think of a time where either they, or someone they know, was influenced in a BAD way by one of their friends. What happened? Do you think the friendship was healthy? Why or why not?

2. Ask your teen to think about their group of friends. In what ways are they a good influence? In what ways are they a bad influence? Remind them that if the bad outweighs the good, then the Bible encourages us to be VERY careful about remaining in those friendships.

3. Take the time to pray with your teen and ask God to help them surround themselves with the kinds of people who make them better instead of worse. Pray that your teen would be someone who would influence his/her friends to know and follow Jesus or to make wise choices.

CATALYST Youth- Friday, April 28, 2017- "Why are some Christians so homophobic?"

This week, we continued our series, “WHY?” by tackling a pretty tough, but super relevant issue- “Why are some Christians so homophobic?” This is an important issue, because, let’s face it, there are A LOT of people who call themselves Christians and yet are mean, hateful and offensive. These kinds of people often take aim at gay people or people who they disagree with on other issues, and because we live in a country (and culture) that’s "generally" super accepting of gay people, Christians are sometimes portrayed as the enemy! Just this past week, one of my old Bible College professors posted an article on Facebook that had to do with gay marriage, and it was just SHOCKING to read some of the comments made by “so-called Christians”. Unfortunately those are the kinds of people who often make the news, and as a result, there are a lot of gay people who feel that Christians are against them- that we hate them and that even God hates them!

So, this week we took the time to look at what the Bible says about homosexuality, talk about how Christians and even some gay people disagree on the issue, and then looked at how God wants us to treat people who we might disagree with.

1. BEING A CHRISTIAN MEANS SAYING THAT GOD HAS THE RIGHT TO CALL THE SHOTS IN YOUR LIFE. 

Before we really dig into this issue, the first thing we need to understand is that, if you’re a Christian (which LITERALLY means being a follower of Jesus), then not only have you accepted God’s love and forgiveness, but you’ve accepted that God has shown us a right and wrong way to live. God, as our CREATOR, intends for us to live our lives a certain way, and when we go our own way or reject the way God wants us to live, the Bible calls that “sin”. So, “sin” basically means to walk away from God’s plan or purpose for your life, and the Bible says that, when we walk away from God, we’re lost. We’re in trouble. We’ve chosen to separate ourselves from the God who loves us.
 
Following Jesus isn't easy because it often means giving up the things you might REALLY want to do, to live the way that God wants you to live instead. You’re basically saying, “God, I’m giving YOU the right to call the shots in my life”, "I’m giving YOU the steering wheel of my life"! TRUST ME, THAT’S NOT EASY! 

It’s WAY easier to do what we want to do instead of what God wants us to do! It’s way easier for me to stay angry or get revenge on somebody instead of forgiving them and showing them kindness! It’s pretty easy to sleep with your girlfriend or boyfriend when cartoon hearts are floating in the air all around you. It’s pretty easy to lie in order to get out of trouble! It’s pretty easy to fight and argue with someone who disagrees with you instead of having a kind conversation. Following God’s way is HARD STUFF! Even Jesus found it hard, but in Luke 22:42 he famously prayed, “GOD, NOT MY WILL, BUT YOURS BE DONE”. In other words, “God, I want to ultimately do what you want, not what I want. You’re the boss! You’re in charge! I trust that you know best, so I’m going to follow your directions!” In Matthew 16:24, Jesus said, “If any of you wants to be my follower, YOU MUST GIVE UP YOUR OWN WAY, take up your cross, and follow me.”
 
So, as Christians, if we’re giving God the steering wheel of our lives, then that means being serious about living the way that he designed life to be lived! But, HOW DO WE KNOW WHAT THAT WAY IS? Well, he’s given us the Bible—which is essentially our instruction book for living direct from the manufacturer of life. It's full of stories and teaching to help us know what’s right and wrong and to live the rich and fulfilling life God has planned for us!  So, if you’re a Christian who has said, “God, not my way- I want to live life YOUR way”, then when we’re discussing LGBTQ issues, we really owe it to ourselves to look and see what the Bible says on the subject.
 
Below is a brief overview of what the Bible says about homosexuality, and we'll look at how and why some Christians (and even gay people) disagree about what it might mean.

2. ACCORDING TO THE BIBLE, GOD CREATED MALE/FEMALE
 
Genesis 1:27 says, “God created male and female”. Genesis 2:18- 23 gives us a reason why. When God created the first man he said, “It is not good for the man to be alone”, so here, God acknowledges that loneliness isn’t healthy. (as a side note- in the same passage, he says that animals can't meet our need for human companionship either). So, what did God do? He created a partner who Adam could share life with...and that partner was a woman! It concludes with Genesis 2:24, “This explains why a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one”.

So right from Genesis we’re told that God invented male/female marriage! Now obviously this is kind of essential for procreation—you need a male and female to have children biologically, but more than that, it was an answer to LONELINESS. God made male and female to be the perfect partners for each other! (Note: this doesn't mean that a person who never gets married is missing out on God's best for their lives. As humans, we need to surround ourselves with friends who really care for us and meet that need of loneliness, but God definitely meant marriage between a man and a woman to be the ultimate expression of companionship.)
 
In Matthew 19:4-6, Jesus said the same thing. When someone asked him if it was ok to get a divorce, Jesus said, “Haven’t you read the Scriptures? They record that from the beginning ‘God made them male and female.” And he said, ‘This explains why a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one.’ Since they are no longer two but one, let no one split apart what God has joined together.”
 
Jesus, who by the way, was single (so he wasn't biased towards male/female marriage for personal reasons), emphasizes male/female marriage and that God has joined male and female together.
 
3.  ANYTIME HOMOSEXUALITY IS MENTIONED IN THE BIBLE, IT'S REFERRED TO AS A SIN
 
Now, the Bible doesn’t mention homosexuality a lot (the purpose of the Bible is largely to know about who God is and our need for him),  but in the six passages that SPECIFICALLY mention homosexuality (Gen 19, Lev 18:22, Lev 20:13, Romans 1:26-27, 1 Cor 6:9-10, 1 Timothy 1:10) it describes it as a sin or lists it right beside other sins like lying, stealing, being unkind, being greedy, getting drunk, cheating, and abusing people. So, in other words, these are all things that are the opposite of how God created us to live.
 
Probably the most compelling of those passages is Romans 1:18-32 which talks about how, when people continue to reject God and go their own way, one of the results will be that men and women will pursue same-sex relationships. It's saying that homosexuality is a result of the sin sickness in our world.

So when we look at the passages that speak of God’s INVENTION of male/female marriage, and when every passage that references homosexuality includes it in a list of other sins, then you can see why the vast majority of Christians would believe that homosexuality isn’t God’s intention for humanity. So, if someone is gay (in terms of them having same-sex attraction), most Christians would say that it’s because we’re all born with this sin problem where we naturally want to do what’s opposite of what God wants for us (which is just as true for a gay person as it’s true for me), and so that person who is attracted to someone of the same sex needs to struggle against that and not act out that attraction (because for Christians, it's not TEMPTATION that's wrong-- it's actually DOING the opposite of what God wants that's wrong).
 
There is a guy named Wesley Hill who is an author, a professor in a Bible College, and a gay Christian who believes that even though he has a same-sex attraction, that it's not what God intends for his life. In his book "Washed and Waiting: Reflections on Christian Faithfulness and Homosexuality" he writes about how hard it is to give up what he might want in order to do what he believes is right- what he believes is right in God's eyes.


4. THE GREAT DEBATE
 
Now, all that said, there ARE Christians (gay Christians & Christians who aren’t gay) who would disagree and say that homosexuality isn’t a sin. This is why there are a few church denominations that have decided to marry gay people. They don’t see it as something wrong in God’s eyes. When those people read and try to understand what the Bible says, they’ve concluded that gay marriage is just as pleasing to God as male/female marriage, largely for two reasons…

A) The first is that Gay marriage wasn’t even a possibility at that time in history, so when the Bible was written, the concept of gay marriage didn’t exist! In fact, today in 2017, gay marriage is only LEGAL in 22 out of the 195 Countries on the planet, so, because it wasn’t legal at the time, it makes sense that any reference in the Bible to homosexuality would be negative.

B) The second argument is that because gay marriage didn’t exist at the time, anytime the Bible references homosexuality, it has to be talking about sex outside of marriage. The Bible tells us that God meant for sex to be a part of a committed marriage relationship. That’s the way he designed it! So, because any sexual relationship (gay or not) outside of marriage is a sin and gay marriage didn’t exist, then it's no wonder why the Bible speaks against homosexuality! The presumption here is that if gay marriage had been an accepted part of society at the time, God would be just as thrilled to see two people from the same sex get married as two people from the opposite sex.
 
So, as you can see, there’s a lot of disagreement on this issue. Christians don’t all agree! Gay people don’t even all agree! There’s a website called The Gay Christian Network where they’ve posted something called THE GREAT DEBATE, where two gay people have posted essays arguing both points. It’s pretty interesting to read the perspectives of two people, both gay, and both Christians, who disagree with each other about whether actually living a gay lifestyle is right or wrong.
 
5. WE CAN DISAGREE AND STILL BE FRIENDS

I know someone who is gay and EVERYBODY in his family knows about it except for his dad (who is a Christian). They’ve actually all decided to keep it a secret from him, because they think that if he were to find out, he would disown his son and want nothing to do with him! Isn’t that terrible?
 
That’s nothing like the way God sees us! A few weeks ago, we looked at the story of the Prodigal Son. This kid decided to leave home, insult his dad, spend all his money on parties and sleeping around—and the dad never stopped loving him! I’m sure the dad wasn’t all happy and excited about how his son had chosen to live his life—but he definitely didn’t hate him! When the son returned home, the dad ran out to meet him and welcome him back into the family with a huge hug! He offered him love and forgiveness! That’s the way God is with ALL of us—no matter what we’ve said or done!
 
If we’re people who have chosen to follow God’s way, then we should be known as people who are loving and kind to EVERYONE- even if we disagree with how they choose to live their lives! If I disagree with how someone chooses to live their life, whether that person is gay, or is a part of a political party that I disagree with, or gets wasted every weekend, or swears a lot, or likes the Toronto Maple Leafs, that shouldn’t change the fact that as a Christian, God has called me to LOVE that person.
 
In the Bible, Jesus was known as a “FRIEND OF SINNERS” (Luke 7) He would actually eat with people who were considered to be the “scum of the earth”- like prostitutes and thieves and other hated people! That doesn’t mean that Jesus thought the way they lived their lives was awesome! In fact, he often offered people forgiveness and told them, “go and stop sinning—start living the way God wants you to!” (John 8:11), but he was never all hateful and judgey towards people.
 
I have a lot of friends who make life choices that I disagree with. I have friends who sleep around. I have friends who get totally wasted. I have friends who download music and movies without paying for them. I have friends who REALLY hate God and want ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO DO WITH HIM (mostly because they’ve had a really bad experience with a jerk Christian in the past). I’m not all pushy and obnoxious and forceful with my beliefs. I don’t take every opportunity to let them know that “what they’re doing is wrong and GOD THINKS SO TOO!” If I’m having a conversation with a friend and they ask me my opinion, then I can share it in a way that’s loving and kind (1 Peter 3:16 emphasizes answering questions in a gentle and respectful way), but I don’t HATE people I disagree with! I want them to come to know Jesus. I want them to live the life that God intended for them. I hate to see them make destructive choices and have a lot of regrets and baggage in life, because I care about them, but I’m not their enemy. I’m not AGAINST them!
 
Some gay people would say—“Well, because you think I’m living my life in a way that’s opposite of what God wants for me, that means you’re against me and God’s against me!” BUT THAT’S NOT TRUE. That’s like saying that, I’m against my friend who gets drunk! I might disapprove of his life choices and pray that he makes some changes, but that doesn’t mean he’s my enemy! In the same way, Jesus showed love and hung out with the “scum of the earth” in his day. That doesn’t mean he loved the way they lived their lives! No. He wanted them to change and draw close to God, but he wasn’t their enemy!

This week we looked at what the Bible has to say about LGBTQ. We’ve seen how there are even Christians who disagree, but the most important think we can take home with us is that we can disagree with people and still be friends. It's a shame when Christians who disagree with a gay lifestyle are hateful and offensive. That certainly doesn't have God cheering. No matter where you might stand on this issue, if you're a Christian, then you need to be known for your love. Loving someone doesn't mean loving everything they do, but it means treating them with value and respect.

DISCUSSION FOR HOME

1. This week, discuss with your teen about what they learned at CATALYST this week (discussing the Great Debate about Christianity and homosexuality). Ask them what they think about LGBTQ issues, and more importantly, what do they think God's opinion is? Ask them if they have any other questions they would like to talk about.

2. This week, Pastor Ben repeated, "We can disagree and still be friends". Ask your teen to explain what that means and how that might impact the way they interact with others as people trying to live the way God wants them to. For example, if your teen believes that homosexuality is the opposite of what God wants for people, how should they, as Christians, treat their friends or classmates who are gay? If your teen accepts what the Bible says about drunkenness being a sin, how does that impact how they treat people they know who get drunk or abuse drugs?

CATALYST Youth- Friday, June 2, 2017- FAITH AFTER HIGH SCHOOL

This week at CATALYST, special guest Daniel Desgroseilliers, a campus pastor at Ottawa University, shared some important things about how to ensure you stay close to Jesus beyond high school as well as some of what he does on campus at Ottawa U. This week, we recorded his talk (on ipad), so if you missed it, give it a listen below! You can also listen/download through your iTunes podcast app or stream/download it from our church website.